Opening in early 2025, The Standard, Brussels marks the hotel brand’s third outpost in Europe. Set in the city’s Northern Quarter, The Standard, Brussels brings the brand’s design, culture, and activation-driven philosophy to Belgium.

With 180 guestrooms (plus 20 residences), the modern, new-build project features many stages for The Standard’s renowned day- and nightlife. A ground-floor greenhouse welcomes guests and locals into the lobby lounge, restaurant, and terrace. Upstairs, The Rooftop features its own restaurant, bar, and garden—set to become a neighbourhood destination. Throughout the building, additional public and private event spaces are platforms for happenings.

The Standard, Brussels will welcome a new set of creative, dynamic guests into the brand ethos. In Brussels, The Standard’s signature mix of playful, sophisticated, unexpected hospitality finds roots and resonances in local culture. The simple premise behind The Standard is that it is anything but. Founded in 1999, the goals of every Standard are to up the aesthetic stakes and defy convention while attending to every detail, embracing our local communities, providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for our teams and, of course, delivering a smashing good time for our guests.

We are defined by our richness of personality, diversity of background and lifestyle and are now looking for an Executive Chef who will embody our ‘Anything but Standard’ ethos as we commence our pre-opening period.

Your role

Our Restaurants, Bars, Clubs and Rooftop terraces are legendary and The Standard is synonymous worldwide as shining beacon for Nightlife. As the Executive Chef for The Standard, Brussels you will work in partnership with the General Manager, F&B Director, and our Regional Food & Culinary teams to oversee our critical path and pre-opening period of the hotels F&B outlets, and Kitchens to ensure that the project runs to schedule, pre-opening budgets are managed and the property is successfully launched.

With 2 expansive restaurants (both seating 150 covers inside and out) located on the ground floor and 29^th floor rooftop (both with their own dedicated kitchen and brigade), plus lobby lounge bar, event spaces and 24 hour In Room Dining, you can imagine this is an incredibly hands on role in which you will need to be able to turn your hand to anything. This role is a pivotal within the business and you will be a strong operator with a diverse culinary background to enable you to take a creative approach to the business in order to develop new concepts that complement our restaurants and bars, and to ensure productivity and profit is maintained at optimum levels.

You will of course be passionate about cooking, with an exceptional working knowledge of kitchen operations, and your extensive knowledge of the latest food trends and Belgium restaurant scene will help you create an environment where you will not only delight our guests, but also excite and surprise them to create the ultimate culinary experience that is anything but Standard!

Kitchen management is a key aspect of this role, from the daily sourcing of ingredients, development and production of dishes, control of products, stock control and management of food cost, food hygiene and health and safety. Your keen eye for details means that you never miss a thing, and your presence within the operation will ensure that our culinary standards are maintained meticulously and each area staged to optimise our guest’s experience.

As a natural team leader, you remain calm during challenging situations with the ability to lead, motivate and coach your team to enable them to develop and grow their skills. This is not a ‘Standard’ Executive Chef role so you will need to have serious stamina and passion, be highly social, upbeat, and friendly; confident and handle pressure well; thrive in a high-volume, high-energy environment and able to work equally well both independently and as part of a wider senior management team.

Do you have what it takes to be our Executive Chef at The Standard, Brussels….

A minimum of 3+ years’ experience as an Executive chef or Head Chef gained within a similar Lifestyle Hotel or large 4- or 5-star Hotel in Brussels is essential for this role

In addition to this you may also have….

• Pre-opening Experience in either a Hotel or Restaurant with strong project management skills
• A solid understanding of the Brussels culinary scene and competitors, local business requirements and understanding of the local labour market
• A background in a High-Volume property with a complex multi-outlet F&B operation
• Excellent Commercial understanding (combined with some imaginative blue sky thinking to create an exciting culinary destination)
• Good commercial acumen with experience in menu engineering, recipe costing and food control
• Have previously led and managed a large kitchen brigade
• Experience across a range of senior management disciplines, with exceptional attention to detail and the ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously
• During the pre-opening period you will need to have a flexible approach to working hours which may include some late finishes and weekends as we prepare the hotel for opening.

If you think you have what it takes to be our Executive Chef at The Standard, Brussels we’d love to hear from you!

All applicants must be eligible to live and work in the European Union. Documented evidence of eligibility will be required from candidates prior to commencing employment.

Benefits

• CDI – Contrat à Durée Indéterminée
• 20 Days Holiday + Public Holidays
• Meals on Duty (once hotel is open)
• Worldwide Travel Discounts via The Standard Advantage platform
• Employee & Family Rates across all Standard and Bunkhouse properties
• In-house Experience Programme
• F&B Discounts ranging from 25-50%
• Recruitment Referral scheme
• Local Transport benefit
• Eco-vouchers
• Social Committee with regular monthly social activities