Hiring chefs of all levels

Join the kitchen team in one of Melbourne's newest restaurants - Côte Basque.

Located in the heart of the CBD, down a historic laneway long associated with eating and drinking well, you’ll find Côte Basque - a restaurant inspired by the culture, spirit, and cooking of the rugged Basque coast.

We are searching for key team members, in the roles of:

• Commis Chefs

• Chef de Parties

• Junior Sous Chefs

• Sous Chefs

• Kitchen Hands

Côte Basque is a place for generous food, lively drinks, and thoughtful hospitality. The menu centres on local ingredients from land and sea, with produce-led dishes that are simple in approach yet precise in execution - humble, but elevated. Expect familiar, well-loved flavour pairings of the Basque and Mediterranean coasts, cooked over charcoal with restraint and confidence.

The dining room is one of the city’s most significant heritage restaurant spaces. Once owned by the Pellegrini brothers, and more recently home to Becco, it is a room steeped in nostalgia and layered with stories of Melbourne’s dining history. Spaces for dining, a bar for drinking, and a private room for celebrations have all been created in harmony with the bones of a building deeply embedded in Melbourne’s culinary story.

To take this site into its next era, we’ve built an opening team who care deeply about quality, provenance, and creating a genuinely welcoming experience for our guests. We’re currently recruiting across all culinary roles, from emerging talent to experienced hospitality professionals.

This is an opportunity to be part of a new restaurant from its early days - helping shape the culture, standards, and rhythm of a venue that somehow feels both new and as though it has always been there.

Our benefits include:

• Discounts across all Trader House businesses

• Access to internal Wine and Spirit Education Trust Certificates 2 & 3 taught by Leanne Altmann, Group Beverage Director

• Trader House Sessions - masterclasses with chefs and industry leaders hands-on chef (past presenters include Danielle Alvarez, Jung-eun Chae, Trisha Greentree, Dave Verheul)

• Financial wellbeing training programs

• Access to Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training

• Mental Health & Wellbeing workshops

• Diversity & Inclusivity training and workshops

• Employee Assistance Program - a free and confidential counselling service

• Annual staff engagement survey

• Field trips to wineries, distillers, breweries & farms

• Annual staff parties

• Internal and external management training covering a range of topics

• Free flu vaccinations

• Employee referral bonus - paying up to $1000 per successful referral

• A range of discounts across external retail / health & wellbeing organisations

• Great staff meals every day

• Generous tips for kitchen and front of house

To apply, please submit your cover letter and CV specifying which role you would like to be considered for.

About Trader House:

Trader House is a collective of restaurants, bars, and specialty retail stores by Melbourne-based chef, cookbook author and columnist Andrew McConnell and photographer Jo McGann. Operating in Melbourne are Gimlet, Apollo Inn, Cutler, Supernormal, Côte Basque, Cumulus Inc., Marion, Builders Arms Hotel, Meatsmith Heritage Butcher and Morning Market. In 2024, Trader House opened Supernormal and Bar Miette in Brisbane.

Trader House is known for restaurants with a strong sense of place, thoughtful design and a focus on seasonal, produce-driven food.