Trained before they arrive
Your chefs cannot teach food safety at seven o'clock on a Saturday. We do that first — four days of hygiene, prep, equipment and simulated service pressure — so the person who walks into your kitchen can be useful in their first hour.
Four ways employers use us
Most operators start with temporary cover because it is urgent, then move to permanent placement once they see the standard. There is no minimum commitment either way.
Permanent placement
Kitchen assistants, commis chefs, breakfast chefs and supervisors placed onto your own payroll. One-off placement fee, two-week replacement guarantee, and a follow-up call at thirty days.
Temporary cover
Sickness, holidays, a section suddenly short on a Friday. We keep a standby pool of trained people per city, so cover comes from someone who has already been through our block, not a stranger from a list.
Seasonal pools
We build your summer or festival team in February, train them in March and hold them for you. Galway and Limerick operators in particular stop scrambling in June once they plan this way.
Train-to-hire
Tell us the volume and the profile you need. We recruit and run a dedicated training block against your kitchen's own standards, then hand the group over. Used by contract caterers opening new sites.
What happens before a name reaches your inbox
Six checks, every candidate, no exceptions. This is the reason our shortlists are short.
- 01
Right to work verified in person
Documents checked face to face at registration, not uploaded to a portal and waved through. Copies are held on file and provided with every shortlist.
- 02
Two verbal references
We contact previous employers and speak to a human, not a reference portal. For candidates with no work history we take character references and note that clearly rather than hiding it.
- 03
Food safety certified
HACCP basics completed and dated before placement. Certificates travel with the candidate and are shared with your compliance file.
- 04
Trainer sign-off
Our trainers grade knife handling, equipment safety and performance in the timed service simulation. If someone is not ready, we do not send them and we tell you why.
- 05
Honest matching
We do not pad a shortlist to look busy. If we have two people right for your kitchen you get two, and if we have none this week we say so.
- 06
Post-placement follow-up
Week one and month one check-ins with both sides. Problems surface early, when they are still fixable, instead of at a resignation.
From brief to first shift in about a week
Day 0 — the brief
A twenty-minute call or a site visit. Section, hours, rate, kitchen size, who the person reports to, and honestly what the hard parts of the role are. Vague briefs produce wrong people.
Day 1–3 — the shortlist
Two or three matched candidates with training records, certificates, references and our trainer's notes. You get the reservations as well as the strengths.
Day 4–6 — trial shift
A paid trial in your kitchen, on a real service. You see them work; they see what they are signing up for. Both of those matter for retention.
Day 7 — start
Contract, right-to-work file and induction paperwork completed. We confirm the first rota with both sides and diary the week-one check-in.
Terms, plainly
- Permanent placement: one-off fee on start, invoiced at thirty days.
- Temporary cover: hourly charge rate, PAYE handled by us, no minimum hours.
- Two-week replacement guarantee on every permanent placement.
- No retainers, no exclusivity clauses, no charge for a shortlist you do not use.
Back of house, across Irish hospitality
We do not staff front of house, offices or retail. Kitchens only — which is why our coordinators can hold a conversation about your combi oven rota.
Hotels and banqueting
Breakfast operations, conference and wedding covers, room service support.
Restaurants and gastropubs
Larder and veg sections, weekend cover, pot wash for independent operators.
Contract catering
Corporate dining, university terms, healthcare and staff restaurants.
Events and stadium hospitality
Volume teams for fixtures, concerts and festival weeks, briefed on site.
Food production and central kitchens
Hygiene-trained hands for prep units and cook-chill operations.
Cafés and bakeries
Early starts, small brigades, people who can work without a section leader.
Short two people this weekend?
Send the role details to the employer desk at clients@hearthnhire.eu. Briefs received before noon usually have a shortlist inside seventy-two hours.