About Us

Book a Chef is based on a proven recruitment method and already has the technology in place to enable clients to search for chefs and review their profiles. This is the only recruitment tool of its kind in the current market place and through this system our operators are able to monitor bookings and call clients to discuss their requirements, enhancing the service we offer and ensuring the client gets a chef to meet their needs. If a client prefers they can call our operations team and we use our database to search for the required staff.

Chefs are notified of expressions of interest from clients via two methods:

• Web mail – Using the Book a Chef website a client will send an e-mail to all chefs that meet their requirement, offering details about the position.
• Text message – The web mail automatically generates a text message to the chef so they immediately know a client has expressed an interest in them. The chef can then either check their e-mail or contact Book a Chef to learn more about the job.

If the chef is interested in the position Book a Chef, after confirmation with the client, will make the booking and invoice the client accordingly. Depending on the client's preference the chef will be paid either by the client direct or payment will be made through Book a Chef, the latter incurring a higher charge rate to the client.

The Book a Chef website is derived from the Book a Trainer and Book a Temp websites, which have been a bespoke development funded by Book a Trainer Limited. The project started in the year 2000 with the objective of creating an online booking and management system for IT Trainers which could be replicated into other HR areas. The website allowed us to differentiate ourselves in the market place with a unique proposition and give national scale.

Notes from founder Simon Neale:

The ‘Book A' concept began in the year 2000 with the objective of creating an on-line booking and management system for IT trainers, which could be replicated into other HR areas.

“The websites have allowed us to differentiate ourselves in the market place with a unique proposition on a national scale.

But now we need to be able to provide temps on a local basis as there is a demand from employers for a managed service i.e traditional High Street recruitment due to all the new employment legislation out there.

We will still be allowing clients and temps to connect directly but industry changes and demand have sparked this latest venture for us.

We're a Bath-based business with UK coverage via the internet based business model, and we want to offer our unique service to local employers.”

The ‘Book A' group has gone from strength to strength in recent years and is now generating a turnover of £3.5 million annually.

Flexibility is the key with the business as jobs are available at the mere click of a button or by paying a visit to the office and temps, chefs and trainers can be booked for any length of time from a day to several years.

What makes Book a Temp stand out from the rest in particular; however, is its transparency as the company has taken the unusual step of fully publicising online full breakdowns of exactly how much the service costs.

“We think with our transparent business model and fast, efficient on-line booking service we offer more than just a temping agency,” Mr Neale said.

“We believe that through the internet and therefore our website we are able to, rightly so, show both employers and temporary staff the true costs of providing this service.”

The ‘Book A' group's next venture is to progress from providing trainers to actually running courses, which are taking place in Bath, Trowbridge, Bristol and Swindon in the coming months.

Live websites include:

www.bookatrainer.co.uk

www.bookatrainingcourse.co.uk

www.bookachef.co.uk

www.bookatemp.co.uk

www.bookasecretary.co.uk

Jobs, recruitment, and more!

Whether you need a job, have a recruitment need, or work in agency recruitment, then Book A Chef is for you! More than a job site, Book A Chef uses the same model as other members of the "Book A" group to provide a supported interactive online environment that gets your recruitment needs quickly solved.

Job search

Want a graduate chef job in London, a cooks job near Birmingham, ...or any job part time? Powerful job search functions let clients & chefs find each other, quickly and easily, all within a safe, low-cost online system. It's easy - all areas of part time work and temporary recruitment are covered in Book A Chef. You can even consider a job part time as a route to full-time work.

Clients and Recruitment Agencies

If you have a job vacancy you can rapidly find a chef in your area from our growing list of chefs looking for all types of temporary work.

Other sites...

Click here for a list of other sites that you may find useful.

Book A Trainer Limited is registered in England and Wales.