Hospitality recruitment agency, Melbourne
We've led the floor.
Now we place
who leads it.
With twenty years running venues and kitchens, we know what good talent actually looks like. Taste Hospitality finds senior chefs, GMs and venue leaders who fit the room they're walking into.
They helped us find a Head Chef in no time, and found us an absolute gem.Mera Albert Park · Google review5.0 from clients & candidates
20
Years Experience
Running venue operations ourselves
100%
Reference‑Checked
Once selected for interview
3
Months of Support
Check-ins after every placement
7–10
Days to Shortlist
Average time from brief to shortlist
How Taste works
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Step 01: Understand the venue
Full brief on culture, team morale, pain points and what really matters in your business, not just a job spec.
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Step 02: Go to market
Network, headhunting and advertising working together, not one channel carrying it all.
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Step 03: Screened for the venue
Every candidate screen is individual, weighed against your needs and challenges, not a generic checklist.
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Step 04: Reference checked
Every candidate is reference checked once selected for interview, so no one's time is wasted.
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Step 05: Onboarding support
A clear onboarding plan so week one is a running start, not a guess.
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Step 06: 3 month placement support
We stay engaged after appointment and check in at key milestones to ensure everything is on track.
We know good, because we've done it.
-
01
We've run the room
Twenty years of hands-on operational experience means we know what good actually looks like on the floor and in the kitchen, not just on paper.
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02
No two briefs are the same
A venue in crisis needs a different leader to one that's thriving. We screen for the specific challenge in front of you, every time.
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03
We stay after the placement
Structured check-ins at week one, month one and month three, because our job isn't finished when someone signs.
What owners and operators say
From first contact to employee placement, really appreciate the communication, guidance and assistance from Rob.
We had an excellent experience working with Rob. From the outset, he demonstrated a deep understanding of the hospitality industry and a clear ability to identify high-calibre talent that genuinely fits the brief.
Rob was incredible from the very beginning: supportive, understanding and never gave up. It doesn't stop there, he checks in to see how you're going.
Rob kept in touch and walked me through a very extensive recruitment process, always on hand to answer any questions. His routine follow ups after commencement are further reassurance that the agency genuinely cares about its placements and wants them to succeed.
He has the best interest of the client and applicant together, to make sure it's a perfect fit. His career history shines through brightly to understand the needs of each placement he makes.
Rob was a pleasure to work with, taking the time to understand our business and what mattered most when it came to hiring. From initial contact, the whole process was easy and stress-free.
Venue leadership,
placed and proven
Search by role
What a hospitality recruitment agency should do for you
- A shortlist, not a pile of CVs. Most senior roles reach a shortlist in 7 to 10 days.
- Screened for your venue. Every candidate is screened against your venue's specific needs and challenges, not just the job description, then reference-checked.
- Still there after the start date. We stay involved through onboarding and the first three months.
A few things worth knowing
We're a Melbourne-based hospitality recruitment team with twenty years of running venues behind us, working across Victoria and nationally for the right venue. Most of our placements are Melbourne restaurants, hotels and venue groups, but we take on roles across Australia when the brief is a good fit for us.
Head chefs, executive chefs and culinary leadership through to venue managers, restaurant managers and general managers. We recruit across the kitchen and the floor equally, and having worked as Head Chefs and General Managers ourselves, we apply the same approach to every senior role we place.
No. We're a permanent placement recruiter. We're not a staffing agency and we don't do casual or labour hire shifts. Every role we take on is a permanent senior hire we expect to still be in the building in twelve months.
We've run venues and kitchens ourselves, so we're not working off a job spec alone. We understand what actually makes a role hard to fill and a candidate hard to place. That operational background is what separates us from recruiting firms staffed by career recruiters who haven't worked a service.
You tell us what's actually going on at the venue, not just the job description: team dynamics, why the last person left, what the room needs. From there we go to market, screen against the venue specifically, reference-check anyone shortlisted, and stay engaged through onboarding and the first three months.
It depends on the seniority of the role and how specific the brief is, but most senior placements move from brief to shortlist within 7 to 10 days. We'd rather take the time to get the right person in front of you than rush a shortlist that doesn't fit.
