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.
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
The Process
How Taste works
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.
Step 02
Go to market
Network, headhunting and advertising working together, not one channel carrying it all.
Step 03
Screened for the venue
Every candidate screen is individual, weighed against your needs and challenges, not a generic checklist.
Step 04
Reference checked
Every candidate is reference checked once selected for interview, so no one's time is wasted.
Step 05
Onboarding support
A clear onboarding plan so week one is a running start, not a guess.
Step 06
3 month placement support
We stay engaged after appointment and check in at key milestones to ensure everything is on track.
The Taste Way
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.
-
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.
-
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.
In their words
What owners and operators say
He doesn't fill roles. He builds high performing teams with a genuine understanding of people, culture, and what it costs a business when you get it wrong.
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.
With Taste Hospitality's boutique nature, as a candidate you never feel that your resume is lost. The whole process was smooth and seamless.
Amazing experience with Taste Hospitality, they helped us find a Head Chef in no time, and found us an absolute gem.
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.
Case studies
Kitchen leadership,
placed and proven
Got a role that's hard to get right?
Tell us what's actually going on at the venue, not just the job spec, so we can find the person who actually fits it.
Brief a roleRoles we place
Search by role
We're a Melbourne-based hospitality recruitment team, 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. Chef recruitment is where we started and it's still core to what we do, but the same approach applies to every senior floor and kitchen 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.