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Running a Flexible Kitchen: A Chef’s Guide to Creating Your Temp Brigade

17 October 2025

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By OMJ Team

Flat Rate Staffing
Hospitality Staffing
24/7 Staffing Access
Digital Staffing

Running a kitchen is a high wire act. Service never stops, standards can’t slip, and the unexpected is always waiting around the corner: staff call in sick, events suddenly pop up, and customer numbers spike without warning. For many Head and Executive Chefs, the solution shouldn't be to hand over full control to agencies, but instead, to build their own “temp brigade” they can trust to jump in when needed.

Four chefs preparing food at counter in a row in a professional kitchen

Why Head Chefs Should Build Their Own Temp Brigade

Chefs know their kitchens better than anyone. It's not just about filling gaps on a roster, it's about making sure you have the right people when the pressures on. 

Building your own Temp brigade or pool gives you: 

Flexibility: You decide who to call on, when and for how long. Whether it's one week or a whole shift, you're in control and have complete visibility of your roster. 

Speed: Last minute cover? No problem. Platforms like OMJ, gives you 24/7 access to verified temps, so you can fill gaps in minutes, not hours. 

Protecting profitability: By managing your own brigade, you avoid inflated agency markups. With a flat rate of $5 through OMJ, you have the ability to control your margins easier. 

Building consistency:  Temps who return regularly know your standards and slot in faster. You can achieve this via your favourites on the OMJ app. 

Handsome manager posing with some chefs and waitress in a kitchen

How To Create A Reliable Temp Brigade

Building a dependable roster of temps isn't as daunting as it sounds. With a little planning you can create a system that works as smoothly as your kitchen line. Start small, test and see how easy it is to use the OMJ app.

Step One: 

Create a profile (you can do this here), work with our customer success team to set up your account and viola! You're ready to go.

Step Two: 

Post your first job, and then create a few shifts. It really is as easy as 1,2,3!

Step Three: 

Wait for applicants to apply, assign the shift and you're done. 

Step Four: 

You'll be notified of when your temp staff are due to turn up and can communicate through our chat service, within the app. 

Step Five: 

Once your temp staff have completed a shift, favourite and rate them, and build out your own mini temp agency. More on how to do that here. 

Running a kitchen will always be unpredictable, but your staffing doesn’t have to be. By building your own temp brigade, you gain the flexibility to cover shifts on your terms, the speed of 24/7 access to rated temps, and the cost savings of cutting out agency margins.

With OMJ, it’s easier than ever to handpick, rate, and manage your own brigade. That way, when the pressure’s on, you already know who’s got your back.

Wondering how much OMJ can save you?

Try our recruitment calculator - it's quick and easy

Estimated cost with Oh My Jobs

$0

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compared to traditional temp agencies (approx)

  • All values are ex GST
  • Indicative on-costs of 22.6% which includes Kiwisavercontribution, annual leave, sick leave.
  • Indicative temp agency fee / commission of 15%

Transparent pricing that saves you hundreds

With OMJ, you cut out agency commissions and hidden on-costs—saving you around $300 (ex GST) per temp per week. Our simple flat-fee model means you know exactly what you’re paying, with no surprises.