Head Chef (m/f/d) — Japanese Fine Dining · Vaduz, Liechtenstein
About the job
Liechtenstein sits in the heart of Europe, between Switzerland and Austria, with the Alps on the doorstep and Zurich just over an hour away. Vaduz is its capital: a wealthy, international city that attracts business travellers, private banking clients and visitors from all over the world.
Mizu is the leading Japanese fine dining restaurant in the country. Robata charcoal grill, open sushi bar, a sharing concept in the spirit of the great modern Japanese houses, and a guest base that expects excellence and is willing to pay for it.
We are part of a restaurant group with seven locations, more than 100 employees and over 400,000 guests a year. Stable ownership, professional structures, no improvisation.
We are going for Gault Millau points, and we are building the kitchen to get there. The menu is being rebuilt from the ground up: smaller, sharper, an expanded sushi section, uncompromising quality on everything we serve. You take ownership of that menu and of the standard behind it.
- Full responsibility for the kitchen: hot kitchen, robata and sushi bar
- Develop the new menu with us, from first idea to recipe, plating and food cost
- Hold the standard on every plate, at lunch service and at a full house on a Saturday night
- Lead, train and develop a brigade of around 10 people
- Own your figures: food cost, ordering, suppliers, waste
- Hygiene and HACCP under control at all times
- Several years in fine dining, ideally with Japanese or Asian influence
- Experience at Michelin or Gault Millau level, as head chef, sous chef or as a chef de partie ready for the next step
- Genuine craft on the grill and a trained eye for raw fish quality
- You lead by example, not by volume
- EU or EEA passport
- German or English, both is an advantage
- A kitchen with real ambition, and the products and budget to support it
- Direct access to the owners, short decisions, genuine influence on the concept
- 5 weeks of holiday: 1.5 weeks over Christmas and New Year with the restaurant closed, plus 3.5 weeks of your own choosing
- Sundays off
- Staff discounts across all restaurants in the group
- Relocation support: we help you find a furnished room close to the restaurant, around CHF 800 to 1,000 per month
- Salary at Liechtenstein level, based on your experience
Send your CV and, if available, photos of your own dishes to .
Please include three things: your earliest start date, your salary expectation, and the passport you hold.
Please note before applying: an EU or EEA passport is mandatory. Liechtenstein work permits are not available to third country nationals, so we are unfortunately unable to consider applications without EU or EEA citizenship, regardless of experience.
- 84000 Euro per year
- We can organise accommodation for you. A furnished room within walking distance of the restaurant costs around CHF 800 to 1,000 per month. We help with the search, the paperwork and the move, so you can start without worrying about where to live.
- Performance bonus on top of your fixed salary, tied to clearly agreed targets Tips of approximately CHF 3,000 per year in addition to your salary 5 weeks of paid holiday per year, including a 2 week closure over Christmas and New Year Sundays off
- Department: F&B kitchen
About you
EU or EEA passport required. A work permit in Liechtenstein is only possible with EU or EEA citizenship, so we are unable to consider applications without it.
- Several years of experience in a fine dining kitchen, ideally with Japanese or Asian influence
- Experience at Michelin or Gault Millau level, either as head chef, as sous chef, or as a chef de partie ready for the next step
- Genuine craft on the grill and a trained eye for raw fish quality
- Proven leadership: you run a brigade of around 10 people by example, and you train rather than shout
- Commercial understanding: food cost, ordering, supplier relationships and waste are part of your job, not someone else's
- Ability to hold the standard under pressure, at lunch service and at a full house on a Saturday night
- Solid knowledge of hygiene and HACCP standards
- German or English, both is an advantage
- Willingness to relocate to Liechtenstein or the immediate region
- Language required: English. German is a plus
The company
heyfood Holding AG is a restaurant group based in Liechtenstein, in the heart of Europe between Switzerland and Austria. We run seven locations and five concepts, from Japanese fine dining to fast casual, with more than 100 employees and over 400,000 guests a year.
The company was built from the ground up, starting with a single restaurant in 2014. Today we are the market leader in Liechtenstein and the neighbouring St. Gallen Rheintal, and we are still owner led. That means short decision paths, direct access to the people who own the business, and no corporate layers between an idea and its execution.
What we care about: doing one thing properly before starting the next. Measurable results rather than long task lists. Leaders who train their teams and set the standard themselves instead of demanding it from others.
Our goal is not to be the biggest group in the region, but the one people want to work for. We invest in structure, in equipment and in the people who run our kitchens and dining rooms, and we give them real responsibility for their own numbers and their own team.
If you want to work somewhere with the ambition of a fine dining house and the stability of an established group, this is a good place to build the next chapter of your career.
