Catering & Events Manager - Kent
Catering & Events Manager
Contract: Full time, permanent
Location: Wildwood Trust, Herne Common, Kent, CT6 7LQ
Reports to: Director of Finance
Responsible for: Two substantive staff & fluctuating numbers of seasonal staff
Grade: 3
Closing date: 27 April 2025
Job Purpose
This role will play an integral part in bringing together our Kent café with the wider management of organisational events and associated catering, focusing on income generation and excellent visitor experience.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage the Woodland café, with careful consideration of the impact of seasonal fluctuations and peak times on volumes and annual maintenance.
- Maintain the organisation’s 5-star food hygiene rating, with meticulous hygiene practices and accurate record keeping
- Plan, prepare and cook an exciting seasonal menu in keeping with the organisation’s values
- Lead and motivate the team to deliver excellent customer service and ensuring appropriate levels of training
- Manage waste & stock levels, banking, rotas, ordering, and monthly stock counts
- Cater an exciting, varied, and profitable menu for organisational events
- Work in partnership with suppliers, reps, and local businesses to explore income generating ventures that are compatible with the organisation’s vision and mission
- Coordinate and run organisational events, planning down to the finest detail and working closely with the wider team to ensure their success
- Chair regular events meeting, collating and coordinating income generating ideas and engaging visitor experiences, liaising with the appropriate departments
The Working Week
Your working week will be varied and busy, with peak season working during the school holidays. Not only will you manage the Kent café operations, but you will also head up organisational events. Playing a pivotal role in income generation, you will work collaboratively with the Retail, Education, Volunteer, Keeper and Marketing teams to provide a consistently excellent visitor experience.
This role is unique in hospitality in that there is limited evening working, and only one weekend day per week is required (excepting annual leave cover). Core working hours are between 08:00 and 17:00 with an unpaid half an hour for lunch. This post is 37.5 hours per week over 5 days, Monday to Sunday and requires some seasonal flexibility. The job will involve overtime, including some evening, weekend and bank holiday working as part of your normal duties. You may be required to occasionally travel between parks.
This job involves undertaking duties which include the following health, safety and wellbeing considerations:
- Regular use of Display Screen Equipment (DSE)
- Use of machinery / tools
- Lone working
- Conflict resolution
- Pressure to meet key deadlines such as might be integral to high profile projects
Mandatory Training for this role includes:
- Manual Handling
- Equality & Diversity
- Safeguarding Awareness
- GDPR / Data Protection Awareness
- Fire Safety Awareness
- Ladder Safety
- First Aid
- Fire Warden & Extinguishers
- Food Allergen Awareness
- Food Hygiene Level 3
Skills, Knowledge, Qualifications & Experience
All Wildwood staff are passionate, committed, and resourceful. To succeed in this specific role, you will be self-motivated, vivacious, and a great team player.
Essential
- Excellent working knowledge of food safety management systems
- A great chef who can push our event catering to the next level
- A committed leader, confident to manage and inspire a seasonally variable team
- Previous experience managing a fast paced kitchen
- A passion for serving great quality food & pride in its presentation
- Commercially minded, with a comprehensive understanding of costings, wastage, stock levels and profit
- Food Hygiene Certification Level 3 or above
- Demonstrate a genuine love of British wildlife and belief in Wildwood’s Mission; to protect, conserve, and rewild British wildlife
Desirable
- Previous experience providing a variety of styles of event catering
- Previous experience of managing events
- Proven track record of income generation within the catering or events industry
Why work for Wildwood
Wildwood is a native species conservation charity established in 2002 to push the boundaries of innovative conservation and rewilding. We work with nature to fight the biodiversity crisis, to halt the extinction of species and to create resilient habitats in which nature thrives. We focus on nature-based solutions to return native species and recreating truly wild spaces.
Wildwood has a proud culture of respecting and valuing all colleagues. Our people are integral to our success; their expertise enables us to achieve our ambitions, their professionalism creates strong collaborations, and their integrity upholds our organisational values.
Employment Package
- Annual salary of £31,000
- Annual leave allowance of 30 days a year, including statutory holidays
- Workplace pension (auto enrolled after three months)
- Inclusive and family-friendly working policies
- Training & development opportunities
- Selection of staff benefits including discounts
- Free or reduced price entry to BIAZA accredited zoos and aquariums