Catering Manager - Devon
Catering Manager
Contract: Full time, permanent
Location: Wildwood Devon, Escot Park, Ottery St Mary, EX11 1LU
Reports to: Devon Park Manager
Responsible for: Two substantive staff and fluctuating numbers of seasonal staff
Grade: 3
Job Purpose
This role will play an integral part in bringing together our Devon café with the catering of organisational events, focusing on income generation and excellent visitor experience.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage the café, with careful consideration of the impact of seasonal fluctuations and peak times on volumes and annual maintenance
- Maintain the organisation’s high food safety standards to ensure a 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
- Work closely with the Administration & Customer Service Manager and the wider team to ensure the success of organisational events
The Working Week
Your working week will be varied and busy, with peak season working during the school holidays. You will be responsible for all Devon café operations, and play 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 usually 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. The job will involve overtime, including some evenings 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 catering to the next level
- A committed leader, confident to manage and inspire a seasonally fluctuating 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 supporting events
- Proven track record of income generation within the catering 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 £29,500
- 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