Training and Operations Manager

Are you a Catering Manager, Chef Manager or Operations Manager with commercial acumen and a passion for training? We are looking for a Training & Operations Manager to join our healthcare team, working with the senior management team, to ensure the satisfaction of our healthcare customers.

The Training and Operations Manager will work closely with colleagues in the sales team and the wider business - including Marketing and Customer Services. You will manage your time across a portfolio of customers promoting the apetito brand, helping them to maximise value and efficiency from our system, deliver training and support with practical issues. You will support 100+ customer accounts across North West of England (including Lancashire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Parts of Yorkshire, Staffordshire and North Wales). This could be in a rural community hospital or a large acute hospital, that feeds thousands of patients every day.

Our customer service and collaborative approach sets us apart from our competition by adding genuine value to our customers. This is a home-based role with regular travel across the region and further afield to our head office in Wiltshire and other parts of the country so will involve early starts, late finishes and overnight stays.

A key element of this role is to successfully project manage the mobilisation of a change in supplier or system for new customers, utilising tried and proven systems, ensuring a smooth and seamless transition. Working in conjunction with the Operational team, key tasks include:

• Identifying the customers’ requirements at the start of the process
• Developing a mobilisation plan which provides a solution that is right for the site and then making sure everyone is aware of their role and responsibilities.
• Arranging and chairing regular review meetings during the mobilisation process, identifying, addressing, and resolving any issues and concerns as they arise.
• Identifying training needs and delivering comprehensive training to all staff involved in the service from placing orders and deliveries, to point of service at ward level.
• Working with the operations team and dietitians, to ensure menus are appropriate and meet the needs of the patient.
• Arranging and holding PR tasting and awareness sessions in order to gain buy-in from all stakeholders.
• Carrying out regen trials to ensure optimum results in terms of food quality and temperature.

The key to the success of any operational service is through sharing best practice standards, identifying the right fit for the operation and then ensuring that the staff are trained to a level where they are confident and competent and know exactly what is required of them, instilling the passion and desire to provide the very best service possible. Staff training doesn’t stop after the initial mobilisation; it’s an ongoing process and we have a detailed training package available to our customers.

Using a variety of training resources and delivery methods, you will be responsible for the delivery of a variety of comprehensive training sessions and workshops, tailored appropriately to the needs of the staff and the catering operation, in order to continually educate and empower staff with the knowledge and know-how in order to deliver an excellent dining experience.

The success of any system is to continually monitor and audit what is happening, this helps to determine the effectiveness of training, the efficiency of internal controls, ensures compliance to best practice as well as identifying operational and resource inefficiencies and waste. Utilizing a range of apps and digital tools, you will be required to carry out audits in line with the customers’ requirements. These can range from specific processes within the system such as pick and pack, include an overview of the entire system or purely focus on food waste at ward level. You must be able to provide action plans and recommendations, in line with your findings and offer operational support and guidance for the customer alongside refresher training, in order to bring the service back in line.

The Healthcare team pride themselves on the long and loyal relationships they have with their customers, and the Training & Operations team are pivotal in retaining our existing business. You will be expected to instil confidence and trust from the very start; building strong relationships with your customers, you will be the expert in terms of Cook Freeze meals solutions and the apetito product ranges, sharing best practice and creating positive PR within the catering department and wider areas of the hospitals you work with.

The role is forever evolving as we make greater use of the latest digital developments to drive continuous improvement and efficiencies within our business. Working with your Training and Ops colleagues you will be key to driving through these developments and bringing our support package into the digital age. Project work may involve new innovations for the training & ops support package, assisting the Catering Consultants with product launches and tastings, organising regional Consumer Taste Panels and workshops, supporting company events such as the Leadership Forum or external trade conferences. Your role will also involve sharing ideas with other members of the healthcare team, involvement at our regular team meetings and being prepared to help other team members nationally when the need arises.

Essential

• Demonstrates a passion for service
• Proven experience of developing and managing an account portfolio
• Confident presentation skills - stakeholder presentations are a regular occurrence
• Project management experience
• Agile communication and presentation skills - able to engage and build trust at all levels of the business, from board room to kitchen
• Proactive approach to time management and prioritisation to manage a complex workload effectively
• Good A Levels / GCSEs to support a high standard of business communication skills and basic numerical analysis.
• Attention to detail
• Good team player able to work with colleagues to achieve optimum results in both their own role and for the business as a whole.
• Diplomatic, but assertive.

Desirable

• Commercial experience - reviewing contracts - understanding KPI's & SLA's
• Experience of catering management preferably in a hospital catering environment.
• Training Experience to medium sized groups
• Certification in Food Hygiene/nutrition standards
• Knowledge of the healthcare market including cook freeze experience

As this role involves working with elderly and vulnerable customers, it requires a Basic DBS check. Travel to customers across the region and to national events, including overnight stays, will be a regular requirement - typically 1 night per week. A company car is provided to facilitate this so you must have held a clean (or virtually clean) driving licence for at least 2 years.

Benefits

• Competitive salary - accredited Living Wage employer
• Company Car
• 25 days holiday per year, plus bank holidays
• Option to purchase up to 5 additional days holiday per year
• Generous annual bonus scheme
• Pension scheme - employer matched contributions up to 4%
• Life assurance scheme worth at least 2x annual salary
• Free turkey or voucher at Christmas
• Perks at work scheme including salary sacrifice options and retail discounts

As a family-owned business, we take great pride in being a company that makes a real difference and is dedicated to creating outstanding meals to be proud of. We develop a range of products designed to enhance health and well-being for all our customers. We are driven by a passion for service and dedicated to feeding some of the UK’s most vulnerable people. We proudly support British food and farming, focusing on using the best ethical and sustainable produce in alignment with our goal to reach Net Zero by 2040. Our ethical standards are recognised by the ETI and we are an accredited Living Wage employer. We embrace inclusion, empowering individuals from diverse backgrounds. Our commitment to making a real difference extends to customers, communities, and staff and we’re on a mission to build an inclusive workplace where everyone reaches their full potential.