Key Operator - High Care Kitchen

This position is 40 hours per week on 14.00 - 22.00 Shift pattern. The High Care Kitchen department decants cooked fills from the low risk kitchen to directly supply the meals and sweets department. Produce, vegetables and fillings are blast chilled to CCP temperatures and held in the chiller for meals use and transport to the Pie Site. Vegetables are minced from chilled cooked and frozen varieties mixed together with dry/wet seasoning using a tumbler machine. Fresh mashed potato is cooked within the department for direct use to the meals department and ranges of soups and sauces are prepared also.

To organise and aid your team to supply mashed potato, cooked fills and vegetables to 3 production areas; meals, sweets and the pie department. This must be done with the products being fit for use and on time to aid production plans and targets with minimal downtime and cost of devaluation of goods. The post holder will work with the operators to follow the machine plans set by the kitchen TL. Hourly targets are set to the tumbler, Stephan and mash stations and these targets must be met to achieve production to the supply areas. These hourly targets have been historically set and are one of the KPIs within the kitchen area i.e. 6 mixes per hour for any mixed vegetable, 600kg of minced soft diet vegetable can be made per hour on the Stephan machine.

Responsibilities:

• To be able to carry out all the tasks in the area.
• To organise the operators to ensure that they are fully employed at all times, wearing suitable PPE for the role carried out.
• Work alongside the operators when needed.
• Achieve KPI targets set by kitchen TL i.e. mixes tumbled per hour.
• Inform TL and relative individuals if there are any problems with supply as quickly as possible to aid production plans.
• To ensure all operatives and temporary staff are adhering to procedures in place and Job instructions i.e. pump cleaning, scanning of material.
• To ensure that every product in chilled storage is labelled, covered to reduce foreign bodies and maintain the highest standard of produce made.
• Ensure that all stock is used in the correct order (FIFO) chilled items especially.
• Undertake stocktakes of chilled and frozen material, liaise with TL to reduce waste, reduce from plan.
• To liaise with the meals team leaders regularly and report progress to the kitchen TL and chefs.
• Copying of the plans at end of night for tumbler mincing and cooking area ready for next shifts production.
• Ensure all produce sent to production areas has correct weights and traceability documentation assigned to it i.e. QAF95 paperwork for cooked fills and traceability tickets for chilled/frozen storage.
• Area must only have work in progress produce on shopfloor at any time. All products must be put into designated area to control temperatures, CCPs and reduce micro bacterial growth.
• Competently able to use computers and SAP transactions within the system in place i.e. order raw material directly from warehousing checking of stock within area.
• Support TL in planning of the area, checking of day and week in advance plan to ensure KPIs are reached. i.e. workload against planned labour.
• Train staff as required i.e. toolbox talks, ‘on job’ training of new starters.
• Ensure all quality control paperwork is filled in by yourself and operators correctly. i.e. QAF95 cooking traceability records.

Essential:

• GCSEs in English and Mathematics at grade C or equivalent qualification
• NVQ Level 2 qualification
• Level 2 in Food Hygiene
• Cleaning in food premises

Company Benefits:

• Competitive salary – accredited Living Wage employer
• 25 days holiday per year, plus bank holidays
• Option to purchase up to 5 additional days holiday per year
• Discretionary annual bonus scheme
• Pension scheme - employer matched contributions up to 4%
• Life assurance scheme worth at least 1x annual salary
• Subsidised canteen
• Free parking
• Free turkey or voucher at Christmas
• apetito perks 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.