Area Support Manager - South East NEW DINE Posted today £33,000 per year South East Operations

Field-based, up to £33,000 per annum + car allowance. Permanent | Full-Time | 5 days over 7 (including weekends) | Occasional overnight stays.

Due to the site locations within your remit, we are looking for someone who lives in the Surrey area with easy access across the South East.

Lead. Inspire. Elevate Food Excellence. At Dine, food isn’t an add-on. It’s the centre of everything we do. Founded in the Northwest in 1997, Dine Contract Catering was built by chefs and food lovers who believed workplace dining could be something more. Today, that chef‑led, food‑first mindset still defines us. We’re a business where chefs are empowered to create, bringing together seasonal ingredients, local suppliers and bold ideas to deliver food experiences with real personality, purpose and pride. Every offer is tailored. Every menu has intent.

About the role: We’re looking for an Area Support Manager who can do far more than cook. This is an exciting opportunity for a passionate culinary professional to step into a regional leadership role, combining food expertise, operational excellence, and people development to drive outstanding results across multiple sites. This is a hands‑on role, with a significant focus on supporting our kitchens directly. You’ll spend much of your time working alongside teams in busy kitchen environments, ensuring standards are consistently delivered where it matters most. Outside of these periods, you’ll play a key role in developing our people, supporting mobilisations, and driving best practice. As a key member of our operational leadership team, you’ll work across our South East locations, supporting and inspiring kitchen teams while ensuring consistent quality, innovation, and commercial performance. If you’re as comfortable leading teams and meeting clients as you are stepping into the kitchen, this could be the perfect next step in your culinary career.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Work hands‑on in kitchens across your region, providing direct operational support where required to maintain standards and service delivery.
• Lead and support kitchen teams to deliver exceptional food and service every day.
• Drive consistency, quality, and presentation standards across all menus and sites.
• Coach and develop Chef Managers and kitchen teams, helping them grow and succeed.
• Support new site mobilisations, ensuring a strong operational set‑up and smooth transition to business as usual.
• Provide guidance and training to unit teams on systems, processes, and compliance standards.
• Build strong partnerships with Site Managers, clients, and central support teams to enhance standards and drive innovation.
• Monitor and manage key operational metrics including food costs, labour, waste, and GP to ensure commercial success.
• Maintain full compliance with food safety, health & safety, and company policies, championing a strong HSE culture.
• Champion culinary excellence and continuous improvement, introducing new ideas that elevate our food offering.

What You’ll Bring to the Table:

• Proven experience as a Chef Manager, ideally with multi‑site responsibility.
• A strong culinary background and passion for delivering exceptional food and service.
• A hands‑on approach, with the ability and willingness to step into busy kitchen environments when needed.
• Inspirational leadership skills — you motivate teams, build engagement, and lead by example.
• Experience supporting training, mobilisation activity, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Excellent client relationship and communication skills.
• Strong understanding of food safety, compliance, and kitchen operations.
• Solid financial and operational awareness, confident managing budgets, costs, and performance metrics.
• A full UK driving licence and flexibility to travel regularly across the region.

Why Join Us?

We offer a dynamic environment where no two days are the same. You’ll have the autonomy to shape culinary standards across your region while remaining closely connected to the kitchens and teams you support. Alongside hands‑on operational impact, you’ll play a key role in developing our people, supporting new openings, and embedding best practice across the business — giving you real variety and opportunity to make a difference. We also offer exciting culinary development pathways for you and your teams, from hands‑on mentoring to recognised qualifications, so you can continue to grow your skills while inspiring others to do the same.