Catering Lead – Essex Outdoors Danbury

Permanent, Full Time

£25,959 to £28,621 per annum

Location: Danbury

Working Style: Fixed-base worker

Essex Outdoors is a leading provider of outdoor education and adventure experiences for schools and groups across the East of England. With ambitious plans for growth, we are committed to expanding our reach and establishing the Essex Outdoors brand as the UK's leading provider of residential outdoor learning experiences through innovation, exceptional customer service, and high-quality programmes.

Operating in a commercially competitive environment, we pride ourselves on delivering memorable experiences that inspire learning, development and adventure.

Our Centre is set within 70 acres of beautiful woodland in the heart of Essex. Danbury Outdoors is our flagship centre and one of the largest outdoor education facilities in the region. The centre welcomes thousands of visitors each year, offering a wide range of adventurous activities and residential experiences for schools, youth groups and community organisations.

The Opportunity:

• As a Catering Lead, you will oversee the delivery of a professional catering service, ensuring high-quality food and beverage provision that meets the needs of our customers across one or more Essex Outdoors centres.
• You will lead and support catering teams to provide an excellent customer experience, maintaining the highest standards of food safety, hygiene and health and safety compliance.
• You will have experience supervising a team within a catering environment, alongside strong organisational skills and the ability to effectively manage stock levels.
• A Basic Food Hygiene Certificate and First Aid at Work Certificate are required for this role.
• This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in creating positive experiences for visitors, ensuring every guest receives a high standard of service throughout their stay.

Please note that this position is offered on an annualised hours basis and may require the post-holder to work longer hours in the summer (peak) period and fewer hours in the winter (off peak) period; exact arrangements can be discussed at interview.

Place and Customer Accountabilities:

• Responsible for creating menu plans for the centre, making appropriate provision for special dietary requirements and budget limitations.
• Engage with suppliers and stakeholders to achieve quality, timely and value for money services.
• Organise the planning of work schedules to ensure staff are allocated according to business need.
• Supervise and manage the catering staff team at the centre.
• Responsible for maintaining effective communication with the main office, customers and support team to deliver high levels of customer care.
• Responsible for ensuring service areas, counters, hot cupboards and other equipment is prepared for the efficient and effective service of meals.
• Prepare, cook and serve customers with food and cold/hot drinks, in accordance with food safety regulations, to meet customer orders.
• Contribute to achieving the business objectives, particularly in terms of income generation to ensure a sustainable service using ‘selling up’ at every opportunity.
• Responsible for stocktaking and stock movement to ensure stock and consumables are used and maintained correctly.
• Responsible for complying with all health and safety rules ensuring the proper use and care of protective clothing and equipment.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring:

• Possesses a Basic Food Hygiene and First Aid at Work Certificate.
• Ability to develop skills and knowledge within the role.
• Experience of working within a similar catering environment.
• Experience of supervising a catering team.
• Good numeracy skills with experience of stock handling.
• Good communication skills, both verbal and written with experience of delivering excellent customer service.
• Ability to prioritise own workload and work within a team.

Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this role. Applicants must have a current, unrestricted right to work in the UK.

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost.

Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we are dedicated to making a positive difference for residents, communities and businesses across the county. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In March 2026, Greater Essex was accepted on to the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority. You can read more about these changes, and what this may mean for this role, on our careers site.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.

We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained.

For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk.