Catering Manager in Pembroke

Location

Pembroke Castle

Salary

£33,000–£37,000 per annum, depending on experience

Hours

38 hours per week, full time

Reports to

The Castle Manager

Responsible for

Assistant Catering Manager, Café Supervisors and Café Assistants

Team size

Approximately 25 employees at peak season

Pembroke Castle is looking for an experienced, enthusiastic and hands‑on Catering Manager to take responsibility for the day‑to‑day management and continued development of our catering operation.

The Catering Manager will oversee the Castle Kitchen, our main indoor café, together with the Café Tea Tent, which operates seasonally and during particularly busy periods.

This is a varied role combining people management, customer service, food safety, menu development, purchasing, stock control and commercial management.

The Catering Manager will also play an important part in the planning and delivery of catering for events and functions held at the Castle.

The catering team comprises approximately 10 year‑round employees, increasing by a further 15 seasonal team members during the busy summer period.

The Catering Manager will therefore need to be comfortable managing a sizeable team within a seasonal visitor attraction where staffing and customer demand can vary significantly throughout the year.

Working closely with the Manager, Finance Manager and wider Castle team, the successful candidate will ensure that our catering operation provides consistently high standards of food, service and value while operating efficiently and commercially.

• Catering Operations
• Take overall responsibility for the smooth and efficient day‑to‑day operation of the Castle Kitchen and Café Tea Tent.
• Maintain consistently high standards of food quality, presentation, cleanliness and customer service throughout the catering operation.
• Develop, implement and maintain effective operating procedures, including cleaning schedules, opening and closing routines, food preparation procedures and other day‑to‑day systems.
• Ensure appropriate stock levels are maintained while minimising unnecessary waste and controlling costs.
• Manage ordering and purchasing from suppliers, including negotiating prices and purchasing arrangements where appropriate.
• Oversee cash handling and reconciliation procedures, ensuring appropriate controls and accurate records are maintained.
• Regularly review the operation and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, customer
  experience and financial performance.
• Create and develop menus, daily specials and seasonal offerings appropriate for the Castle's visitors, events and functions.
• Make effective use of quality local and seasonal produce wherever practical and develop positive relationships with local and other suppliers.
• Monitor food costs, portion control, waste and selling prices to ensure appropriate margins while maintaining quality and value for customers.
• Negotiate with suppliers and regularly review pricing, quality and supply arrangements to achieve good value for the Castle.
• Ensure accurate allergen information is maintained and clearly communicated, and that robust procedures are followed when dealing with customers with food allergies, intolerances or other dietary requirements.
• Take overall responsibility for maintaining the Castle's 5‑star Food Hygiene Rating and ensuring that the catering operation consistently meets the required standards.
• Ensure full compliance with all relevant food hygiene, food safety, allergen, health and safety and associated legislation and procedures.
• Maintain appropriate records and systems relating to food safety, cleaning, temperature monitoring, allergens and other compliance requirements.
• Ensure all catering staff receive appropriate food hygiene training and understand and consistently follow the Castle's food safety and operating procedures.
• Hold a recognised Level 3 Food Safety/Food Hygiene qualification for Catering.
• Lead, supervise and motivate a catering team of approximately 25 employees at peak season, comprising around 10 year‑round staff and an additional 15 seasonal employees.
• Directly manage the Assistant Catering Manager, Café Supervisors and Café Assistants, ensuring responsibilities, standards and expectations are clearly communicated.
• Take responsibility for recruiting catering staff as required, including the annual recruitment of seasonal employees, and ensure new team members receive an effective induction and appropriate training.
• Identify ongoing training and development requirements and ensure staff maintain the skills and knowledge required for their roles.
• Prepare, organise and communicate the monthly catering staff rota, ensuring appropriate staffing levels while effectively controlling labour costs.
• Manage day‑to‑day staffing matters, including absence, performance and operational issues, working with the Manager where appropriate.
• Develop and support members of the supervisory team so that appropriate management cover is available throughout the catering operation.
• The Assistant Catering Manager will take responsibility for the catering operation during the Catering Manager's days off, holidays or other periods of absence.
• Develop suitable Café Supervisors to undertake a Duty Manager role when required, providing temporary management cover on occasions when both the Catering Manager and Assistant Catering Manager are absent.
• Ensure appropriate handover procedures, responsibilities and lines of communication are in place so that the catering operation continues to run safely and effectively during periods of management absence.
• Lead by example and be prepared to work hands‑on alongside the catering team, particularly during busy periods, events and functions.
• Events & Functions
• Manage the catering requirements for a variety of events and functions held at Pembroke Castle.
• Work closely with colleagues to plan menus, staffing, purchasing, preparation and service requirements for events.
• Ensure catering for events and functions is delivered efficiently, professionally and to a consistently high standard.
• Be available for evening work where required for functions, events and other Castle activities.
• Customer Service
• Ensure visitors receive a friendly, efficient and consistently high standard of service.
• Deal professionally and promptly with customer enquiries, feedback and complaints.
• Work with the catering team to continually improve the visitor experience and ensure the catering operation complements the overall experience of visiting Pembroke Castle.
• Work closely with the Finance Manager to monitor and review monthly catering sales and financial performance.
• Analyse staffing costs, food and product costs, margins, waste and other key areas of expenditure.
• Use sales and cost information to identify trends and opportunities to improve the financial performance of the catering operation.
• Regularly review staffing requirements and catering opening hours in relation to visitor numbers, seasonal demand, sales and operating costs.
• Contribute to budgeting, forecasting and forward planning for the catering operation as required.
• Previous management experience within a busy café, restaurant, visitor attraction or similar catering/hospitality operation.
• Experience of leading, supervising and motivating a sizeable catering or hospitality team.
• A recognised Level 3 Food Safety/Food Hygiene qualification for Catering.
• A strong working knowledge of food hygiene, food safety and allergen requirements.
• Experience of recruiting, inducting, training and developing staff.
• Experience of stock management, purchasing and working with suppliers.
• An understanding of food costs, margins, labour costs and the commercial aspects of running a catering operation.
• Experience of menu planning and developing attractive, homemade, seasonal and commercially viable food offers.
• Good organisational skills and the ability to plan staffing and rotas effectively.
• Strong communication, leadership and customer‑service skills.
• The ability to remain organised and calm during busy periods.
• Confidence using appropriate administrative, till and operating systems.
• A positive, flexible and practical approach, with a willingness to work alongside the team when required.
• The flexibility to work regular weekends and occasional evenings according to the needs of the business.
• Catering within a visitor attraction or similarly seasonal environment.
• Catering for events and functions.
• Managing seasonal recruitment and large seasonal teams.
• Developing attractive menus using locally sourced and seasonal produce.
• Supplier negotiation and purchasing.
• Analysing catering sales, labour costs and product margins.

This is a full‑time position of 38 hours per week.

Due to the nature of Pembroke Castle and its catering operation, flexibility is an important part of the role.

Regular weekend working will be required, together with some evening work throughout the year to support events and functions.

Working patterns may vary according to the season, visitor numbers, events and operational requirements of the Castle.

Salary

£33,000–£37,000 per annum, depending on experience.

• 28 days' paid annual leave, inclusive of Bank Holidays.
• Where an employee is required to work on a Bank Holiday, the relevant leave entitlement will be taken at another agreed time in lieu rather than the employee automatically having the Bank Holiday off.
• Access to the Benenden Healthcare Scheme
• Staff discount on purchases from the Castle shop and cafés.
• Free or discounted tickets to selected Castle events.

Above all, we are looking for someone who will take ownership of the Castle's catering operation.

The right person will enjoy leading and developing a team but will also be comfortable rolling up their sleeves and getting involved in the day‑to‑day operation when needed.

They will care about the quality of the food we serve, the experience we give our visitors and the people they manage.

At the same time, they will understand the commercial side of catering – controlling staffing and product costs, managing suppliers, reducing waste, monitoring margins and responding to seasonal changes in demand.

The role requires someone who can plan ahead but react quickly when circumstances change; someone who can motivate a large seasonal team while maintaining consistently high standards; and someone who will bring ideas and enthusiasm to the continued development of the Castle's catering offer.

An important part of the role will also be developing the people around them, particularly the Assistant Catering Manager and Café Supervisors, to create a strong management structure and ensure the catering operation continues to run effectively when the Catering Manager is not on site.

This is an opportunity to take responsibility for an important part of the visitor experience at one of Wales' most significant historic attractions and to help shape the future catering offer at Pembroke Castle.

If you require reasonable adjustments or assistance with the application process, please contact jon@pembrokecastle. co. uk .

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