Head of Café Operations

Location: Rotherham

Salary: £34,436 - £42,088 per annum

Hours: Full time, 37.5 hours per week

The Role

At the hospice, their café spaces are at the heart of their community. They’re not just places to enjoy a coffee, but are vital hubs where patients, families, staff, and supporters come together. As part of the exciting expansion of their cafés, they’re moving all café operations to sit under their income generation directorate. The head of café operations will play a key role in this transition, reporting directly to the income generation director. This is an opportunity to bring a commercial focus to their café operations, ensuring that every site not only provides excellent service but also generates vital income to support their mission. You will lead a growing team, bringing a mix of catering experience, commercial expertise, and a passion for community. With their living life’s wishes strategy guiding us, the success of their cafés directly contributes to the hospice’s sustainability and ability to deliver exceptional care.

Key Responsibilities

• Café Operations & Leadership: Oversee the daily operations of all hospice cafés, ensuring smooth and efficient service across all locations. Line manage café supervisors, providing leadership, support, and development to ensure consistent high standards of service, food safety, and cleanliness. Ensure the hospice café, in particular, caters to patients’ needs while preparing and distributing food to the other cafés. Manage the production and distribution of food from the hospice café to other locations, ensuring quality and supply consistency. Foster a customer-focused environment that provides exceptional service and reflects their ‘something rother tasty’ ethos.
• Commercial Growth & Income Generation: Develop and execute a commercial strategy to drive profitability and revenue growth across all cafés, with an emphasis on sustainability. Identify and implement new income-generating opportunities, such as digital ordering systems, new supplier partnerships, and seasonal menu innovations. Explore and assess potential new café locations, expanding the hospice’s reach and enhancing brand visibility. Work closely with the fundraising and marketing teams to align café operations with hospice campaigns and community outreach.
• Supplier & Stock Management: Source and negotiate with suppliers for food, beverages, and café equipment, ensuring quality and value for money. Manage stock, inventory, and supplier relationships, ensuring the effective use of resources and reducing waste. Continuously evaluate suppliers and products to meet the hospice’s standards for quality, sustainability, and cost-efficiency.
• Customer Experience & Community Engagement: Enhance customer experience by ensuring the cafés provide a welcoming and enjoyable environment for all visitors. Regularly gather customer feedback and use this data to improve service and offerings. Leverage cafés as community engagement points, raising awareness of the hospice’s mission and services, as well as promoting fundraising opportunities.

Skills and Qualifications

• Level 3 food safety in catering (or equivalent): essential for ensuring compliance with food safety standards in all café operations.
• Management or leadership qualification (e.g., ILM level 3 or equivalent): critical for effective team leadership and operational management.
• Health and safety certification (e.g., IOSH managing safely or equivalent): a sound understanding of health and safety regulations for café environments.
• Experience in financial management/budgeting: significant experience managing budgets, financial reporting, and achieving financial targets.
• Proven experience in managing café or hospitality operations, with a strong understanding of catering, food safety, and customer service standards.
• Demonstrated commercial acumen, with experience in revenue generation, supplier sourcing, and financial target management.
• Strong leadership and team management skills, with the ability to motivate and develop a diverse team.
• Knowledge of KPIs and performance metrics, with a track record of improving operational efficiency.

Benefits

• Holidays: A work-life balance is important for everyone, which is why they offer all employees 30 days annual leave per year (plus bank holidays), plus an additional day’s leave in every 5th year.
• A supportive & comfortable working environment: Their Hospice is a calm and compassionate place to work, full of inspiring people who support one another.
• Hassle-free parking at no cost: No one is more than a couple of minutes’ walk from the Hospice.
• Great meals & drinks: Because their culinary team prepares food for patients 24/7, they cook for them too. Buy a lovely lunch with 50% off without even leaving the building.
• Reassurance: Whilst the here and now is important, they all think about the future. They offer employees a 6% pension after probation and a Life Assurance scheme which will pay 4x your annual salary should you die whilst working in their service.
• Training & development: Every employee will be supported with their training and development needs and will be regularly supported by their line manager.
• Competitive Pay Enhancements: Join their team and benefit from a 25% pay enhancement for evening and weekend shifts, plus double pay for bank holidays.

To Apply

If you feel you are a suitable candidate and would like to work for this reputable company, please do not hesitate to apply.