Catering and Food Operations Manager

Vacancy: Catering and Food Operations Manager

Llyn Gwynant campsite lies on the shores of Llyn Gwynant in Eryri, Snowdonia, where guests come to camp, explore the mountains and enjoy the lake and water-based activities.

Our Cegin catering outlet serves campers, and sometimes wedding guests from Llyn Gwynant Barns, throughout the season. Between March and October we prepare around 20,000 pizzas and 8,000 breakfasts, which requires excellent organisation, clear communication and the ability to stay calm when things get busy.

Established in 2025, Y Bragdy (The Brewery) produces around 24,000 pints each season, sold at the Cegin bar and the Bragdy taproom in the woods.

In 2027 our own farm may allow a similarly ambitious in-house food operation. We are embarking on an exciting new chapter, having just obtained a nearby preparation kitchen suited to producing 10,000 gourmet burgers from wholesome, locally sourced ingredients.

We want someone who can inspire a team and shape this next chapter with a strong focus on high quality food.

1. The role

You’ll take responsibility for the day-to-day catering operation across our:

• Pizza outlet
• Gourmet burger outlet
• Breakfast operation
• Remote preparation kitchen

This is a hands‑on management role. You’ll work with the catering team during busy periods, ensuring food is consistently produced to a high standard and guests receive the excellent experience we want Gwynant to be known for.

You’ll also help develop food from what we produce, including lamb and beef from our own farm, preparing more in‑house and making better use of our new prep kitchen. This isn’t simply a role where you inherit an established operation and keep it ticking over. We want you to be creative and make it your own.

2. What you’ll be responsible for

• Producing consistently good food and an excellent customer experience
• Managing busy service periods and keeping waiting times under control
• Leading, training and developing catering staff
• Maintaining excellent food hygiene, allergen management and food safety
• Managing stock, deliveries, labelling and rotation
• Monitoring food costs, margins and wastage, with regular stocktakes and costings
• Working with suppliers to obtain quality products at competitive prices
• Keeping outlets and the prep kitchen clean, organised and customer‑ready
• Ensuring our policies and procedures are followed
• Developing new food offerings using produce from our own farm
• Supporting the wider team when required

You’ll report to the General Manager, Operations Manager and Site Manager, working closely with our suppliers, farm manager and wider management team.

3. Who we’re looking for

• Someone who knows how to run a food operation and lead people. You could be an experienced Catering Manager, Head Chef, Kitchen Manager or food-service professional from a restaurant, school, visitor attraction, workplace catering, the military or another busy hospitality environment. You don’t need campsite experience.
• Has solid catering or food service experience
• Is confident leading and developing a team
• Understands food costs, margins and stock control
• Takes food hygiene and allergen management seriously
• Maintains standards when things get very busy
• Is organised and commercially aware
• Is happy being hands‑on rather than managing from an office
• Has the energy and initiative to improve things
• Takes pride in creating a great customer experience
• Genuinely wants to live and work in a beautiful rural environment
• Most importantly, we want someone who will take ownership and develop excellence - someone who sees something that could work better and thinks, 'I can improve that.'

4. Why Gwynant?

This is a chance to join a small management team in a business you can help grow, in the most beautiful valley in Wales.

We have a strong sense of place and want a food operation that is wholesome, local and circular. As with our bragdy, we want to produce real food ourselves, reduce food miles and work closely with the rest of the business. There is genuine scope for ideas, innovation and personal responsibility.

5. Pay, hours and accommodation

£20 per hour.

The main season runs from March to the end of October, when the team typically works around 41 hours a week over five days. Additional hours are available if desired. Busier periods require flexibility and occasional split shifts.

Although primarily seasonal, we can offer an annualised‑hours arrangement so your earnings are spread across the year, giving you a winter income. There may also be winter work for the right person, depending on your skills and the needs of the business.

Accommodation may be available for the right candidate, within walking distance of the site.

6. A hands‑on team

Gwynant is a small business and we all pitch in. As part of the management team you may occasionally help elsewhere in the business when we’re exceptionally busy. We want someone who enjoys that variety and understands that outdoor hospitality is a team effort.

7. What will make you successful here

• By the end of your first season, we’d like you to have:
• Built a confident and capable catering team
• Maintained excellent food safety and customer standards
• Improved consistency across our outlets
• Got a strong grip on food costs, stock and margins
• Helped establish our new prep kitchen
• Started moving our food offer towards in-house and farm-sourced production
• Most importantly, made sure our guests leave Gwynant having had a fantastic experience

8. Interested?

If running a food operation beside a mountain and lake in Wales, with a great team, sounds like your kind of job, we’d love to hear from you.

Salary: £20 per hour | Accommodation available Ask for: Simon Cash

Applications close on: 31 January 2027 Ad placed: 04 November 2026

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