Hygiene and Site Manager

Founded in 2003, Wasabi's vision is to lovingly create and serve delicious Asian food for a busy nation. Wasabi now has 40 thriving restaurants across London and major UK cities and 4 in New York. In 2019, we introduced Wasabi Home Bento to the grocery channel, launching exclusively in Sainsbury’s. Building on that success, the grocery business broadened its reach to Tesco in September 2022, followed by exciting launches in Co-op and Morrisons in 2024. Wasabi grocery has seen phenomenal growth and is now a £62m RSV brand. Wasabi proudly stands as the No. 2 chilled ready-meal brand in the market, consistently attracting new customers to the category through an innovative East Asian range. Wasabi’s menu is celebrated for its unique character, exceptional freshness, and bold flavours. Our diverse range is designed to delight a wide audience, delivering both comfort and excitement with every bite. We have an ambitious 5-year growth strategy, focusing on new restaurants, franchise partnerships, and international expansion.

This role is responsible for leading the Hygiene team, ensuring and maintaining high hygiene standards for all areas of the CPU production and office areas. You will support the Operational and Technical teams with efficient running of hygiene operations ensuring all areas of responsibility are ready for production and auditing. This role also has overall responsibility for the safe and compliant running of the site during night operations. The role provides oversight across multiple functions including Warehouse, Drivers (Logistics), Production (when scheduled), and Engineering. While not accountable for the direct performance of these teams, the role is the immediate point of escalation and ensures that all activities are carried out as planned, safely, securely, and in line with company standards. The role requires strong integrity and trustworthiness, with responsibility for site security and escalation of any issues, incidents, or inappropriate behaviours to senior management.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct nightly site walks/spot checks across all operational areas.
• Build a culture of safety within the area of responsibility by actively coaching all members, ensuring that positive safety behaviours are encouraged at all levels.
• Oversee site security, including prevention of unauthorised access and reporting any suspected theft or suspicious activity.
• Point of escalation for operations during night hours where on-site management is required.
• Provide on-the-spot guidance or intervention where required to maintain standards.
• Respond to and manage any emergencies, escalating to senior management where required.
• Provide a detailed shift handover to senior/day management teams.

Hygiene Management

• Ensure that all areas of the CPU building (including production and office areas) are cleaned to the required hygienic standards for a high risk & high care food manufacturing business.
• Work cross-functionally and build working relationships to support all aspects of the business to maximize performance.
• Ensure that all documentation in the Hygiene system is up to date and accurate (including COSHH; Risk assessments & Standard operating procedures etc).
• Ensure that all team members have received appropriate training against site SOPs to do their required tasks in a safe manner, and actively audit compliance of completion of tasks against SOPs & training, taking appropriate corrective actions where required.
• Effective management of Hygiene group managers ensuring they understand their role in delivering business goals, strong rota management including managing absenteeism and organising unplanned cover when required.
• Communicate regularly with the team. KPI’s and goals are clearly communicated through team forums and PDRs.
• Lead the Hygiene team in priority problem-solving activities and promote a culture of learning and development.
• Drive a culture of food safety and quality within the hygiene team and ensure that poor hygiene standards are corrected as quickly as possible.
• Actively review hygiene working practices to identify areas of improvement and implement them.
• Lead investigations into environmental monitoring failures to find root causes and implement preventative actions to mitigate reoccurrences.
• Ensure effective start-ups and changeovers checks are implemented and documented, planned, and executed to ensure correct technical standards are maintained.
• Fully support the activities that are defined within the Technical strategy, maintaining a key focus on the KPIs of the area and any deadlines along with the impact of change on any team members.
• Conduct pre- and post-hygiene audits with designated production staff, promptly identifying and addressing any issues.
• Attend internal and external meetings as required to maintain alignment and consistency in service standards.
• Lead by example and demonstrate strong leadership skills to drive the success and development of the hygiene team.

Our Requirements

• Proven experience in a team leader or supervisory role, preferably within a hygiene, manufacturing, or food production environment.
• Good knowledge in Health & Safety, COSHH, Food Safety, and Environment requirements within a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Strong knowledge of hygiene & cleaning methods, practices, materials, and equipment used in industrial or factory settings.
• Strong understanding and commitment to technical, food safety, and health and safety compliance.
• Previous experience supporting or participating in internal and external audits is highly desirable.
• Proficient in using standard office computer software (e.g., Microsoft Office).
• Excellent communication and leadership skills, with the ability to motivate and manage teams in dynamic environments.
• Remain calm under pressure. Assertive and diplomatic.
• Strong integrity and trustworthiness.
• Committed to safety and security.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently as well as collaboratively within a team.
• Highly focused on efficiency and effectiveness in daily operations.
• Willingness to learn and train across different areas and tasks, with the ability to pass on knowledge to others.
• Proactive in using initiative and experience to enhance team performance and operational standards.
• High attention to detail and the drive to consistently achieve and maintain excellent cleanliness and inspection standards.

Our people make us who we are. If you're looking for an exciting challenge and this sounds like the job for you please apply today as we can't wait to hear from you.