Operations Manager in Knutsford

Tatton Services is our next Farmshop, Foodhall and Filling Station - a brand-new site on the M56 in Cheshire, opening in Spring 2028. We are Westmorland Farmshop, the farming family behind Tebay, Gloucester and Cairn Lodge. For over 50 years we've cooked real food, championed local producers and given travellers a heartfelt welcome. Tatton is a brand-new site opening and when it opens will create around 325 jobs, put Cheshire's food and craft producers on the map and make a real commitment to our local communities.

As Operations Manager, you'll be the person who builds it and brings it to life working with the Westmorland Family Office team.

You’ll hold overall responsibility for the whole site — Farmshop, Foodhall and Filling Station. More than that, you’ll recruit the team from scratch (around 325 colleagues) and build and lead a site management team of around 13 people, from your Deputy Operations Manager and department heads to the leaders of each part of the operation. A People Business Partner and Facilities Manager will work alongside you on site. You won’t do it alone. We’ll open in phases, with senior leaders in first to help hire the rest, and the mentoring of our existing teams throughout. The aim is simple: open in control and feel like Westmorland from day one.

Your day to day will involve leading, coaching and developing your team to deliver a great customer and colleague experience across the site - guided by our C's: Customer, Colleague, Commercial, Community, Craft Producers and Climate. You will own the site’s budget, labour, costs and P&L, working with the Head of Operations and Finance Team to hit budget and keep improving. You will also be the guardian of our culture, leading the Westmorland Way with Warmth, Graft and Courage, as your guiding principles. You will recruit, train and grow your people, and build a succession plan with the People Team — using Antler Leadership, our cookery school and Service Leader academy as the foundations. You will keep colleagues and customers safe, holding responsibility for health, safety and food safety across the site. You will need to communicate well using our in-house communication strategy of ‘The BIG 5’ and our internal training and communications platform called Thrive. You will work and collaborate with our other Operations Managers to share what works. Prior to opening of Tatton Services, the role will primarily be based at Rheged, in Penrith.

This is a chance to open a site, not inherit one - so we're looking for someone who relishes that. You will need to be a people-focused leader with a love of great customer experience, good food and local producers. Ideally it would be great if you had experience across multiple sites, or leading multiple managers. You must be confident with the numbers, and able to read a P&L as well as be ambitious, forward-thinking and calm across a busy and varied workload. You will need to be a strong communicator and problem solver at every level.

At Westmorland we are a family business that started in 1972 from our farm in Cumbria, which runs unique motorway service areas – Tebay, Gloucester and Cairn Lodge – based on no franchises but instead our own Farmshops and Kitchens. We also have Junction 38, a services dedicated to HGV drivers, Rheged, a meeting place, Cafe, Gallery and Cinema, and the Westmorland Hotel situated on the edge of the Lake District. We are proud to be connected to our place and that our family of colleagues share our values of Warmth, Graft and Courage. If you join our family it will be hard work at times but we offer a great range of benefits including an annual car allowance, bonus scheme, healthcare and 5% employer pension contribution as well as generous discounts in our farmshops and kitchens, free meals when working on shift, generous holiday entitlements plus a paid day off for your birthday and more.