Food and Beverage Manager in Southampton

Lead a thriving F&B operation at one of the South’s most loved family attractions! We’re looking for a commercially minded and hands-on Food & Beverage Manager to drive sales, profitability and sustainability across our busy café and catering offer at Winchester Science Centre. You’ll lead and inspire a dedicated team, shape an engaging, high-quality food experience for over 170,000 visitors a year, and ensure F&B plays a central role in delivering an outstanding visitor experience. If you’re passionate about great food, strong team leadership and making a tangible impact within a purpose-driven charity, this is an exciting opportunity to bring creativity, commercial insight and operational excellence together.

We are committed to making our recruitment process as accessible and supportive as possible. If you need this application pack in an alternative format, or would prefer to apply in a different way, we’re here to help. Please contact Laura on 07483 371391 or 01962 863791, or email to discuss your needs.

Job details

• Hours: 37.5 hours per week / 5 days. Part-time hours considered, working a minimum of 4 days per week.
• Work Pattern: Thursday-Monday inclusive (Tuesday and Wednesday non-working days) with some flexibility required.
• Location: Winchester, SO21 1HZ with occasional working from Wonderseekers HQ, Eastleigh, SO50 9DE. Onsite presence is essential for this role.
• Salary: £30,000-£33,000 (pro-rata for part-time hours)
• Contract: Permanent
• Line manager: Head of Visitor Operations
• Holiday: 33 days per annum, including bank holidays. Option to buy/sell some leave and gain additional days for continuous service after four years. The post-holder will be expected to work most bank holidays.
• Benefits: Cash health scheme, life assurance, buy/sell annual leave, long service holiday bonus, café and shop discount, free tickets to WSC and partner attractions, family friendly leave, wellbeing policy, mental health first aiders, cycle to work scheme, financial loans, flexible IT, casual dress, staff events, enhanced pension contribution, inflationary pay rise subject to charity performance and more.

Closing Date: Tuesday 9th June 09:00

Please note, we’ll accept applications until the closing date, but we may start interviewing earlier - so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Interview Process: Our recruitment process will be a two‑stage process. The first stage will be an initial Teams call. Candidates who progress will then be invited to a second and final stage in‑person at Winchester Science Centre, which will include a tour, a short task, and a panel interview. Our interview process is designed to be relaxed, welcoming, and informative. We see it as a two‑way conversation, giving us the opportunity to get to know you, while also allowing you to learn more about Wonderseekers, our culture, and what it’s like to work with us.

About our Charity

Wonderseekers (the Charity behind Winchester Science Centre) strives to engage all children with science so they can live happier, healthier and more sustainable lives and contribute to improving life on Earth. The Charity runs Winchester Science Centre - a vibrant, hands-on experience for young children. Promising an exciting day out for families, with curriculum-linked trips for schools and an evening events programme, the Science Centre welcomes over 170,000 visitors every year. The Charity also delivers a free and impactful community programme for our priority audiences who may not have the opportunity to come to the Science Centre reaching over 10,000 people every year. Through our magnificent planetarium and live science experiences, as well as our out in communities work, science is brought to life in imaginative, fun and accessible ways that means everyone is included.

The Role

To lead the food and beverage (F&B) operation at Winchester Science Centre, driving sales, profitability and sustainability, while ensuring that the catering offer enhances the visitor experience across all areas of activity. The Food & Beverage Manager is accountable for product quality, gross profit margin (GPM), team leadership and customer satisfaction, ensuring the café and catering offer are integral to the Centre’s mission and commercial success.

Working in close collaboration with the Head of Visitor Operations, Visitor Operations Manager, and Retail Manager, this role ensures the F&B operation is consistent, high-quality and aligned with events, exhibitions and programmes.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the F&B operation to achieve sales and profitability targets, meeting or exceeding agreed income, spend per head and GPM goals.
• Manage day-to-day café operations, ensuring the offer is consistently high quality, safe, accessible and welcoming.
• Develop and evolve the catering offer to match visitor expectations, exhibitions, events and audience profiles.
• Ensure F&B integrates seamlessly into all Winchester Science Centre activity, including school visits, evening programmes, private hires and special events.
• Monitor performance against KPIs (sales, GPM, spend per head, wastage, customer feedback) and report insight to the Head of Visitor Operations and COO.
• Work with the Head of Visitor Operations to drive the Retail Strategy to continue driving greater profitability to support the Charity in its mission.
• Lead the F&B team (supervisors and assistants), including recruitment, induction, training, rotas, payroll accuracy and performance reviews.
• Ensure the café is consistently well-presented and compliant with health and safety, food hygiene, and trading standards.
• Manage supplier relationships, ordering and stock control to ensure value, quality and minimal waste.
• Drive sustainability across F&B operations, aligning with the organisation’s environmental commitments (e.g. reducing packaging, food waste, and carbon footprint).
• Be a key part of the Duty Manager team, taking responsibility for the safe and smooth operation of Winchester Science Centre during assigned shifts. This includes opening and closing the site, coordinating teams across Visitor Operations, Retail and Food & Beverage, ensuring guest safety and satisfaction, and responding to incidents, complaints and emergencies with professionalism and authority.
• Respond to customer feedback and complaints with professionalism, ensuring service improvements are implemented.
• Work closely with the Retail Manager to deliver joined-up commercial offers and cross-promotions.
• Collaborate with the Visitor Operations Manager to ensure F&B teams are briefed and aligned with daily operational priorities and wider visitor experience standards.
• Work alongside Marketing & Audiences to promote the F&B offer and ensure alignment with campaigns and events.
• Lead F&B-specific projects to improve profitability, efficiency, sustainability and customer satisfaction.

Person Specification

• Proven experience in managing a commercial catering or F&B operation, ideally within a visitor attraction, leisure, cultural or hospitality environment.
• Strong track record in achieving sales and profitability targets, including managing GPM.
• Experience of menu/product development, stock control and supplier management.
• Demonstrable ability to lead and motivate teams to deliver high standards of customer service.
• Knowledge of food hygiene, health and safety and industry regulations.
• Confident in using EPOS and financial reporting tools to monitor and improve performance.
• Understanding of how F&B integrates into wider visitor experience and events delivery.

Personal Attributes

• Commercially minded with a proactive approach to improving profitability and margin.
• Passionate about food quality, sustainability and customer experience.
• Collaborative and able to work effectively with colleagues across Visitor Operations and Retail.
• Calm and resilient in a busy, changeable environment.
• Highly organised with excellent attention to detail.
• Flexible and adaptable, with a creative approach to problem-solving.

In addition applicants will have:

• A clean record on the Disclosure and Barring Service

Ready to Apply?

Click here to visit our recruitment webpage. When you’re ready, please submit your application through our recruitment portal here for this vacancy. You will be asked to submit your contact details and answer a few questions so we can get to know you. Please keep your responses concise, this is your opportunity to really stand out. After answering these questions, please upload your cover letter and CV.

Please contact us if you’d like to arrange an informal chat, have any questions about the role before applying or would like to discuss support during the application process – contact details below.

Contact Us: Laura Ollis, Director of People and Culture Email: Telephone: 07483 371391 (No recruitment agencies, thank you).