Upton Country Park Food & Beverage Assistant

Job Introduction

A fantastic opportunity has become available for an Assistant Catering Supervisor to support the delivery of catering services within an award-winning country park in Poole. With a good knowledge of café and events catering, a passion for 5-star service and customer experience, this is a great opportunity to showcase your talent and supervisory skills, and develop within a well-established business.

Role Purpose

The post holder will have day-to-day responsibility for the supervision of the Catering team and outlets across the park. They will be responsible for the efficient and effective production and delivery of high-quality food and beverages for Upton Country Park visitors, including associated cleaning and hygiene-related duties.

This role will have flexible and varied responsibilities, fundamentally working alongside the Catering Officer to lead front of house services, including catering within the Tea Rooms, Upton House bookings and events, and other smaller outlets.

Main Responsibilities

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records, including food hygiene, environmental health, COSHH, wastage and other records as delegated by the Catering Officer
• Oversee daily cash handling by the team and check that all BCP Council financial regulations are adhered to, ensuring accurate end-of-day reconciliation and processing of invoices
• Assist with ensuring that all elements of the catering operation comply with relevant H&S, food safety, hygiene, allergen and labelling requirements to maintain our current five-star hygiene rating
• Oversee casual staff scheduling to ensure adequate staffing levels to support the business and additional events
• Support with the ordering process to maintain adequate stock levels and oversee regular stock management processes, whilst achieving best value for money
• Assist with the cooking, preparation and serving of food, ensuring all food is of the highest quality and attractively presented
• To use own judgement to determine food production levels to minimise wastage and maximise income and upsell where possible
• Assist with determining menu items to provide an interesting and exciting offer for customers, particularly with seasonal trends and demands
• To key-hold and take responsibility for the operational delivery of the Catering in the absence of the Catering Officer, resolving day-to-day issues and ensuring the buildings are opened ready for business and alarmed and secure at the end of the day
• Report any concerns for the health, welfare, and safety of personnel and customers, and submit health and safety paperwork accurately and efficiently 
• Maintain high levels of cleanliness throughout the kitchen and service area to include catering equipment, work surfaces, floors and walls including the removal and disposal of waste in accordance to the daily cleaning schedules 
• Attend any training courses and/or activities considered appropriate to the post and professional development 
• Build and develop positive relationships with volunteers, stakeholders, customers and colleagues 
• To be able to use a computer and the main Microsoft Office, EPOS tills and finance packages competently 
• To work towards the Council’s and Upton Country Park’s vision, objectives and values 
• To undertake such other duties as may be required from time to time commensurate with the level of the post 
• To comply with all decisions, policies and standing orders of the Council and any relevant statutory requirements, including the Equality Act, the Health and Safety at Work Act, Food Safety Regulations and Data Protection Act. 

The Ideal Candidate

• Experience of working in a high-volume, fast paced catering environment
• Good standard of financial acumen
• Experience of supervising teams to deliver a great service
• Demonstrate a high level of attention to detail in service delivery and ability to contribute to ongoing development of the catering offer
• Possess drive and determination to improve standards and profitability
• Self-motivated, strong people leader who can set clear direction and pace
• Excellent customer service skills
• Clear understanding and adherence to Food Hygiene and Health & Safety standards
• Basic numeracy, literacy and IT skills
• Commitment to equality and diversity and offering fair access to all
• Friendly and proactive with members of the public
• Willingness to undertake training and development as necessary
• Flexible in supporting a changeable 7-day rota including events and functions outside of normal working hours
• Available to work evenings, weekends and bank holidays when required as part of the core hour duty rota

For an informal discussion about this role please contact Stephanie Raybould at stephanie.raybould@bcpcouncil.gov.uk 

About BCP Council

BCP Council provides services to a diverse community of 400,000 residents and employs more than 5,000 people. Our area includes over 15 miles of beautiful world-renowned coastline. We can offer career defining roles to transform and improve services. By working with us, you can help deliver a vision of a thriving, word-class, prosperous and inclusive place for generations to come.

Our Benefits

We offer an excellent benefits package to colleagues. Find out more on our website

As a result of the creation of BCP Council in 2019, we are working on simplifying our terms and conditions of service and will be creating a single pay structure which is to be applicable for all employees. It is important to us that we offer benefits that our colleagues value as part of their total employment package and we are reviewing these to make sure we have it right. We have been in a process of collective bargaining since 2019 and have positively worked forward to reach an agreed position with the unions for the new contractual offer. This has taken longer than we hoped and therefore we are having to consider all alternative avenues available to enable us to remove inequality in the organisation as a result of bringing together 3 councils.

We are in the process of establishing a timescale for implementation, and all colleagues joining us will be included in these changes. We want to reassure everyone that whichever route is taken to reach the new terms and conditions, we can honour continuous service and there will not be any job reduction as a result of the implementation of Pay and Reward.  If you have any questions at all about this process, please feel free to raise this with the hiring manager.