Customer Service Associate - Chilled Foods

AlFuttaim; Dubai; On-site; AED 39,060 - 55,800; Full time

Job summary

Al-Futtaim Retail in Dubai is seeking a Customer Service Associate for the Chilled Foods department. You will welcome customers, advise on products, and help maintain shelves and displays to ensure freshness and accurate pricing.

Ideal candidates have 1–3 years in food retail, knowledge of HACCP, and strong English communication; Arabic is a plus. The role involves temperature checks, stock rotation, and merchandising during shifts.

Qualifications

• High School Diploma or equivalent qualification.
• 1–3 years experience in food retail or hospitality.
• Experience handling chilled or perishable foods.
• Knowledge of HACCP, hygiene, and cold chain requirements.
• Ability to use POS systems and handle inventory.
• Strong English communication; Arabic an advantage.

Responsibilities

• Welcome customers and provide friendly, attentive, and professional assistance.
• Help shoppers locate chilled products and choose items suited to their needs.
• Explain ingredients, allergens, storage requirements, shelf life, pricing, and current promotions.
• Replenish chilled products and maintain displays.
• Follow FIFO and rotate stock; check expiry dates.
• Receive deliveries and uphold cold chain and food safety requirements.

Skills

Retail Customer Service

Chilled food operations

Food safety / HACCP

English communication

Arabic communication (advantage)

Education

High School Diploma

Tools

Point-of-sale systems

Job description

Job Snapshot

Role: Customer Service Associate - Chilled Foods
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Industry: Retail
Function: Retail Customer Service
Experience: 1-3 years
Job Type: Full-time

Job Details

Country: United Arab Emirates
City: Dubai
Salary: 3500-5000 (Estimated range based on similar jobs; final offer confirmed by employer)

Context

The Customer Service Associate - Chilled Foods will support daily customer service and operational activities within the chilled department. The position combines product advice, shelf replenishment, temperature monitoring, stock rotation, merchandising, cleanliness, and inventory support. Careful handling of chilled products directly protects food quality, customer safety, stock availability, and department profitability. The associate will help reduce waste, maintain accurate displays, and ensure every customer receives reliable service and suitable product guidance.

Key Responsibilities

• Welcome customers and provide friendly, attentive, and professional assistance.
• Help shoppers locate chilled products and choose items suited to their needs.
• Explain ingredients, allergens, storage requirements, shelf life, pricing, and current promotions.
• Recommend complementary food items to improve the customer shopping experience.
• Respond to routine customer enquiries and resolve straightforward concerns promptly.
• Escalate complex complaints, food quality concerns, or service issues to the appropriate supervisor.
• Build positive customer relationships that encourage repeat visits and brand loyalty.
• Replenish chilled food products throughout trading hours to maintain strong availability.
• Arrange shelves, cabinets, and display areas according to Marks and Spencer merchandising standards.
• Follow planograms, promotional instructions, and seasonal display requirements.
• Front-face products and maintain clean, organized, and commercially appealing displays.
• Check product freshness, expiry dates, shelf life, packaging condition, and overall quality.
• Remove expired, damaged, leaking, incorrectly stored, or poor-quality products from sale immediately.
• Apply First In, First Out stock rotation to reduce waste and protect product freshness.
• Ensure shelf labels, prices, promotional signs, and product information remain accurate.
• Receive chilled deliveries and verify quantities, temperatures, condition, and product quality.
• Move delivered products quickly to the appropriate temperature-controlled storage or display location.
• Maintain cold chain integrity during receiving, storage, handling, replenishment, and merchandising.
• Monitor refrigerated cabinet and storage temperatures according to required schedules.
• Complete temperature records accurately and report abnormal readings without delay.
• Report refrigeration faults, equipment problems, or food safety concerns to the Department Manager.
• Follow food safety, HACCP, municipality, health, and workplace safety requirements.
• Keep refrigeration units, shelves, equipment, stock areas, and surrounding workspaces clean and sanitized.
• Assist with stock counts, inventory checks, product availability reviews, and discrepancy investigations.
• Report shortages, damaged goods, incorrect deliveries, and repeated product quality issues.
• Support shrinkage control through accurate handling, rotation, storage, and stock monitoring.
• Contribute to waste reduction by identifying products approaching expiry and following approved procedures.
• Promote chilled food products through appropriate upselling and cross-selling.
• Support new product launches, seasonal campaigns, tastings, and promotional activities.
• Work toward department sales, availability, customer satisfaction, and waste targets.
• Support checkout operations during busy periods when requested.
• Process cash, card, and digital transactions accurately using the point-of-sale system.
• Follow approved cash handling and transaction procedures.
• Maintain a clean, safe, and organized checkout area when assigned.
• Work collaboratively with department colleagues, stock teams, cashiers, supervisors, and store management.
• Assist with opening, closing, replenishment, cleaning, and shift handover activities.
• Lift, carry, and replenish products safely without damaging stock or compromising food quality.

Ideal Profile

• High School Diploma or equivalent qualification.
• Food retail, hospitality, grocery, or food safety training is advantageous.
• 1-3 years of experience in food retail, supermarkets, grocery operations, fresh food departments, or hospitality.
• Previous experience handling chilled, fresh, or perishable food products is strongly preferred.
• Working knowledge of chilled product storage, temperature control, food handling, and stock rotation.
• Understanding of HACCP principles, municipality regulations, hygiene standards, and cold chain requirements.
• Experience with shelf replenishment, product merchandising, inventory checks, and expiry control.
• Strong customer service and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to explain product information and allergen details clearly and responsibly.
• Good attention to detail when checking temperatures, expiry dates, labels, packaging, and displays.
• Organized approach to replenishment, cleaning, stock handling, and customer assistance.
• Ability to work efficiently during busy trading periods.
• Basic knowledge of inventory management and shrinkage control.
• Experience using point-of-sale systems is advantageous.
• Good verbal communication skills in English.
• Arabic communication skills are an advantage.
• Friendly and positive approach with a customer-first mindset.
• Ability to work effectively as part of a store team.
• Physically capable of lifting, carrying, and replenishing stock safely.
• Willingness to work rotating shifts, weekends, evenings, and public holidays.

Skills Set

• Retail Customer Service
• Chilled food operations
• Cold chain management
• Refrigerated product handling
• Food safety
• HACCP compliance
• Municipality regulations
• Temperature monitoring
• Temperature record keeping
• Product freshness checks
• Expiry date control
• First In, First Out
• Stock rotation
• Product replenishment
• Chilled delivery receiving
• Inventory management
• Stock counting
• Shrinkage control
• Waste reduction
• Food merchandising
• Planogram execution
• Promotional displays
• Product labelling
• Pricing accuracy
• Allergen awareness
• Customer product advice
• Upselling
• Cross-selling
• Point-of-sale systems
• Cash handling
• Equipment sanitation
• Refrigeration fault reporting
• Health and safety compliance
• Team collaboration

Why Join Us

This opportunity provides practical experience across customer service, chilled food handling, cold chain management, merchandising, stock control, food safety and retail operations within an internationally recognised brand environment. The role offers a strong foundation for progression into senior food retail, inventory, merchandising, department supervision or store operations positions. The successful candidate will contribute directly to product quality, customer confidence, availability and waste reduction while working within established Marks and Spencer standards. Al‑Futtaim Retail also provides business stability, structured processes and development opportunities associated with a large regional organisation.

About the Company

Al‑Futtaim Retail manages an extensive portfolio of international brands across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, with operations spanning fashion, food, furniture, home improvement, beauty and children’s retail. As a major regional partner of Marks and Spencer, the division operates stores supported by established food safety, merchandising, inventory, customer service and operational standards, with teams working together to maintain product freshness, dependable availability and a consistently high‑quality shopping experience.