Assistant Catering Manager

Sodexo; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Excellent benefits

Job summary

Sodexo is recruiting an Assistant Catering Manager at Birmingham Children's Hospital to lead patient dining and retail services in a hospital setting. You will support the Catering Manager, supervise frontline teams, and drive service excellence while ensuring HACCP, allergen management, and health & safety compliance.

You will build strong relationships with stakeholders, monitor performance, assist with recruitment and training, and help manage resources to deliver great patient experiences.

Qualifications

• Experience in catering, hospitality or food service operations.
• Previous supervisory or team leadership experience.
• Knowledge of food safety, HACCP and allergen management.
• Understanding of health & safety in catering environments.
• Experience managing day-to-day operational service delivery.
• Experience in healthcare or hospital catering.

Responsibilities

• Support the delivery of high-quality patient dining and retail catering across the hospital.
• Assist in managing catering teams, allocating resources and maintaining service standards.
• Help monitor departmental performance against KPIs, service standards and budgets.
• Ensure compliance with food safety, allergen management, HACCP, infection prevention and health & safety requirements.
• Conduct audits, safety walks and quality checks to maintain operational excellence.
• Support recruitment, induction, training and ongoing development of team members.
• Assist with labour management, payroll, stock control and waste reduction initiatives.
• Build positive relationships with hospital stakeholders and contribute to service improvements.
• Promote a culture of excellent customer service and employee engagement.

Skills

Catering operations

Supervisory experience

Communication

Organisational skills

Food safety/HACCP

Health & safety knowledge

IT & performance monitoring

Operational service delivery

Healthcare catering

Patient dining knowledge

Healthcare compliance

Tools

IT systems

Job description

Birmingham Children's Hospital, Birmingham
Full Time
Competitive Salary + Excellent Benefits

As an Assistant Catering Manager at Birmingham Children's Hospital, you'll play a key role in delivering exceptional retail and patient dining services within one of the UK's leading specialist healthcare environments. Working alongside the Catering Manager, you'll help ensure safe, high-quality food services that enhance the experience of patients, visitors and hospital colleagues every day.

About the Role

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced catering or hospitality professional looking to take the next step in their management career within healthcare catering.

You'll support the day-to-day operation of retail and patient dining services, helping to lead teams, drive service excellence, maintain compliance standards and ensure the efficient use of resources across the department. The role includes responsibility for supervising frontline teams, supporting recruitment and training activities, monitoring performance and maintaining strong relationships with key stakeholders across the hospital.

What You'll Do

• Support the delivery of high-quality patient dining and retail catering services across the hospital.
• Assist in managing catering teams, allocating resources and maintaining service standards.
• Help monitor departmental performance against KPIs, service standards and budgets.
• Ensure compliance with food safety, allergen management, HACCP, infection prevention and health & safety requirements.
• Conduct audits, safety walks and quality checks to maintain operational excellence.
• Support recruitment, induction, training and ongoing development of team members.
• Assist with labour management, payroll processes, stock control and waste reduction initiatives.
• Build positive relationships with hospital stakeholders and contribute to service improvements.
• Promote a culture of excellent customer service and employee engagement across the team.

What We're Looking For

Essential

• Experience within catering, hospitality or food service operations.
• Previous supervisory or team leadership experience.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent organisational and problem-solving abilities.
• Knowledge of food safety, HACCP and allergen management.
• Understanding of health & safety requirements within a catering environment.
• Good IT and performance monitoring skills.
• Experience managing day-to-day operational service delivery.
• Previous healthcare or hospital catering experience.
• Knowledge of patient dining services and special dietary requirements.
• Understanding of healthcare food service standards and compliance requirements.

What You'll Bring

We're looking for someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment and can lead by example. You'll be a confident communicator with a collaborative approach, strong attention to detail and the ability to motivate teams to deliver their best every day. The successful candidate will demonstrate Sodexo's core values through effective communication, teamwork, adaptability and employee engagement.

Why Join Sodexo?

Working with Sodexo means being part of a global organisation that puts people at the centre of everything we do. You'll have access to a range of benefits and development opportunities designed to support your career and wellbeing, including:

• Access to learning and development programmes
• Career progression opportunities
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Discount schemes and lifestyle benefits
• Pension and wellbeing support
• A chance to make a real difference in a healthcare environment

Ready to Make an Impact?

Join Sodexo at Birmingham Children's Hospital and help us deliver outstanding dining experiences that support patient wellbeing and enhance everyday quality of life.