Catering Strategy Leader: Innovation, Safety & Growth

Arriva Group; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work

Job summary

CrossCountry invites applications for a Head of Catering Strategy to shape and lead the catering proposition across our network. Based in Birmingham with hybrid working, you will own the strategy, budgets, and safety standards while driving customer-focused innovation across on-board services.

You will build strong partnerships with suppliers and internal teams, set performance targets, and deliver measurable improvements in revenue, quality and compliance.

Qualifications

• Proven strategic leadership capability, with the ability to set direction, prioritise effectively and turn business objectives into practical delivery plans.
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Responsibilities

• Set and deliver CrossCountry’s catering strategy, translating customer, commercial and operational priorities into a clear annual plan with measurable objectives and outcomes.
• Drive commercial performance: Take accountability for catering budgets, financial performance and margin control, delivering agreed revenue, cost, margin and waste targets through effective governance, forecasting and performance management.
• Champion food safety: Act as CrossCountry’s Professional Head of Food Safety, ensuring our policies, controls and assurance processes meet all legal, Environmental Health Officer (EHO) and company requirements.
• Lead and inspire: Set clear expectations for the catering team, build capability and create a high-performance culture focused on customer service, safety, commercial results and colleague engagement.
• Innovate and improve: Identify, test and implement new propositions, processes and technologies that enhance the customer experience, improve productivity, reduce costs or increase sales.
• Build strong partnerships: Develop strategic supplier relationships that deliver quality, resilience, innovation and value, holding partners to account against agreed service levels, costs, availability, compliance and continuous improvement.
• Elevate service standards: Develop and continually improve practical, customer-focused service standards and procedures for our on-board colleagues, supported by effective training, compliance monitoring and operational feedback.
• Shape the customer proposition: Use customer insight, feedback, commercial data and market trends to continually evolve our product range, improving sales, revenue, margins, availability, waste and overall customer value.
• Enable operational excellence: Provide effective logistical and operational support through the management of our Birmingham and Regional Service Centres, ensuring continuity of supply, strong stock availability and prompt resolution of operational issues.
• Build positive employee relations: Work constructively with trade union representatives, including the RMT, ensuring proposed changes are appropriately planned, communicated and consulted on, with successful implementation and effective issue resolution.
• Maximise technology and data: Oversee the development and continuous improvement of catering systems, including NOVO, ensuring technology delivers better data, stronger process compliance, improved reporting and greater efficiency.
• Influence at senior level: Work closely with the Customer and Commercial Director and wider leadership team, taking on additional responsibilities appropriate to the seniority and strategic scope of the role.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Budget ownership

Forecasting

Performance management

Problem-solving

Customer focus

People leadership

Food safety knowledge

Communication

Supplier management

Negotiation

Hygiene certificate

Tools

NOVO

Job description

CrossCountry invites applications for a Head of Catering Strategy to shape and lead the catering proposition across our network. Based in Birmingham with hybrid working, you will own the strategy, budgets, and safety standards while driving customer-focused innovation across on-board services.

You will build strong partnerships with suppliers and internal teams, set performance targets, and deliver measurable improvements in revenue, quality and compliance.