Food Collection Assistant

Fareshare; Greater London; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A food redistribution organization in Greater London is seeking a dedicated professional to coordinate food allocations from suppliers to warehouses. The ideal candidate will have strong communication skills, a good understanding of logistics, and the ability to provide excellent customer service. Responsibilities include liaising with food industry contacts, supporting regional centers, and maintaining accurate records. This role is pivotal in ensuring food reaches charities efficiently.

Qualifications

• Experience in a customer-facing role.
• Proven track record of systematic work to agreed guidelines.
• Experience in administration within logistics, supply chain, or warehouse setting.

Responsibilities

• Provide excellent customer service and be first point of contact for food industry contacts.
• Co-ordinate allocation of stock offered from the food and drink industry.
• Support Food Team members and coordinate projects as required.

Skills

Strong communication skills (written and oral)

Excellent telephone manner

Good working knowledge of Excel

Familiarity with Outlook

Planning and prioritisation skills

Ability to analyse data

Job description

Main purpose of this role

This important role works closely with over 500 of FareShare’s food suppliers to ensure that surplus food is captured and distributed to our 24 warehouses. This key role is at the forefront of ensuring that surplus food reaches the FareShare warehouses, so that it can be distributed on to charities and community groups across the UK. The successful candidate will also work closely with our commercial team, to ensure our food partners receive excellent operational support and customer service.

Food allocation support and Industry liaison

• Provide excellent customer service and act as the first point of contact to food industry contacts via phone and email.
• Co-ordinate the allocation of stock offered from the food and drink industry and communicate this to Regional Centres.
• Maintain timely records of allocations.
• Co-ordinate food offers, acting as the first point of contact, gathering key information and passing to the Commercial Managers.
• In conjunction with Commercial Managers, identify key trends of incoming categories, and developments across the network and advise the Director of Food and team as necessary.
• Arrange and co-ordinate logistics for food across the FareShare network.
• Check invoices and pass approved invoices to the finance team.
• Provide excellent customer service to FareShare Regional Centres, via phone and email.
• Relay feedback from the network to the Food Team, Commercial Managers and the Director of Food.
• Proactively approach and engage with existing and new food partners, to prompt them to provide sources of food.
• Support with on boarding of new manufacturing sources, via letters and follow up calls.

Reporting and Database Management

• Gather and provide supporting information on food offers to members of the food team (eg level of food, acceptance rate).
• Use GLADYS to provide weekly reports on key statistics for FareShare’s food partners as requested by the Commercial Managers
• Use GLADYS to provide the Commercial Managers with quantitative data from the network as requested
• Alert the Commercial Manager to any apparent trends or anomalies relating to food offers or acceptance.
• Preparing ad hoc reports as requested
• In conjunction with Commercial Managers, keep the central database of Food providers and individual contacts up to date, ensuring new customers and prospects are included as appropriate.

Team and project support

• Support the Food Team members as required, including note-taking at team meetings
• Provide assistance and coordination of with Food team projects as required.
• Feedback to the team ideas for improving the existing processes and operations linked to the provision of food to the network.

Person Specification

You will need excellent communication skills over the phone and by email, be very organised and be able to prioritise working on several projects simultaneously

The aim is to support the food team its daily functions and key projects.

Skills, knowledge and abilities

• Strong communication skills (written and oral) and the ability to change tone for varied audience.
• Excellent telephone manner
• Good working knowledge of Excel.
• Familiarity with Outlook
• Ability to work within clearly defined and agreed parameters with limited supervision.
• An understanding of the importance of informing the right stakeholders at the right time.
• Planning and prioritisation skills
• Ability to analyse data, spotting trends in data and reports
• Understanding of how FareShare operates and its objectives.
• Knowledge of databases.

Experience

• Working in a customer facing role.
• Proven track record of working systematically to agreed guidelines.
• Proven ability to form good working relationships, both internally and externally
• Experience of working in administration within a logistics, supply chain or warehouse setting.

Competencies and Behaviours (Essential)

• An understanding of, and passion for, the mission and values of FareShare
• Able to demonstrate respect for work colleagues and FareShare beneficiaries
• A positive and “can-do” attitude

Application process

If you would like to apply for this role please send a copy of your CV and a supporting statement showing how you meet the essential experience outlined in the person specification via our website.

Closing date for receipt of applications is Tuesday 7th May 2019 9:00am.