Food Manager

Sainsbury’s Group; St Albans; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading retail company in St Albans is looking for a Food Manager to ensure high standards and exceptional customer service in the food hall. The role includes managing a team, compliance with processes, and performance management, while ensuring customers receive the best shopping experience. Candidates should have previous line management experience, a passion for customer service, and a track record of achieving KPIs. This position includes various benefits such as a discount card and generous holiday entitlement.

Benefits

10-15% shopping discount

Annual bonus scheme

Free food and hot drinks

Generous holiday entitlement

Pension matching contributions

Share scheme

Wellbeing support

Cycle to Work scheme

Special offers on memberships and retail

Qualifications

• Experience in managing performance and conducting disciplinaries.
• Ability to lead teams in a dynamic, customer-facing environment.
• Track record of delivering exceptional customer experiences and coaching others.

Responsibilities

• Coaching and role modelling for high standards across the food hall.
• Managing compliance and ensuring excellent customer service.
• Assuming overall responsibility for running the store when needed.

Skills

Line management in fast-paced operations

Exceptional customer service

Delivering KPIs

Leadership in operational settings

Managing people issues

Job description

Responsibilities

• Role modelling and coaching for high standards and efficiency across the whole food hall.
• Managing compliance to processes whilst bringing the passion and flare for great shop keeping and customer service.
• Ensure every single one of our customers gets the food they want when they shop with us to help ensure we are the first choice for food.
• People management is a big part of the role, managing performance and capability, conducting disciplinaries and ensuring scheduling and pay are accurate.
• At times you will assume overall responsibility for running the store, making sure that all colleagues are given direction and support to deliver for the customer.

What makes a great food manager

• Previous line management responsibilities in a fast-paced, operational environment.
• Provides brilliant customer service and coaches a team to do the same.
• Delivers KPI's or other performance indicators.
• Can manage disciplinaries, performance issues or other similar employee relations issues.
• Leads operations and comfortable doing this alone in the absence of more senior management.

Leading in our stores

• A track record of delivering exceptional customer experiences, with evidence of coaching others to consistently raise the bar.
• Experience leading teams in a dynamic, customer-facing environment - you've inspired others, driven high performance, and created a culture where colleagues thrive.
• Leadership experience in a high-volume, fast-paced operational setting - whether in retail, food service, or hospitality - where you've overseen daily operations, solved business problems, and kept teams focused on what matters most: delivering for customers.
• Proven success in delivering against a wide range of KPIs - from sales and stock availability to customer satisfaction and colleague engagement, you've made a measurable difference.
• Experience managing complex people matters, including performance, absence, and formal employee relations cases, with confidence and fairness.

Salary & Benefits

Salary will be dependent upon your experience as well as the store size, complexity and location.

• Discount card - 10% discount off on your shopping at Sainsbury's, Argos, Tu and Habitat after four weeks. This increases to 15% discount off at Sainsbury's every Friday and Saturday and 15% off at Argos every pay day.
• An annual bonus scheme based on our, and your, performance.
• Free food and hot drinks provided for Colleagues in all our stores.
• Generous holiday entitlement, maternity and paternity leave.
• Pension - we'll match 4-7.5% of your pension contributions.
• Sainsbury's share scheme - build up an investment at discounted rates.
• Wellbeing support - access to emotional support, counselling, legal and financial advice.
• Colleague networks - link with like-minded people to help fulfil your potential.
• Our Cycle to Work scheme gives you the opportunity to hire a new bike and cycling equipment, whilst saving on tax and NI.
• Special offers on gym memberships, restaurants, holidays, retail vouchers and more.

An inclusive place to work and shop

We are dedicated to being a truly inclusive retailer, where every colleague can achieve their full potential and every customer feels welcome when they shop with us.

To support this commitment, our colleagues may be entitled to a range of enhanced discretionary leave for families, as well as support for carers. We provide our colleagues resources to help them understand and support their role and their team effectively. Our internal colleague networks seek to ensure true representation for everyone, helping us identify and remove barriers that our colleagues may face. We are proud to offer a range of development opportunities, including mentorship, training, and career progression pathways, to help our colleagues grow and succeed. We also celebrate diversity through various initiatives and events, fostering a culture of inclusion and respect.

If you would like to learn more about our commitment to inclusivity, please take a look .