Head of Catering Strategy

XC Trains Limited; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work option

Job summary

CrossCountry is seeking a Head of Catering Strategy in a hybrid Birmingham role to shape and lead our catering proposition, balancing customer experience with commercial performance. You will own the strategy, budgets, food safety, and supplier partnerships while driving innovation and operational excellence across service centres and on-board operations.

This senior leadership position requires strategic thinking, strong stakeholder engagement, and a track record of improving customer value,

Qualifications

• Proven strategic leadership with ability to set direction.
• Strong commercial acumen including budget ownership and forecasting.
• Excellent problem-solving to interpret data and find solutions.
• Experience leading change and improving customer experience and operations.
• Experience in customer-focused environments.
• Strong people leadership and stakeholder management.
• Knowledge of statutory food safety and compliance.
• Excellent communication and influencing at senior level.
• Experience collaborating with suppliers and trade unions.
• Negotiation skills balancing commercial, ops, safety.
• Food hygiene certificates advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Own and deliver CrossCountry's catering strategy with annual plan and measurable objectives.
• Accountable for catering budgets, financial performance and margins.
• Ensure food safety policies, audits, and compliance.
• Set expectations for catering team and foster high-performance culture.
• Test and implement new propositions, processes and technologies.
• Develop strategic supplier relationships and manage service levels.
• Develop and improve on-board service standards and training.
• Evolve customer proposition using insights and market trends.
• Provide operational support through Service Centres in Birmingham and region.
• Work with trade unions; plan and consult on changes.
• Oversee catering systems (e.g., NOVO) to improve data and reporting.
• Influence senior leadership with strategic input.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Commercial acumen

Problem-solving

People leadership

Communication skills

Negotiation

Food safety knowledge

Education

Basic Food Hygiene Certificate

Intermediate Food Hygiene Certificate

Professional qualification in food safety

Job description

Head of Catering Strategy

Location: Birmingham / Hybrid

Closing date: 26 September 2026

Lead the future of catering at CrossCountry. This is an exciting opportunity to shape and lead the catering strategy for CrossCountry, one of the UK's largest long-distance rail operators. As Head of Catering Strategy, you'll have strategic ownership of our catering proposition, balancing an outstanding customer experience with commercial performance, operational excellence, food safety and continuous innovation. You’ll play a key role in shaping what our customers experience on board — from product and service standards through to technology, suppliers, logistics and the way our teams deliver catering every day. This is a high-profile leadership role for someone who combines strong commercial thinking with customer focus, operational expertise and a passion for innovation.

What you’ll be responsible for

• Set the strategy: Own 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. You'll oversee audits, inspections, incident reporting and action plans to maintain the highest standards.
• 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. You'll ensure the benefits of innovation are clearly measured and delivered.
• 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.

What you’ll bring

• Proven strategic leadership capability, with the ability to set direction, prioritise effectively and turn business objectives into practical delivery plans.
• Strong commercial acumen, including experience of budget ownership, financial control, forecasting and performance management.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, with the ability to interpret complex data, identify root causes and develop creative, evidence-based solutions.
• A track record of challenging established ways of working, leading change and delivering measurable improvements to customer experience, operational efficiency and business performance.
• Experience within a customer-focused environment and a genuine commitment to understanding and responding to customer needs.
• Strong people leadership skills, with the ability to engage colleagues, develop capability, set expectations and hold teams and partners to account.
• Sound knowledge of relevant statutory legislation, particularly food safety and associated compliance requirements.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the confidence to present to senior audiences and build effective relationships across internal and external stakeholder groups.
• Proven experience of working successfully with suppliers, trade union representatives and cross-functional teams.
• Strong negotiation skills, with the ability to balance commercial, operational, safety and colleague considerations.
• Basic and Intermediate Food Hygiene Certificate would be advantageous.

Desirable experience

• Experience managing a retail profit and loss account, including retail controls, margin management and commercial performance improvement.
• Experience leading transformation, proposition development or technology-enabled improvement in a customer-facing environment.
• A professional qualification in food safety, retail, procurement, commercial management or a related discipline.

Why join CrossCountry?

At CrossCountry, you’ll have the opportunity to make a real difference to the experience of our passengers and the communities we connect. This role gives you the opportunity to influence a high-profile customer proposition, lead meaningful change and bring new ideas to life across our network. Your expertise will help us deliver catering that is safe, commercially successful, operationally effective and genuinely valued by our customers. You’ll be joining a team that is passionate about delivering a better experience for passengers and creating a workplace where everyone can belong. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and experiences, including women, people from ethnic minority / global majority backgrounds, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, LGBTQ+ colleagues and those with caring responsibilities. We believe that inclusion drives innovation. We're committed to building a culture where everyone can thrive, contribute their ideas and reach their full potential.

About Arriva

Arriva is a leading provider of passenger transport across Europe, employing around 34,400 people and delivering around 1.6 billion passenger journeys. With buses, trains, coaches, trams, waterbuses, bike-sharing systems, on-demand transport solutions and a rolling stock leasing company, Arriva proudly connects people and communities safely, reliably and sustainably across 11 countries, delivering these services in a better way, every day. The activities of Arriva are divided into four business units: UK Bus, UK Trains, The Netherlands and Mainland Europe. Arriva has passenger transport operations in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom, and also operates a rolling stock leasing company in Romania.