Hospitality, Supermarket Assistant

John Lewis; High Wycombe; On-site; GBP 18,000 - 19,000; Full time

Job summary

Waitrose & Partners in High Wycombe is looking for a Food Counter Partner who is passionate about food and customer service. You’ll present products with care, uphold hygiene standards and help reduce waste while building trust with shoppers.

Hours are varied across seven days, including nights; you’ll earn £13.00 per hour, rising to £13.25 after 90 days, plus a night premium for late shifts and weekends. You’ll learn Waitrose values, support the branch team, and participate in stock checks and

Qualifications

• Excellent communication with customers and colleagues.
• Experience in customer-facing roles is welcomed.
• Awareness of food hygiene and safety standards.

Responsibilities

• Take responsibility for your food counter with high presentation and hygiene.
• Maintain stock levels to ensure popular products are available.
• Handle open food with due diligence and follow health and safety protocols.
• Keep up-to-date product knowledge and align with Waitrose food values.
• Support the wider shop team with general responsibilities.

Skills

Communication skills

Customer service

Teamwork

Job description

ABOUT THE ROLE

As a Partner on our service counters, you'll have the perfect opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and passion for food while feeling proud of how it is ethically sourced and recommend recipes for customers to try. You'll actively be bringing our ethos - passionate Partners serving food lovers - to life.

You’ll use your enthusiasm and friendliness to build lasting relationships with your customers. You'll make all the difference to the impression they have about the Waitrose brand and keep them returning again and again by earning their trust and loyalty for a lifetime. All the while helping to maximise on sales and profit.

In addition to your contractual pay, any time worked between 22:00 - 06:00 will attract Night Premium at a rate of £3.75 per hour. This will also apply to existing Partners who have enrolled onto Enhanced Hours Premium arrangements.

Due to working time regulations, applicants must be 18 years or over to apply.

Key Responsibilities

• You’ll take responsibility for your own food counter ensuring the highest presentation and hygiene standards at all times.
• Staying on top of stock levels, ensuring the products our customers love are there when needed.
• Taking great care while working with open food and ensure all due diligence and health & safety protocols are followed. Helping to reduce food wastage.
• Maintaining your knowledge of new products and has a good understanding of Waitrose's food values (e.g. animal welfare).
• Supporting the wider shop team when required with general shopkeeping tasks.

Essential skills/experience you'll need

• Communication skills to enable you to work effectively as part of a team and with our customers.

Desirable skills/experience you may have

• Experience of working in a customer facing role is welcomed.
• Experience of working in a catering / hospitality environment.
• Up to date knowledge and strong interest in food and drink trends.
• Flexible approach to ensure the support of the whole branch.

Closing Date

November 1, 2026

Pay

£13.00 (£13.25 After 90 days)

Contract Type

Permanent

Hours of Work

Varied hours of full time work (37.5 hours per week) across seven days to include early starts, late finishes, evenings and weekends between the hours of 04:00-22:00

Job Level

Partnership Level 10

Where You'll Be Working

High Wycombe (Waitrose & Partners), Marlow Hill, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP11 1TJ

ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP

We're the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We're not just employees, we're Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there's never been a more exciting time to join us.

We're ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in JohnLewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we're free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.

Important points to note

It's important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you'll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.

We also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.