Kitchen Manager

Dobbies Garden Centres Ltd.; Milton Keynes; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading garden centre retailer is seeking a Kitchen Manager to oversee restaurant operations and deliver exceptional customer experiences in Milton Keynes. Responsibilities include leading the kitchen team, ensuring food quality and hygiene, and maintaining high operational standards. The ideal candidate will have significant food service and management experience, along with a passion for driving team success and customer satisfaction.

Benefits

Generous annual leave entitlement

50% discount in Restaurants

Access to Wagestream

Confidential support via Retail Trust

Access to Dobbies Academy

Qualifications

• Experience in food service, alongside management experience.
• Ability to manage kitchen operations effectively.
• Knowledge of health & safety and food hygiene regulations.

Responsibilities

• Lead the kitchen team to deliver exceptional food service.
• Ensure meals are presented to customers on time and to a high standard.
• Maintain compliance with kitchen hygiene and safety regulations.
• Coaching and training team members for continuous improvement.
• Manage changing priorities and motivate the team.

Skills

Food service experience

Management experience

Commercial awareness

Adaptability

Coaching and training skills

Team leadership

Job description

Overview

Our Kitchen Managers play an essential role in delivering an exceptional customer experience across our restaurants - delivering tasty food, ensuring food hygiene, maintaining high operational standards and smashing commercial targets.

Responsibilities

• Leading the kitchen team, ensuring strong levels of service that are efficient, within budget and compliant
• Ensuring that our customers are presented with their meals to a high standard and on time
• Maintaining a fully compliant kitchen with all statutory requirements of health & safety and food hygiene
• Sparking your team’s passion for delivering the best food service and customer experience
• Creating a fun and productive environment for everyone to enjoy the day-to-day operations whilst thinking ahead to ensure all your team have a development journey with Dobbies
• Experience in food service, alongside management experience
• Commercial awareness and understanding of budgets, profitability from driving sales and improved ways of working
• Adaptability to identify training needs. You'll be effectively coaching and training all levels ensuring our teams are delivering an excellent customer experience and safe store environment
• You'll act quickly and enthusiastically to changing priorities, workload and new regulations or requirements
• Positivity managing change. You'll lead the team through each season with care and motivation to deliver the best
• Can demonstrate our values at all times - we're on team, getting better everyday. We bring a smile. We live and breathe gardens. We make it work for our customers.

About Dobbies

At Dobbies, we're proud to have a history dating back to 1865. We were founded by James Dobbie and are the only garden centre retailer to have stores in every nation across the UK. Our passion and joy for gardens and plants is what makes us special. In our stores, we showcase this through own brand and branded products, concession partners and services. We champion garden living all-year-round. Many of our stores feature a restaurant or coffee shop, where customers can enjoy refreshments or meals in a relaxed and welcoming environment. We offer a calendar of events and experiences that bring people and communities together, and we have a national charity partner that both our colleagues and customers raise money for. We're committed to being a great place to work. We're one team and we encourage our colleagues to be the best version of themselves, every day; to share their wins and celebrate success. Together, we make it work for our customers.

Benefits

• Generous annual leave entitlement. Use your holidays when you want with limited statutory days off required
• Treat yourself with generous uncapped discount across our stores with 50% off in our Restaurants, 25% off in the Garden Centre and 10% off in our food halls
• Access to Wagestream - support your financial wellbeing, with ability to access earnings ahead of pay day, save for the future and financial advice
• Access to Retail Trust - seek confidential support, access to a virtual GP, free counselling service and discounted retail rewards with our employee wellbeing platform
• Access to Dobbies Academy - continue your development with our eLearning platform and development programmes
• Thriving culture; the Dobbies team are passionate, diverse and committed to making it work for our customers, Dobbies Milton Keynes Belvedere Lane, Watling Street, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK17 9JH