Retail Operations Food Safety Manager

Costa Coffee; St Albans; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

SIP share plan

Discretionary bonus

Smart pension

Financial support fund

50% discount in Costa stores

Private medical cover

Job summary

Costa Coffee is seeking a Retail Operations Food Safety Manager to lead food safety governance across retail, AFH and franchise platforms, driving compliance and continuous improvement. You will provide strategic advice to central and field teams, ensure HACCP and allergen management align with policy, and oversee third‑party audits to raise food safety and quality.

Based in our St Albans support centre, the role blends flexible home working with in-person collaboration and travel for audits

Qualifications

• Technical or Quality & Food Safety Management experience in product manufacturing & Retail environment.
• Track record of implementing Governance programs for Supplier Approval, Manufacturing process technology across multiple product categories, Q&FS in manufacturing, distribution, and stores)

Responsibilities

• Provide expert and strategic advice and insight to the business including both central support and operational teams, to ensure Costa meets it legal and moral obligations to provide safe food and drink to our millions of customers
• Ensure all required Food safety policy and procedures are produced and reviewed as necessary to meet legal requirements and costa brand standards
• Retail and AFH HACCP, ensuring that Costa’s allergen management systems are all aligned to HACCP activity Insert here
• Management of 3rd party audit programme and ensure 3rd party audits are delivering against agreed objective to drive positive change in food safety and quality

Skills

Food safety mgmt

Governance programs

Communication skills

Quality management training

Travel willingness

Job description

At Costa Coffee, we are what we craft. We’re reimagining coffee experiences in over 50 countries and counting, as a key part of the Coca-Cola System. Whether you get your coffee in a store, from a machine, at home, or on the go – we’ve got you covered.

The Retail Operations Food Safety Manager is responsible for driving and monitor compliance with the food safety governance strategy for retail equity and Franchise and AFH platforms to ensure key risk areas have effective mitigation on control measure in place, striving for continuous improvements.

Our teams make a difference. Whether that’s working on new tech for the perfect pour, helping our teams grow, creating award-winning campaigns, crunching the numbers, or developing the latest exciting menu item; together, we stir up success.

We may be a global brand, but we haven’t forgotten our roots. That’s where the Costa Foundation and our fantastic community agenda come in. Whatever your role, you can help us change lives in coffee growing communities and help your local community too.

We also want to help you grow in your career through amazing experiences, our apprenticeship scheme, and development programmes. At Costa, you can go beyond the day-to-day.

And as a Retail Operations Food Safety Manager, there’s never been a better time to join.

So, why Costa?

We didn’t become a global coffee brand by sitting back. When you work here, you join a community that values passion, progression and integrity, with some pretty brilliant perks to sweeten the deal:

• Own a piece of Costa’s success by becoming a share owner in Coca-Cola with our Share Investment Plan (SIP)
• An annual discretionary bonus scheme, based on business results and individual contribution.
• A smart pension that saves you money on tax and national insurance, and matches your contributions up to 10%
• The Costa Financial Support Fund, supporting team members who find themselves in unexpected financial pressure
• 50% discount in all Costa-owned stores, and 25% off in other participating stores
• Private medical cover thanks to our Private Healthcare scheme
• And that’s not all. Explore even more of our perks here: https://bit.ly/costaperks

We’re passionate about being a great place to work, where you can bring your unique self into our mix. We firmly support diversity, equity and inclusion, and continue to work with our teams to shape the future of our culture and values: Disciplined to Deliver, Passion for Progress, Win with Warmth, Courage to Challenge and Trusted Team Players.

What you’ll do

Being a Retail Operations Food Safety Manager is about so much more than bringing our coffee to the world. It’s your chance to stir up real success - which means you’ll be:

• Provide expert and strategic advice and insight to the business including both central support and operational teams, to ensure Costa meets it legal and moral obligations to provide safe food and drink to our millions of customers
• Ensure all required Food safety policy and procedures are produced and reviewed as necessary to meet legal requirements and costa brand standards
• Retail and AFH HACCP, ensuring that Costa’s allergen management systems are all aligned to HACCP activity Insert here
• Management of 3rd party audit programme and ensure 3rd party audits are delivering against agreed objective to drive positive change in food safety and quality

Who you are

It’s your unique ingredients we’re interested in:

• Technical or Quality & Food Safety Management experience in product manufacturing & Retail environment
• Track record of implementing Governance programs for Supplier Approval, Manufacturing process technology across multiple product categories, Q&FS in manufacturing, distribution, and stores)
• Strong verbal, written, communication and analytical skills
• Completed formal training in Quality systems management e.g., IS0 9001, FSCC 2200, BRC Food standard, BRC Distribution standard, IFS Food Quality Management
• Ability to travel in Region for audit & visits

Where you’ll work:

Right now, our Support Centre teams work flexibly, blending home working with in-person time whenever it matters most – whether that’s a team moment, a creative session, or simply coming together to share ideas.

We’re excited to be moving into a new home for our brand in St Albans in January 2027 – an inspiring space from which our Support Centre teams will work three days a week to connect and collaborate in-person to bring our bold ambition to life.

For any reasonable adjustments and general queries, please get in touch with the recruitment team.