Team Manager, Food Production

John Lewis plc; Greater London; On-site; GBP 33,000 - 51,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Uniform including safety shoes

Free meals on duty

Free parking on site

Partner discount

Cinema tickets & VIP suites

Holiday discounts

Work-life balance & parental leave

Job summary

John Lewis plc in London is seeking a Catering Supervisor to lead a busy catering brigade, ensuring top-tier customer service and strict compliance with hygiene standards. The role offers a permanent contract, a salary based on skills and experience, and a night premium for unsociable hours.

Salary ranges from £32,700 to £51,200 per annum with a 7am–3pm work pattern, based at London Pimlico Head Office. Night premiums apply between 22:00–06:00, with benefits and opportunities for development

Qualifications

• Supervisory experience leading catering teams.
• Experience with diverse food types and hospitality.
• Strong understanding of how to manage sales, stock and wastage.

Responsibilities

• Operational Leadership: lead and supervise a catering brigade to deliver excellent customer service.
• Service Excellence: ensure seamless delivery of dining room and function services with high standards of presentation and cleanliness.
• Commercial Management: drive sales and control food and sundry costs, seek efficiencies.
• Administrative Oversight: manage catering admin, including stock, wastage and staffing needs.
• Compliance & Risk: oversee due diligence and ensure 100% compliance with Food Hygiene and Health & Safety policies.

Skills

Supervisory Experience

Food Expertise

Commercial Awareness

Leadership Qualities

IT Literacy

Job description

About the role

In addition to your contractual pay, any time worked between 22:00 - 06:00 will attract Night Premium at a rate of £4.75 per hour. This will also apply to existing Partners who have enrolled onto Enhanced Hours Premium arrangements.

Salary: £32,700 - £51,200 per annum - salary based on skills and experience

Contract type: Permanent

Working pattern: The Hours: Mon - Fri 7am till 3pm

Location: London Pimlico, John Lewis Head Office

Key Responsibilities

• Operational Leadership: Leading and supervising a busy catering brigade to deliver market-leading customer service. You will act as a 'Critical Friend,' challenging poor performance and mentoring your team to achieve their best.
• Service Excellence: Ensuring the seamless delivery of the Partner Dining Room and function services, maintaining impeccable standards of product presentation and cleanliness.
• Commercial Management: Driving sales and managing food and sundry costs. You will identify opportunities for continuous improvement and greater efficiency within the catering operation.
• Administrative Oversight: Taking ownership of catering admin, including stock control, wastage recording, and staffing requirements to ensure a profitable and efficient section.
• Compliance & Risk: Supervising and delivering all due diligence checks. You will ensure 100% compliance with John Lewis Food Hygiene and Health & Safety policies at all times.

Benefits of the Partnership and the role

• Full uniform supplied including safety shoes
• Free Meals on Duty depending on hours worked
• Free parking on site.
• Once you’ve been with us for three months, you’ll get Partnership discount in store and online. That’s 25% off in John Lewis & Partners (12% electrical products, some exclusions apply) and 20% in Waitrose & Partners. You’ll also be able to nominate someone you live with to share your discount.
• Discounted cinema tickets & VIP suites with discounted tickets at the O2 arena
• Discounted rates on holidays at the John Lewis Partnerships hotels, where only Partners and their guests can stay
• Excellent work life balance, including focus on well being and flexible working and our marketing leading equal parenthood leave Policy And much more!

Find out more about our benefits here: https://www.jlpjobs.com/about/benefits/

Essential Skills/Experience

• Supervisory Experience: A minimum of 3 year’s experience in supervising catering teams.
• Food Expertise: Experience working with all food types and a genuine passion for hospitality.
• Commercial Awareness: A strong understanding of how to manage sales, stock, and wastage to protect the bottom line.
• Leadership Qualities: The ability to lead by example, foster trust within a team, and remain flexible to support other departments when required.
• IT Literacy: Proficient computer skills to manage administrative tasks and ordering systems.

Desirable Skills/Experience

• Experience working in a high-pressure, customer-facing selling or service environment.
• Previous experience in a dedicated administration or logistics function.

Closing Date: November 2, 2026

Pay: £32,700.00 - £51,200.00 Annual Contract Type: Permanent Hours of Work: Mon - Fri 7am - 3pm Job Level: Partnership Level 8 Where You'll Be Working: London Central Office, 1 Drummond Gate, London, , SW1V 2QQ

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 John Lewis 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.

At the John Lewis Partnership we’re not just employees; we’re co-owners, and that’s why we’re called Partners. Being a Partner means not only do we all collectively share the responsibilities of being the UK’s largest employee-owned business, but we also share in its rewards and successes. It’s this ownership model that makes the Partnership a very unique place to work.