Senior Catering Manager

Empact Group; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 420,000 - 650,000; Full time

Job summary

Empact Group in Cape Town seeks a Senior Catering/Unit Manager to oversee the assigned unit, align with sector strategy, and ensure quality food service for clients.

You will lead daily operations, menu costing, and financial controls, while managing people, safety (HSE), and customer experience to uphold brand standards. The role requires strong leadership and a focus on delivering exceptional hospitality services.

Qualifications

• Relevant tertiary qualification in F&B or hospitality or culinary arts.
• Healthcare sector experience is compulsory.
• Senior catering management experience is advantageous.
• Change programmes and unit mobilization experience advantageous.
• Experience following brand guidelines.
• Costing and budgeting experience advantageous.
• Proven management of departments/teams.
• Driver's license required.

Responsibilities

• Manage daily operations of the assigned unit in accordance with sector strategy, contract specifications, and statutory regulations.
• Implement an effective and efficient food production process.
• Provide great quality service to clients.
• Manage the execution of creative functions.
• Execute menu planning, standardisation, adoption and costing.
• Monitor the kitchen to ensure standardized recipes and food quality.
• Oversee daily bookkeeping: issues, sales, stock, banking, etc.
• Manage and monitor gross profit per budgeted targets.
• Maintain minimum and maximum stock levels.
• Ensure the meal ordering system is functional and used optimally.
• Manage HSE daily and keep records up to date.
• Manage people: staffing, payroll, leave, performance.
• Manage Customer Experience using surveys and data.
• Ensure service levels align with client SLA.

Skills

Catering management

Operations management

Budgeting

People management

Customer service

Communication

Problem solving

Event planning

Creativity

Education

Tertiary qualification in F&B / hospitality / culinary arts

Tools

Budgeting software

Stock management systems

ERP / Inventory systems

Job description

The Main Purpose of the job

The successful applicant will be responsible for managing the assigned unit in accordance with sector strategy, contract specifications, and statutory regulations. The candidate will have oversight of the food production process, ensure exceptional client relations, the provision of a quality food service for clients and manage the execution of creative functions.

Education and Experience required:

• Relevant tertiary qualification in food and beverage services or hospitality or culinary arts is preferred
• Experience in healthcare is compulsory
• Senior Catering Management experience in a hospitality/catering industry would be an advantage
• Implementation of change programmes, unit mobilization experience is advantageous
• Experience of working within brand guidelines to deliver results
• Experience in costing, budgets, forecasts and invoicing is advantageous
• Proven experience in managing successful departments/teams
• Driver's License is required

Knowledge, Skills and Competencies:

• In depth knowledge of the catering environment
• Knowledge of South African and industry-specific laws
• Exceptional customer service skills
• Excellent operations and people management skills
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent problem-solving ability
• Ability to arrange exceptional functions
• Ability to balance the budget and save on soft costs
• Ability to draft and analyse reports
• Profit improvement skills an absolute must
• Ability to be innovative and creative

Key areas of responsibility:

• Manage daily operations of the assigned unit in accordance with sector strategy, contract specifications, and statutory regulations
• Implement an effective and efficient food production process
• Provide great quality service to clients
• Manage the execution of creative functions
• Execute menu planning, standardisation, adoption and costing
• Monitor the kitchen to ensure the cooks are using standardized recipes and quality of food is of the highest standard
• Oversee daily bookkeeping procedures including capturing of issues, sales, stock, banking, etc.
• Effectively manage and monitor gross profit as per the budgeted targets
• Ensure minimum & maximum stock levels are maintained
• Ensure the electronic meal ordering system is fully functional and utilised optimally
• Effectively manage HSE daily to ensure all records are up to date
• Effectively manage people (i.e. staffing - workforce planning, payroll administration, leave management, performance management)
• Effectively manage the Customer Experience (through surveys and using data to improve the service offering)
• Ensure strict adherence of service levels according to the client service level agreement

Empact Group is committed to Employment Equity in line with legislation and will give first preference to candidates as per Equity requirements.

By applying for a role within Empact Group (Proprietary) Limited, all Personal Information that you provide to the Company will be held and/ or stored securely for the purpose of recruitment. Your Personal Information will be stored electronically in a database. Where appropriate, some information may be retained in hard copy. In either event, storage will be secure and audited regularly regarding the safety and security of the information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information.