Catering Manager
The closing date is 21 June 2026
We are seeking an experienced and highly motivated Catering Manager to lead and develop our Catering Services across the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and Kidderminster Hospital. This senior role is pivotal in ensuring the delivery of safe, efficient and high quality catering services that support exceptional patient care, staff wellbeing, and a positive visitor experience.
As the Band 7 Catering Manager, you will provide strategic and operational leadership to our catering teams, ensuring full compliance with national food safety standards, NHS nutrition and hydration guidelines, and Trust policies. You will drive a culture of continuous improvement, champion excellent customer service, and ensure our services meet the needs of diverse clinical and non‑clinical areas.
Working across two hospital sites, you will oversee day‑to‑day operations, manage budgets and resources effectively, and lead on service modernisation, workforce development, and quality assurance. You will collaborate closely with Estates & Facilities colleagues, clinical teams, suppliers, and external partners to deliver a safe, responsive, and sustainable catering service.
Main duties of the job
The Catering Manager will lead and develop high quality catering services across the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and Kidderminster Hospital, ensuring safe, compliant and customer focused delivery for patients, staff and visitors. The role involves providing strategic and operational leadership to a large multisite catering workforce, overseeing staffing, training, performance, recruitment and all associated HR responsibilities. You will manage a significant budget, ensuring effective financial control, value for money and adherence to Trust policies and food safety legislation. The post holder will maintain 5‑star food hygiene standards, support menu development that meets clinical, cultural and dietary needs, and ensure robust HACCP processes, risk management and business continuity plans are in place.
Job responsibilities
* The financial management and provision of information to ensure effective budgetary control is maintained within prescribed cash limits.
* Keep the Facilities team and Trust informed of national changes in Catering service standards and ensure those standards are adhered to e.g. Food for Life, CQUINS, FSA, Guardians of Grub.
* Establish realistic and robust initiatives to Catering service delivery standards and progress all required work streams against the Trust’s Governance frameworks.
* Develop the planning for future requirements involving method of production and service to meet the Trust’s medium and long‑term objectives.
* Deliver objectives in line with the business plans and budget for Facilities.
* Ensure the Trust achieves core standards within CQC Standards and any similar governance requirement.
* liaise with the Estates and Facilities to ensure site services are delivered in a cohesive manner.
* Plan and ensure essential skills training interventions to meet Catering staff learning needs, develop skills and knowledge matrix to ensure the workforce is appropriately trained, and have management succession plans in place.
* Support other areas within Facilities and Clinical Divisions in relation to all aspects of Food Hygiene Compliance.
* Develop and maintain strategies to reduce risk through excellent HACCP, risk management and Environmental Health Compliance across all services with comprehensive records of evidence.
* Continue to develop menus that suit all clients, including cultural, religious and ethnic requirements for patients, staff and visitors with assistance and advice from production staff, service staff and dieticians.
* Organise and ensure monthly audits of the catering department are carried out on the quality and wastage of food to ensure annual returns can be completed.
* Ensure provisions and equipment are purchased in accordance with the Trust's SFIs alongside the procurement team while ensuring best value for money.
* Ensure all departments within the Alexandra and Kidderminster hospitals comply to legislation regarding Food Safety.
* Abide by Trust policies including standing financial instructions and governance, codes and practices.
* Continually review the effectiveness of service provision and the utilisation of resources, considering the views of Service Users and Clients.
* Manage the day‑to‑day in‑house catering services ensuring seamless service provision.
* Accountable to support a range of options appraisals for selection of service developments, contract negotiation, action planning and making sound judgement against tenders received for external services ensuring compliance with a range of regulations such as infection control, health and safety, and internal SLAs.
* Provide and receive complex information electronically, verbally or in writing which may be of a confidential or sensitive nature and ensure that this is communicated properly within the organisation.
* Ensure all telephone and verbal enquiries from patients, public and staff are responded to in a prompt, polite, friendly and courteous manner.
* Maintain effective levels of communication within the team/service/divisional team(s).
* Participate in Trust and team meetings.
* Be effective, clear and accurate when using all forms of communication throughout the Trust.
* Work in partnership with all healthcare professionals; maintain effective communication that benefits patients and staff’s well‑being.
* Comply with Trust policy on confidentiality and data protection.
* Act as authorised signatory for Catering.
* Accountable for managing operational pay and non‑pay for Catering Services.
* Identify capital requirements for the Facilities departments and develop business cases to support investment.
* Represent the Facilities Department at Divisional Meetings as directed by the Head of Facilities.
* Ensure supportive staff management arrangements are in place and carry out personal development reviews for direct reports. Ensure all staff in your team/s have annual PDRs resulting in specific objectives and effective personal development.
Person Specification
Experience
* Significant (recent) management experience in a large food production/catering environment
* Significant experience of managing a workforce & associated human resources issues.
* Experience of effectively managing & leading change.
* Specialised knowledge of large catering production operations, food safety, cook‑chill processes, HACCP, and dietary requirements.
* Experience of infection control risks, policies, and procedures related to food safety.
* In‑depth knowledge of food safety statutory and mandatory regulations relating to Catering Services, e.g., Food Hygiene Regulations, Food Safety Act 1990.
* Understanding of food labelling regulations and allergen controls.
* NHS catering management.
* Budget management and income generation skills.
* Understanding of multi‑faith requirements for food service.
* Understanding of NHS Food standards and objectives.
Skills/Knowledge
* Excellent communication skills in order to deal with a wide range of patients, visitors and staff (at all levels).
* Confident and able to work with regulatory bodies Environmental Health and oversee schedule of work.
* Coordinating projects providing high‑level reports and KPI’s.
* Ability to work across the Facilities Department, leading and coordinating projects providing high‑level reports and KPI’s.
Personal Qualities
* Respectful and courteous approach to all staff groups and clients.
* Supportive to colleagues.
* Ability to appropriately address challenging HR issues.
* Ability to work well under pressure and to tight deadlines and providing all necessary analysis/reports to schedule.
* Be an ambassador for Catering and Facilities Directorate.
* Communicate well with service users.
* Communicate well with patients and visitors.
* Willing and able to facilitate change and motivate others to accept change.
* Well‑motivated to manage a successful team of staff and promote a positive image of the Catering department.
* Willing to act on own initiative.
* Able to have the resource to travel multi‑site using own or public transport.
Qualifications
* Advanced Food Hygiene Certificate or level 4 food safety qualification or equivalent.
* Degree / Diploma Level 4 in Facilities Management or Hospitality Management higher level or equivalent.
* Evidence of continual professional development in catering operations.
* High level Health & Safety qualification eg: NEBOSH, ISOH.
* Active membership of a relevant Catering NHS association (or equivalent).
* Additional HACCP food safety training.
Full job description and Person Specification available to view in supporting documents.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer name
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
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