University of Leeds - Head of Catering and Hospitality

University of Leeds - Head of Catering and Hospitality

Head of Catering and Hospitality Candidate Pack

Welcome

THE FACILITIES DIRECTORATE AND CATERING AND HOSPITALITY SERVICES

THE UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

JOB DESCRIPTION AND PERSON SPECIFICATION

EQUALITY AND INCLUSION

WORKING AT THE UNIVERSITY

APPLICATION PROCESS

We are recruiting for a Head of Catering and Hospitality. The Head of Catering and Hospitality will lead and manage the Catering and Hospitality team and will play a key role in planning and delivering a strategy to provide an exceptional student/customer experience. The Catering and Hospitality Service runs 11 cafes and a 1000 seat Refectory, a delivered service operation that caters for small, medium and large meetings/ events (on and sometimes off campus), a function and fine dining service that regularly serves breakfasts, lunches and dinners to customers in a variety of venues.

UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

The University, established in 1904, is one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK. We are renowned globally for the quality of our teaching and research. The strength of our academic expertise, combined with the breadth of disciplines we cover, provides a wealth of opportunities and has real impact on the world in cultural, economic and societal ways. The University strives to achieve academic excellence within an ethical framework informed by our values of integrity, equality and inclusion, community and professionalism.

OUR UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY

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We have more than 38,000 students - More than 35,000 full time students - More than 2,000 part time students Including: - More than 27,000 undergraduates - More than 10,000 postgraduates

• We have 3,500 student volunteers who contribute to local regional and national projects

• We have over 9,000 international students from more than 170 countries, including exchange students • We have a global network of alumni and are in regular contact with more than 269,000 alumni in more than 190 different countries

• We have 8,700 staff from more than 100 different countries

• We contribute £1.3 billion every year to the UK economy – students add close to £200m of international revenue into the City Region each year

• The latest High Fliers report, The Graduate Market in 2020, has ranked Leeds in the top 10 most targeted universities in the UK by graduate recruiters

Our staff have been awarded 25 National Teaching Fellowships – more than any other university

Leeds is ranked in the top 100 universities in the QS World University Rankings 2020

We were The Times and The Sunday Times’ University of the Year in 2017 and are currently ranked 13th in its Good University Guide 2020

We are a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities

We are a top 10 university for research power in the UK according to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework

In our latest audit by the Quality Assurance Agency the University received a commendation, the highest category of praise available, for our enhancement of student learning opportunities

We were awarded the Queen’s Anniversary prize, the country’s highest accolade for an academic institution, in 2009 and 2011

We are part of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), which comprises 23 research-intensive institutions spanning six continents

FACILITIES DIRECTORATE

The Facilities Directorate brings together Estates and Facilities, Commercial and Campus Support Services, Residential Services and Sustainability, employing over 1,100 staff, to provide first class facilities and services to support the University’s strategic objectives and world class aspirations. Our vision is to ensure that our campus offers opportunities for an exceptional student experience, provides first-class facilities for research and external collaborations and meets the best possible sustainability standards. Our mission is to provide first-class facilities and services to staff, students and visitors supporting the University’s strategic objectives and world class aspirations.

CATERING AND HOSPITALITY SERVICE

The Catering and Hospitality Service (Great Food at Leeds (GFaL) https://gfal.leeds.ac.uk/) supports the student experience at the University. The Service operates cafes, caters for functions, manages and provides service to conferences and events and operates a central refectory that sell meals (cash and meal plan) to students, staff and visitors. Providing customers with quality fresh food at competitive prices is at the heart of what we strive to achieve through the facilities and services we offer across campus. From a freshly made sandwich to take away or to sit down for a hot meal, our cafes and award-winning Refectory are there to cater for a diverse range of tastes. Our delivered catering service, deli(very), caters for all event needs offering anything from simple, but very tasty, sandwiches through to exquisite canapés and hot buffet selections. We have two venues (the Refectory & University House) that are ideal for large fine dining events & our team of award-winning chefs are able to produce everything from a business breakfast and formal lunch meeting to a small finger buffet and a full banquet menu. Located right at the heart of University campus, the contemporary Refectory venue offers a wide range of hot and cold food each day. Our mouth-watering menus are freshly prepared by our award-winning chefs on campus and we offer a choice of breakfast, hand-crafted hot sandwiches, deli bar, salad bar, vegan bar, pizza and pasta, and street food from around the World. In University House, seven traditionally presented rooms have recently been refurbished and are extremely flexible being able to cope with VIP meetings, formal sit down meals and receptions. Our Café’s provide students and staff with quality fresh food at competitive prices. Whether it’s a freshly made sandwich to take away or a sit down hot meal our cafés (including three Café Nero’s) are there to meet customer needs. Profits that are made are invested in further improving the service and the service always strives to use quality, local and seasonal ingredients. Knowing that buying local produce means that we can cut down our food miles whilst bringing our customers fresher food that tastes better and is more nutritious. At the University of Leeds, we are passionate about Fairtrade and have been supporting and selling Fairtrade products since 2003. Great Food at Leeds use locally sourced food wherever possible and 65% of our suppliers are within 40 miles of the University. Our food is carefully prepared in a traditional way in our kitchens. The Service is accredited to the Customer Service Excellence® and aspires to operate a quality management system (QMS) that will comply with the requirements of ISO9001:2015 for the provision catering and hospitality services.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Salary: Grade 9 (£51,799 – £65,573 p.a.)

What does the role entail? As the Head of Catering and Hospitality, your main duties will include: • Leading the review, development and implementation of a service strategy, policies, procedures and standards aligned with the University’s strategy to deliver service excellence; • Leading, managing and developing your team to ensure that they are motivated and committed to delivering a high standard of service and making sure that they understand how their performance and contribution as team members will deliver results in line with strategy; • Developing and maintaining strategy aligned objectives an operational business/ action plan for the Catering and Hospitality Service. • Working and networking with customers and other stakeholders (heads of other services, deans, heads of schools, suppliers and professional associates) to better plan the development and improvement of product & service; • Planning and leading complex projects to deliver product and service improvements, reporting on project initiatives, progress, and implementation to senior management; • Leading your team to benchmark product and service in the ‘high street’, to be able to bring forward innovative ideas to refresh and improve the quality of the product and service we offer; • Develop new income generating projects to maximise year-round returns; • Leading the development and implementation of a marketing and sales strategy for catering and hospitality product and services; • Leading Initiatives to promote and improve

the experience of equality and inclusion for staff and customers/service users; • Leading and managing all HR matters in the Catering & Hospitality Service (you will be supported by members of the University’s HR team), includes - recruitment, leave and sickness monitoring, training and development and performance management initiatives/ required actions; • Organising and prioritising your own work and the work of others to ensure that key deadlines and objectives are met; • Leading the team to plan to cater for, and deliver key bookings and events; • Staying informed about developments in the catering and hospitality sector to take initiatives to better manage both risk and opportunity; • Leading your team to collect and utilise customer feedback to achieve continuous product and service improvements; • Leading on ensuring that the University’s catering and vending contracts provide a popular and financially sustainable offer to students, staff and visitors; • Budget setting and the management of performance against budget; • Monitoring and reporting financial and non-financial performance measures to address material variances; • Taking responsibility for developing loyalty programmes and the management of their effectiveness; • Working with leadership team members in the University’s Conference and Events Service and the University’s Residential Service to increase income from conferences & events; • Leading the team you manage to maintain compliance with all legislation, standards and regulations relevant to operating

the Catering and Hospitality Service and taking a lead responsibility when external inspections/audits take place, e.g. food safety inspections by the EHO; • Ensuring that University governance, regulations, requirements and guidance are adhered to at all times; • Ensuring effective engagement with the University’s Sustainability strategy, promoting ethical and sustainable products, and support our commitment to Fairtrade; • Working with colleagues to ensure that quality standards and customer service standards (currently Customer Service Excellence ®) are maintained;

• Representing the Catering and Hospitality Service in University-wide meetings and on committees; • Giving presentations and representing the University outwardly in consultations and meetings with external organisations as might be required. These duties provide a framework for the role and should not be regarded as a definitive list. Other reasonable duties may be required consistent with the grade of the post.

Hours of work

Hours worked will be flexible and as required to meet the demands of the business. Hours will typically be 5 days over 7, normally Monday to Friday, however weekends will occasionally need to be worked in line with business needs. • In addition, (given advance notice): • The holder of this post will be required to be contactable or on call overnight and at week- ends and will sometimes be required to attend work out of hours to resolve/manage issues. In practice, a team of senior managers share these on call responsibilities; • You will sometimes be required to work on University closed days and/or public holidays.

What you will bring to the role?

• As the Head of Catering and Hospitality, you will have: • A degree level education or hold equivalent experience/qualifications; • Experience of working successfully in a leadership and business development role in a retail catering/hospitality setting; • Experience of planning marketing campaigns that build brand and deliver return on in- vestment; • A proven ability to lead, manage and develop a large team effectively, creating an envi- ronment where colleagues are motivated and supported to achieve service/organisational goals; • An ability to formulate team strategies, objectives; • An openness to change, and be sufficiently experienced to be able to develop, lead and manage new initiatives and projects in order to improve service delivery; • Experience of monitoring and managing large budgets; • Excellent analytical skills and a close attention to detail, with the ability to solve complex problems/queries using own initiative; • Proven ability to work both independently and as a team member with diverse groups/ individuals and the ability to create key working relationships; • Excellent organisation skills with an ability to prioritise own and others workloads effec- tively, and to work under pressure; • Excellent interpersonal, communication and listening skills with the ability to develop pos- itive working relationships and networks, and to negotiate and influence others; • Enthusiasm and a proven ability to provide a high quality service which meets the expec- tations of students, customers, and stakeholders; • Good computer / relevant IT systems skills including at the very least a thorough and practical knowledge of the use of POS Systems & Microsoft Office applications including Outlook, Excel and Word; • Relevant qualifications and experience to be able to give leadership to manage food hy- giene standards i.e. trained in food safety supervision to hold at least a level 2 Food Hy-

giene Certificate and be prepared to successfully train to qualify at level 3; • To hold or be able to apply for a Personal Licence (Licensing Act 2003). You may also have: • Membership of appropriate professional body • Previous experience or knowledge of the Higher Education sector;

WORKING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

Join us and you will become part of a large and diverse organisation – with more than 7,000 staff of around 100 nationalities we are the third largest employer in Leeds. Leeds is a great place to live and work, a bustling city surrounded by beautiful countryside, and our campus is just a short walk from the city centre.

Work-life balance & Wellbeing

• We aim to be a ‘best practice’ employer. We understand that our employment policies need to be flexible and responsive in order to promote diversity and equality, and to attract and retain the highest quality work force • We not only fully embrace the Employment Act, which gives government regulations on paternity, adoption and statutory maternity leave, but we go beyond the statutory requirements to help all staff balance the demands of work and personal life. Take a look at our HR policies to find out more about flexible working hours, job sharing and many other schemes to help you achieve a healthy balance • We believe in supporting our staff at work and providing a range of support services available to everyone who works for the University

Pensions

• Every employee of the University has access to a generous occupational pension • We have four different pension schemes covering different groups of staff. Find out more about pensions , including retirement benefits and additional voluntary contributions • All schemes provide valuable benefits on retirement, as well as life assurance and protection for your family

Bright Beginnings childcare centre

The University has its own award-winning childcare centre, Bright Beginnings, which provides high quality childcare to staff members and students. The centre caters for children aged between three months and five years and provides a Playscheme during the school holidays for children aged three to 11. Find out more on the Bright Beginnings website .

Find out more about the benefits of working at the University and what it is like to live and work in the Leeds area on our Working at Leeds information page.

EQUALITY AND INCLUSION

As an international research-led University, Leeds strives to go beyond our legal duties to create a positive environment for our diverse community of staff and students. The University works hard to promote gender equality and support the career development of talented women working in the traditionally male-dominated fields of science, engineering and technology.The University renewed its Athena SWAN Bronze award in June 2021. Leeds is committed to recruiting the brightest and best students regardless of background and our Reach for Excellence and Access to Leeds (A2L) programmes are key parts of our Access Agreement and Education Engagement Strategy. We have also developed an access strategy to recognise the needs of potential mature students.

Additional information

Candidates with disabilities Information for candidates with disabilities, impairments or health conditions, including requesting alternative formats, can be found on our Accessibility information page or by getting in touch with us at [email protected].

Criminal record information

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 A criminal record check is not required for this position. However, all applicants will be required to declare if they have any ‘unspent’ criminal offences, including those pending. Any offer of appointment will be, in accordance with our Criminal Records policy. You can find out more about required checks and declarations in our Criminal Records information page.

APPLICATION PROCESS

The University is being supported on this recruitment campaign by the search consultancy The Management Recruitment Group (MRG).

To arrange a confidential briefing conversation please contact our advisor James Gregory of MRG.

Applications should consist of a comprehensive CV (of no more than 4 pages) and a covering letter (of no more than 3 pages). Applications should be sent directly to James Gregory.

James Gregory E: [email protected] T: 07966 827 391

The closing date for applications is 27th February 2022.

Final stage assessment interviews are proposed to take place at the University of Leeds during w/c 14th March 2022.