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Managed by: RWL Board

Department: Catering Location: Waddesdon

Waddesdon Manor is a historic house open to the public near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

Built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild from 1874 and set in a Grade 1 listed garden, it is home

to the Rothschild Collection and was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1957. Today it is

managed by a charity, The Rothschild Foundation, and welcomes in the region of 350,000

visitors annually. It is home to the Rothschild Collection, a world-class collection of fine and

decorative arts assembled by 3 generations of the family, and runs a varied public events,

schools, and exhibitions program, including a popular Christmas Season and a family and

institutional Archive.

Overall Purpose

Rothschild Waddesdon Ltd is a trading company wholly owned by the Rothschild Foundation
made up of three businesses Catering, Retail and Public Events and Filming. It exists to generate
income and to provide a service to visitors. Waddesdon was and is a house famed for the
quality of its hospitality and its presentation standards, and the provision of in-house catering
across 6 operational outlets is a vital element of this and our offer to our visitors.

The Head of Food & Beverage oversees and manages a permanent team of 18 and seasonal
team of 45 including specialist chefs, sous-chefs and other kitchen staff, restaurant and waiting
staff. The Head of Food and Beverage sits alongside the Head of Retail and the Head of Public
Events collaborating with them to deliver the commercial objectives of RWL and supporting
the visitor and operational activities at the Manor. The post works closely with colleagues
across marketing, finance and operations delivering all aspects of Manor activity.

Outline of Role

The six key responsibilities of the Food & Beverage Manager are:

FINANCE - focus on quality and driving profit, through a combination of increase Spend Per
Visitor (SPV) and effective cost control, to ensure that catering continues significantly to
increase its financial contribution to the RWL year on year.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT - actively seek exciting, relevant, high quality and sustainable,
commercial opportunities for Food & Beverage on-site at Waddesdon (e.g., new menu
launches, special event dinners, wine tastings & wine events)

CREATIVE PLANNING - Lead on creative ideas to ensure that the Waddesdon restaurants, café,
drinks, and food to go outlets are attractive, compelling, and current. Source and, where
appropriate, develop products for the Waddesdon restaurants that inspire our customers to
buy, reinforce Waddesdon’s brand values and set us apart from other visitor attractions.
Ensure that wherever possible we are sourcing and buying locally and sustainably. Develop
good relationships with the Waddesdon Estate LLP and Eythrope Walled Garden to increase
the volume of home-produced ingredients on our menus.

STAFF - Motivate catering staff and create an efficient, flexible, and happy working
environment, fostering individual commitment, enthusiasm, and confidence, and encouraging
everyone on the team to take ownership of standards and presentation.

MARKETING - Work closely with the Marketing team to drive the engaging and productive
marketing and promotion of our offer including marketing of events, making the most of our
stories and developing social media presence.

COMPLIANCE - Be responsible for ensuring that our Health, Safety and Hygiene standards are
maintained in all our restaurants & food 2 go outlets.

Finance

• Work with the Board to set challenging but achievable annual budgets to drive the

• Deliver on budgeted targets for margins, staff costs and operational expenses.
• Create monthly forecasts and react quickly and decisively when financial decisions need

to be taken in order to achieve budgeted year-end targets.

• Fully utilise all available management information to analyse and improve the business.

• Ensure stock holding across the businesses is as low as possible and that stock is

• Ensure that all financial procedures are executed according to company policy.
• Ensure weekly banking is completed, cash handling and secure depositing.
  

Business Development

• Work with the Board to develop new business opportunities that deliver high quality

• Ensure that the catering offer responds to visitor expectations and is a driver of foot fall.

• Galvanise the catering team to be customer-centric, sales orientated, and target

• Work closely with the Marketing Department to maximise cross-selling opportunities

• Seek external opportunities for benchmarking, collaboration, and further learning to

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Creative & Marketing

• Ensure that our food offer reflects our mission of seasonal, sustainable, fresh, and

• Work with the catering teams to ensure that the offer in our restaurants & food to go

• Work with Waddesdon’s Wine Ambassador to ensure that the Waddesdon wine story

• Develop a strategic plan which both reflects the quality and image of Waddesdon and

• Work with colleagues to devise attractive ticketed events including evening dinners,

• Work with Marketing to promote Catering activities in a lively and informative way,

• Work with Marketing to inspire the joined-up promotion of our businesses to present

Staff Management, Training & Development

• Develop a customer-focused commitment amongst Catering staff with a drive to

• Focus on developing future leaders for Waddesdon and invest in our team.

• Work with the catering managers to oversee the training of catering staff to enable

• Motivate the wider catering team and address issues where necessary, including formal

• Ensure that the budgeted staff to sales ratio is managed pro-actively with a balance of

Compliance

• Ensure that staff observe all Health and Safety Regulations in accordance with statutory

• Ensure all Risk Assessments are kept updated and relevant and ensure that they are

• Ensure that all staff understand and comply with current hygiene legislation and

• Ensure the correct maintenance and repair of all equipment and that relevant staff are

Skills & Experience

• Sustained and successful career in Hospitality, Visitor Attractions or Stadia

• Excellent business, planning and organisational skills and attention to detail.

• Experience of working to budgets and negotiating costs

• Keen interest in wine – WSET Level 3 Qualification is desirable.

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• Track record of increasing both increasing sales and improving margins

• Strong IT, analytical and numerical skills with the ability to interpret statistics.

• Ability to inspire and motivate staff.

• Confident people skills

• Experience and understanding of brand management.

• High visual standards, personal sense of style, creative flair

• Awareness of current market trends in Catering

• Knowledge of and interest in art and culture

• Empathy with the Waddesdon customer profile
• Flexible, calm, and friendly approach
  

Terms & Conditions

Contract type: Permanent, full time,

Hours: Minimum of 42 hours per week, Wednesday – Sunday on site

Salary: £48k+ per annum – depending on experience

Annual Leave: From start date, 33 days a year (including public holidays)

After three full Years of service: 36 days (including public holidays)

After five full Years of service: 38 days (including public holidays)

After ten full Years of service: 40 days (including public holidays)

Benefits:

• Matched company pension, up to 10%

• 50% discount at Waddesdon takeaway outlets, 20% discount in Manor

• Staff wellbeing – access to CareCoins for mental health wellbeing

• Beautiful location, working within the charity and heritage sector.

• All profits made go to the upkeep and preservation of the House

• Free Parking
  

Application Process

In order to be considered for this role, please submit your CV along with a covering letter
explaining how your experience and skills match those outlined above and email
[email protected]

Closing date for application: midnight Wednesday 19 July 2023
Interview Date: w/c 24 July 2023

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