Cafe Manager
Nature Discovery Centre ,
Muddy Lane, Lower Way, Thatcham, Berkshire, RG19 3FU
Contact details
Please apply via the link. Queries should be directed to recruitment@bbowt.org.uk
Cafe Manager
Salary: £22,000 - £23,114 (pro rata) per annum (FTE £27,500 - £28,893 / £15.12 - £15.88 per hour)
Contract: Permanent
Hours: 28 hours per week. Weekend working and bank holidays included as per rota.
Based: Nature Discovery Centre (NDC), Thatcham, RG19 3FU
The Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust has a vision for “more nature everywhere, for everyone”. We’re working hard to create an inclusive culture, where everyone feels they belong. This includes you being comfortable bringing your whole self to work, and us co-working with the diverse communities we serve to ensure we are meeting everyone’s needs.
We are seeking a proactive and experienced Cafe Manager to lead and participate in the café and catering operations, ensuring profitability, staff development, customer satisfaction, and compliance with all regulations. The ideal candidate is a strong leader who thrives in fast-paced environments and is passionate about delivering exceptional food and service experiences as part of the wider NDC management team.
What you’ll be doing
- Manage the overall performance of the café and catering services
- Lead and participate in the preparation, cooking, and presentation of food for the café
- Plan and coordinate catering logistics, including menu planning, staffing, and equipment
- Line manage, train and recruit catering staff, ensuring high standards of food safety, hygiene, and customer service
- Finance management including budget planning, stock and inventory control, staff costs and maintaining margin
What we’re looking for
- Experience of working in a busy café, or similar food service, leadership role
- Culinary background or hands-on kitchen experience
- Commercial awareness of profit margins and VAT
- Flexibility to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as required.
- Level 3 Food Hygiene qualification
For all your hard work you can expect a great rewards package in return. In addition to being part of a friendly, skilled and knowledgeable team, passionate about making a difference, when you work for us, you’ll also receive
- Generous annual leave entitlement with paid birthday leave, wellbeing days, urgent personal business leave and generous occupational sick pay
- Enhanced maternity, paternity, and family-friendly policies
- Flexible working to achieve work-life balance
- Salary exchange pension with generous employer contribution
- Learning & Development Programme for all
- Wellbeing initiatives including qualified Mental Health First Aiders, YuLife benefit package - access to our EAP, providing you with immediate and confidential help for any work, health, or life matters; 3x life assurance, online GP access prescription service, a variety of discounts
- Salary sacrifice Cycle scheme & Electric Vehicle scheme
- Membership to BBOWT’s, and The Wildlife Trusts’, Staff Network Groups for social interaction, peer support, mentoring and personal development
How to apply
For full details, please read the job description and T&Cs below. To apply, please follow the application link.
This role is accepting applications on a rolling basis and the Trust reserves the right to close this vacancy once a suitable applicant is found.
Interviews will take place face to face at the Nature Discovery Centre, on a rolling basis, as applicants are shortlisted for interview.
BBOWT values diversity and inclusion and the benefits this brings. We want every candidate to have the best chance of success as part of this process. In order to do this, we know that some candidates will need reasonable adjustments. Contact us on recruitment@bbowt.org.uk if there are any reasonable adjustments we can provide during the recruitment process, including completing your application.
When applying for the role you can expect to answer a few questions online relating to the skills required and what you would be doing in the role. Your responses will be anonymised, randomised, and scored by a panel of reviewers.
We don't use an application form, or CVs - your answers to our situational based questions will be scored against a review guide and scores from these will decide which candidates go through to the interview stage. See here to find out why we do this.
Whilst we appreciate ChatGPT and other AI platforms can answer these questions, we know what they have to say (and generally the answer they generate isn't great). We want to hear your perspective written in your own words. If it is clear that any of your answers are not your own work, we reserve the right to reject your application on that basis.
You’ll also be asked for information about your background, anything you feel comfortable sharing will be anonymised and will not be shared as part of the selection process, it will only be used to help us understand how we are performing against our equal opportunities metrics. All candidates will receive feedback on their application.
We want our people to be as diverse as nature, so we particularly encourage applications from people who are underserved within the communities in which we operate. This includes people from visible ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities (including those who are neurodivergent), the LGBTQ+ community, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and younger people. We are committed to creating an organisation that recognises and truly values individual differences and identities.
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, The Lodge, 1 Armstrong Road, Littlemore, Oxford Oxon OX4 4XT
Registered Charity No. 204330 www.bbowt.org.uk