Food Manager

Food Manager

Reporting to:
Salary:
Hours:
Terms:
Direct Reports:
Location:

Head of Food & Community
£29,000-£31,000 pro rata
37.5 hours per week
Permanent
Food & Community Officer, 2x HGV Drivers
Bristol or Plymouth

About FareShare South West
FareShare South West (FSSW) joins the dots between food waste and hunger, empowering
communities to turn an environmental problem into lasting social good. We rescue tonnes of
quality surplus food from the industry and share it with charities and schools to bring health,
dignity, and routes out of poverty for people across the south west. Our supportive volunteering
and employability programmes offer local people the opportunity to thrive. By joining us, you’ll
be part of an inclusive, friendly team in a small but fast-growing charity that helps fight the
injustice of who gets to afford a healthy diet.

FareShare South West is an independent local charity, working in partnership with FareShare
UK. By being part of the national FareShare network, we can help rescue more food. By being
small and independent, we can remain close to our local partners and people and continuously
adapt to meet the needs of local communities. The member charities we share food with
transform lives, using food to connect people with other support and routes out of poverty,
including children and families, people on low incomes, homeless people, refugees, domestic
abuse survivors, people in recovery, older people, and many others.

Purpose of the role
The Food Manager plays a critical operational leadership role at FareShare South West (FSSW),
ensuring that the charity maintains a consistent, safe and high-quality flow of food to
community organisations across the region. Supporting the Head of Food & Membership, the
post holder is responsible for managing day-to-day food supply, strengthening local sourcing,
and building long-term relationships with suppliers and partners.

The role ensures that incoming food—whether from national or local sources—is compliant,
well-managed and aligned with operational capacity. It plays a key part in the effective
monitoring of stock, the food pipeline and logistics scheduling. The Food Manager leads local
sourcing activity, expands food innovations such as frozen and re-labelling, and oversees key
food-related projects including the regional Gleaning Programme.

Managing the Food & Community Officer and working closely with Operations, Membership,
Fundraising and other internal teams, the Food Manager helps deliver FSSW’s food strategy,
reduce waste, and maximise the impact of surplus food redistributed to frontline organisations.

1)  Strategy, Performance & Team Management

•  Support the Head of Food and Community in the development and delivery of the food

strategy, budget and annual targets.

•  Monitor weekly performance against agreed plans; provide operational reporting for

internal teams and funders.

•  Line-manage the Food & Community Officer and HGV Drivers, including recruitment,

appraisals, supervision, wellbeing and development.

•  Champion values-led leadership and promote effective cross-team communication.
•  Ensure compliance with organisational policies, food safety, health & safety and

safeguarding requirements.

•  Foster an inclusive, motivational team culture that reflects FSSW’s mission and values.
•  Takes visible leadership for health, safety, and food safety, ensuring all team members

and participants work safely and effectively

2)  Food Supply Management

•  Support the Head of Food & Community in managing the national supply relationship
with FareShare UK/The Felix Project, including communication, throughput data and
supply alignment

•  Manage, analyse and report on over/under-deliveries, food quality, cancellations and

trends, working closely with Operations and Membership teams.

•  Monitor and report the changing food pipeline, helping devise strategies to redistribute

gluts and reduce waste.

•  Support Operations and the Head of Membership & Food Partnerships with stock-level
monitoring across FSSW sites, including stock movement, product types and capacity.
•  Working with Operations, Transport and the national partner, lead on logistics schedules

for incoming food to maximise volume while ensuring cost-effective solutions.

3)  Local Food sourcing:

•  Lead delivery of the Local Food Sourcing Strategy, ensuring local sourcing achieves or

exceeds 25–30% of total incoming food.

•  Act as the first point of contact for local and regional suppliers, maintaining strong, long-

term, trust-based relationships

•  Promote FSSW’s surplus food redistribution capabilities through events, presentations,

online presence and food sector networks.

•  Grow and manage a sustainable pipeline of local surplus and donated food,

complementing national supply.

•  Work collaboratively with other FareShare Network Partners to share local food

opportunities

•  Maintain accurate and accessible sourcing records and outcomes.
•  Support food safety and compliance, including product recalls, legislative changes and
liaison with national partners and the H&S Consultant (via the Head of Membership &
Food Partnerships).

•  Ensure all incoming food is compliant, within operational capacity and aligned with

local logistics.

4) Food Development & Innovation

•  Lead expansion of the Gleaning Programme across the region, working with Operations,

Volunteering and Fundraising teams.

•  Support development of new food innovations including:
•  Frozen food expansion
•  Breaking down ambient bulk
•  Re-labelling and product preparation
•  Manage key food projects, including reporting to relevant funders, ensuring accurate

procurement and financial data in partnership with the Finance Manager.

•  Represent FSSW in local collaborations/partnerships addressing local food waste or

surplus food

5)  Health, Safety & Compliance

•  Champion a positive safety culture, modelling safe working practices and encouraging

team members to work safely and report hazards or incidents promptly.

•  Ensure the incoming food supply complies with FareShare HACCP Food Safety Manual

and all relevant legislation and audit standards.

•  Provide support for product recalls, safety notices and compliance-related

communication.

•  Support with internal and external food safety audits

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

•  Experience in a food, logistics, FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods), warehousing or
similar operational environment, with an understanding of supply, stock flow and
operational constraints.

•  Proven ability to build and manage supplier or partner relationships, ideally involving

food or operational partnerships.

•  Experience supervising or managing staff, with the ability to motivate, support and

develop team members.

•  Confidence using data and reporting, with strong problem-solving skills and a practical,

hands-on approach.

Desirable

•  Knowledge of food safety, health & safety and compliance requirements, including

HACCP or similar frameworks.

•  Understanding of charity operations or social impact environments, particularly those

involving volunteers or community partners.

•  Experience managing or supporting projects, including reporting, coordination and

cross-team delivery.

•  Familiarity with logistics scheduling, transport operations or stock management

systems, ideally in a multi-site context.

•  Knowledge of procurement, supplier stewardship or food contract management,
•  Experience managing or monitoring budgets, procurement data or cost-effective

operational planning.

•  Comfort representing an organisation externally, including at events, supplier meetings

or sector networks.

•  Experience supporting innovation projects or process improvements