National Food & Beverage Development Manager
Hemel Hempstead (Hybrid – 2 days office, 2 days park, 1 day at home per week)
Annual salary + bonus and benefits
Step into a pivotal role shaping the future of Food & Beverage at Haven. As our Food & Beverage Development lead, you’ll define and deliver a bold, commercially driven development strategy that brings our F&B growth ambitions to life and complements our wider business plans. Blending strategic vision with deep technical expertise, you’ll unlock performance through innovative propositions, smart pricing strategies and best‑in‑class development processes. You’ll play a critical role in ensuring every part of our offer is safe, compliant and future‑ready—while working collaboratively across Operations, Digital, Finance, Product, People, H&S and L&D to turn strategy into impact. If you’re excited by creating compelling food and drink experiences that drive growth and delight guests, this is your opportunity to make a real difference.
What You Will Be Doing
- Owning and leading the F&B Development strategy, aligning it to the wider F&B growth plan and translating it into clear annual plans, test‑and‑trial programmes and critical paths that enable effective park handover and delivery.
- Acting as the F&B Development subject matter expert, leading technical menu builds, allergen compliance, safety standards and pricing strategy, while ensuring all development activity delivers strong commercial returns.
- Partnering cross‑functionally and with parks to implement F&B development plans, working closely with Operations, Finance, Procurement, Digital, Marketing, Proposition and Licensing to optimise volume, profit and guest experience.
- Driving insight‑led performance and innovation, using data, market trends and guest insight to shape NPD, recommend growth opportunities and deliver simpler, better, lower‑cost solutions across the F&B estate.
- Leading, developing and supporting teams and capability, championing operational excellence, supporting training and SOP development, nurturing talent and ensuring consistent, safe and high‑quality execution of all F&B development activity.
What We’d Like You To Bring
- Proven experience leading F&B development with a strong understanding of park structures, Central Operations, and current industry trends and horizon scanning.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills, capable of leading senior‑level discussions and balancing guest, team, and stakeholder needs with strategic thinking and effective decision‑making.
- Strong coaching, organisational, time management, and critical thinking skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines efficiently.
- Comprehensive knowledge of technical food management systems, Level 3 Food Safety, advanced food hygiene, and proficient in Word, Excel, and Adobe software.
- Demonstrated leadership experience, including team management, situational leadership, change management, and the ability to build collaborative relationships while embodying Haven’s Leadership behaviours.
What’s In It For You?
- 25 Days Holiday + Bank Holidays + Holiday Buy Scheme
- Annual bonus
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