Catering Supervisor/Cook
Closing date: 09 June 2026
We are excited to announce that we are looking for a dynamic Catering Supervisor/Cook to join our passionate team.
Based at Leigh Infirmary, the post will be responsible for the preparation and supervision of meal service to patients, staff and visitors.
Working pattern: Monday to Friday, 7 hours per day between the hours of 6am and 7:30pm.
The candidate should demonstrate a passion for food and great customer care skills that will deliver high standards of care with compassion to both patients and customers. Strong leadership skills are required.
This vacancy may close earlier than the specified closing date if a high volume of suitable applications are received.
Please note: Applicants who have previously been advised that they do not meet the requirements for this position should not reapply unless they have since taken clear steps to strengthen their application. Reapplications must include evidence demonstrating how the essential criteria are now met.
Job responsibilities
Planning and Organisational Duties
- Organisation of the Kitchen and Associated areas
- Allocation of work to Catering Assistants
- Supervision of food production and service, including satisfactory completion of monitoring forms
- Ensuring preparation, cooking and service of meals occurs to strict timetables and deadlines
- Ensuring all meals conform to the correct recipe, quantity, quality and appearance
- Forecasting menu requirement based on historical data
- Checking monitoring/audit forms for accuracy and ensuring remedial action has been taken
- Ensuring adherence to Food Safety Legislation and local codes of practice
- In the event of a major incident or critical failure, following correct procedures and taking action to continue meal service
- Assisting management in the planning of menus and recipes
- Assisting management in the production of food safety protocols including critical control points
- Understanding the need for special therapeutic and cultural dietary requirements
- Attending relevant meetings
- Producing and managing relevant paperwork to support the business of the Trust
- Having a good understanding of the function of catering equipment and reporting mechanical defects when they occur
- Changing menus at short notice if suppliers have failed to deliver
- Testing new recipes or new products as requested
- Inputting data into computer systems and updating spreadsheets as required
- Maintaining a professional attitude, following strict personal hygiene and appearance codes
- Monitoring waste and proposing action required to managers
Communications and Key Working Relationships
- Maintaining good communication with colleagues regarding daily activities
- Attending relevant meetings
- Liaising with suppliers regarding quality of products or services
- Liaising with external agencies as requested
- Liaising across wards and departments; visiting wards frequently to chat with patients and staff regarding meal services, client requests, and queries at ward level
- Advising patients of ingredients and allergens in products, discussing with patients who may have difficulty choosing from the menus, devising special menus or changing recipes to suit the individuals needs, explaining dysphagia descriptors
- Ensuring compliance with Trust and Local procedures
Responsibility for Finance
- Adhering to Trust Standing Financial Instructions
- Cash handling using Dining Room tills or emptying vending machines
- Securing the Department at the end of a shift (if required)
- Ensuring the correct and economical use of materials and equipment
- Ensuring portion control and minimising waste
- Controlling allocation of overtime
- Ensuring stock is issued as per Financial procedure for accounting purposes
- Ensuring compliance with Trust and Local procedures
Responsibility for Human Resources
- Demonstrating own duties to new starters
- Attending courses as directed and ensuring compliance with mandatory training
- Completing time sheets or work records
- Responsible for the welfare of staff under their responsibility, including return-to-work interviews following sickness/absence and first line disciplinary and grievance issues
- Cascading information to the wider team (e.g., completing team briefs)
Responsibility for Health & Safety
- Ensuring own safety at work and ensuring all safety procedures are followed and adhered to by catering staff
- Compliance with Trust, Risk Assessment and Datix reporting procedures
- Compliance with local & legislative Food Safety Policies & associated documentation
- Compliance with Trust and local procedures
- Proactive role towards the management of risk in all actions, including risk assessment, appropriate actions, reporting incidents, near misses and hazards, statutory duty of care for their own personal safety and that of others
Responsibility for Teaching
- Completing local induction with new starters
- Attending relevant courses as directed
- Ensuring all catering staff complete required training
Work Circumstances & On-Call
- Required to work unsocial hours
- Expected to work in the kitchen/dining room; exposure to cold, refrigerated, hot and humid environments
- Expected to travel between units as and when required
- Contact with patients on wards as and when required
Qualifications
- Educated to GCSE or equivalent level for example functional skills level 2
- 706/1/2 City & Guilds or equivalent qualification
- CIEHO Intermediate Food Hygiene
- IOSH
- Supervisory Qualification
Experience
- Quality monitoring of food production
- Substantial experience of large scale catering operation
- Supervisory experience
- Previous experience of a cook chill system
- Managerial experience and/or qualifications
- Supervisory experience within a retail/hospitality environment
Skills
- Excellent communication and organisational skills
- Ability to organise and prioritise day to day tasks
- Ability to use a variety of large scale equipment
- Ability to work under pressure
- Use of computer systems and packages
- Excellent customer service skills with the ability to communicate with a range of people including patients and service users
- Basic literacy and numeracy skills
- Excellent leadership skills
- Ability to complete documentation accurately
Knowledge
- Knowledge of key temperature controls and food safety legislation
- Knowledge of cook chill procedure
- Budgeting and accounting
Additional
- Work unsociable hours
- Flexibility to provide cover for colleagues
- Ability to travel independently between sites
- Speak English to an appropriate standard relevant to their role with confidence and accuracy using correct sentence structures and vocabulary and without hesitation
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer name
Wrightington Wigan & Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
£25,760 to £27,476 a year per annum, pro rata
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