Regional Manager - Cheshire

We ensure you're rewarded for all your hard work, which is why we offer a comprehensive benefits package which includes but is not limited to:

• Exclusive travel discounts with TUI, Expedia, Booking and many more
• Monday to Friday
• Car or Car Allowance
• Save money on your food shop with discounts on Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and many more
• Quick access for you and your immediate family to a Digital GP, and wider healthcare benefits
• Up to 44% off cinema tickets to enjoy your favourite blockbuster
• Regular emails filled with the best discounts and savings available
• Receive Wow Points every time you spend and use them on a wide range of brands
• Un-wind with us with free wellness, mindfulness and exercise classes
• You can share all discounts and offers with your friends and families
• Contributory pension scheme
• Grow your career with our Career Pathways and MyLearning programmes

About the role

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Regional Manager to lead, support and develop a portfolio of education catering contracts. This is a senior operational role with full accountability for health & safety, food quality, people leadership, financial performance and client relationships across multiple sites.

You will play a key role in driving standards, ensuring compliance, improving customer experience and delivering sustainable commercial growth, while inspiring teams to deliver great food and service every day.

Key responsibilities

Health, Safety & Compliance

• Ensure full compliance with HSE and food safety policies across all units
• Conduct regular safety walks, hazard spotting and risk assessments
• Ensure effective implementation of food safety procedures and hazard analysis
• Oversee responses to food safety audits and ensure timely follow-up actions
• Complete new unit and temporary catering facility assessments prior to opening

Operational Excellence

• Lead and support site teams to deliver efficient, safe and high-quality food services
• Regularly visit sites, reviewing customer journeys and operational productivity
• Ensure compliance with standards, training records and operational documentation
• Manage mobilisations for new and retained contracts
• Resolve food buying, stock control and waste issues

Nutrition & Food Quality

• Support compliance with School Food Standards and Chartwells food strategies
• Ensure menus meet FIR guidelines and allergen requirements
• Coach and develop teams to deliver consistent food quality
• Drive engagement with students, parents and schools to maximise uptake
• Attend and contribute to SNAG meetings and similar forums

People Leadership

• Lead, coach and develop Unit Managers and wider teams
• Ensure 100% compliance with DBS checks and mandatory training
• Support recruitment, staffing levels and workforce planning
• Manage performance, wellbeing, employee relations and development plans
• Champion career pathways and continuous improvement

Financial & Commercial Management

• Manage budgets, forecasts and financial performance cycles
• Control labour, overheads and spend against benchmarks
• Identify and propose investment and growth opportunities
• Negotiate and deliver additional services
• Ensure robust cash handling and sales compliance

Client & Stakeholder Relationships

• Build strong, proactive relationships with clients and key stakeholders
• Deliver client retention plans and support tender and ITT processes
• Work closely with senior leadership to plan contract renewals
• Capture and share success stories, case studies and references

Consumer & Marketing

• Deliver pricing strategies and identify opportunities for growth
• Support theme days, food education and cultural events within schools
• Collaborate with central marketing and support functions
• Champion innovation, customer insight and brand standards

About you

Essential:

• Proven experience managing multiple sites or contracts within catering, hospitality, facilities, retail or a similar environment
• Strong commercial acumen with a track record of delivering results
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication and negotiation skills
• Confident leader who can engage, develop and motivate teams

About Us

Part of Compass Group UK&I, Chartwells is the leading provider of catering and support services to the education sector. For over a quarter of a century, Chartwells has been focusing on helping those in education to build strong bodies, sharp minds and lead long healthy lives. Every week, Chartwells serves millions of nutritious and delicious meals to pupils and students in primary and secondary schools, academies, independent schools, colleges, and universities across the UK. Chartwells is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expect all employees to share this commitment. Any offer of employment will be subject to successfully completing pre-employment checks, including an enhanced DBS disclosure and a Children's Barred List check. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and we ask applicants to declare all previous convictions and cautions in order to assess their suitability to work with children.

Compass Group UK&I is committed to fostering an environment where every individual can truly be themselves at work and has equal opportunities to advance in their careers. We strive to build a culture that respects and celebrates the unique talents, beliefs, backgrounds, and abilities of all our team members. We want our colleagues to feel valued, empowered to reach their full potential, and to thrive - because diversity is our strength!