The Role and the Team

Delivering in the role of Depot Operations Manager for Wiltshire Farm Foods, you will be an integral member of the leadership team, reporting directly to the Retail Sales and Operations Manager (RSOM). You will evidence the passion, energy, and commitment to deliver outstanding service to our customers through the consistent delivery of established processes and operational standards and will be an engaging & motivational leader who is able to identify strengths and opportunities within the team and operation, continually looking to improve and develop both.

Each Wiltshire Farm Foods (WFF) site covers a specific geographic territory, delivering frozen meals to our customers 6 days a week and each WFF team is made up of individuals working as customer service assistants, cold store pickers and customer delivery drivers. The success of each WFF operation will require you to support the Retail, Sales and Operations Manager (RSOM) in the leadership of those three functions to effectively work together to ensure your customers receive the highest possible standards of service. 

You will have full responsibility for all operational elements of the site, including the cold store freezer and picking operation, the daily delivery of meals, and the leadership, coaching and development of the picking and driving teams. You will deliver against agreed daily, weekly and monthly targets and will deputise for the RSOM in their absence to assume leadership of the entire site, including the office supervisor and their team. You will also have responsibility for other areas such as health & safety, stock management, local delivery fleet management and facilities maintenance.

Our Business Support Centre (BSC) is in Trowbridge, Wiltshire and consists of the support functions you will interact with on a daily and weekly basis such as Finance, HR, Recruitment, IT, BI, Payroll, PR, Stock Control and Marketing.

Who We Are

Wiltshire Farm Foods have been cooking and delivering delicious and nutritious frozen meals for over 25 years. We are the UK's leading home meal delivery service, with a predominantly elderly market, and have full national coverage across a network of outlets.

As part of the apetito group, an award-winning multi-national food producer for the health and social care sector, Wiltshire Farm Foods provides delicious, nutritious, and sustainable meals for people at home or in care.

We’re proud to be a Living Wage employer and member of the Ethical Trading Initiative. We support British food and farming and operate a successful programme of waste reduction and resource efficiency across our whole business.

Our team act as ambassadors for the meals we deliver at Wiltshire Farm Foods through the interactions we have with our customers either over the phone or on the doorstep. We are dedicated to learning all about the award-winning range we offer to our customers. We pride ourselves in ensuring each customer we speak to is made to feel at ease through the guidance provided when helping them select the meals that will best suit their needs.

Responsibilities

Operations
- Ensure Health & Safety, Hygiene and Food Safety procedures & practices are adhered to and followed at all times
- Ensure adequate, cost effective resource levels are in place

- Maintaining stock levels to meet our customer demands
- Work with and support staff on a day-to-day basis to deliver profitability and service standards.
- Ensure all behaviours are in line with apetito’s Code of Conduct
- Maintain excellent operational standards throughout the Contract
- Adherance to all apetito procedures and deadlines
- Ensure all company vehicles are maintained as appropriate

- Be a key link between the teams onsite
- Deputise for the RSOM in their absence

- Maintaining route optimisation processes included routing

- Responsible for delivery of retail standards within the depot

 
Financials                                                       
- Support the RSOM to deliver company and client business objectives
- Agree contract KPIs, monitor performance against KPIs and drive/manage performance and profitability to ensure achievement
- Achieve budgeted sales and profitability, influence key P&L drivers and accurately forecast future financial performance

People
- Demonstrable leadership and coaching/ support provided to employees on a day-to-day basis to increase engagement and motivation
- Recruit, induct, develop, appraise and review contracted employees as appropriate to ensure successful sign-off probationary

- Develop training structures to ensure growth within the depot
- Identify and manage training and development needs of staff
 
Customer
- Champion and oversee excellent service standards
- Ensure all processes are communicated and followed by all personnel
- Promote and instil belief in customer service ensuring customer expectations are met and where opportunities arise, exceeded

- Ensure all new literature is delivery by the team to customers

Communications
- Maintain excellent communications with client employees ensuring quality information is exchanged when appropriate ie feedback from Leadership Conference
- Deliver all client and company administration and reporting requirements
- Abide by client, company and legislative policies and procedures ensuring consistent compliance
- Maintain quality and standards of overall presentation, ensuring adherence to company and agreed contract standards
- Champion Employee Forums – promote attendance/engagement by Employee Representatives
- Create excellent inter-company relationships within departments (ie HR, Finance etc., ) and divisions 

- Build and maintain a relationship with the larger team across the UK and Ireland, sharing best practice

Qualifications

Essential Skills

• Resilient and calm under pressure with the ability to deliver against agreed plans
• Tenacious and results-focused
• Experience of leading and motivating a team to achieve shared objectives
• Passion, energy, commitment, and the ambition to succeed
• Willingness to lead from the front – role-model the way and be ‘hands-on’ to support the team in carrying out their roles when required whether that’s driving a delivery van or picking in the cold store
• A clear understanding of the importance of customer service and the need to consistently strive for service excellence
• Strong communication skills
• Experienced with and comfortable using IT systems
• Full driving licence

Desirable Skills

• Previous experience of leading a team within a retail, wholesale, customer service or operational/logistics environment
• Some knowledge of commercial / P&L / budget management
• Health and safety training
• Food safety training
• Coaching and development skills
• Experience of implementing operational policies and processes

Personal Qualities

The successful candidate will have a can-do attitude, a positive outlook, and the tenacity to deliver results. They will be a team player, able to both lead and follow, with a clear focus on delivering the best experience possible for the customer.

• A strong leader who inspires trust in their team
• Can communicate well with everyone in order to deliver the ‘day job’
• Coaches the team to improve every day
• Strong influencing skills
• Takes accountability – a real ‘the buck stops here’ attitude
• Sets the bar in terms of what is acceptable in terms of standards and service
• Fosters and develops strong working relationships within the team and the wider business
• Has a real passion for making a real difference in the community
• Ensures that the customer is at the heart of every decision