Job Description

Duties & Responsibilities

Production Planning & Scheduling

Develop detailed daily, weekly and monthly production plans based on wholesale orders, retail demand cycles, and banqueting/event bookings. Coordinate with procurement and logistics to ensure raw materials, packaging and labour are aligned to production demands. Manage cooking, assembly, packaging, and dispatch timelines to avoid bottlenecks and ensure timely output.

Costing & Budget Control

Create and manage product costing models, including raw materials, labour hours, overheads, yield, wastage and energy usage. Monitor daily production costs and compare against budgets; conduct variance analysis. Implement cost-saving initiatives without compromising product quality. Provide accurate costing for new product development and commercial rollouts

Production Execution & Compliance

Oversee all kitchen operations: cooking, batching, portioning, packaging, labelling, cold chain handling and storage. Ensure all production meets quality, hygiene and safety specifications, working with the Food Safety Manager for compliance with FSSC 22000, GMP and HACCP. Maintain up-to-date batch records, yield logs, traceability documents and cleaning schedules. Ensure equipment is maintained and breakdowns are minimised.

Team Leadership & Staff Management

Lead and supervise production staff including cooks, kitchen assistants, prep teams, packers and shift supervisors. Conduct daily production briefings and allocate staff to tasks based on competency and workload. Provide on-the-job training on hygiene, equipment use, portioning, and production SOPs. Monitor attendance, productivity, discipline and morale.

Logistics, Inventory & Dispatch

Ensure accurate portioning, packing, weighing and labelling of all finished goods. Work with the warehouse/dispatch team to coordinate delivery schedules to retail, wholesale and banqueting venues. Oversee stock rotation, FIFO, cold-chain integrity and shelf-life tracking. Support procurement with inventory-level planning based on forecasted production volumes.

Continuous Improvement & Efficiency Projects

Identify and eliminate process inefficiencies, waste, unnecessary labour steps or quality risks. Improve yields, reduce rework and enhance overall production throughput. Lead capacity-planning initiatives such as equipment upgrades, new processes, or layout changes.

Reporting

Provide daily and monthly reports on production volume, labour usage, costs, waste, yields, downtime and delivery performance. Support finance, operations and sales with accurate data for pricing, forecasts and business reviews.

Requirements:

Degree/Diploma in Culinary Arts, Food Technology, Food Production, Operations Management, Hospitality, or related field. Additional training in production planning, operations or logistics is advantageous. 10+ years experience in production management within a

central kitchen, food manufacturing plant, or large-scale catering operation.

Proven experience managing production for

retail, wholesale or banqueting.

Strong knowledge of costing, yield management, batch processing and cold chain operations. Track record of managing medium to large production teams. Experience working in or alongside FSSC 22000 / HACCP / GMP environments.
Job Type: Full-time

Work Location: In person