Catering Assistant (Kitchen)

Job overview

Do you want to work as part of an innovative catering team at one of Europe’s leading cancer care centres and one of the UK’s best?

We have a rare opportunity for you to join our inspirational catering team here at The Christie as a catering assistant for our kitchen team. Encouraging healthier lifestyles, our chefs are skilled in the art of transforming fresh, seasonal ingredients into nutritious, home-cooked meals that place our patients, families, visitors, and colleagues at the heart of what we do. As part of this dedicated team, you’ll play a vital role in serving high-quality food and refreshments to patients at the ward level. If you have a passion for excellent customer service, a friendly smile, and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment, we’d love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

What will you be doing:

• Serving meals to patients at the ward level.
• Maintaining a clean and hygienic kitchen and dining area during and after services.
• Ensuring all Food Hygiene and Health & Safety policies and allergen control procedures are followed.
• Ensuring all catering equipment is cleaned and ready for use.
• Providing excellent customer service to patients, families, and colleagues.
• Ensuring NHS Food Standards are adhered to.
• Replenishing stocks and supplies in the kitchen and dining area as directed.

Qualifications and Skills:

• Must hold Food Hygiene Certificate L2
• Must Hold L2 English Certificate

Experience in catering, kitchen, or the food service industry Excellent communication and interpersonal skills Ability to work effectively within a team environment Attention to detail and ability to multitask

Availability to work flexible hours, including evenings, weekends, and public holidays

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

To provide a customer-focused service to all patients, staff, and visitors

Provide information on menu items to patients, staff, and visitors to ensure that customers are clearly informed about the meals' allergen content.

Participate, as appropriate, with staff involvement groups for all quality aspects.

Ensure the kitchen is maintained to a clean and hygienic standard.

Report any feedback from patients, staff, and visitors regarding meals or services to the supervisor or management.

Must have thorough knowledge of customer service and experience of large-scale catering.

To undertake all Trust mandatory training courses and any other departmental training, e.g., COSSH, HACCP, Allergen Training and Food Hygiene Level 2 training

Carry out all work procedures per the Food Safety Act and work within our Departmental HACCP procedure.

Ensure that you maintain due diligence records for evidence when carrying out checks for food temperatures and cleaning records, which must be recorded via the Monika system in accordance with the HACCP Policy.

Cater for any hospitality or events in accordance with supervisory instructions.

Can cope with increased workload at short notice and requests for out-of-hours service as required.

Change in shift patterns may be required to suit the needs of the service.

To carry out general and specialised cleaning tasks in the central kitchen or front of house areas.

Basic preparation of food and beverages as required.

Take the patient's food trolley up to the ward and serve patients' meals.

Manual work covering, Catering stores as required.

Ensure good customer relations.

Provide excellent food and customer service to patients/staff/visitors in the Front of House areas or on ward level.

Ensure that all standards of hygiene and cleanliness are adhered to at all times.

Ensure good practice is carried out to minimise waste.

Ensure faulty equipment is reported to the supervisor or management.

Maintain good housekeeping and stock rotation of all provisions within the designated area.

To ensure that all equipment is used efficiently and to report any defects in equipment or machinery to a supervisor as soon as they occur.

Ensure compliance with all Trust policies.

Ensure compliance with all Trust Risk Management, Research Governance and Infection Control Policies and Procedures.

Enter data as required for evidence via the Monika Task Minder system.

Follow strict cleaning schedules and record hot & cold food temperatures as required.

To prevent unnecessary risks, ensure that Risk Assessments are adhered to for new tasks.

Liaise with management to continuously improve the service.

Undertake annual Personal Development Reviews to enhance skill sets.

Responsible for putting away deliveries as required and ensuring stock control/rotation procedures are followed.

To transport food provisions and hardware throughout the Trust on different trolleys

Concentration is required when setting up and using machinery/cooking equipment, and to ensure adequate safety precautions are taken when carrying out any tasks.

Knife handling may be required for food preparation tasks.