Introduction
Councils of all sizes provide food and beverage services for a
range of people. Catering managers are responsible for these
services. Their 'customers' include elderly or disabled people
attending day centres, children eating school meals, people living
in residential homes, people using sports and leisure centres,
visitors entertained by the mayor or leader of the council, civic
dignitaries, or their own staff eating in staff restaurants.
Some councils contract out their catering services and some run
profit-making services, catering for civil weddings, conferences
and large functions and have restaurants in town centres serving
the general public.
Work Environment
Senior Catering managers work in council offices and are often
responsible for a workforce of several hundred people who work
within a large number of catering establishments. They normally try
to spend time in dining areas when meals are being served - to
control standards and to gauge customers' reactions. They may spend
time travelling between different establishments to meet with
headteachers, centre managers, head cooks and so on.
Daily Activities
Catering managers ensure that council-run dining rooms,
restaurants and bars serve the type of meals that customers demand.
Customers' tastes must be taken in to account and meals must be
served at competitive but profitable prices. In schools,
residential homes and day care centres meals must still be of a
high quality but prepared within an allocated budget. Catering
managers must plan these budgets within healthy eating guidelines
and nutritional standards.
Area Catering managers are responsible for a number of catering
units and for training their staff in both cookery and customer
service skills. They provide initial training when staff join their
department and monitor their progress. It is also their
responsibility to make sure that head cooks in their establishments
operate health, hygiene and safety procedures. In some jobs
senior catering managers have a marketing role to promote the
council's establishments within the area. They may also be involved
in drawing up service level agreements or tenders detailing their
department's services and proposed costings since the department
has to bid for the council's contract in competition with external
companies.
Senior catering managers would maintain an asset management
programme to plan renewal and refurbishment of equipment and
premises to enhance the quality of the dining experience. A
senior catering manager may be expected to contribute to a
council's civil emergency planning and work out strategies for
using local authority premises to feed people in the event of an
emergency.
Skills & Interests
Catering managers need:
- leadership and management skills;
- to be experienced in food and beverage preparation and
service;
- an outgoing personality;
- good communication skills;
- organisational/planning ability;
- numeracy skills;
- to be able to stay calm under pressure.
Entry Requirements
These vary depending on the seniority of the post. As a
minimum, councils will expect relevant experience, plus relevant
qualifications such as NVQ/SVQs or City & Guilds qualifications
in catering. These may be gained whilst working within the front
line kitchen equipment. Senior managers often have higher
diplomas, degrees or the Hotel, Catering and International
Management Association's professional qualifications.
Future Prospects & Opportunities
Councils employ numerous catering managers at different levels
(frontline, area or senior) in different establishments - although
sometimes, in smaller individual establishments, this type of work
is undertaken by a senior cook or chef. There are prospects
of promotion to entertainments services manager and opportunities
to move into leisure and tourism work.
Further Information & Services
Institute of Hospitality http://www.instituteofhospitality.org/
Local Authority Caterers Association www.laca.co.uk
People 1st www.people1st.co.uk
Springboard UK Ltd http://springboarduk.net/
You may find further information about this area of work through
Careers Wales (www.careerswales.com/) or
in your local library, careers office or school careers
library.