Catering manager

Closing date for applications: 8th December 2025 at 12.00pm midday

Salary: circa £34,700 per annum

Contract: Full-time, 38 hours per week over 5 days, Monday to Saturday, based on operational needs

Use your leadership skills and hospitality expertise to oversee operations, guide a team, and deliver outstanding service that creates unforgettable visitor experiences.

Hampstead Theatre is one of London’s leading producing theatres, dedicated to creating bold, original, and thought-provoking work. We are looking for a hands-on, dynamic catering manager to lead our café bar team and deliver an exceptional experience for our audiences and daytime visitors.

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone with proven experience in catering or hospitality management who thrives in a fast-paced, customer-focused environment. You’ll oversee day-to-day operations, ensure high standards of food hygiene and service and inspire a motivated team. If you have strong leadership and interpersonal skills, previous experience managing catering or hospitality teams and are committed to delivering a welcoming experience for every visitor, we'd love to hear from you.

Responsibilities

Operations

• Manage daily opening/closing procedures and stock control
• Ensure food hygiene, cleanliness, and safety standards are consistently met
• Deliver hospitality for press nights, hires, and special events
• Act as bar duty manager for performances and events
• Support building maintenance in all catering areas and report issues promptly
• Assist theatre manager in identifying hazards and completing suitable risk assessments for all bar related activities
• Assist theatre manager in investigating accidents/incidents/near misses relating to the bar team

Product & service

• Develop and maintain a high-quality, profitable product range
• Ensure the café bar team delivers excellent customer service aligned with theatre-wide standards

Team leadership

• Line manage café bar team members and café bar managers ensuring effective recruitment, induction, training, and performance management
• Schedule staff to meet operational needs while maintaining cost efficiency
• Foster a collaborative and motivated team culture

Financial

• Monitor sales, wastage, and profitability
• Generate regular reports and propose adjustments to improve performance

Collaboration

• Work closely with the theatre manager, front of house (FOH) manager and FOH team to ensure a seamless customer experience
• Support marketing initiatives to promote catering offerings

Commercial support

• Support the delivery of hospitality and fundraising events
• Oversee bar sales and reconciliation, working with the theatre manager to maximise revenue opportunities
• Ensure bar staff are briefed on current shows, promotions, and customer-facing initiatives

Administration

• Maintain accurate records for payroll, rotas
• Assist with reporting and analysis of customer service performance and commercial activity
• Ensure that daily, weekly & monthly records adhering to food & safety requirements are checked and uploaded into the compliance system
• Oversee bar staff training records, ensure all certificates required are up to date
• Deputise for theatre manager during annual leave/sickness
• Ensure adequate stock levels of bar range & bar equipment

Knowledge, skills & experience

Essential

• Commitment to delivering a high-quality, welcoming experience for all customers
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Proven experience in managing or supervising a catering or hospitality team, including recruitment, training, and performance management
• Ability to motivate and lead a team to deliver excellent customer service
• Good knowledge of food hygiene, health & safety regulations, and compliance standards
• Experience in stock control, cash handling, and daily operational procedures
• Ability to monitor sales, control costs, and improve profitability
• Highly organised, with strong attention to detail
• Flexible and adaptable to work evenings and weekends as required
• Ability to work collaboratively across departments
• Food Hygiene Level 2 (minimum) or willingness to obtain
• Desirable
• Previous experience in a theatre, arts venue, or similar
  cultural environment

To apply, please visit our website and download a job pack.

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries.

Please state in your application that you found this role through Creative Access.