General Manager

General Manager – Streatham & Clapham High School
Location: Streatham & Clapham High School, London, SW16
Salary: £50,000 per annum (with annual increase in September)

Benefits:

• £50,000 annual salary

• 52-week contract, with minimal out-of-term operational demands

• Additional hours worked during term time compensated with time off in lieu during non-term periods

• 28 days holiday 

• 3 volunteering days

• 3 days grandparent leave

• 24 weeks enhanced maternity leave

• Bespoke training and development programmes

• Pension and life insurance

• Discounts through Perkbox (retail, travel, cinema and more)

• Access to wellbeing hub and employee assistance programme

• Career development pathways including HIT Apprenticeships for all levels

About the Role:

Streatham & Clapham High School is a leading independent day school for girls aged 3–18. We are seeking a dynamic General Manager to lead the delivery of high-quality catering services across the school.

This role will oversee the day-to-day catering provision for pupils and staff, including the main dining room and various hospitality and events services across the school. You will be responsible for leading and inspiring a committed catering team and ensuring exceptional service standards are consistently met. Additionally, you will also act as the line manager for the Chef Manager at Prep School.

You’ll also be expected to manage budgets, compliance, food safety, and client relations, all within a fast-paced, high-expectation educational environment.

Why Join Us?

If you’re passionate about delivering exceptional food and hospitality in a values-driven, inspiring school setting, this is a brilliant opportunity to lead from the front at one of South London’s most respected schools.

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage a large team to ensure efficient and high-quality catering services
• Act as the line manager to the Prep School Chef Manager
• Ensure smooth operations, meeting the needs of both students and staff
• Maintain operational excellence in a challenging logistics environment, focusing on efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
• Implement and uphold food safety and quality standards (HACCP) across all catering operations.
• Oversee the hospitality and lettings segments, ensuring a seamless experience for external events and high-profile functions.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives, adapting operations to meet changing demands and enhance service delivery.

Requirements:

• Proven experience as a General Manager in a high-volume, quality-focused environment.
• You can demonstrate that managing, training, and supporting a team has been an important part of your career to date.
• Financially astute, you are very analytical and know how to create and maintain budgets and drive commercial performance.
• Excellent coaching, delegation and influencing skills.
• Ability to prioritise multiple projects in a fast-paced, multi-faceted, creative environment and able to thrive under pressure.
• Ability to multitask, prioritise responsibilities, and adapt to changing circumstances in a fast-paced environment.
• Meticulous organisational abilities and a high attention to detail
• Empathetic, clear and highly effective verbal and written communication
• Ability to adapt to challenges and opportunities with a solution-oriented perspective.
• Excellent strategic thinking and critical reasoning skills

Holroyd Howe is one of the UK’s leading contract caterers, providing fresh innovative food services solely to independent schools and colleges. We are a team of experienced professionals who tailor our catering service provision specifically to suit children of all ages in order to meet the bespoke requirements of each school.

To provide our teams with the right skills to succeed in their jobs, we invest in their training and development. Our exceptional teams of seasoned specialists customise our catering services to fit children of all ages and satisfy the unique needs of our clients.

We pride ourselves on:

Sustainability

Sustainability is at the heart of our thinking; always mindful of the ethics of our sourcing and how we prepare our meals.

Nutrition

We take nutrition seriously and understand the impact a healthy diet has on the fundamental years of development. Meals are always freshly prepared from scratch and packed with nutritious ingredients.

Food Innovation

We offer a wide portfolio of training opportunities and experiences, which attracts chefs who are passionate about culinary excellence and menu innovation to our team.

From tasting tables, theme days and food theatre, to chef demonstrations and supplier showcases, we create engaging and fun dining experiences for our students. We work together to make mealtimes exploratory, quirky, and fun for our pupils, helping them build strong and healthy relationships with food.

“Holroyd Howe is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expect all employees to share this commitment. All roles within Holroyd Howe are regarded as regulated activity, it is an offence to apply for a role in regulated activity if you are barred from working with children, therefore we will require an Enhanced DBS which includes a Barred List check for all successful applicants. We will also require shortlisted applicants to provide appropriate information regarding any criminal offences and shortlisted applicants will be subject to an online search of public available information on suitability to work with children.“

This appointment is offered on the return of satisfactory professional references.

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