Vortex Recruitment are looking for a Operations Manager for a Halal Butcher company in the heart of Reading. Candidate Brief We are looking for a skilled, hands-on candidate who has a demonstrable track record in being a lead Butcher or Head Butcher. This candidate will be excited by the opportunity to take a highly reputed brand which is growing at pace and take the lead role in building on existing operating standards to create a fantastic experience our loyal customer base. The Role We are seeking an experienced head/lead butcher, who has a track record in managing teams to deliver high quality food produce. They will be tasked with the following responsibilities: Manage a team of 6-7 butchers, ensuring that produce is being cut to in-house standards with a very high level of consistency and quality. Understand the principles of HACCP and food hygiene and ensure those principles are adhered to at all times to create an exceptionally food safe environment. Actively engage with customer feedback coming through and ensure any negative feedback is being monitored and fed back to butchers consistently to create a high performance culture and a customer-obsessed team. Review current order management practices and re-shape them as appropriate to ensure that orders are prepared in the most efficient way possible whilst maintaining the highest quality standards. This includes review of supply chain processes (types/cuts of produce) which feed into and impact order management. Ensure stock control is rigorously managed to minimise wastage and to ensure the ‘just in time’ business model of the company continues to give customers access to the very high quality produce. Work with the strategic plan of the business to constantly push SLA’s designed to allow customers to obtain the very highest quality produce with maximum convenience. Skills and Experience Must have a demonstrable track record in having led a team of butchers to achieve excellent results across quality and cost metrics over a sustained period of time. A good communicator with the ability to motivate a team using both financial and non-financial incentives to achieve desired outcome. Will have a “hands-on” approach, being ready and willing to jump in with the team to help physically prepare orders if required during times of high stress/volume. Advanced knife skills (candidates to undertake a block test during interview), with high proficiency in butchery of chicken, lamb and beef carcasses. Candidate must be willing to lead by example and work longer hours as required due to seasonal peaks and work occasional weekends if required to keep up with demand. Any additional/non-standard days will be compensated for. Experience in preparing Asian cuts strongly desired as well as more standard British/Western cuts of meat. Should be proficient in use of standard MS office applications such as Word, Excel, Outlook. Ability to speak Urdu and/or Punjabi an advantage. Contact me at Vortex Recruitment now for immediate interviews