Food and Diet Coordinator

Overview

Do you have a passion for creating nutritious, high-quality meals and making a real difference to people's daily lives? We're looking for a Food & Diet Coordinator to lead our kitchen operation, ensuring the people we support enjoy safe, healthy and delicious meals tailored to their individual needs.

This is a rewarding opportunity for an experienced catering professional who enjoys combining hands-on kitchen leadership with menu planning, food safety and team development. You'll play a vital role in supporting vulnerable adults through the provision of nutritious meals and excellent service.

About us

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and expertise of the previous five councils in the county to create positive change for local people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally

About the role

As our Food & Diet Coordinator, you'll be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day running of the kitchen, ensuring the highest standards of food quality, hygiene and customer satisfaction are maintained. From planning balanced menus and managing food supplies to supporting colleagues and ensuring compliance with food safety regulations, you'll be at the heart of creating a positive dining experience for those who use our services.

No two days are quite the same. You'll work closely with your team to prepare attractive, nutritious meals that meet a variety of dietary requirements, including specialist diets and food allergies. You'll also have the opportunity to lead and develop kitchen staff, gather feedback from customers and continuously improve the service we provide.

Key responsibilities include:

• Planning nutritious menus that meet a range of dietary and nutritional needs
• Leading and supporting a kitchen team to deliver excellent standards of food preparation and service
• Maintaining high standards of food hygiene, health and safety, and regulatory compliance
• Managing food stocks, records and budgets to ensure an efficient and effective service

For a full list of responsibilities and duties, please refer to the Job Description.

Fixed

As a ‘fixed’ worker, you’ll spend most of your time in the same location, which will likely be a fixed office or location where your role is performed. Typically, you’ll be based in the same location as the rest of your team, because you provide a particular service from that fixed location or need access to information there.

About you

We're looking for someone who takes pride in delivering high-quality services and genuinely cares about the wellbeing of others. You'll be organised, proactive and confident in leading a team, with the ability to balance multiple priorities while maintaining excellent attention to detail. Strong communication skills and a collaborative approach will help you build positive relationships with colleagues, customers and stakeholders alike.

You'll bring practical catering experience, a strong understanding of food safety and hygiene requirements, and experience of safely operating kitchen equipment. You'll also have knowledge of dietary requirements and nutritional needs, ideally gained through working with vulnerable adults or similar client groups. The ability to maintain accurate records, manage workloads effectively and use basic Microsoft applications will also be important in this role.

Essential requirements include:

• Significant practical catering experience supported by relevant vocational training
• Level 2 Food Safety/Hygiene qualification
• Knowledge of food safety legislation, health and safety requirements and kitchen best practice
• Good communication, organisational and record-keeping skills
• GCSEs (or equivalent) in line with the role requirements

For full details of the skills, experience and qualifications required, please refer to the Job Description.

Why Join Us?

You'll be joining a team that is proud, ambitious, collaborative and trustworthy, where the work you do has a direct impact on people's health, wellbeing and quality of life every day. If you're passionate about food, enjoy leading others and want a role where your contribution truly matters, we'd love to hear from you.

We understand that candidates may use AI tools to assist with their applications. While we welcome innovation, we expect all submissions to reflect your own experience, skills, and achievements accurately. Please ensure your application is truthful and demonstrates your personal capabilities, as this will be assessed during the selection process.

Other information

For more information about this role, please contact Anna Shairp at [email protected] for an informal discussion.

Closing date: 3rd November 2026

Interview Date: 9^th November

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020 and 2023).

For further information on filtering please refer to Nacro guidance and the guidance published by the Ministry of Justice (see, in particular, the section titled ‘Exceptions Order’).

Our values

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Service Area

Seeleys Overnight Respite Team and Seeleys Short Breaks day service provides support to people with complex needs, learning disabilities and neurodiversity along with physical disabilities.

We have recently condensed our services and now Seeleys is a thriving buzzing service where you will have the opportunity to promote healthy choices and watch people grow in confidence and skills. The respite unit is currently open every other weekend so the role includes weekend work. It is a 37 hour post and meals are prepared for both the respite unit and the day service, although not all at once.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. We also offer a salary sacrifice personal car lease scheme and the opportunity to gain membership to Costco. We have discounted gym memberships, Travel discounts with Arriva and Chiltern Railways and much more.

https://jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/working-buckinghamshire-council/