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Head of Food Supply

Employer
The Felix Project
Location
W3 0RU, London (Greater)
Salary
£45,000 - £50,000
Closing date
16 Mar 2021

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Business Sector
Food & Drink
Contract Type
Contract
Hours
Full Time
Function
Supply Chain & Logistics

Job Details

Job Title:                Head of Food Supply

Responsible To:      Operations Director

Contract Type:        Employed status (Initially 2-year fixed term contract, with highly likely permanent contract beyond).

Salary:                    £45,000-50,000

About The Felix Project

The Felix Project is London's biggest food redistribution charity and the largest end-to-end food redistribution charity in Europe.

Our vision is a London where no one goes hungry and good food is never wasted.

We rescue surplus food from businesses, supermarkets, restaurants and farms. This food is nutritious, in-date, and safe and includes a high proportion of fresh vegetables, fruit, meat and fish. If we did not rescue this food, it would be at risk of going to waste. Instead, we deliver it free of charge to London charities, schools, food banks, COVID food hubs and other organisations serving people in need. Our food is a vital lifeline for children and families, people on low incomes, people who have lost their jobs, the homeless, refugees, domestic abuse survivors, the elderly and keyworkers.

 

We are a very ambitious and dynamic young charity and we haven’t stopped growing since we were founded in 2016 in memory of Felix Byam Shaw, by his father, entrepreneur Justin Byam Shaw. We recently ran a very high-profile media campaign with the Evening Standard and Independent, raising £10million to feed London. We have celebrity endorsement from Reece James, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Jack Whitehall, Steven Fry, James May and many others.  

Last year we delivered enough food for 21.1 million meals to help people in need. We have continuing major growth plans for the next 4 years, with a target of delivering enough food for 100 million meals by 2024. Because nearly all the food we receive is donated by the food industry and volunteers, every £1 of expenditure redistributes £10 worth of food. 

About you

We are looking for someone to help lead our key strategic priority – Sourcing and securing surplus food supply. This critical strategic leadership role will be responsible for ensuring that the charity is successful in achieving its objective to rescue and secure a growing supply of food that will take us to our ambitious target of 42,000 tonnes (equivalent to 100m meals) of surplus and / or donated food by 2023/4. The post holder will lead the food supply team and be a key leader both within our operations team and across the charity. You will identify, cultivate, secure and steward vital strategic partnerships right across the UK food industry from farm right through to retail and hospitality, including primary production, wholesale, including retail and all of the food supply and logistics chain to the fork. Reporting directly into the senior leadership team and operations sub committee of the board of trustees via the Director of Operations, you will develop pipelines, robust and real time reporting and lead the charity’s strategic plan to become an integral and vital part of the UK food industry’s solution for sustainability, food waste reduction and redistribution.

Role Overview

  1. Work with the Director of Operations and your team to plan, develop and execute the charity’s food rescue and supply plan, a priority focus within the charity’s overall strategic plan.
  2. Grow our food supply and donation volumes in line with our strategic plans, working towards our key strategic target of 100m meals by 2023/4;
  3. Secure and steward key food industry stakeholders and partners, ensuring The Felix Project is recognised and highly valued as a key strategic partner and the leading partner solution to food waste reduction and sustainability by all food businesses;  
  4. Influence policy making, business planning and decision making across the UK food sector with precise, solution focused and impactful communications, demonstrating how the charity is the primary partner for food businesses to partner with and supply surplus and donated food to;
  5. Secure and lead key strategic relationship opportunities with our leading food supply donors, including Fareshare and large volume food supply businesses such as supermarkets, wholesalers and industry body organisations e.g FDF, holding them to account and reporting inwardly and outwardly on food supply and donations;  
  6. Working with the Chairman of Trustees, the CEO and other trustees and senior management team colleagues you will grow our network and influence policy and decision makers both politically and commercially to result in our growth plans;
  7. Work closely with the Fundraising & Marketing Director and his team to ensure that relationships with key food donation and supply partners can be maximised to secure fundraising & marketing, staff and customer volunteering and other holistic meaningful partnerships and relationships that are broader than and compliment and cement food supply partnerships.
  8. Lead, performance manage and develop a high performing food supply team;
  9. Play a lead role ensuring that The Felix Project secures its status as a pioneering, innovative and creative charity that gains credibility across the sector, visibly achieving our goals and mission.

Candidate profile

  • Very strong professional food industry leadership and management experience and proven/demonstratable success in the specific field of food supply, purchasing and/or similar;
  • A strong, experienced leader and strategic thinker with demonstrable evidence of success in strategic planning to achieve rapid, ambitious growth through execution of delivery;
  • Strong demonstrable negotiation skills in order to get maximum return for the charity from its investments in securing surplus and donated food.
  • Evidence of being an innovative and creative leader with the credibility and respect of internal and external senior colleagues and decision makers;
  • Strong, commercial and entrepreneurial awareness and understanding; Including planning, budgeting and managing costs and developing robust reporting and pipelines and forecasting approaches;
  • Strong leadership and management of both paid staff and volunteers; A highly motivated leader of people who is able to create and lead high performing target driven teams;
  • A strong communicator, who speaks with confidence and clarity of purpose; Gains the credibility and respect of all stakeholders internally and externally;
  • Strong planning skills in order to work out what the business needs and operational KPIs required;
  • Excellent interpersonal and relationship management skills, with the ability to work collaboratively with internal and external teams as well as independently;
  • Very strong project management skills, analytical skills and evidence of using data derived insights to plan business approaches and strategies;
  • Strong track record of building long term relationships with senior stakeholders across the food industry
  • Exceptional time management skills and the ability to deliver to deadlines on budget and on time.
  • Hugely committed to the dual mission of the charity and its partners and end beneficiaries;

Experience required

  • Professional qualifications and experience in food purchasing, acquisition and / or supply chain management;
  • Project management skills and experience and preferably with recognised qualifications;
  • Professional industry memberships and or accreditation or awards;
  • Over 10 years’ experience in managing food logistics in a senior role, preferably in  large food retailer, manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor.
  • A credible, valued, recognised and respected industry professional with a very strong network of professional contacts across the UK food industry;

The role can be based at any of The Felix Project’s sites in Park Royal, Bow, Enfield or Deptford, with very regular travel between all Felix Project locations as well as off site to meet with partners and external businesses and organisations.

Company

The Felix Project is London's biggest food redistribution charity and the largest end-to-end food redistribution charity in Europe.  

Our vision is a London where no one goes hungry and good food is never wasted. 

We rescue surplus food from businesses, supermarkets, restaurants and farms. This food is nutritious, in-date, and safe and includes a high proportion of fresh vegetables, fruit, meat and fish. If we did not rescue this food, it would be at risk of going to waste. Instead, we deliver it free of charge to London charities, schools, food banks, food hubs and other organisations serving people in need. Our food is a vital lifeline for children and families, people on low incomes, people who have lost their jobs, the homeless, refugees, domestic abuse survivors, the elderly and keyworkers.  

  We were founded in 2016 in memory of Felix Byam Shaw, by his father, entrepreneur Justin Byam Shaw.  

Company info
Location
Unit 6, Kendal Court
Kendal Avenue
London
Middlesex
W3 0RU
GB

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