Food Coordinator - Birmingham, United Kingdom - The Active Wellbeing Society

Description

Job title: Surplus Food Coordinator

Salary: £19,178 per annum (FTE £28,000)

Location: Birmingham

Hours: 25 hours per week Monday to Friday 8am - 1pm (with one Saturday shift a month and the time off as toil in the week). Initially this will be until June where we will review the requirement, and potentially this role may become full time.

Contract type: 6 month fixed term contract

TAWS has been given the opportunity to take up a space at the markets free of charge to pilot a surplus hub where edible waste food destined for anaerobic digestion can be diverted to human consumption.To purpose of this role is to maximise the amount of surplus food available to FJN groups via the Birmingham Wholesale Markets.

This role will be the key to it's success – to engage the tenants (traders) and encourage them to follow this process and engage with the project and it's values (FJN, food poverty, social justice...).

The amount of surplus food available is in decline but this role will provide the opportunity to see what is possible to intercept across the growing seasons. It may have to look at bulk purchasing when prices are low, with the aim of securing good prices by being a partner on site and building good relationships. Other cities have adopted the surplus hub model at their wholesale markets and rely on goodwill donations as well as actual surplus.

Main duties

It's a hands-on role, responsible for establishing and overseeing the day to day activities of the surplus food hub:

1. Establishing the new surplus food process with the tenants, encouraging them to drop edible waste food off at this hub instead of the waste facility which saves them money.
2. Enforcing the process, Eg: surplus food is acquired through a combination of going to the tenant's space to pick up and sort and the tenants dropping off food at the surplus hub. Recommended rule of thumb will be that tenants can only drop food that is at least 80% edible.
3. Duties will include lifting, carrying and sorting through produce of mixed quality with the ability to decide what is good enough to give out directly to people, processed in a community kitchen or inedible
4. Delivering to FJN groups when volunteer drivers not available
5. Encourage FJN groups who would like produce to take ownership of sorting and delivering surplus on certain days
6. Overall management of groups and volunteers on site to help sort and deliver food
7. Compliance with health and safety rules and regulations on site, including food safety.
8. Daily reporting to keep track of how much food is being diverted to the hub and where it goes next, both for traceability and measuring impact.
9. Collaborating with charities who already pick up surplus food from the markets to ensure that they are not adversely impacted: They either want to come on board and work with the process or continue what they are doing independently.
10. Maintain good working relationship with Axil, the waste management team who provide key information of what is being sent to waste.
11. Work with TAWS stories lead and Marketing to build case studies and promotional material to share with the markets' management and tenants.
12. Main point of contact for the markets management team
13. This is a pilot so flexibility will be key, making adjustments 'in-flight' to maintain good working relationships, build trust across all parties and to make this change in process 'business as usual'.
14. Also in scope is to follow up and manage external surplus food opportunities (eg a potential glut of produce from an external supplier) as well as support TAWS in any collective buying of food which could be stored at the hub.

Knowledge, skills and experience

1. Excellent partnership and relationship management skills
2. Good project management skills with demonstrable experience of managing all areas of project, volunteers, and general resource management.
3. High level of organisational and administrative skills
4. Holds Level 2 Food Safety or willingness to obtain
5. Ability to manage volunteers in line with health and safety site rules
6. Experience of community work, stakeholder working, and partnership working at a local level.
7. Driving licence
8. Ability to manage the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data
9. A flexible and proactive approach to all working practices
10. Ability to categorise fresh produce, ie determining what is fit/unfit for human consumption, good enough for cooking but not handing out directly to people.
11. Passionate about supporting sustainability via waste reduction and the circular economy.

Staff benefits

We offer our team members a comprehensive staff benefits offering to include:

• Annual Leave – 25 days FTE (increasing to 29 days with service) plus 5 wellbeing days.
• Nest Pension – 8% employer contribution - 3% employee contribution.
• Heath Cash Plan – giving you discounts on everyday healthcare such as dental, optical, physio, prescriptions & more.
• Employee Assistance Programme (counselling and DRs on call 24hrs a day).
• Life Assurance – x4 your salary paid to beneficiary.
• Flexible working.
• Fantastic volunteering opportunities within The Active Wellbeing Society every month.

Application details

Please submit a Cover Letter and CV addressing the experience you have had relevant to the 'Main Duties' and the 'Knowledge & Skills' sections of the advert, but as a minimum please address how you meet the the following criteria which will be weighted highly in the first sift of shortlisting:

1. Ability to categorise fresh produce, ie determining what is fit/unfit for human consumption, good enough for cooking but not handing out directly to people.
2. Passionate about supporting sustainability via waste reduction and the circular economy.
3. Excellent partnership and relationship management skills
4. Good project management skills with demonstrable experience of managing all areas of project, volunteers, and general resource management.
5. High level of organisational and administrative skills

Closing date: Sunday 26th May 2024 at midnight

Interview date: TBC

Due to the high numbers of applications we received for our job vacancies, we may close application windows early, so we would encourage you to submit your application ASAP

We will provide all applicants with an outcome on your application, this will usually be within 1 week of the application window closing.

Successful applicants will be required to be DBS checked prior to starting.

Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we, in recruiting for our team we welcome the unique contributions that you can bring. The Active Wellbeing Society is committed to being an equal opportunity employer, we recruit based upon capability and all applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. At The Active Wellbeing Society we are searching for people who share the passion for what we do with different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences, collectively making a difference.

If there is anything we can do to assist you in your application or preparations to be interviewed for one of our job vacancies please let us know and we can ensure you have a positive and comfortable experience.

Thank you for your interest in working for The Active Wellbeing Society, we look forward to receiving your application.