Cafe Manager

Salary: £22,800 - £23,807 (pro rata) per annum (FTE £28,500 - £29,759 / £15.65 - £16.35 per hour)

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 28 hours per week. Weekend working and bank holidays included as per rota.

Based: College Lake Visitor Centre, Tring, Bucks, UK

The Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust has a vision for “more nature everywhere, for everyone”. We’re working hard to create an inclusive culture, where everyone feels they belong. This includes you being comfortable bringing your whole self to work, and us co-working with the diverse communities we serve to ensure we are meeting everyone’s needs. 

We are seeking a proactive Cafe Manager to lead and participate in the café and catering operations, ensuring profitability, staff development, customer satisfaction, and compliance with all regulations. The ideal candidate is a leader who thrives in fast-paced environments and is passionate about delivering exceptional food and service experiences as part of the wider College Lake management team.

What you’ll be doing

• Managing the overall performance of the café and catering services
• Leading and participating in the preparation, cooking, and presentation of food for the café
• Planning and coordinating catering logistics, including menu planning, staffing, and equipment
• Line managing, training and recruiting catering staff, ensuring high standards of food safety, hygiene, and customer service
• Financial management, including budget planning, stock and inventory control, staff costs and maintaining margin

What we’re looking for

• Someone who is used to being involved in the workings of a busy café, or similar food service, in a leadership role
• A culinary or hands-on kitchen background
• Commercial awareness of profit margins and VAT
• Flexibility to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as required.
• A Level 3 Food Hygiene qualification 

This post will be DBS checked at basic level. A criminal conviction will not necessarily be a bar to

obtaining the position. BBOWT will not unfairly discriminate on the basis of criminal convictions. BBOWT’s policy regarding this matter and the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice are available on request.

For all your hard work you can expect a great rewards package in return. In addition to being part of a friendly, skilled and knowledgeable team, passionate about making a difference, when you work for us, you’ll also receive:

• Generous annual leave entitlement with paid birthday leave, wellbeing days, urgent personal business leave and generous occupational sick pay
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, and family-friendly policies
• Flexible working to achieve work-life balance
• Salary exchange pension with generous employer contribution
• Learning & Development Programme for all
• Wellbeing initiatives including qualified Mental Health First Aiders, YuLife benefit package - access to our EAP, providing you with immediate and confidential help for any work, health, or life matters; 3x life assurance, online GP access prescription service, a variety of discounts
• Salary sacrifice Cycle scheme & Electric Vehicle scheme
• Membership to BBOWT’s, and The Wildlife Trusts’, Staff Network Groups for social interaction, peer support, mentoring and personal development

How to apply

For full details, please read the job description and T&Cs below. To apply, please follow the application link.The closing time and date for applications is 11.59pm on Monday 7 September 2026. Interviews will take place face to face at College Lake Visitor Centre on Thursday 17 September 2026.

BBOWT values diversity and inclusion and the benefits this brings. We want every candidate to have the best chance of success as part of this process. In order to do this, we know that some candidates will need reasonable adjustments. Contact us on recruitment@bbowt.org.uk if there are any reasonable adjustments we can provide during the recruitment process, including completing your application. 

When applying for the role you can expect to answer a few questions online relating to the skills required and what you would be doing in the role. Your responses will be anonymised, randomised, and scored by a panel of reviewers. 

We don't use an application form, or CVs - your answers to our situational based questions will be scored against a review guide and scores from these will decide which candidates go through to the interview stage.  See here to find out why we do this.

Whilst we appreciate ChatGPT and other AI platforms can answer these questions, we know what they have to say (and generally the answer they generate isn't great). We want to hear your perspective written in your own words. If it is clear that any of your answers are not your own work, we reserve the right to reject your application on that basis. 

You’ll also be asked for information about your background, anything you feel comfortable sharing will be anonymised and will not be shared as part of the selection process, it will only be used to help us understand how we are performing against our equal opportunities metrics. All candidates will receive feedback on their application. 

We want our people to be as diverse as nature, so we particularly encourage applications from people who are underserved within the communities in which we operate. This includes people from visible ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities (including those who are neurodivergent), the LGBTQ+ community, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and younger people. We are committed to creating an organisation that recognises and truly values individual differences and identities.