National Operations Manager

**National Operations Manager**

Cape Town OR Midrand based

**JOB OVERVIEW**

UCOOK is a tech start-up, meal-kit delivery service, delivering across South Africa. Our network of top chefs create recipes for our customers to choose from each week, and we deliver the fresh, locally sourced ingredients to their door. Whilst Mealkit is our core we also have a significant add on business comprising of frozen meals, pizza, kids meals, wine and a broad market offering. We are part of the Silvertreebrands group of companies.

The National Operations Manager is ultimately in charge of our two warehouses in Cape Town & Johannesburg, responsible for all production, warehousing and logistics outcomes. This involves the active management of its inventory, equipment, people and processes to ensure all functions are being performed accurately, efficiently and timeously. Working together with the other operational managers and supervisors, you will be responsible for the daily coordination, improvement and execution of all manufacturing and fulfilment operations; overseeing production, planning, quality control and maintenance. You will also be accountable for the cost management of labour and packaging materials, food cost & waste and warehouse overheads and will be required to report on these weekly.

As head of department, Strategy & Planning will be part of the role. At UCOOK this typically involves, but is not limited to, the following: process evaluation and development; reporting and analysis; budgeting; and problem solving.

To be successful in this role, you will need to have excellent leadership skills with a fair and consistent disposition and the ability to lead, motivate, and support a large team within a time-sensitive and demanding environment. As the primary point of contact between the warehouses and the rest of the business, you will be required to communicate and escalate any risks deriving from and/or impacting the warehouses and your input on various projects and initiatives will be crucial. As such you should be a great communicator that builds strong relationships with colleagues and managers in other departments as well as your own.

The role will require substantial time on the ground in our facilities, in Midrand (Johannesburg) and Paarden Eiland (Cape Town). We do support flexibility in hours and working location, but in practice, you will need to be present most of the time. The nature of UCOOK’s weekly cycle means that production is predominantly over the weekend, so the role will require some work and mobile availability during the weekend. You can be based in either Johannesburg or Cape Town, with travel to the other location.

Your day-to-day focus will be especially on UCOOK operations, but the role includes sitting on the UCOOK management team, and working closely with operations colleagues at other Silvertreebrands companies such as Faithful to Nature and PetHeaven, which share warehousing and systems. You should be ready to mentor your team members, find ways to improve the quality of the product we send to our customers and implement best practices across all levels.

Ultimately, we’ll trust you to help us remain productive, efficient and compliant, whilst delivering a superior product and keeping our staff safe and engaged.

**GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES**
- ** Lead UCOOK operations and mealkit production**:
- End to end responsibility for the operational processes including process optimisation, workforce allocation, people management, facility management and problem-solving.
- Supporting the production planning and execution process and ensuring key performance indicators (KPIs) are in place and targets are met
- People management, to ensure that supervisors are effectively managing their teams, that standards are maintained and to avoid wasted time or resources.
- Analyse and improve operational processes, flow and best practices. Manage timely data collection to update operations metrics to achieve productivity targets, reduce cost, eliminate errors, and deliver excellent customer service
- Addressing operational concerns and issues, monitoring overall customer satisfaction
- Serve as primary point of contact for issues related to warehouse errors
- Communicate customer issues with operations team and devise ways of improving the customer experience, including resolving problems and complaints
- **Responsibility for food safety and compliance**:

- Drive implementation and adherence to food safety system
- Drive implementation and adherence to OHSE system
- Develop, implement, and maintain quality assurance protocols
- Standard Operating Procedures - drafting, improving, implementing and monitoring.
- Drive and maintain warehouse hygiene and housekeeping standards
- **Stock management / control**:
- Own accuracy and integrity of stock within warehouses including; FIFO, stock takes, variance investigations, communication with procurement.
- Own the stock counts and posted variance