Area Manager - Food Division

Area Manager - Food Division

Salary: £55,000 + Company Car | Permanent

Join us and help shape the future of our Food stores

At Heart of England Co-operative Society, we're proud to serve our communities through our network of 40 Food Convenience Stores. As an independent, values-driven co-operative with roots dating back to 1832, we're committed to delivering great service, strong commercial performance and real value for our members and communities.

We're looking for a commercially driven, results-focused Area Manager to join our Food Division and work alongside our Head of Store Operations and Transformation to deliver our Food strategy.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced multi-site retail leader who knows how to turn strategy into action, drive sales and profitability, and build a culture of accountability and high performance. You'll play a pivotal role in ensuring our stores deliver brilliant standards and exceptional service, in every store, every day.

About the role

As Area Manager, you'll take ownership of the performance of the stores within your area, driving sales, profit, operational standards and customer experience. You'll provide visible, hands-on leadership, coaching and developing Store Managers to deliver results, strengthen their teams and consistently execute our operating model.

You'll bring a strong trading mentality, using financial performance, data, local knowledge and competitor insight to identify opportunities, respond to challenges and keep our stores competitive.

From improving availability and controlling costs to embedding new initiatives and developing future talent, you'll make a tangible difference to the performance of our Food Division.

Key responsibilities

Commercial Performance & Trading

• Take ownership of sales, profit and operational performance across your area, delivering against budgets and business targets.

• Embed a strong trading mentality, ensuring teams actively manage sales, availability, waste and margin opportunities.

• Monitor performance against budget, identify risks and opportunities, and take prompt corrective action.

• Drive effective execution of ranging, pricing, promotions and merchandising to maximise commercial returns.

• Use data, customer behaviour, local knowledge and competitor insight to identify opportunities and improve results.

• Respond quickly to seasonal events, competitor activity and changing market conditions.

Operational Excellence & Standards

• Establish clear expectations for store standards, execution and accountability across all locations.

• Ensure consistent delivery of daily, weekly and period routines, including store walks, replenishment, availability, promotions and compliance checks.

• Build a right-first-time culture, improving efficiency, reducing rework and simplifying ways of working.

• Maintain a strong, visible presence in stores through structured visits, real-time coaching and effective follow-up.

• Take accountability for Health & Safety and Food Safety compliance, ensuring audits, checks and corrective actions are completed promptly.

• Drive continuous improvement, productivity and the effective implementation of new systems, initiatives and ways of working.

Cost Control & Efficiency

• Drive strong financial discipline across payroll, waste, stock loss and operational overheads.

• Ensure Store Managers understand their financial performance and take ownership of their budgets.

• Align labour deployment with trading patterns, improving productivity and resource utilisation.

• Identify and deliver opportunities to reduce costs while maintaining strong standards and customer service.

• Support Store Managers to manage resources effectively and deliver sustainable commercial results.

Leadership & People Development

• Lead, coach and develop Store Managers to achieve high performance and consistent operational execution.

• Build capability across store teams, strengthening standards, customer service and commercial delivery.

• Create a high-performance culture built on clear accountability, pace, ownership and continuous improvement.

• Work closely with HR to support colleague engagement, performance and retention.

• Ensure robust succession planning across your area, developing talent and strengthening internal progression.

Strategy, Change & Growth

• Support the Head of Store Operations and Transformation in implementing and embedding the Society's Food strategy.

• Translate central initiatives into effective action at store level, ensuring new ways of working are adopted and sustained.

• Support new store openings, refits and local projects, ensuring stores are equipped with the right standards, routines and team capability.

• Identify opportunities to simplify processes, improve productivity and share best practice across your area.

• Feed market insight and operational feedback back to central teams to support continuous improvement and business planning.

About you

You're a commercially sharp, performance-driven retail leader who thrives in a fast-paced, multi-site environment. You understand what drives sales and profitability, know how to turn performance data into practical action, and can motivate Store Managers to take ownership and deliver results.

You'll bring:

• Significant experience in multi-site retail operations, ideally within food or convenience retail.

• A proven track record of delivering sales, profit and operational KPIs.

• Strong experience leading, coaching and developing Store Managers.

• The ability to drive consistent store standards, operational execution and accountability.

• Strong commercial awareness and financial understanding, including budgets and cost control.

• The confidence to identify underperformance, challenge constructively and take decisive action.

• A disciplined, proactive approach to operational routines, compliance and continuous improvement.

You'll also be performance-driven, resilient and decisive, with the energy and visibility to engage teams, influence others and lead from the front.

Experience in convenience or food retail, embedding operational change or transformation, and understanding fresh food operations, waste and compliance would be advantageous.

Why join us?

At Heart of England Co-operative Society, you'll have the opportunity to make a real impact across our Food Division while working for an organisation that puts its members, colleagues and communities at the heart of every decision.

What we offer

• £55,000 salary

• Company car

• 10% colleague discount in our Food stores, plus double discount on our four-weekly pay weekend

• Pension scheme with a 3.3% employer contribution

• 30 days' holiday, including bank holidays, increasing with length of service

• 15% FAB Furniture discount

• Enhanced maternity pay and enhanced redundancy pay

• Discounts and savings through My Staff Shop

• Wagestream

• Employee Assistance Programme with GP access, including referrals, prescription services, GP consultations and telephone and in-person counselling

• Refer A Friend Scheme

• Long Service Award

• Support for eye care

• Financial and wellbeing support through Co-op Credit Union and Grocery Aid

• Life insurance at two times your salary

• Health Assured Bereavement Support

• Health Assured Wellbeing Services, including the My Healthy Advantage mobile app

• ZGP24 Service, providing video and telephone consultations, open referrals and prescription services

• Crisis24 worldwide security and health information service

• Terminal illness support

Ready to make a difference?

If you're an experienced retail leader with the commercial drive, operational discipline and people leadership skills to take our stores to the next level, we'd love to hear from you.

Join Heart of England Co-operative Society and help us deliver brilliant standards, exceptional service and sustainable commercial success across our Food Division.