Operations Manager

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 Operations Manager is ultimately in charge of our Johannesburg facility, 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, food safety, health & safety, 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.

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 warehouse and the rest of the business, you will be required to communicate and escalate any risks deriving from and/or impacting the warehouse 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 is hands on, based in Midrand (Johannesburg). The nature of UCOOK’s weekly cycle means that production is predominantly over the weekend, so the role will require weekend work and/or mobile availability over  the weekend. 

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 variances.
  • Work closely with procurement to ensure that all required materials are available on time and meet the required specifications.

• Cost Management

  • Responsible for processes related to Food Cost including receiving,  issues, portioning (production usage), waste & discarded stock.
  • Responsible for Food Cost Investigations, identifying insights and driving actions to reduce usage and bring down Food Cost.
  • Assist in the development of operational budget and monitor and control expenses according to the allocated  budget.
  • Ensure all operations are carried out in an appropriate, cost effective way
  • Suggest and implement cost-saving initiatives

• Manage staff levels, wages, hours, contract labour to revenues

• Review and approve all operational invoices and ensure they are submitted for payment

• Planning and communicating CAPEX requirements

• Continuous improvement & collaboration

  • Changing the way we work, to continuously improve the quality and accuracy of our output, and reduce costs.

• Working with our projects, processes and tech teams to ensure that any new technology and processes that we deploy is appropriate for use, and implemented successfully.

• Drive development & updating of Standard Operating Procedures for all operational activities and maintain clear & accurate documentation for operational procedures and activities.

• Ensuring the standard operating procedures are effectively leveraging our tools.

• People Management:

  • Recruit, train & supervise staff.

  • Provide operational support & guidance to staff.

  • Set goals & objectives for direct reports, in line with the business strategy & objectives.

  • Conduct performance reviews and corrective action plans where required.

  • Lead and manage disciplinary matters with the assistance of HR.

  • Foster an environment of trust, diversity and inclusion.

  • Strive for a well-trained motivated workforce through excellent leadership and communication skills.

TYPICAL ACTIVITIES

• Overseeing and managing operations employees and processes

• Reporting

• Planning

• Problem solving & variance investigation

• Project Management

• People Management

• Budgeting

• Interdepartmental meetings and communication

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

• Production efficiencies
  • Labour cost % NR & Overtime
  • Speed of production, on time dispatch
• Customer complaints / error rates
  • Number of Production errors
  • Incident reports
• Food safety
  • Implementation of Food Safety system
  • Warehouse compliance with food safety system
• Operations costs
  • Stock variance & stock accuracy
  • Wastage & write offs
• Continuous improvement

  • Successful implementation of initiatives to drive operational improvement.

KEY SKILLS

• Leadership

• Problem solving

• Clear communication and understanding

• Organised, detail oriented & top notch critical thinking skills

• People management skills - conflict management & experience in IR.

• Good decision making skills and response to high pressure situations.

• Project management

• Technical skills (e.g forecasting, printer setup and troubleshooting, etc.)

• Planning and budgeting

• Database management and analysis

• Commercial acumen & understanding

Requirements

• Tertiary qualification

• Experience in the food industry, preferably food manufacturing.

• 5+ years of operations experience including people management & stock management

• Excellent attention to detail and a fanatical approach to identifying, analysing and solving causes of poor operational or customer experiences

• Strong analytical skills, and affinity for defining and measuring KPIs

• Good understanding of food safety

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

• Advanced excel and arithmetic skills

• A personal style that aims for perfect execution, but in a way that supports building a culture of inclusion, collaboration, responsibility, and ownership

• Proven entrepreneurial attitude -- hands-on, can-do, creative, experimental

Beneficial:

• Experience working with Acumatica

• Experience with lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, or similar best practice frameworks for effective operational processes

• Experience working with unions