Job Description & Person Specification

General Manager

April 2011

Job Title: General Manager

Working Hours: Full time

Salary/pay: Circa - £40,000dependant on experience

Reporting to: Operations Director

Based At: Upper Norton Farm near Andover

Summary and purpose:

Riverford has been growing vegetables organically on Guy Watson’s family farm in Devon since 1986. The box scheme started in 1993, one of the first in the country, and has grown to supply to over 40,000 homes per week nationwide from a network of five regional farms and box packing operations. Alongside our own farms we also work with a network of farmers and growers on a local, national and international level to provide our customers with great tasting food from producers we know and trust.

Riverford on Upper Norton Farm supplies over 400,000 boxes per year to homes in the central and southern region. The box packing operation turns over £5.8 million annually at a wholesale level and employs 29 staff. Alongside the boxes customers are also able to choose from a range of over 100 additional ‘extras’ products to be delivered with their box. These include meat, dairy, drinks and dry goods like cereals and biscuits.

The GM has full responsibility for sales, production and financial performance of the Riverford on Upper Norton Farm box operation – from product leaving the field to boxes and other Riverford products arriving on customer’s doorsteps. Working with the Finance Director, the GM will take responsibility for developing annual business budgets and then managing the business in accordance with these.

We are looking for an experienced manager with the drive and determination, values and enthusiasm to grow and develop the Riverford on Upper NortonFarm business. The successful candidate should possess the skills, experience and personality to elevate Riverford’s profile, enhance our reputation, attract new customers and consolidate our relationship with existing customers building loyalty and advocacy along the way.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities:

Main Responsibilities:

To manage all aspects of Riverford on Upper NortonFarm to maintain a profitable business without compromising the customer experience or the brand values at the heart of Riverford.

Production

To manage the Riverford on Upper Norton Farm business to achieve high levels of efficiency and superb quality delivered through a team of motivated and skilled staff.

  • Efficiently manage the fully integrated supply chain from crop and supply programming to product arrival with our customers.
  • Ensure that all products dispatched are of the highest quality in terms of flavour, appearance and freshness and do not compromise what our customers love.
  • Ensure that labour, packaging and transport resources are in place to fulfil orders accurately and consistently to a very high quality.
  • With the support of our finance team, take financial responsibility for budgets, monthly accounts and weekly KPIs and an overall business plan including costs and margin data.
  • With the support of our HR team take responsibility for selecting, recruiting, managing and motivating current and new staff.
  • Develop and maintain a strong 'Riverford' culture throughout the business and ensure this culture is communicated effectively to staff.
  • Build a good reputation for the business in the area - in terms of good quality products, good working conditions and ethical supply chain relationships.
  • Create and maintain a good working relationship with other Riverford Farm General Managers, providing a quality and reliable service and effective communication.
  • Ensure that costs and production data are monitored, in terms of procurement, packing speeds, efficiencies, overheads and direct costs on a daily, weekly and yearly basis in order to monitor performance weekly against agreed budgets.
  • Ensure that all necessary accreditation requirements are successfully met, including Soil Association Certification.
  • Ensure that H&S standards are implemented, adhered to and maintained within the company and that food safety regulations and Soil Association standards are maintained throughout.
  • Organise and run technical days and training days for franchisees and staff as deemed necessary.

Sales, marketing and management of the franchisee network

  • Within the franchise network seek to achieve the following to enable business growth;
  • Increase customer acquisition
  • Improve customer retention
  • Elevate customer spend
  • Elevate frequency of purchase
  • Increase the level of customer reactivation
  • Promote and encourage strong customer engagement to help retention and advocacy

Achieve the above through the following;

  • Implementation of a proactive and targeted marketing strategy. This will complement central marketing activity and should encompass new and innovative marketing techniques.
  • Use of key performance metrics to review performance against targets
  • Insure that structures are in place to deliver strong and close working relationships with your network of franchisees.
  • Monitor franchisee performance and through the sales development manager support the development of their businesses through advice, guidance, training and sharing of best practice.
  • Where a franchise territories performance is failing, develop remedial performance plans. In the event that these are unsuccessful appropriately and efficiently manage the process of territory sales to new franchisees.
  • Monitor and if required respond to competitor activity.
  • Making use of customer profiling and demographic data to best target resource investment.
  • Devise regional promotional programmes to enhance the product offer.
  • Ensure that point of sale and post-sales customer service and communication is optimised to aid retention and elevate sales.
  • Constantly look to explore new ways to gain and retain customers.

Person Specification:

Experience

  • Experience of running an enterprise where you have full accountability for its performance.
  • Production or manufacturing experience ideally within the fresh produce sector.
  • Experience of managing staff at all levels including recruitment, performance management and appraisals.
  • Experience of working autonomously.
  • Experience of working to budgetswith full responsibility for profit and loss.
  • Good Computer literacy including Excel

Qualities

  • Excellent communication skills; In addition to managing communications with your own staff you will need to manage complex cross departmental issues as part of a large company with overlapping interests; e.g around marketing, supply chain, franchisees.
  • Knowledge and passion for food and particularly fresh produce.
  • Though we are looking for a manager who seeks consensus and participation in decision making from your staff, you will need to have the personal confidence and experience to be able to drive through difficult decisions and sometimes challenge current thinking and practices.
  • An ability to enrich the working lives of those in the team and to make projects fun.
  • The vision and creativity to develop future ideas but have the knowledge to know what works and what doesn’t.
  • You will need to have energy and drive to be forward thinking, share in our values and have a passion for converting people to the joys of cooking and eating fresh, seasonal organic produce.
  • Competent in the financial performance of a business with commercial awareness and a good head for numbers.
  • Preparedness to travel to other network farms and meetings when needed.
  • An eye for opportunities for continual improvement – in service provision, efficiencies and product offering.