Manager – Cafeteria Operations

Company: Green Foods

Client Location: HCL, Lucknow

Department: Cafeteria / Food Operations

Position: Manager – Cafeteria Operations

Reporting To: Head of Operations / Operations Manager

Employment Type: Full-Time

1. About the Role

Green Foods is looking for an experienced, responsible and result-oriented Manager – Cafeteria Operations to independently manage the day-to-day cafeteria operations at HCL, Lucknow.

The Manager will be responsible for ensuring smooth food production and service, food quality, hygiene and food safety, manpower management, inventory control, food-cost control, customer satisfaction, vendor coordination, documentation and compliance.

The ideal candidate should have hands-on experience in corporate cafeterias, institutional catering, QSRs, hotels or high-volume food-service operations and should be capable of leading a team while maintaining consistent operational and food-safety standards.

2. Key Responsibilities

A. Cafeteria Operations

- Manage complete day-to-day operations of the HCL cafeteria.
- Ensure timely preparation and service of breakfast, lunch, snacks, beverages and other approved food items.
- Ensure smooth operations during peak meal hours.
- Maintain consistency in food quality, taste, portion size and presentation.
- Ensure availability of approved menu items during service.
- Monitor kitchen and cafeteria operations throughout the day.
- Identify operational gaps and implement corrective actions.
- Ensure cleanliness and organization of kitchen, service and dining areas.
- Coordinate with the Chef and operational team for smooth service.

B. Food Safety & Hygiene

- Ensure strict compliance with FSSAI, food-safety and company standards.
- Implement and monitor food-safety SOPs.
- Ensure proper personal hygiene and grooming of all food handlers.
- Monitor use of uniforms, hairnets, gloves and other required PPE.
- Monitor cooking, holding and storage temperatures.
- Prevent cross-contamination and unsafe food-handling practices.
- Ensure proper storage and segregation of raw and cooked food.
- Ensure proper cleaning and sanitation of all operational areas.
- Monitor pest-control activities.
- Ensure proper waste segregation and disposal.
- Ensure food labelling and applicable shelf-life/expiry controls.
- Maintain food-safety and hygiene records.

C. Manpower Management

- Manage kitchen, service, housekeeping and cafeteria staff.
- Prepare duty rosters and manpower deployment plans.
- Ensure adequate manpower during peak hours.
- Monitor attendance, punctuality, grooming and discipline.
- Conduct daily staff briefings.
- Allocate duties according to operational requirements.
- Train staff on SOPs, food safety, hygiene, customer service and food handling.
- Identify performance gaps and implement improvement plans.
- Maintain team discipline and productivity.

D. Inventory & Store Management

- Monitor daily receiving, storage and issue of raw materials.
- Ensure proper FIFO/FEFO practices.
- Maintain appropriate stock levels.
- Monitor daily consumption.
- Conduct regular physical stock verification.
- Control stock variance, wastage and pilferage.
- Ensure proper storage of dry, chilled and frozen products.
- Monitor expiry and near-expiry products.
- Coordinate with procurement for timely replenishment.




- Maintain accurate stock and inventory records.

E. Food Cost & Wastage Control

- Monitor daily food consumption and food cost.
- Maintain food cost within the approved budget.
- Control overproduction and unnecessary wastage.
- Monitor preparation, production and plate wastage.
- Ensure standardized recipes and portion sizes.
- Analyze reasons for food-cost deviations.
- Implement measures to reduce food and material wastage.
- Monitor high-cost ingredients and menu items.
- Prepare and review food-cost and wastage reports.

F. Menu & Recipe Standardization

- Implement approved cafeteria menus.
- Ensure standardized recipes and portion sizes.
- Maintain consistency in taste and quality across shifts.
- Coordinate with the Chef for menu execution.
- Monitor customer preferences and feedback.
- Suggest practical menu improvements.
- Ensure menu changes are operationally and financially feasible.
- Coordinate with procurement for standardized raw materials.

G. Food Quality Control

- Conduct daily quality checks before food service.
- Monitor taste, appearance, texture, temperature and portion size.
- Ensure food is served within the required holding period.
- Monitor quality of raw materials received.
- Ensure rejected or substandard materials are not used.
- Investigate food-quality complaints.
- Take immediate corrective action for quality deviations.

H. Customer & Client Management

- Maintain a professional working relationship with HCL representatives.
- Monitor customer feedback and complaints.
- Ensure complaints are addressed promptly.
- Identify recurring complaints and conduct root-cause analysis.
- Monitor customer satisfaction.
- Ensure skilled behaviour of cafeteria staff.
- Implement improvement measures based on customer feedback.

I. Audit & Compliance

- Conduct daily operational inspections.
- Support scheduled and surprise audits.
- Ensure cafeteria operations remain audit-ready.
- Monitor compliance with company and client requirements.
- Record and report non-conformities.
- Prepare and implement CAPA for major/critical observations.
- Ensure timely closure of audit observations.
- Verify effectiveness of corrective actions.

J. Documentation & MIS Ensure accurate and timely maintenance of:

- Attendance Register
- Duty Roster
- Receiving Register
- Stock Register
- Consumption Register
- Indent Register
- FIFO/FEFO Records
- Temperature Monitoring Records
- Cooking/Holding Temperature Records
- Cleaning & Sanitation Checklists
- Pest Control Records
- Deep Cleaning Records
- Wastage Records
- Complaint & Feedback Register
- Training Records
- Equipment Maintenance Records
- Daily Cafeteria Checklist
- Food Safety Records
- Other client/company/statutory records

Prepare and submit daily, weekly and monthly operational reports to management. 3. Daily Operational Responsibilities

Before Service

- Check staff attendance and manpower deployment.
- Conduct staff briefing.
- Inspect kitchen and cafeteria cleanliness.




- Check raw-material availability.
- Review production requirements.
- Check equipment functionality.
- Verify staff hygiene and grooming.
- Review expected meal volume.

During Service

- Monitor food production and quality.
- Check cooking and holding temperatures.
- Monitor portion control.
- Ensure timely replenishment.
- Monitor service speed and customer flow.
- Address customer complaints.
- Ensure food availability and presentation.
- Monitor staff performance.

After Service

- Review consumption and wastage.
- Check stock movement.
- Verify cleaning and sanitation.
- Review complaints and feedback.
- Verify operational records.
- Plan requirements for the next service/day.
- Submit the required daily report.

4. Required Qualification

- Bachelor's Degree / Diploma in:
- Hotel Management
- Hospitality Management
- Catering Technology
- Food Production
- Food Service Management
- or related field.
- FoSTaC / HACCP / Food Safety certification will be an advantage.

5. Experience Required Preferred: 5–10 years of relevant experience in one or more of the following:

- Corporate Cafeteria
- Institutional Catering
- Hospital Food Services
- QSR Operations
- Hotel Food & Beverage Operations
- Central Kitchen
- Large-Scale Catering
- High-Volume Food-Service Operations

Experience in independently managing large cafeteria operations and teams will be preferred. 6. Essential Skills

- Cafeteria Operations Management
- Kitchen Operations
- Food Safety & Hygiene
- FSSAI Compliance
- HACCP Knowledge
- Manpower Management
- Inventory & Store Management
- Food Cost Control
- Waste Reduction
- Menu & Recipe Standardization
- Quality Control
- Customer Service
- Vendor Coordination
- Audit & CAPA Management
- Documentation & MIS
- MS Excel, Word & Reporting
- Problem Solving
- Decision Making
- Leadership & Communication

7. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

KPI

Performance Objective

Food Quality

Consistent taste, quality and presentation

Food Safety

Zero critical food-safety violations

Hygiene

High audit and hygiene compliance

Customer Satisfaction

Reduction in complaints

Food Cost

Maintain within approved budget

Wastage

Continuous reduction in avoidable wastage

Inventory

Minimum stock variance

Manpower

Optimum productivity and attendance

SOP Compliance

Consistent implementation of SOPs

Audit Score

Continuous improvement

CAPA Closure

Timely closure of observations

Documentation

Accurate and audit-ready records

Service

Timely and smooth meal service

Client Satisfaction

Positive HCL feedback

8. Ideal Candidate Profile The ideal candidate should be:

Hands-on Food-Safety Focused Disciplined Customer-Oriented Commercially Aware Strong in Team Management The Manager must be capable of identifying operational problems, conducting root-cause analysis, implementing corrective actions and measuring results.

This is a hands-on operational role and requires the candidate to be present on the floor and actively monitor kitchen, service, staff, food quality, hygiene, inventory and customer experience.

9. Salary & Employment

Monthly CTC: ₹40,000

Annual CTC: ₹4.80 LPA

Employment Type: Full-Time

Location: HCL, Lucknow

Company: Green Foods

Pay: ₹15,000.00 - ₹35,000.00 per month

Benefits

- Food provided
- Provident Fund

Work Location: In person

📌 Cafeteria Operations Manager (Lucknow)
🏢 COHIRE SOLUTIONS
📍 Lucknow