catering assistant

chef manager

cook

chef

operations manager

Impact-Food-Group

This company is an awful place to work. There is little to no support from management, constant staff turnover, and unrealistic expectations placed on employees. Training is bare minimum and not helpful, which leaves staff feeling unprepared and set up to fail. Overall, it is a very unpleasant and toxic work environment.

Management is a major issue. My previous manager left and was replaced by someone who was unkind, disrespectful, and clearly let the “manager” role go to her head. She spoke down to me despite only being in the role for a short time, while I had been there longer. Her behaviour made me feel small, uncomfortable, and anxious. I regularly went home feeling upset and stressed, and I dreaded coming into work.

At the time, I was dealing with personal circumstances that required time off. Management was aware of what I was going through, yet there was very little understanding or support shown.

What has been most distressing is that the bullying did not stop after I left the job. My former manager, along with her partner and friends, have shouted towards me and laughed while I am dropping off or picking up my child from school. This behaviour is intimidating, humiliating, and completely inappropriate. It has made a simple school run feel stressful and uncomfortable.

This company hires and tolerates individuals who are rude, disrespectful, and engage in bullying behaviour, both inside and outside of the workplace.

You deserve better than this.
Avoid working for this company, you’re worth more.

There is nothing difficult about this job, it’s a typical school kitchen.  Recipes are easy to follow and the products that are served up are the same bread products day in day out.  They are more interested in dressing the counters than putting out decent healthy food.  The work based culture in the kitchen I worked in was clicky and the most enjoyable part of the day was home time.   You learn nothing new as the work routine is the same, after a while it gets quite tedious.  This company is let down by their management team who act in an unprofessional manner and could seriously do with better training.  Staff are told they have to wear hairnets and uniform in the kitchen and then you have a member of management who comes in the kitchen in her outdoor clothes puts an apron on and continues to prep food items or puts her chefs jacket on and a hair net but keeps her trousers and outdoor shoes on and starts prepping food.  Double standards of how they expect staff to dress and how they dress themselves.  Good job the EHO didn’t walk in to inspect.


What is the best part of working at the company?
The company is toxic to the core. Spineless middle management, Sgt Major type senior management leads a non friendly working environment for teams. Grabbing every bit if new tech on the market and dropping it on managers with rushed training doesn't make it work.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
All of it. To much on managers, working long hours, including time in holidays. All about profits, the funny thing is they think the food offer is all that. Try asking the pupils what they really think

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Toxic. Everyone is scared of those upstairs. Audits are so over the top it's not funny 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Manic, producing to many choices, Having the rules if the games changed consistently. Unsettling to the extent you question yourself or your team. But I have left to an other company and life is great, food offer is good, environment is pleasant and life is good again.

The worst choice I have ever made working for this company. The area manager is disgusting, constantly tries to threaten you saying your on probation as if I’d be scarred by it. She says one thing to you and another to someone else, constantly talks about you and slags you off behind your back ‘fantastic manager skills’. She constantly goes on about her hair, eats in the kitchen, don’t think I ever seen her wash her hands, The way the food was made was also high risk as it was reheated more than once. For me when I was told to keep something I through it away cause I’d know they’d reheat it again. Basically I was glad I got out of there and would not recommend anyone work there unless you enjoy braking the law and love working in a totally hostile environment.
If you do decide to work there ask for a non innovate member of staff to go to any meetings with you just as a witness because the area manager just spills out lies after lies and becareful who you trust

Typical day at work is busy, stressful and draining, dealing and working around some lazy sluggish coworkers and poor weak kitchen management. Incompetent manager who isn’t able to make simple decisions about daily tasks, stock order and kitchen operations and is constantly overwhelmed, blaming his mistakes on others. 
Cliquey atmosphere and culture if you don’t fit in with lazy sluggish attitude you get bullied, harassed. If you are hard working you get rewarded with more work. Senior management is ignoring not dealing with issues and dysfunctional kitchen environment. 
I didn’t learn anything so far except how to distance yourself emotionally at work. 
The hardest part of the job is the cliquey culture, sneaky sluggish coworkers, you constantly have to watch your back.
The most enjoyable part of the job is the end of the day when you leave the kitchen 

In the head office there is definitely a cliquey, toxic culture, with one department in particular. The business is solely focused on maximising profits and trying to grow too big before getting proper systems and infrastructure in place, with office and kitchen staff having to deal with the brunt of those decisions. Decisions made by higher-ups are made without considering those on the front lines of each department affected. It is hard to get promoted in the business unless you kick up a fuss or suck up. Most efforts of employee engagement and empowerment are done more so as a check-box exercise to say it is being done, rather than actually engaging and empowering their employees.

IFG has expanded too quickly like most contract caterers and the structure isn’t in place to address the volume in every department like many other contract operators   too many chiefs not enough workers.
Digital integration has taken place with multiple systems that do not work ie if it’s not broken don’t fix it !!
And too many systems to use.
Management varies depending on WHO you have as a manager. 
Unfortunately a number on a payroll with no personal touch , development non existent unless you are in the chosen few.



A typical day at work for me was very stressful, uncertain and I was always on edge.  The workplace culture was very toxic, very unreasonable manager who would never have catch ups to discuss how you are coping with work or give feedback except when it is to criticize you. The workplace is not diverse and I was treated in a hostile and unprofessional manner. Manager will listen to reports about team members from colleagues and act on it without using the proper processes or approach. They do not appreciate fresh ideas even if it will help in improving the work 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Leaving at the end of the day 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There’s no organisation, no structure and the management have no idea how to manage anything. I’m in quite strong belief that recruitment lied to me. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
There is no culture. All they care about is making sure they make money and not paying people things like sick pay 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Unorganised, stressful and not worth the small amount of money they pay. And when you ask about raises they suggest looking at universal credit

I was systematically bullied by the other women who had worked there the longest. I was highly anxious the majority of my time there and got no support from management when I relayed how I was being treated. I was very relieved to leave. The work load is very heavy but the shifts are pretty short. You are told to stay until everything is done so you end up staying over your time and they absolutely will not pay you for it. They will tell you it’s because you are not working fast enough. Also the pay for what you are expected to do is pitiful. 
I cannot stress this enough - avoid! avoid! avoid!!


Top Job Titles	Average salary
Catering assistant 774 salaries reported	£12.30 per hour
Chef manager 537 salaries reported	£35,068 per year
Cook 179 salaries reported	£14.19 per hour
Chef 138 salaries reported	£31,346 per year
Operations manager 47 salaries reported	£41,112 per year

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