Why Freshview?
If there’s one word that encapsulates the ethos of Freshview Foods, it’s ‘excellence’. This applies to the quality of the produce we deliver as well as the levels of service we offer to our customers.
At Freshview Foods, we understand that commercial success is driven by talented employees and loyal customers. Just like our dedicated team members, who constantly go the extra mile to ensure our company’s high standards are maintained and exceeded, Freshview is committed to ensuring our people feel safe, valued and engaged.
What you'll be doing
We are looking for an exceptional Depot Manager to lead our brand new Southern Hub, based at Delice de France in Southall. You will be accountable for the daily operations of the depot, overseeing cross-docking, deliveries, fleet management and crate control. You will be the key link between Delice de France, our Stoke headquarters and the Southern team, ensuring the operation runs effectively and continuously improves.
You will be responsible for the planning, structure and performance of the Southern Hub. This is a hands-on leadership role where no two days look the same: one moment you will be reallocating runs to cover sickness, the next you will be agreeing operational changes with our Delice de France partners or working through a fleet issue with our Stoke team. The ability to use your initiative, prioritise quickly and lead from the front is essential.
It is essential that you have proven management experience in an operational role, ideally within food distribution, multi-drop logistics or a chilled supply chain environment. A full UK driving licence is required, and willingness to step into a driving role during peak or absence is expected. Strong people management, planning and communication skills are critical.
As the depot serves customers including care homes and schools, a DBS check is required for this role, which you will be required to undertake if successful at the interview.
This is a full-time, salaried role based at: Freshview Foods Ltd, Southern Hub, c/o Delice de France, Southall. Working pattern is 5 days per week - 45 hours and will include early starts, weekends and Bank Holidays as the depot operation requires.
Start and finish times will vary in line with operational demand. The depot receives the overnight trunk from 3.00am and operates through to mid-afternoon - flexibility is essential.
Your responsibilities
· Hold overall accountability for the daily operational performance of the Southern Hub, including cross-docking, loading, dispatch, on-road delivery, debrief and crate management.
· Act as the main day-to-day contact with Delice de France, managing the operational relationship and escalating any structural changes to the Head of Transport.
· Manage the weekly driver rota, assigning drivers to routes, agreeing on rest days and managing holiday requests through Sage HR.
· Reallocate runs and activate contingency cover immediately when a driver calls in sick or is unable to complete their route.
· Coordinate vehicle loading in line with the Southern Trunking loading sequence, ensuring cold chain integrity and the correct loading order is followed.
· Manage driver performance day-to-day, arranging retraining where there is a skills gap and leading informal and formal disciplinary proceedings (with Warehouse Operations Manager sign-off for formal action).
· Recruit transport staff in conjunction with HR Stoke - posting roles, shortlisting candidates, conducting interviews and making final hiring decisions.
· Promote and enforce a strong safety culture, ensuring all drivers and loaders adhere to food safety, manual handling and vehicle safety standards.
· Coordinate local vehicle maintenance, MOTs, fridge servicing and unplanned repairs with local garages, working closely with the Stoke Fleet Manager and ensuring no vehicle returns to service without proper sign-off.
· Stand vehicles down immediately if a fault is reported and ensure compliance records are maintained with the Fleet Manager.
· Manage the depot budget, raising any likely overspends with the Stoke Fleet Manager and Warehouse Operations Manager before they materialise.
· Implement routing decisions from the Stoke Routing Planner cleanly and without improvisation, including run reallocation for overweight vehicles.
· Own the response to product shortages or missing items found during unload, working with Customer Services in Stoke to manage the customer impact and credit process.
· Escalate immediately to Stoke for whole-run shortfalls or any health and safety incident, then execute the agreed plan without delay.
· Oversee crate control, van cleanliness, daily safety checks and accurate run data capture across the operation.
· Ensure the depot continuously improves - capturing performance data, analysing root causes and embedding better ways of working.
· Represent Freshview Foods in a positive and professional light at all times with customers, suppliers and external partners.
Skills & experience
· Proven operational or depot management experience, ideally in multi-drop logistics, food distribution or chilled supply chain
· Full UK driving licence (3.5 tonne van experience preferred; willingness to drive during peak or absence cover)
· Demonstrable people management experience - rota building, performance management and managing disciplinary processes
· Strong planning, prioritisation and decision-making skills in a fast-paced environment
· Confident communicator able to work with frontline drivers, external partners and senior managers
· Commercial awareness and experience of managing an operational budget
· Working knowledge of food safety, manual handling and vehicle compliance standards
· Comfortable using transport and routing systems, and capturing operational data accurately
Personal qualities
· Calm, decisive and able to lead from the front during peak operational pressure
· Ambitious to deliver an outstanding service to our customers
· Friendly, positive and flexible attitude
· Treats colleagues, customers and external partners with respect
· A willingness to go the extra mile, and to expect the same of the team
· Owns problems and sees them through to resolution
Pay: £40,000.00-£45,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Employee discount
- Free flu jabs
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Work Location: In person
