Farm Shop Assistant

The Leckford Estate was purchased by John Spedan Lewis (the founder of the Partnership) in 1928 as his private estate, converted into a limited company in 1929 and is now part of the John Lewis Partnership. In August 2001 the Leckford Estate became part of Waitrose & Partners, providing a real focus for it to produce food for the Partnership’s food stores under the Leckford brand.

Located in the heart of rural Hampshire, Leckford Estate is an area of outstanding beauty and only 25 minutes from the New Forest. Join us and you’ll enjoy a remarkable and unrivalled working environment and setting."

As a Farm Shop Assistant, you'll be working at our stunning Farm Shop & Cafe located on our very own Waitrose Farm on Leckford Estate.

You’ll have the important job of ensuring every customer's visit is enjoyable and it meets the high standards that the Waitrose brand is known for.

In addition to your contractual pay, any time worked between 22:00 - 06:00 will attract Night Premium at a rate of £3.50 per hour. This will also apply to existing Partners who have enrolled onto Enhanced Hours Premium arrangements.

At a glance

Salary £12.40 per hour.

Contract Type - Permanent

Hours of Work - Full time work (39 hours per week) across seven days to include early starts, late finishes, evenings and weekends.

About the role

As a Farm Shop Assistant you will have high standards of customer service and will be required as well as have the ability to work as part of the team and be organised in your duties to meet the needs of the busy Farm Shop & Cafe.

Key Responsibilities

On a daily basis, you'll be responsible for:

- Engaging with our customers with brilliant customer service.

- Ensuring all stock is replenished and maintain shop standards for a pleasant customer experience.

- Supporting in all areas of the Farm Shop including processing transactions in a timely manner.

- Minimising food wastage by demonstrating great care and due diligence when rotating stock.

- When working in the cafe, you'll be required to comply with all food safety legislation, procedures and standards.

- On occasion, you may also be needed to support running of events for our customers.

Essential skills/experience you'll need

- Excellent customer service skills.

- Ability to work as a team.

Desirable skills/experience you may have

- Level 2 Food Safety in Catering Certificate.

- Experience in food preparation in a retail environment.

We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.  

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.   

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect. 

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective. 

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.  

Important points to note:  

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.  

We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore, we recommend you apply early. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.