Meat & Fish Specialist, Supermarket Assistant

Waitrose & Partners is all about enriched experiences and that goes for our people – our Partners – as much as our customers. We want you to enjoy your work and share your passion for food with our customers. So we’ll train you, treat you respectfully and then reward you by giving you a share in the profits, for pulling it all together and being part of our success.

Duties & Responsibilities:

The role of a Supermarket Assistant involves a range of tasks, including advising and serving customers, moving and replenishing stock, carrying out housekeeping activities and handling cash and card transactions according to set procedures. Partners may be expected to work in any area of the branch to support the wider team as required, and to maintain the necessary business dress and hygiene standards.

Waitrose & Partners is all about enriched experiences and that goes for our people – our Partners – as much as our customers. We want you to enjoy your work and share your passion for food with our customers. So we will train you, treat you respectfully and then reward you by giving you a share in the profits, for pulling it all together and being part of our success.

We are looking for someone who keeps up to date on food and drink trends, knows our products, takes pride in whatever they do, carrying out everything to the highest standards, making sure the shop floor is shipshape, ready for when our customers arrive. Whether they are shopping for a healthy lunch, a top up on fresh fruit and veg, the weekly shop or a special occasion, we want every customer to enjoy their shopping experience, confident in our products and confident in our Partners.

Desired Experience, Skills & Qualifications:

Experience in a customer facing selling or service environment.

Additional Information:

As a Partner you will enjoy our unique benefits package, including staff discount, subsidised food in Partner dining rooms, discounts in local restaurants, subsidised learning, access to exclusive Partnership hotels and so much more.
Please note we reserve the right to close the vacancy early in light of a large response.

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.

Key Responsibilities

- You'll take responsibility for your own food counter ensuring the highest presentation and hygiene standards at all time.

- Stay on top of stock levels, ensuring the products are customers love are there when needed.

- Take great care while working with open food and ensure all due diligence and health & safety protocols are followed. Helping to reduce food wastage.

- Maintain your knowledge of new products and have a good understanding of Waitrose's food values (e.g. animal welfare).

- Support the wider shop team when required with general shopkeeping tasks which include: stock replenishment, fulfilling online customer orders, helping to reduce waste, checkout support, managing Click & Collect orders, fulfilling on-demand customer orders and more.

Essential skills/experience you'll need

- Communication skills - to enable you to work effectively as part of a team and with our customers.

- Outstanding customer service and a passion for food.

- Excellent knowledge of your specialist area.

- Ability to Coach and mentor Partners on your specialist area.

Desirable skills/experience you may have

- Commercial Awareness - keeping up to date with market trends and product launches in your specialist area.

- IT literacy skills.

- Selling skills.

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.