Surplus Food Coordinator

Job Title: Surplus Food Co-Ordinator

Salary: £28,000

Responsible to: Head of Food

Location: Birmingham but with a requirement to travel to farms and across the city meeting partners etc.

Contract Type: 1 Year Fixed Term Contract

Hours of Work: 36.5

The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) is a community benefit society and cooperative working with communities to identify, mitigate and remove barriers that prevent them from living active and connected lives.   

Our vision is for a society where people have the autonomy, capacity, resources, and skills to become the architects of their own destiny; where our individual wellbeing is recognised as being bound up in our collective responsibility to and dependency on each other; and where all of us feel empowered as agents of social change to make a difference – whether at an individual level or more widely.

In 2024, TAWS was given the opportunity pilot a Surplus Hub Project at Birmingham Wholesale Market, where edible waste food destined for anaerobic digestion can be diverted to human consumption. To purpose of this role is to maximise the amount of surplus food available to the Food Justice Network groups via the Birmingham Wholesale Markets.

Surplus Food Co-Ordinator:

You will be working within The Food Justice Network is a network of around 300 independent partner organisations, all of who are providing support across the city. FJN Partners offer a range of services from foodbanks, to community cafes, to community pantries and warm spaces, all delivering vital support to some of Birmingham's most vulnerable citizens.

Your role will be the sourcing and procuring farming surplus and collective buying of fresh produce for the Food Justice Network. Part of this opportunity will be facilitating the set-up of a city-wide network to make surplus food redistribution more coordinated and effective.

There is already a significant amount of surplus food redistributed across the city and lots of work going on in terms of reducing waste in businesses but we know that sometimes unexpected surplus food arises and not every food business is plugged in to the surplus food network.

Joined up network will attract further surplus from food producers. This will provide less reasons for businesses to waste food with a strong, well connected and promoted network

What you'll bring with you:

1. Excellent partnership, networking and relationship management skills.
2. Commercial awareness of purchasing of food.
3. Good project management skills with demonstrable experience of managing all areas of project, and general resource management.
4. High level of organisational and administrative skills, good levels of entrepreneurial and practical thinking to solve real world problems.
5. Years of background in the food industry, ideally specialising in surplus food.
6. Experience of community work, stakeholder working, and partnership working at a local level.
7. Driving licence required

As part of your role, you will: 

• Negotiate collective purchasing of fresh produce to reduce food waste.
• Build relationships with growers to redistribute food through the Food Justice Network and beyond, while identifying and improving local surplus food donation processes.
• Coordinate surplus food collection and collaborate with the Food Justice Network Engagement Officer for effective distribution.
• Partner with Xcess, a national surplus food network, to oversee haulage of surplus food into Birmingham.
• Support the development of a city-wide network to improve coordination collaboration and efficiency in surplus food redistribution.
• Work closely in partnership with and provide cover for the Surplus Food Lead at the Markets.
• Produce comms and improve relationships with potential local sources of surplus food in Birmingham.

We offer our team members a comprehensive staff benefits offering to include: 

• Annual Leave – 38 days! 25 days AL (increasing to 29 days with service) plus 5 wellbeing days and 8 bank holidays. 
• Flexible working, home working and remote working options available 
• Nest Pension – 8% employer contribution - 3% employee contribution. 
• Heath Cash Plan – giving you discounts on everyday healthcare such as dental, optical, physio, prescriptions & more. 
• Employee Assistance Programme (counselling and DRs on call 24hrs a day). 
• Fantastic volunteering opportunities within The Active Wellbeing Society every month. 

Please submit a cover letter demonstrating how you meet the competencies required for the Surplus Food Coordinator, ensure your application includes detailed responses to each of the questions outlined below:

Excellent partnership, networking and relationship management skills

• Excellent verbal, written, and IT skills, with the ability to maintain accurate records on IT systems.

• Commercial experience, ideally in the food industry

• Good project management skills with demonstrable experience of managing all areas of project, and general resource management.

• Driving licence required

Due to the high numbers of applications we received for our job vacancies, we may close application windows early, so we would encourage you to submit your application ASAP.

We will provide all applicants with an outcome on your application, this will usually be within 1 week of the application window closing.

Successful applicants will be required to be DBS checked prior to starting.

Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we, in recruiting for our team we welcome the unique contributions that you can bring. The Active Wellbeing Society is committed to being an equal opportunity employer, we recruit based upon capability and all applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. At The Active Wellbeing Society we are searching for people who share the passion for what we do with different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences, collectively making a difference.

If there is anything we can do to assist you in your application or preparations to be interviewed for one of our job vacancies please let us know and we can ensure you have a positive and comfortable experience.

Thank you for your interest in working for The Active Wellbeing Society, we look forward to receiving your application.

If you have any questions once you have read the Job Description or would like an informal chat about us, and/or, the role, please contact: [email protected] and we will be happy to help. As part of your application, please specify which vacancy you are interested in. Please note if you don't make reference to your preference, we will assume you are interested in either vacancy. Thank you once again.