Catering Assistant

Job Description

As a Catering Assistant, you’ll be an important part of the catering team responsible for providing freshly prepared meals to colleagues working across the Booker Distribution site. This is a hands‑on role that blends kitchen prep, basic cooking, and front‑of‑house service, making it ideal for someone with early culinary experience who wants to develop further in a supportive environment.

Working alongside the chef or lead cook, you’ll help deliver a consistent and enjoyable breakfast, lunch and dinner offer. Your day may include preparing hot and cold items, supporting with baking, assembling dishes, and ensuring each meal is served to a high standard. You’ll have the chance to build confidence in areas such as batch cooking, seasoning, portion control and safe food handling.

Maintaining a clean, well‑organised and safe kitchen will be a key part of your work. You’ll follow food hygiene procedures, assist with daily cleaning tasks, rotate stock, monitor temperatures and handle ingredients responsibly to ensure compliance with food safety regulations.

Hours for this role are a three weekly rotating rota of 7am-3pm/8am-4pm/12pm-8pm - Monday to Friday.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the preparation and cooking of breakfast, lunch and dinner for Booker DC colleagues
• Assist with food prep such as chopping, mixing, baking and basic cooking tasks
• Maintain high standards of food hygiene and safety at all times
• Keep the kitchen, equipment and service areas clean, organised and compliant with regulations
• Serve colleagues in a friendly, efficient and professional manner
• Receive and store deliveries following correct procedures
• Support the kitchen team as required and contribute to a positive team environment
• Replenish onsite vending machines

About You

• Some experience working with food or in a catering environment
• A genuine enthusiasm for cooking and developing your kitchen skills
• Understanding of food hygiene, allergen awareness and safe working practices
• A team player with a can‑do attitude and strong work ethic
• Ability to work in a fast‑paced environment
• Food hygiene certification (Level 1 or 2) — preferred but training can be provided

Booker is the UK's leading food & drink wholesaler. We are privileged to serve independent retailers, caterers and small businesses, from locations across the country. We operate over 190 cash and carry branches, eight distribution centres, five Best Food Logistics sites, as well as six support centre locations across the UK.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) at Booker means that whoever you are and whatever your background, we always want you to feel represented and that you can be yourself at work. In short, we’re a place where Everyone’s Welcome.

We know life looks a little different for each of us. That’s why at Booker and Best, we always welcome conversations about flexible working. Some people are at the start of their careers, some want the freedom to do the things they love. Others are going through life-changing moments like becoming a carer, nearing retirement, adapting to parenthood, or something else. So, talk to us throughout your application about how we may be able to support you.

We’re proud that Booker is a Disability Confident Committed employer and we’re committed to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. For further information on the accessibility support you can expect, please contact recruitment@bookergroup.com

Please note

We can only accept candidates over the age of 18 if the role requires working before 6:15 am or after 9:45 pm or involves working in areas such as the warehouse, beers, wines & spirits, and driving roles.

On the occasions where we have high volumes of applicants, some roles may close earlier than the advertised end date in order for us to manage all of the applicants appropriately. We will only be able to offer individual feedback to those candidates who attend an interview.

*Booker Group is part of Tesco plc, however, is operated separately from the core Tesco business and as such the benefits offered will be different from those offered at Tesco*

For more information about us please visit www.bookergroupjobs.co.uk