We are looking for two friendly and enthusiastic people to join the team at Chocolate Fayre, Barnard Castle for the build-up to the busy Christmas season.
- Hours:
- One part time role (3 x 8 hr days a week, 09:30-17:30, including some weekends, midweeks & school holidays)
- One full time role (5 x 8 hr days a week, 09:30-17:30, including some weekends, midweeks & school holidays)
- Renumeration: £11.44/hr (£8.60/hr if aged 18-21 years old) plus company pension scheme, 30 minute paid lunchbreak every day, in-store discounts, and potential opportunities to extend contract beyond Christmas
- Starting Date: As soon as possible/as soon as available
- Finish Date: Christmas Eve
Business Overview
Chocolate Fayre has been established in Barnard Castle for 37 years. Known for selling fine chocolates, ice cream and quality confectionary, alongside coffees, teas, hot chocolates, cakes & bakes in the recently opened coffee lounge, we pride ourselves on the quality of our products, our customer service, knowledge and experience. In addition, Chocolate Fayre has a website with online shop, providing customers with chocolate gifts all across the UK, and another dimension to what is already a very busy shop.
Chocolate Fayre may look calm from the outside, but it is an incredibly demanding place to work, especially at Christmas time. This is not a role where staff are able to sit down for a coffee and a chat between tasks. However if a busy, vibrant retail and hospitality environment suits you, then this could be for you.
Job brief
This is a position based behind the scenes during the very busy Christmas season at the Chocolate Fayre shop. The role involves
- Packing stock ready for the shop floor (this will involve following our existing procedures and plans to pack loose chocolates into gift boxes, other loose confectionary such as fudge and Turkish Delight into bags, finishing with ribboned bows and wrapping as required, to produce perfectly presented products. Do not underestimate the scale of this – we pack thousands of products for Christmas!)
- Packing customer orders to be sent out from our online shop and phone orders to be posted out (this often includes bespoke choices by customers, and again must be finished to a high standard to give a luxurious and appealing appearance)
- Helping with setting up and cleaning down the shop daily (this involves all staff working together setup and clean down both back shop areas and customer areas, including the toilet)
- Assisting the established staff team with serving customers and restocking the shop displays, processing customer transactions through the till system, handling cash and card payments.
- Assisting the established staff team with table service of drinks to our Coffee Lounge customers, washing dishes and generally helping where required.
Applicants must:
- Be able to learn quickly, work accurately and follow both written and verbal instructions well
- Be able to perform repeated tasks multiple times not only to a high standard, but quickly and consistently.
- Be enthusiastic and positive in their attitude to work
- Be polite and friendly
- Be reliable and trustworthy
- Be fit and capable of being on their feet for the 8 hours while working each day.
- Be able to work independently with minimal supervision.
- Be available to work during school holidays
- Take pride in the work you do and have a good eye for detail.
- Have the ability to remain calm under pressure during exceptionally busy periods.
- Be a team player, but also be able to carry out independent tasks on their own
- Be flexible and be able to juggle and prioritise different tasks at the same time while remaining calm and effective
- Be confident in dealing with customers and the general public, and have excellent people skills
- Love chocolate, ideally enjoy coffee, tea and good food in general.
If this sounds like something you would be excellent at and would enjoy, please email your CV (maximum of 2 sides of A4) and brief covering letter (including confirmation that you can work Saturdays and school holidays) outlining how your skills and experience meet the above criteria to Kenny Walker at [email protected], or post or hand in in person to Chocolate Fayre, 10 Horsemarket, Barnard Castle, DL12 8LZ. Deadline for applications is midnight on Wednesday 25th September, with next stage interviews for selected candidates taking place the following week.