Ben Cookson
Wednesfield,Wolverhampton
Summary
Experience in food and hospitality areas. Strong knowledge of stock loss and working to timeframes. Dedicated Team Manager bringing 22 years of experience to foods/hospitality team leadership. Motivating staff through positive mentoring and leading by example to provide outstanding levels of service in line with business targets. Takes on challenging new roles harnessing interpersonal skills, collaboration and problem-solving. Driven to deliver high-quality service and consistent results. Committed manager with exceptional leadership, organisational skills, and communication abilities leads high-performing cross-functional teams. Leads projects, company operations and business growth.
Overview
23
23
years of professional experience
8
8
years of post-secondary education
Work history
Office Manager
Global Electrical Installations
Cannock, Staffordshire
01.2022 - Current
- Interacted with customers & suppliers professionally by phone, email or in person to provide information and direct queries to appropriate staff members.
- Answered high-volume daily telephone and email enquiries, minimizing correspondence backlogs.
- Oversaw office inventory orders, requisitions and stocking.
- Communication skills with other traders to win work and jobs then being able to invoice finished jobs to the suppliers.
Academy Team Manager
Marks & Spencer
Longbridge, West Midlands
01.2018 - 10.2022
- Key stakeholder in launching HFSS & Fuse nationwide delivering and influencing business needs and changes before rolling out to stores.
- Changing of mindsets on different ways of working and ways food halls ran.
- Introduced new opportunities for team building and communication, resulting in better team performance.
- Monitored team development, setting performance objectives and providing constructive feedback for continued growth.
- Upskilled staff through targeted training opportunities, enhancing team capabilities.
- Delivered KPI targets and improvements on consistent basis through excellent leadership.
- Developed strong teams by skilfully recruiting, orienting and training loyal, hard-working employees.
Section Manger
Marks & Spencer
, West Midlands
01.2012 - 01.2018
- Managing people and expectations having difficult conversations with staff and driving customer service across the store
- Learned new skills when managing the in-store bakery and the fresh market counter.
- Set team KPIs to meet section and store sales targets.
- Walked sales floor regularly, identifying problems and resolving urgent issues.
- Supervised employees, providing coaching and mentorship to optimise productivity, to make sure the stores were trading safe and legally.
- Analysed daily, weekly and monthly sales figures to determine section profitability.
- Established clear budgets with sound controls to keep business operating with optimum finances.
Section Co-originator
Marks & Spencer
wolverhampton, west midlands
01.2009 - 01.2012
- Planned food launches to meet deadlines, being able to react to changes in stock levels, worked alongside visual merchandisers to give the wow factor, delivered staffing in advance to help the store trade safely and legally, managed stocktakes, and drove stock loss daily.
Sales assistant
Marks & Spencer
Wolverhampton, West Midlands
01.2002 - 01.2009
- Sales assistant in various stores, working in different business units learning stock management and rotation, merchandising of stock, checkout work including cash handling, customer-facing roles giving great customer service—Barista training when working in the coffee shop.
Education
2 GNVQs in Media Studies -
Stourbridge College
01.2002 - 04.2004
7 GCSE - undefined
Ellowes Hall Secondary School
01.1997 - 04.2002
PLH personal license holder - undefined
Level 2 Food Safety - undefined
Level 3 Food Safety - undefined
Barista trained - undefined
Skills
- Invoice processing
- Verbal communication
- Project scheduling
- Training and Development
- Project Management
- High-value project management
- Performance Management
- Customer Service
- Process Improvement
Personal Information
Hobbies: Watching my son and daughter both play football and spending quality time with family and friends, Liverpool Football Club, horse racing, and drawing with my children.
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Office Manager
Global Electrical Installations
01.2022 - Current
Academy Team Manager
Marks & Spencer
01.2018 - 10.2022
Section Manger
Marks & Spencer
01.2012 - 01.2018
Section Co-originator
Marks & Spencer
01.2009 - 01.2012
Sales assistant
Marks & Spencer
01.2002 - 01.2009
2 GNVQs in Media Studies -
Stourbridge College
01.2002 - 04.2004
7 GCSE - undefined
Ellowes Hall Secondary School
01.1997 - 04.2002
PLH personal license holder - undefined
Level 2 Food Safety - undefined
Level 3 Food Safety - undefined
Barista trained - undefined
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