Commercial Catering Internship
Who are we?
We are Manchester Students’ Union, the biggest SU in the country, supporting over 48,000 students throughout their time at university. We help to make student life the best it can be by supporting students to campaign for change, creating opportunities to meet new people, providing employment opportunities, providing advice and support and being a safe place on campus.
We are a values-centred organisation that employs around 90 permanent, full-time members of staff. We recruit a wide range of roles throughout the year within all our departments from our Commercial team operating Manchester Academy Venues, 13 Media, Bar 532 & Kitchen and Corridor Coffee to our Student Activities, Student Engagement, Marketing and Communications, Finance, HR and Facilities teams. Our team of around 400 part-time, studying staff are instrumental in providing to support to all departments as well as leading major projects like Student Angels. When you join UMSU, you’ll be immersed in an environment that empowers staff to make great things happen and we're always on the lookout for innovative, passionate, and proactive people to join us.
Our values are really important to us and shape the work that we do every day. As part of our recruitment process, we want you to demonstrate how your experiences, behaviours and skills align with our values. You can find more detailed explanations of our values on our website.
About the role
The Catering Intern is a practical development role based across Corridor Coffee and the Students’ Union food huts. Working alongside the Catering Manager, Catering Assistant and studying staff, you’ll help deliver fast, friendly and inclusive food and drink service for students, University staff and visitors.
This is an annualised-hours role covering 1,200 hours across the contract year, normally worked as 30 hours per week over 40 working weeks aligned to the academic and catering calendar. Salary is spread evenly across 12 months, providing a regular monthly income even though working hours are concentrated during the busier trading periods.
The role combines hands-on service with structured learning and development. You’ll build skills in barista service, food preparation, opening and closing routines, EPOS and cash processes, stock rotation, waste control, food safety, allergen management and customer service.
Over the course of the internship, you’ll also develop a broader understanding of how a commercial food and drink offer is created and improved. This may include supporting product trials, menu and range development, promotions, pricing and value activity, and using sales information and customer feedback to understand what is working. As your knowledge and confidence grow, you’ll be given greater autonomy to coordinate parts of the operation, help guide studying staff and take ownership of practical projects designed to improve sales, service, availability or the customer experience.
Every commercial pound generated by our catering outlets supports the work of Manchester Students’ Union. This makes the role an opportunity to develop a broad foundation in commercial hospitality while directly contributing to an affordable, welcoming and high-quality student food and drink offer.
Please read the full role profile before applying, as well as our guide to recruitment.
Details
Salary: £18,811 per annum, based on 0.74 FTE salary of £25,360
Contract: Permanent
Hours: 30 hours per week for a total of 45 weeks
Eligibility: Open to applicants with relevant skills and experience who are eligible to work in the UK who graduated from UoM, MMU or UoS between June 2025 and June 2026, or who have graduated by the end of July 2026.
Our Reward Package
You'll get access to our reward package which you can see here.
Recruitment Guide
We have a guide that explains our full recruitment process. We recommend reading through this before beginning an application.
If you are invited to interview with us, we will share our interview questions in advance so you can prepare your responses. We’re more interested in hearing about your experiences and ideas than in testing your memory, and so we want you to feel as prepared as possible.
AI Use
GenAI tools, like ChatGPT, are revolutionising how we approach a whole host of tasks at work. As a future-focused employer, we believe in embracing, not banning, these tools. However, as with all tech, some ways of using it are better than others. You can use GenAI to refine and articulate your ideas. It’s a tool to help structure your thoughts and improve clarity, not to replace your unique voice and experiences. Please don’t just copy and paste what AI tells you to write.
We recommend you read our guide on how to approach the use of AI within our recruitment process:
Inclusivity and Accessibility
We are committed to equality of opportunity, and we work hard to ensure we appoint based on skill and values.
We particularly encourage applications from Disabled or Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African candidates as these groups are currently underrepresented in our staff team.
If you have any accessibility requirements or require adjustments to support you to apply to work with us, please get in touch. We can offer reasonable adjustments at all stages of our recruitment process.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer. Under this scheme, we aim to offer an interview to candidates who declare a disability and meet the minimum essential criteria for the role. Minimum criteria are marked with an asterisk on the person specification. However, during periods of exceptionally high application volumes or peak recruitment times (i.e. July, August and September), it may not always be possible to guarantee an interview for every eligible candidate. In such cases, we will take steps to ensure that the process remains fair, consistent, and inclusive.
Recruitment Timeline
Applications opened: 07/08/2026
Applications close: 20/08/2026 23:59PM
Interviews: 28/08/2026
Role Commencing: 07/09/2026
We may close applications early if we receive a high volume of applications. We recommend that you apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Once the vacancy has closed, we’re unable to accept late applications to ensure a fair process for all candidates.
Once you have submitted your application, you will not be able to make any further changes. Please ensure you are happy with your responses before submitting.
Contact
People Team:
You can contact the People Team with any questions regarding this vacancy or our recruitment process.
Email: jobs.su@manchester.ac.uk
Phone: 0161 306 3279
Hiring Manager:
You can contact the hiring manager with any questions regarding this vacancy or our recruitment process.
Email: jonny.allen@manchester.ac.uk