Assistant Manager, Cost Control & Procurement

About the role

You will protect our margins by keeping food and beverage costs, purchasing and inventory under tight control across our outlets. Working closely with chefs, outlet managers and suppliers, you will make sure we buy the right items at the right price, track every dollar from receiving to plate, and turn cost data into clear action for the business.

Key responsibilities

Cost control

• Monitor daily, weekly and monthly food and beverage costs against budget, and flag variances early.

• Prepare and maintain standard recipe costing and menu costing with the culinary team.

• Analyse cost-of-sales, wastage, spoilage and staff meal data to find savings.

• Support menu engineering and pricing reviews with margin analysis.

• Conduct spot checks on receiving, storage, portioning and transfers between outlets.

Procurement

• Source, evaluate and negotiate with suppliers on price, quality, delivery and payment terms.

• Process purchase requisitions and purchase orders, and ensure approvals follow company policy.

• Maintain the approved supplier list and conduct periodic supplier performance reviews.

• Obtain and compare quotations,and recommend cost-effective alternatives without compromising quality.

• Resolve issues with short deliveries, price discrepancies, returns and credit notes.

Inventory management

• Plan and lead monthly stock-takes for all outlets and central stores.

• Reconcile inventory records with physical counts and investigate discrepancies.

• Set and review par levels to avoid overstocking and stock-outs.

• Ensure proper stock rotation(FIFO) and compliance with food safety and storage standards.

Reporting and systems

• Prepare month-end cost reports, variance analysis and inventory valuation for Finance.

• Maintain accurate data in the inventory and purchasing system (for example, POS and back-of-house software).

• Verify supplier invoices against purchase orders and goods received notes before payment.

New procurement and recipe management module

• Build the market list from scratch, including item codes, descriptions, units of measure, pack sizes, conversion factors, suppliers and current prices.

• Build the recipe list from scratch with the culinary team, covering standard recipes, sub-recipes, yields, portion sizes and costing.

• Clean, standardise and validate all master data before it is uploaded to the new system.

• Coordinate with the system vendor, Finance and outlet teams on setup, testing and go-live.

• Train users on the new module and maintain the market and recipe lists after onboarding.

Team and stakeholder support

• Supervise and train storekeepers, purchasing executives or cost control clerks.

• Work with outlet managers and chefs to build cost awareness and enforce controls.

Requirements

• Minimum Diploma in Accounting, Finance, Business, Supply Chain, Hospitality Management or a related field.

• At least 2 years of relevant experience in cost control, purchasing or inventory within the F&B or hospitality industry.

• Sound knowledge of food costing, recipe costing and inventory control procedures.

• Strong analytical and numerical skills, with high attention to detail.

• Proficient in Microsoft Excel(VLOOKUP, pivot tables) and familiar with inventory or procurement systems.

• Good negotiation and communication skills, able to work with chefs, managers and suppliers.

• Organised and able to meet month-end deadlines.

• Prior supervisory experience is an advantage.

• Willing to travel between outlets and work flexible hours during stock-takes.