About The Bread & Butter Project

The Bread & Butter Project (TBBP) is Australia’s first social enterprise bakery. Founded in 2013 by Paul Allam and David McGuinness of Bourke Street Bakery, TBBP runs a year-round wholesale bakery in Sydney with approximately 30 employees.

TBBP reinvests 100 per cent of profits into the trainee programme, which combines on-the-job production training, English-language tutoring and job-readiness support. 120 trainees have graduated from the program to date.

The Opportunity

The Board is recruiting a General Manager with a clear operational mandate is to:

• Run a profitable commercial bakery that generates the surplus required to sustain and grow the trainee programme.
• Steward the trainee programme so that completion rates and post-programme employment outcomes continue to improve.
• Support the Board in fundraising to underwrite training capacity and growth investment.

The successful candidate will combine deep bakery / food manufacturing experience with the judgment to lead a workforce that includes trainees, qualified bakers and an executive team.

Key Accountabilities

Deliver the mission

• Hold the mission as the organisation’s reason for existing and ensure every operational decision serves and advances it.
• Build a culture in which commercial discipline and mission impact reinforce one another.

Commercial bakery

• Lead strategy, operational and financial performance, with full P&L accountability.
• Oversee manufacturing operations, distribution and supply chain performance, including production planning, procurement, ingredients management and logistics.
• Drive profitability, cost control and operational efficiency through yield improvement, waste reduction, pricing discipline and continuous improvement of the operating model.
• Oversee WHS, HACCP food safety compliance and operational governance to retain customer and regulatory accreditations.
• Lead capital planning and recommend equipment, plant and capacity investment to the Board.

Sales, marketing and stakeholder engagement

• Guide the sales strategy and business development across wholesale channels: Woolworths, other supermarkets, foodservice and independent customer base.
• Lead marketing strategy and brand stewardship to grow demand, reputation and awareness of TBBP’s impact.
• Lead media engagement and oversee TBBP’s social media presence as a coherent expression of brand and mission.
• Lead strategic partnerships, funding negotiations and commercial agreements with customers, suppliers and channel partners.
• Represent the organisation with government stakeholders, media and industry partners as the principal executive spokesperson.

Trainee program stewardship

• Ensure trainees complete the program with strong outcomes and progress into sustained employment in the baking and food industries.
• Maintain partnerships with settlement agencies, English-language tutors and the employer partners that absorb graduates.
• Foster a culturally safe, inclusive and respectful workplace for trainees, staff and volunteers.
• Ensure training outcomes are measured, reported and embedded in the commercial operating model.

Fundraising and Board support

• Partner with the Chair and Board on the fundraising strategy
• Lead grant applications and acquittals, donor reporting and impact storytelling.
• Provide the Board with papers on strategy, performance, risk and financial position.

Leadership and Governance

• Lead the executive leadership team across core business functions; set and maintain culture and performance standards.
• Drive continuous improvement and business model optimisation as the operating environment evolves.
• Manage the organisation’s risk profile — financial, operational, WHS, food safety, reputational and people risk.
• Ensure compliance with the Corporations Act, ACNC obligations, modern awards and all applicable food safety and workplace legislation.

Success Factors

Success in this role will be evident when:

• The bakery operates as a financially sustainable commercial business that consistently generates the surplus required to fund and grow the trainee programme.
• Trainee outcomes (completion rates, employment transitions and cultural safety) are maintained or improving as the business grows.
• Customer, brand and stakeholder relationships and a more diversified wholesale base, are healthy and growing
• Food safety, WHS, governance and compliance standards are met without exception, with strong audit and regulatory outcomes.
• The GM is seen as a trusted, mission-aligned and commercially capable leader who builds confidence in the organisation over time.

Selection Criteria

Commercial

• At least five years’ senior leadership experience in the bakery, artisan-food sector, or commercial food manufacturing with full profit and loss accountability.
• Demonstrable track record of improving profitability and operational efficiency.
• Experience leading sales, marketing and external communications, including media and digital channels.

• Experience managing major retail or wholesale customer executive relationships.
• Established networks in Australian grocery, foodservice, hospitality or philanthropy
• Strong financial literacy: budgets, cash flow, capital investment and financial reporting.

Leadership

• Effective Board-facing communicator, able to produce concise, decision-ready papers.
• Cross-cultural workplace experience, including non-English-speaking cultures.
• Experience leading a workforce covered by modern awards.
• Strong working knowledge of HACCP, WHS and food safety management systems, and the regulatory environment for food manufacture in Australia.

Social Impact (non-essential)

• Experience in a social enterprise, not-for-profit or registered charity
• Experience supporting Board-led fundraising or stakeholder management.

Next steps

Click Apply Now to submit your application.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a panel interview, followed by a site visit to the bakery and a final meeting with the full Board. The Bread & Butter Project is an equal opportunity employer. We particularly welcome applicants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and from communities with lived experience of forced migration.