About the Role: Responsibilities, Skills, and Requirements
Setting the Standard for Food Safety Across the UAE
Ever wondered who keeps a bustling kitchen running safely behind the scenes? That’s where you come in. We’re looking for a Hygiene Manager to lead sanitation and food safety across our restaurant operations in Abu Dhabi. This isn’t just a checklist role — it’s a chance to build a culture where cleanliness and compliance are second nature. If you’ve got a sharp eye for detail, a valid driving license, and can start right away, keep reading.
About Us
We’re a growing restaurant group with locations across the UAE, and we take pride in serving food that people trust. Our kitchens are fast-paced, our teams are tight-knit, and our standards are high — because they have to be. We believe great food starts with a safe kitchen, and that belief shapes everything we do.
Based out of Baniyas, Abu Dhabi, our operations span multiple sites, which means no two days look the same. You’ll be on the move, working alongside kitchen teams, managers, and suppliers to keep things running the right way. We’re at that exciting stage where the right person can genuinely shape how we do things — and we’re looking for someone who wants that responsibility.
What You’ll Be Doing
- Develop, implement, and maintain hygiene and food safety protocols across all our outlets
- Conduct regular inspections and audits — and actually follow up on what you find
- Lead training sessions for kitchen and service staff on sanitation best practices
- Stay on top of UAE food safety regulations and make sure we’re always compliant
- Investigate and resolve any hygiene-related incidents quickly and thoroughly
- Work with suppliers and vendors to ensure incoming products meet our standards
- Keep detailed records, reports, and documentation ready for regulatory reviews
- Drive between locations to oversee operations firsthand (yes, the license matters here)
What You’ll Bring
Must-Haves:
- Proven experience in hygiene management, food safety, or a related role — restaurant or hospitality background preferred
- Solid knowledge of UAE food safety laws and HACCP principles
- A valid UAE driving license
- Availability to join immediately
- Strong communication skills — you’ll be training, advising, and sometimes gently nudging people to do better
- The ability to work independently and manage your own schedule across multiple sites
Nice-to-Haves:
- Certification in food safety or public health
- Experience working with multi-location operations
- Arabic language skills (helpful, not essential)
Not sure you tick every box? We’d still love to hear from you. Attitude and aptitude often matter more than a perfect resume.
Why You’ll Love Working Here
- Competitive salary — we recognize that good hygiene managers are worth their weight in gold
- Company vehicle and fuel allowance for travel between sites
- Health insurance and other standard UAE benefits
- Real responsibility from day one — your work will directly impact how we operate
- Supportive team culture — we’re not a faceless corporation; you’ll know everyone by name
- Growth potential as we continue to expand across the Emirates
We’re not promising ping-pong tables or nap pods. What we are offering is a role where you can make a real difference, work with people who care, and grow with a company that’s going places. If that sounds like your kind of gig, we’d love to talk.
Common Interview Questions and Tips
To help you prepare and feel confident, here are some questions you might encounter during the interview process for this role.
- Walk me through how you've built or overhauled a HACCP plan from scratch. What did the process look like, and what would you do differently if you started over today?
- You're doing a routine inspection at one of our outlets and you find a serious violation — say, improper cold storage temperatures during a busy dinner rush. How do you handle it in the moment without derailing service?
- How do you keep yourself current on UAE food safety regulations? Can you give a recent example of a regulatory change you had to adapt to?
- Tell me about a time you had to train a group of kitchen staff who were resistant or disengaged. How did you get them on board?
- What's your approach to supplier and vendor audits? How do you decide when a vendor isn't meeting your standards and what happens next?
- Describe a hygiene-related incident you had to investigate. How did you trace the root cause, and what did you change afterward to prevent it from happening again?
- You're managing hygiene across multiple locations and you can't be everywhere at once. How do you prioritize your site visits and keep standards consistent when you're not there?
- Give me an example of a time you had to push back on a manager or chef who prioritized speed over safety. How did that conversation go?
- This role requires a lot of driving between sites and working independently. How do you stay organized and manage your own schedule when no one's checking in on you daily?
- What drew you to food safety and hygiene management in the first place? What keeps you invested in this kind of work?
- We're a growing group, so things change fast and processes aren't always set in stone. How do you feel about working in that kind of environment versus a place with everything already figured out?
- Tell me about a time you noticed a gap in food safety that no one else had flagged. What did you do about it?
- How would you go about building a genuine