UK Beverage Program Manager

About the company

Blank Street is on a mission to become the defining food & beverage brand of our generation. At 100+ locations, we’ve built one of the fastest-growing consumer brands in the US and UK, and are quickly becoming the go-to spot for the next generation of coffee and matcha drinkers. With a large global roadmap ahead, we’re shaping the future through elevated beverages, thoughtful store designs, and hospitality-driven experiences.

Your tasks

Start Something Extraordinary… As our UK Beverage Program Manager, you will oversee the entire beverage program for the UK market, ensuring that core ingredients (coffee, tea, dairy, alt milks, water, etc.) meet quality standards, are operationally viable, and remain sustainable. They work across supply chain, training, operations, quality, and strategy to align all teams. You will serve as the subject matter expert on all things beverage and the guardian of Blank Street’s commitment to consistently serving the highest quality beverages no matter where or how we scale.

As both a strategic steward and a guide, you will ensure today’s beverages are delivered consistently and that the program’s standards are set, scaled, and future-proofed. Protect the beverage culture, connect global and local needs, and ensure the beverage side of the business thrives.

What You’ll Own Own Product Education: Building product masters at scale (40%)

Build, scale, and deliver beverage knowledge to our operations and training teams.

This comes to life through

• Structured monthly training sessions
• Ongoing coaching and capability building
• Creating cultural moments that champion product (e.g. tastings, rituals, office engagement)
• Playing an active role in new menu rollouts, immersions, and field training

Product Stewardship: Defining & Protecting the standards

This role is accountable for ensuring we consistently meet the highest bar of product quality across the field.

This includes

• Defining and measuring Product Mastery standards
• Building and monitoring infrastructure for keeping us aware of health in the field (e.g., trail program for GM product accountabilities, tracking telemetry details)
• QC: Stepping into stores or regions where standards are off-track
• QA: Partnering closely with Origin (e.g. cuppings, blend quality)

Product Quality Innovation - Raising the ceiling This is the creative engine of the role. It’s about identifying product gaps and creating innovative solutions that elevate quality and experience. And presenting these into our Store Innovation forum to get buy in and shape what comes next.

This includes

• Leading operational improvement projects from concept to launch (e.g. Auto Big Batcha, cold brew exploration)
• Leading innovation for our classics menu (e.g., matcha premiumization)
• Sitting on Innovation committee to serve as “safeguard” for product quality
• Defining experience-led ideas (e.g. hand-whisking at hand-off in 3.0 formats)
• Staying close to the next frontier and bringing in external inspiration (travel, fairs, other industries)

Requirements

• Clear passion and an encyclopaedic knowledge of coffee and/or tea
• 10-15+ years of experience in the coffee and/or tea industry (across cafe and HQ settings) with at least 2-3 years focusing on core product sourcing and QC/QA
• Interest and experience in building out teams (good selector of talent, good coach)
• Ability to balance multiple priorities independently (keep timeline, stay on track)
• Refined, yet adaptable palate (can taste intricate differences between different blends of coffee and tea) with a keen ability to define and maintain qualitative product specs
• Willingness to learn even more (if your background is in coffee, you should want to also become a matcha expert. if your background is in matcha, then vice versa)

What we offer

• Equity package
• Private health and dental insurance
• 25 days of annual leave (on top of bank holidays), along with an additional paid day a year ‘to start something extraordinary’ ✨ and pursue a passion
• A salary sacrifice scheme to spend on Cycle to Work, bike subscriptions, pensions and medical
• Access to 1Rebel off-peak classes at the sites near our office, for free!
• Exclusive access to our coveted Regulars program – yes, that means free coffee, matcha and more! ☕️✨
• Great culture with regular team events