Stephen Lalson

Stephen joined the group as a production operative as a part-time job during his holidays whilst studying at University. He saw our advert for the Graduate Scheme and thought it sounded perfect to experience different areas of a business whilst he entered into the world of work.

On joining, he started out at our Nottinghamshire-based Riverside Bakery in the manufacturing area on an improvement project on the “Choux Bun” production line.

As with our other graduates, within his first six months Stephen was asked to work across a few of our manufacturing sites assisting internal and external teams on continuous improvement projects.

He now works within the planning team at Tottle Bakery, working on one of our food service products – looking at ways to reduce waste and save money during the manufacturing process.

What were your initial thoughts on joining the group, and your experiences within your first 6+ months?

It has been above my expectations, seriously! I have had a couple of senior mentors already during my time and both have been brilliant to work with and gain valuable knowledge from. I also have a weekly catch-up with the Site Director and the Supply Chain Manager, I explain what I have been doing each week, how I am progressing, and what I plan to do the following week – I get suggestions from them on how to improve and progress. When I sit in on daily meetings, they explain to me everything that is discussed, I am learning so much from them.

Why should you consider a career in Food Manufacturing?

Food Manufacturing has lots of opportunities, The Compleat Food Group is developing and growing, with knowledge of how the operations processes work you can move into different departments, from operations to planning, to technical and engineering. You can build your knowledge up and see where it takes you.