My food & drink job: Carys Barton, area lead, Warburtons

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Warburtons Carys Barton

Name: Carys Barton

Age: 29

Job title: Area lead

Company & location: Warburtons, Enfield bakery

Education: Degree Apprenticeship with Nestlé, BSc Food Science and Technology at Nottingham Trent University

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? I loved science growing up, so I wanted to be a doctor or go into genetic research, something that felt like I was learning and growing every day. It excited me that those jobs had an element of problem solving to them too, I always liked figuring out problems!

Why did you decide to go for a career in food & drink? In my early 20s I decided lab work wasn’t for me, and I wanted something more hands-on and practical, a faster paced role, that still had a scientific/academic element to it. I saw a food technologist apprenticeship advertised and thought it looked interesting.

“I think people hear ‘factory work’ and assume it is all manual labour and grunt work”

Explain your job to us in a sentence (or two): Supplying the nation with high-quality bakery products! In my area lead role, I lead a bakery team and manage a plant in the manufacturing environment.

It is my responsibility to lead and promote autonomy within the bakery team, to strive for operational excellence across the plant, to ensure a safe working environment, to foster a culture of quality, accountability, and efficiency, and to drive continuous improvement, making tomorrow a better day than today.

What does a typical day look like for you? I am still training in this role, so at the moment it is a balance of shadowing the bakery team to learn how the plant is run, and shadowing other area leads to learn how they manage their zone and team. An area lead’s day typically starts with a handover, a wellbeing check for your team and a condition check of your plant, then looking ahead for what the day and week has in store for you.

Through the day it is a balancing act of leading your team, managing the plant, meetings and reporting, fulfilling requirements from the support functions, improvement activities, and dealing with incidents, issues and breakdowns.

Warburtons - Fibre Fix loaf and rolls - 2100x1400

Source: Warburtons

Tell us how you went about applying for your job: My current role is a very recent development; my career previously has been within the technical function. I first applied to Warburtons as a compliance manager on the SLT at the Enfield bakery, and this process had two stages: a site-level interview ensuring I had the correct attitude and behaviours, and then a technical interview with the head of food safety and quality standards for the company to ensure I had the right knowledge to fulfil the role.

An opportunity then came for me to move into the technical manager role as a horizontal development opportunity, which really helped me learn how intertwined the scientific side and the manufacturing sides are.

What’s the best part about working for a food & drink company? Every day is different and varied, there is never a dull moment, and you have a solid team around you that ensures the challenging environment doesn’t get to you.

I love being able to walk into a shop or my friend’s house and seeing products I worked on (sometimes literally from my shift) on the shelf!

And what’s the biggest misconception people have about working in food & drink? I think people hear ‘factory work’ and assume it is all manual labour and grunt work. Yes, there are days where we have to be very hands-on, but there is also a lot of strategic and creative thinking, you’re problem solving every day, and you need to understand the science behind your product and the manufacturing process to be successful.

What advice would you give to other young people looking to get into the food & drink industry? Focus on your behaviours and attitude more than getting bogged down with technical knowledge. Each factory is so different, and you can develop skills and knowledge much faster in role.

You’ll stand out if you can demonstrate the right behaviours and show that you know where your gaps are and are working towards improving in those areas.

What’s your ultimate career dream? My current aspiration is to be a site lead, but the food and drink industry is so varied and there is such a range of paths I could take, I wouldn’t be surprised if this evolves as I get further into my production journey.