We're looking for great people to join our great team!
Working in the hospitality can be a real challenge, we'll be the first to admit that. Why? Because we believe in honesty from the outset. But let us relieve some of concerns you may have.
Here you'll find answers to some of the common questions we are asked about working with the Pizza Planet team and what makes working at 20 Mill Street different from anywhere else.
Skip to available positionsWe aim to be as flexible as possible.
Start times for drivers can be later than 5pm, but we do need our in-store team to be on shift by 5pm.
If you are interested in joining the Pizza Planet team but are not available until later than 5pm please let us know when applying - we are sure we can work something out.
Shift length depends on the time of the year.
Our summer season starts in June and finishes around mid-September each year.
During the summer season we expect shifts to be between 5.5 and 7 hours, although our typical shift length is less than 6 hours.
Outside of the summer season, shifts are rarely more than 5.5 hours.
Shifts start between 4:30pm and 4:45pm, finishing around 30 minutes after we close.
A shop assistant is a customer-facing role, a kitchen assistant is not.
Shop assistants take orders from customers in store and over the phone, so along side their friendly & professional manner they must also know our menu, procedures and be able to think on their feet. They are expected to be trained to undertake all kitchen assistant tasks too.
Kitchen assistants work behind the wall, so to speak. Essentially keeping the machine going - wether it is preparing sides for cooking, fetching toppings & bases for our chefs, washing dishes, cleaning food preparation areas or managing our ovens & dispatching drivers.
The role of Kitchen assistant is the starting point for new team members, call it the foundation position.
We encourage our kitchen assistants to progress to a customer facing role, something which is a much easier transition than starting out learning all tasks in one go, or so we hope.
Yes, it's the busiest time of the week for us.
That may sound unfair, and we're sorry for being blunt but it is almost gauranteed that you will be working at least one shift every weekend.
We aim to be as fair as possible with our schedules, and always try to avoid everyone working the same shifts every week.
If we have a large enough workforce our aim is to make sure that every member of staff has at least one Friday, one Saturday and one Sunday off a month.
Currently our pay reflects age and is linked to National Minimum/Living Wage rates as set by the government.
We pay above the minimum/living wage. For 16 & 17 year olds the starting rate is £6.20/hour; For 18 - 20 year olds the starting rate is £7.50/hour; For 21+ the starting rate is £10.50.
These rates may not feel as competitive as other hospitality jobs in the area, we certainly used to be more competitive but lets explain why.
We've kept our starting rate lower and have reduced the length of time between pay increases, which we base on training and capabilities. It is possible for a 16 year old to be paid £7.50 a hour within 6 months.
We are working towards becoming a living wage employer, and as soon as we can we will be increasing our starting rate to £10 an hour. This should have already happened, but the pandemic hit and knocked us for six. When the business does well our employees do well, but we need to recover financially more before we can start the planned increase.
We have all the experience needed to teach you.
We can train you to communicate with customers, prepare food and work as a team. We've got over 30 years of food service experience across our team, over 25 of those in pizza.
Once you've had your initial training across all the tasks you are likely to undertake across your role you'll be given the chance to focus on one task at a time. For shop/kitchen staff this is typically managing our ovens (but for those who are great at taking orders from customers this may be different).
It is cool!
The person who makes pizzas at Pizza Planet is the person who runs the shift. So they have to be experienced across the whole range of tasks that are needed to run a successful shift.
For most team members it takes at least 12 months to be in a position to be ready to take the reins, and make a success of it.
For those who are exceptional, and keen to progress, we will recognise the potential and start training sooner.
No problem! We all need a break sometimes, be it a little R&R, a party, or any other reason.
With us, every team member starts building up holiday hours from their first shift.
There are a few rules in place, such as checks to make sure we are able to staff shifts - we can't have loads of our team off at the same time!
We can't lie. The answer is: a lot.
But the pressure isn't constant. And no shift is ever the same.
When we're at our busiest we will have a full oven, all drivers out on the road, customers in store and the phone ringing along with online orders being placed even the most experienced members of our team can feel flustered; but we do not see this situation for an entire shift nor do we see it every day of the week.
We will give you all the required training to help cope under the pressure, and you will have to forgive us for mentioning "The Summer" as if it is a mythical beast.
We will feed you when you work*. Some exclusions and contributions are in place for some pizzas.
For example, some of our toppings are made in store and are also more expensive so we charge £1 for some pizzas and certain sides.
Free food includes a Small Pizza, most named pizzas or a custom pizza with up to 4 toppings are included. You can upgrade to larger sizes for a small contribution.
We also give you 25% discount on food and drink you purchase when you are not at work.
* There may be occasions when we sell out of bases, in which instance we may not be able to provide food.