Launch Your Operational Leadership Journey with Restaurant Associates!

Operations Graduate Programme 2026 - 32,000

Are you ready to turn ambition into action? At Restaurant Associates, we don’t just deliver exceptional food and hospitality, we develop future operational leaders. If you graduated within the last two years and are ready to begin your career in October 2026, our bespoke two-year Operational Graduate Programme is your opportunity to gain real responsibility, hands-on experience, and long-term progression.

This is more than a leadership course. It’s an operational journey designed to give you a deep understanding of how our business runs - from frontline service to culinary execution and event delivery.

The Programme

Over two years, you’ll complete four structured placements, each designed to broaden your skills and expose you to different areas of the business.

• Experience across a variety of functions; including events, culinary, and core operations
• Predominantly Monday - Friday working pattern
• One placement will include weekend work, giving you valuable experience in the Venues aspect of our business (You could be spending summer at Glyndebourne!)
• We are looking for 5 graduates to be London-based and 1 graduate to take on a national remit
• Structured development, mentorship, and increasing responsibility throughout

We’re seeking graduates who:

• Completed their degree within the last two years

• Available in June/July to attend assessment centres in London

• Are available to start the programme in October 2026

• Are proactive, resilient, and people-focused

• Have a genuine passion to learn about food and hospitality; no prior catering experience required

• You must have the right to work in the UK

  (Our graduates are on permanent contracts from day one, we welcome applications from candidates who have their own right to work within the UK where you can maintain and demonstrate your right to work throughout the duration of your employment)

What your future could look like:

• Launch your career with opportunities to progress into roles such as Account Manager (running your own site), Hospitality Manager, Operations Manager, or General Manager
• Be recognised and celebrated; including at our annual employee awards night
• Become part of an award-winning team - Contract Catering Award Winners 2025 (Business & Industry Award)
• Enjoy “Perks at Work” - giving you access to cashback and discounts at your favourite brands
• Learn from leading hospitality professionals and chefs, with access to over 50 training courses to help you grow and advance your career

If you are curious, ambitious, and ready to build your career from the ground up in a dynamic hospitality business, we would love to hear from you!

You can find out more about our end to end recruitment process here: https://www.compass-group.co.uk/grads/recruitment/. You may also be selected to join a Teams screening call from one of our recruitment team prior to Assessment Centre, and will be notified of this in advance.