Client Overview
GAIL's Bakery is one of the UK's most recognisable artisan bakery brands, known for its high-quality products, welcoming neighbourhood bakeries and commitment to exceptional customer experience.
With a growing estate of busy bakery locations, GAIL's required strong facilities support to ensure each site remained safe, well-maintained and fully operational. Effective Facilities Management was essential to supporting daily trading, minimising disruption and maintaining the high standards customers expect from the brand.
The Challenge
GAIL's approached Maxwell Stephens to recruit a Facilities Assistant who could provide essential support to the Facilities Manager and act as a key link between bakery teams, contractors and operational stakeholders.
The role required someone highly organised, proactive and confident managing multiple maintenance requests and small projects across a fast-moving, multi-site retail environment.
Key responsibilities included:
• Coordinating facilities requests across multiple bakery locations.
• Liaising with bakery managers, contractors and internal teams.
• Supporting planned and reactive maintenance activity.
• Monitoring contractor attendance and service delivery.
• Using Pronett to manage facilities tasks and reporting.
• Supporting small works and operational projects.
• Ensuring clear communication between all parties.
• Helping maintain safe, compliant and well-presented bakery environments.
The successful candidate needed to combine excellent communication skills with strong attention to detail and the ability to prioritise effectively in a busy, customer-facing business.
Our Approach
Maxwell Stephens conducted a targeted search for Facilities Management professionals with experience in retail, hospitality, food service or other multi-site operational environments.
Our assessment focused on candidates who could demonstrate:
• Strong coordination and administration skills.
• Experience dealing with contractors and service providers.
• Confidence using facilities systems such as Pronett.
• The ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines.
• Clear communication with site teams and operational managers.
• A proactive, practical and service-led approach.
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail.
Given the pace of GAIL's operations, cultural fit was also essential. The successful candidate needed to be approachable, responsive and able to support bakery teams with professionalism and urgency.
The Outcome
Maxwell Stephens successfully identified and placed a Facilities Assistant who closely matched GAIL's requirements.
The appointed candidate brought strong facilities coordination experience, excellent communication skills and practical knowledge of Pronett, enabling them to make an immediate contribution to the Facilities team.
Their appointment helped improve:
• Coordination between bakery locations and external contractors.
• Visibility and tracking of maintenance requests.
• Response times for facilities issues.
• Communication with operational teams.
• Support for small projects and maintenance activity.
• Overall efficiency across the facilities function.
By providing organised and proactive support, the Facilities Assistant helped ensure GAIL's bakeries continued to operate smoothly, safely and efficiently, allowing site teams to remain focused on delivering the high-quality customer experience the brand is known for.
This successful placement demonstrates Maxwell Stephens' ability to recruit practical, high-impact Facilities Management professionals for fast-paced, multi-site retail and hospitality environments.