ABF Grain Products Ltd 2025 graduate opportunities

Company Company profile

Associated British Foods is a diversified international food, ingredients & retail group with sales in excess of £13bn, over 130,000 employees and a presence in 50 countries.

We recruit 20-25 graduates each year into our Grocery division, which comprises consumer-facing businesses that manufacture and market a variety of well-known brands both nationally and internationally.

ABF focuses on giving people real responsibility and growing profit whilst operating in a friendly and down to earth way. Our graduate schemes are designed to give you relevant experience and the stretch to become one of our future leaders. You'll get a real job on day one with training, development and support to help you flourish. We encourage networking and the building of cross-functional as well as cross-business relationships and there are plenty of opportunities to maximise your career growth by experiencing different brands, categories, processes, and even continents!

Case studies

Name: Holly
Role: Account Executive - Customer Development
Joined: 2018

"this has been a great opportunity to learn about how a business operates in more depth.."

Description:

I’m just about to finish my first year at Jordans Dorset Ryvita where I work as an Account Executive on the biscuits team. I’m responsible for the back-office running of the Tesco account, this incorporates monitoring daily and weekly sales, implementing our promotional strategy and checking up on how those promotions perform whilst supporting the SNAM with range changes and New Product Development launches. I’m also the Tesco Ireland National Account Manager, where I have had front line experience of building a relationship with a customer and getting under the skin of how to run an account. I represent the Sales team in project team meetings for new product development and internal changes; this has been a great opportunity to learn about how a business operates in more depth. A typical day for me could include quickly collating our latest sales and reporting back on promotional performance to the Tesco SNAM, going in to store to check any range changes and promotions, coding and managing our invoices, managing the launch of new products internally at a project team meeting and of course a cereal tasting! This hands-on experience has enabled me to grow in confidence as I move in to my second placement as a Category Executive at Allied Bakeries.

Throughout the last year there has been a real focus on development and I have really enjoyed our core graduate and Customer Development specific training. The graduate scheme has enabled me to become more self-aware through specialised training looking at my behavioural preferences and through working on my Personal Development Plan with my line manager. The unique nature of ABF provides you with a strong support network including a buddy within your business when you first start and a mentor from another ABF company 6 months in. The ABF Customer Development scheme has allowed me to expand my network within JDR and across my graduate peer group, as well as across ABF at the Future Sales Leaders’ Day.

Name: Zach
Role: Supply Chain
Joined: 2018
University: University of Lincoln
Degree: International Business Management

"I think that one of the great things about ABF is that they take on graduates from many degree disciplines.."

Description:

I think that one of the great things about ABF is that they take on graduates from many degree disciplines; I studied International Business Management at the University of Lincoln which led me to apply to the ABF Supply Chain scheme because I wanted a real, hands-on, practical insight to the supply-side of business with a company that operates internationally like ABF!

I started the scheme in West Bromwich with Allied Bakeries; so far I’ve been able to split my time into two major placements in bread production and logistics. I’ve had the opportunity to lead and support projects on production efficiency, throughput and ‘Good Manufacturing Practice’ in our production department – and lead a cost-saving project on our customer deliveries in our logistics department. Here I’ve been able to sharpen my problem-solving and continuous improvement facilitation skills whilst building on my people-influencing confidence with the aid of interactive, challenging and informative graduate training sessions. As well as working on these projects, I’ve also been able to learn all about mass & batch bread production, working closely with our Manufacturing Technicians, and how this operation ties in with our huge in-house logistics function! After 12 months I moved up to our Stoke factory to take on more project work in logistics.

Training & profiles

One of the key focus areas of our graduate scheme is on your development. Alongside a buddy and mentor to help you find your way through the business, have career conversations and provide insight and support, all of our graduates also receive a great deal of training.

As a cohort, you will build strong relationships through experiencing a breadth of core management training together, from Presentation Skills, to Time Management (and plenty in between!). Additionally, you will build your skills and knowledge of the function in which you work through specific training or qualifications. For example, those joining our Customer Development scheme will get negotiation training, and those joining HR will be supported to achieve a CIPD qualification. Each scheme offers the appropriate training to best equip you in growing and performing throughout your career.

Application procedure

We have 6 graduate schemes across Customer Development, Engineering, HR, Marketing, Procurement, and Supply Chain & Operations.

FAQs

What is the 2019 abf graduate starting salary

£30,000