Growing Chefs is hiring!
Do you want to support sustainable and just food practices? Build connections between kids and their food? Make local, sustainable food accessible? Engage communities through food?
If yes, then this might be the place for you!
LunchLAB is an innovative school meal program where students are empowered through food literacy education and the mentorship of Chefs-in-Residence to cook, serve, and share nourishing and culturally-relevant lunches two to three times weekly for up to 200 of their peers.
In our work, we aim to innovate and transform edible education and school food to reflect the power of food as a connector that impacts the experience of overall well being, mental health, academic performance, leadership development, youth advocacy, and experience of social and cultural belonging for kids and youth in our communities.
We’re looking for someone who loves to collaborate, has experience putting out large volumes of food, enjoys working with kids, is creative and imaginative in the kitchen, and has a passion for nourishing food and supporting food literacy.
LunchLAB Chef-In-Residence Tahani preparing food student chefs at Lord Roberts Elementary School.
Salary: $40,768 Annually (based on 28 hours/week).
Benefits: Health and dental plan (after 3 months employed); three weeks paid vacation (prorated to a 28 hour work week) + paid one-week summer shutdown per year + paid two-week winter shutdown per year; 12 paid personal wellness days per year (aka sick days); annual professional development funding; paid volunteer days.
Location: Four days a week onsite in Vancouver LunchLAB schools (exact location TBD)
Anticipated Start Date: Immediately, May 2024 (flexible for the next superstar LunchLAB chef)
Position Summary:
Your role will be mentor, educator, and chef. Each week, you’ll work with kids to teach them new skills, helping them understand the art and science of cooking and nutrition as well as the joy and celebration of connection to nourishing food.
Through day-to-day kitchen operations, meal planning, ordering, preparation, and service, the Chef-in-Residence, together with our Chef Educators, deliver engaging, non-stigmatizing, nourishing, and culturally-relevant meals that kids want to eat while providing embedded food literacy education and mentorship.
Chef-in-Residence positions are responsible for the day-to-day kitchen operations including meal planning, preparation, and service at their assigned LunchLAB location(s).
Responsibilities include:
Supports the co-executive directors to train chef teams.
Fosters positive work environment for staff and volunteers
Leads culinary and kitchen operations aspects of training process
Identifies knowledge and skills gaps on chef teams and develops training accordingly
Meal Prep and Service
Manages meal service for designated number of students at assigned LunchLAB school
Develops engaging, nourishing, and culturally-relevant menus for students
Collaborates to build supplier and vendor relationships that align with LunchLAB and Growing Chefs mission and policies
Manages supplier and vendor deliveries
Collaborates with admin team to manage budgets, feedback, processes, and systems
Collaborates with Chef Educator and admin teams to develop and implement weekly food literacy skills curriculum into meal prep for student chefs
Manage School Kitchen
Collaborate to oversee chef team’s function and flow as it relates to kitchen operations
Designs and oversees program and procedure manuals and documents kitchen procedures
Supervises day-to-day maintenance and general upkeep of equipment and kitchenwares
Responsible for the safety and security of all those who participate in our programs (children, families, volunteers, staff) through policy implementation
Accountable for food procurement and meal service that meets program needs and aligns with Growing Chefs mission and policies
Ensures day-to-day operations have proper food storage and transport that follows FoodSafe procedures
Kitchen Leadership
Develops and manages a positive work environment for staff, volunteers, and student chefs
Collaborates to lead and mentor student chefs in the kitchen
Collaborates to manage usage of school garden produce (if applicable), and supplier orders and deliveries
Leads stewardship of relationships with teachers, students, volunteers, and general school community
Collaborates with senior coordinator and school administration/teachers to structure service days in accordance with staggered lunches, shared kitchen space, and involvement of student chef/clean teams
Delivery of Growing Chefs Programs
Leads delivery of high quality programming in schools and in the community
Collaborates to deliver SOYL summer program
Collaborates to deliver Growing Chefs’ Classroom Program
Recommends improvements to efficiencies, impacts, complexities, and identified gaps in the program delivery model to executive team
Develops, improves, and leads delivery of edible education lesson plans and learning activities for GC programs
Leads program delivery alignment with GC mission, values, and policies
Supports Program Coordinator to oversee volunteer activities on the ground
Leads and oversees establishment of a positive and engaging program environment for all those participating
Promotion of Growing Chefs
Promotes program in culinary community and builds network of chef recruits
Assists with fundraising events and opportunities
Qualifications and Skills:
Extensive experience in kitchen management with strong supervision and leadership skills.
Passionate about food justice, local food and supporting a strong, local food system.
Comprehensive knowledge of culinary techniques in food production for large-volume kitchen operations.
Experience setting up and running your own kitchen.
Able to create culturally-relevant and nourishing kid-friendly menus.
Would be comfortable working outside of a traditional kitchen setting and willing to improvise and adapt when presented with challenges.
You succeed in a mentoring role and love helping kids learn alongside you.
High level of organization. This is a new program, with the opportunity to transform school food in Vancouver and beyond. You like to keep records and communicate frequently.
Comfortable and willing to perform ongoing administrative tasks.
Job Requirements:
Minimum 3 years experience in a restaurant or catering kitchen or equivalent experience preparing and serving 100+ meals.
Must be available and able to work on-site at Vancouver schools
Must be legally authorised to work in Canada
Must be able to lift and move up to 30 pounds
FoodSafe Level 1 Certification (GC able to support acquiring)
The successful applicant will be required to obtain a Vulnerable Sector Check for working with children. Growing Chefs will cover the cost to obtain this check.
Assets but not required:
Valid BC drivers licence
Chef Red Seal certification
Prioritizing Indigenous Applicants:
As we continue to grow our team to reflect the kids and youth in the school communities we serve, we are looking to prioritize applications from people who identify as Indigenous. We encourage you to self-identify in your application.
Growing Chefs operates on the on the land of the Coast Salish peoples, including the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), W̱SÁNEĆ, Lək̓ʷəŋən, and Xwsepsum (Songhees and Esquimalt) Nations. As we work towards a world with thriving and just food practices, we continue to learn and explore how to uplift Indigenous food and cultural values within our local food systems.
Growing Chefs is an equal opportunity employer and employs personnel without regard to racialization, ancestry, place of origin, ethnic origin, language, citizenship, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, family status, physical and/or mental access needs, or financial ability.
To Apply:
Please apply via link at the bottom. Applications will be reviewed upon reception.
Next Steps:
You will receive confirmation via email that we have received your application.
Candidates selected to move on to the interview phase will be contacted to set up a date for an interview no later than two weeks after the selected application was received, ongoing until the position is filled. The first interviews will take place on May 7th, 2024.
In recognition of the labour that goes into preparing for an interview, applicants selected for an interview will receive a $25 honorarium for their time.
Final candidates will be asked to provide up-to-date references who will be consulted.
