Pastry Prep Cook

Canard is looking for a talented pastry professional to join our culinary team in a hands-on production role.

We are a New York City catering company producing events ranging from intimate dinners and cocktail receptions to large-scale events. We are looking for someone who brings strong pastry skills, creativity, and excellent execution, but who also enjoys being part of a broader culinary team.

The Role

Pastry will be your primary area of responsibility. You will help develop dessert and pastry ideas for our events, work with the culinary team to turn those ideas into production-ready items, and execute them consistently at a high level.

Because our menu and production needs change from day to day, this is not a pastry-only position. On days when pastry production is lighter, you will work alongside the rest of the kitchen team on savory food preparation and general culinary production.

We are looking for someone who is excited by that variety.

What You'll Do

• Develop and execute desserts, pastries, baked goods, and other sweet items for catered events
• Contribute new pastry ideas based on seasonality, event style, client needs, and current food trends
• Test and refine recipes for both quality and large-scale production
• Produce pastry items consistently and efficiently for events of varying sizes
• Maintain high standards for taste, presentation, portioning, and consistency
• Plan pastry production around event schedules and deadlines
• Work closely with the culinary team to coordinate production
• Assist with savory prep and kitchen production when pastry needs are lighter
• Follow established food safety, sanitation, storage, and labeling procedures
• Maintain an organized, clean, and efficient workstation
• Help manage pastry ingredients and communicate purchasing and production needs

Who We're Looking For

You have professional pastry experience and the technical skills to take an idea from concept through finished product.

You are comfortable working independently on pastry projects, but you don't need to have your own department or title to take pride in what you produce.

You should also be comfortable picking up a knife and joining the rest of the culinary team when the day's production calls for it.

The right person is:

• Experienced in professional pastry and baking
• Creative, with an interest in developing new dessert ideas
• Strong in execution and consistency
• Comfortable scaling recipes for catering and event production
• Organized and able to manage multiple deadlines
• Comfortable working in both pastry and savory production
• Collaborative and willing to jump in wherever the kitchen needs help
• Able to work efficiently in a fast-paced professional kitchen
• Dependable and attentive to detail

What This Position Is

This is a hands-on culinary position for someone whose specialty is pastry, but who wants to be part of a versatile catering kitchen rather than a traditional stand-alone pastry department.

You'll have the opportunity to contribute ideas, develop desserts, and take ownership of pastry production while also being an active member of the larger culinary team.