Cook - Child Care Center

Tired of the restaurant grind? Cook simple, healthy food for children at ChildRoots!

Ready to come back to cooking, but not excited about going back to the stress and frustration of a restaurant kitchen? We have a more satisfying, less exasperating job for you - Full-Time Cook - preparing simple, nourishing meals at our progressive, close-in Southeast childcare center.

ChildRoots nurtures healthy growth and development in children aged six weeks to six years by encouraging play, facilitating exploration, and offering delicious, lovingly-prepared food.  

All food served at ChildRoots is organic, vegetarian and nut-free. We offer lunch and two snacks daily, served resturant-style as part of our "Take 5" plan, which incorporates a grain, bean, fresh fruit, vegetable, and dairy.   Produce is served fresh, roasted, or steamed. Beans and grains have minimal seasoning. By serving a variety of nutritious, delicious foods in their natural state; children are able to acquire a taste for whole, unprocessed foods.

This role is primarily cooking and kitchen maintenance.  Interaction with children and other staff members is minimal.  When delivering meals, you'll get to feel like a rock star who's the center of attention, but 95% of your day is spent working independently in the kitchen.

  You'll thrive in this role if you are:

• Detail- and rhythm-oriented
• Able to lift up to 50 lbs routinely and repeatedly
• Comfortable and capable of meeting strict service standards and deadlines under pressure
• Experienced in a high-volume restaurant, school, or other batch-cooking environment
• Comfortable doing dirty, unglamorous work like washing dishes, cleaning, washing more dishes, and more cleaning
• Extremely self-directed and excited about the prospect of working independently all day long
• A lifelong learner who respects small people and their unique needs

PLEASE NOTE - You DO NOT need to be teacher-qualified to work in this role, but you DO need to be enrolled in Oregon's Central Background Registry and possess a valid CPR/First Aid certificate & Oregon Food Handlers' Card. 

To work with us, you must be teacher-qualified and currently enrolled in Oregon's

These easy, online trainings are required within 30 days of hire:

The challenges of COVID reminded us how vital it is to center our employees’ well-being. We know we still have much to do to be the BEST place to work in child care in Portland, but that’s what we’re working toward.

All employees are eligible for:

• 1-3 weeks of Paid Time Off per year, depending on how long they've been with ChildRoots.
• 25 paid holidays and all-school days off
• Company-provided continuing education
• 401(k) retirement savings plan with generous company match and 100%, immediate vesting

Full-time employees are eligible to enroll in our insurance plans, including:

• Providence Health, including vision, naturopathic, chiropractic, acupuncture, AND massage
• Principal or Willamette Dental

We value commitment and invite you to stay with us for at least a year.

To learn more about us, explore our website , take a virtual tour of our facilities , and review our COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines .

We're a pro-vaccination community and require all employees and enrolled parents to be fully vaccinated against COVID . We still practice extraordinary safety protocols like daily health checks, masks, stable groups, and extra cleaning, and will do so for as long as it takes to keep our community safe.

Thank you for your consideration. We hope to hear from you!