Chocolatier - Full-time

Job Title : Chocolatier
Hours : Full time, Monday-Friday, either 8am-4:30pm or 11am-7:30pm
Location : 16th Street Factory
Report : Head Chocolatier
Wage : starts at $26.5/hour

Chocolatier

About Us

Dandelion Chocolate is a bean-to-bar chocolate factory in San Francisco’s Mission District. We make chocolate from only two ingredients, cocoa beans and cane sugar, and travel to origins as often as we can to build good, trusting relationships with the producers who grow and ferment the beans we buy. We’re always searching for good cocoa beans, and now we’re looking for a Chocolatier to support our in-house Confections Team.

About the Job

A typical day on the confections team usually begins with cleaning and polishing our chocolate molds. You'll then help make batches of ganache, assist our team in casting the molds with our chocolate, and fill those molds with the ganache you made first thing in the morning. Throughout the day, you help keep the space tidy and organized, doing dishes as needed and making sure all surfaces are clean. You will also help with unmolding the confections and quality control (yes, that includes tasting!) as well as packaging the confections for sale. Our team cares deeply about the process and takes pride in an end product that reflects the hard work and care of our chocolate makers and producers. We prefer that candidates have kitchen or pastry experience, as it helps with the pace and demands of this position. This full-time position is Monday through Friday and starts at $26/hour. This is an in-person role at our Factory located at 2600 16th Street in San Francisco. 

About You

You are fascinated by all things chocolate, and feel great satisfaction working hard and fast towards concrete and measurable milestones. In the dynamic, supportive, and detail-oriented team environment, you eagerly offer a hand when needed and help brainstorm potential solutions for an issue that has everyone stumped. The team knows they can always rely on you and your high attention to detail, recognizing that your own high personal standards for the quality of your work matches perfectly with their own. You are self-motivated and feel great satisfaction with a spotless workspace where every item is in its place. You understand the safety standards that must be followed in a factory setting, easily maneuvering around running machines, communicating your location in a tight space, and knowing when to ask for help when you aren’t sure how to proceed. When you meet new information, you follow up with clarifying questions until you are confident that you could teach the same topic backwards and forwards to the next curious chocolate enthusiast. You easily adapt to the changing daily tides of a production-based company. We’re looking for someone who is eager to learn, good-humored, and likes to get their hands dirty.

Responsibilities

• Production: Learning and performing all steps of the confections production process to be an independent and contributing team member. You have a great sense of time management and proactively look for other tasks when you have finished your task and have unexpected downtime.
• Quality: Tasting and evaluating confections for flavor and quality. Holding high quality standards, monitoring each item that is produced to make sure it holds up to those standards. You have a keen attention to detail and are sure to call out when something doesn’t look right, even if it means more work for you and the team. 
• Safety: Adhering to strict safety standards and following proper machinery, food safety, and quality procedures to ensure safety of the team and the product. We work with machinery each day and our team members depend upon each other to maintain strict safety standards.
• Maintenance: Cleaning and maintaining our production area, including machines and equipment.
• Goals: Ensure that you are hitting daily goals to help keep the team on track to meet product demands during all seasons, especially holidays and the busy holiday season. 
• Packaging: Pack confections into boxes, keeping in mind the customer’s unboxing experience. If tissue paper tears or a sticker rips, you are sure to replace it and solve the issue rather than ignore it.
• Other tasks as necessary  

Requirements

• Available 40 hours/week, Monday-Friday from either 7am-3:30pm or 11am-7:30pm 
• Previous bakery, kitchen, or confections experience -- especially the habits of washing hands, labeling and dating finished products, FIFO, and working thoughtfully around others.
• The ability to absorb new information in a fast-paced environment and to complete tasks quickly, accurately, and efficiently while working independently and with the team.
• A positive attitude. Chocolate can get messy and machines can break, so a positive attitude will serve you well!
• The ability to perform tasks requiring bending, stooping, and walking throughout your shift. This position requires that you be moving on your feet for most of the day and to occasionally lift heavy objects up to 50 pounds. We also do tasks that require repetitive motion. 

Benefits

We are proud to offer a variety of benefits and perks that our team members enjoy. All team members receive paid time off for vacation and sick time. We also offer an industry-leading subsidy on medical, dental, and vision insurance through Kaiser, Blue Shield, and the Guardian. We offer a 30% discount on all Dandelion products, a $150 annual Dandelion Chocolate gift card, chocolate and pastry tasting opportunities, free beverages and snacks, FSA benefits, commuter benefits, professional development training, safety shoe reimbursement for qualifying positions, CPR training, and safety training.

How to Apply

Dandelion is growing and we are invested in employees who take ownership over their role and are interested in contributing in a bigger way with us. If you are interested, we’d like to see your resume and a cover letter that includes a couple of sentences about what excites you about working with chocolate. Keep in mind that we value passion, attitude, and hard work, so tell us what inspires you to want to join our production team.