TK Culinary Assistant - Part-time

Culinary Assistant

Community Servings' mission is to actively engage the community to provide medically tailored, nutritious, scratch-made meals to chronically and critically ill individuals and their families. In addition, we are committed to prioritizing racial and economic justice and health equity in all our programs and business practices.

We are a dynamic and fast-growing agency at the forefront of the "Food is Medicine" field, providing over 1M medically tailored meals annually to clients and their families experiencing illness and food insecurity in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In addition, our work strongly focuses on supporting the regional local food system, delivering high-quality nutrition education to the community, and hosting an on-site food-service workforce development program. Over the past 36 years, the agency has provided 15M+ free, scratch-made meals.

Reporting to the Teaching Kitchen Culinary Instructor, this position provides culinary support to the Teaching Kitchen program, which provides free culinary job training to adults who face barriers to employment.

The Culinary Assistant is responsible for supporting Teaching Kitchen trainees as they gain hands-on culinary skills. The Culinary Assistant will also provide production support for the Teaching Kitchen's social enterprise, TK Eats, as needed. The person in this role will serve as a coach, a mentor, and an overall supporter to culinary trainees who are working to gain skills and make a successful transition to permanent employment in the food industry.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

• Training Support:
• Following guidance from the Culinary Instructor, work one on one or in small groups to support trainees as they execute assigned recipes, reinforcing basic culinary techniques and helping to create a positive kitchen atmosphere
• Ensure adherence to all food and kitchen safety standards in production, storage, and dishwashing areas
• Lead by example in areas of life skills, taking and delivering feedback, and maintaining a professional demeanor in the kitchen
• Maintain effective communication and working relationships with the kitchen and program staff, be responsive to trainee and staff suggestions and concerns, and work to resolve problems and build strong team cohesion
• Lead occasional Servsafe study sessions for Teaching Kitchen classes (facilitator training and Servsafe teaching tools will be provided by Culinary Instructor)
• Attend daily morning meeting with Culinary Instructor to prepare for that day's classes and tasks

• Social Enterprise Support:
• Provide hands-on support while working with students to accomplish production tasks and ensure learning concepts are reinforced during social enterprise training component
• Support production of food with consistently high quality of taste and presentation
• Execute production tasks, independently when necessary, with a sense of urgency in order to meet enterprise demands

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the experience, knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Strong preference will be given to graduates of the Teaching Kitchen or similar culinary job training programs
• Strong communication and organizational skills
• Strong command of basic culinary skills including knife skills, culinary techniques, and time management
• Demonstrated coaching style reflecting respect, kindness, and a belief in each individual's resilience and ability to learn
• Ability to be punctual, dependable, hardworking, and committed to the role
• Ability to set and maintain boundaries in a clear and respectful manner
• Lived experiences reflecting those of the Teaching Kitchen trainee population strongly preferred
• Possess current ServSafe Food Handler and Servsafe Allergen Awareness certifications, or have a willingness to become certified within the first 2 weeks of employment
• Familiarity with or willingness to learn technology and skills such as curriculum development, menu planning and pricing, and Microsoft Office
• Language proficiency or fluency and willingness to use those language skills to support multilingual learners, with a preference for Spanish and/or Haitian Creole speakers

Education/Experience:

High School diploma, GED, or equivalent experience.

Physical Demands and Special Work Conditions:

This position requires an individual to have the ability to lift to a maximum of 50 lbs. and includes bending and standing for long periods of time. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Community Servings knows that diversity drives excellence. We are a place where everyone is welcome. We celebrate, promote, and derive strength from a diversity of lived experiences. We actively seek and encourage an inclusive workforce.