Food Service Specialist II

Food Service Specialist II

Valley Hope of Grapevine has an exciting opportunity for a Food Service Specialist II to join our dedicated and passionate team! Valley Hope restores lives affected by addiction and supports lifelong recovery. At Valley Hope, our mission comes to life through our core values of Character, Compassion, and Commitment. Are you ready to join an organization where you can make an extraordinary impact, conquering addiction one patient and family at a time? If so, Valley Hope welcomes you!

Valley Hope of Grapevine, located between Dallas and Fort Worth, provides healing residential and outpatient drug and alcohol addiction treatment services.

Our work is mission-driven, supported by a strong culture of teamwork and a compassionate environment that is the foundation of the Valley Hope organization.

Job Summary:

• Ensures safe food handling protocol is maintained at all times within the kitchen and dining areas including that safe hand hygiene compliance, cross contamination prevention, and temperature checks are followed and ensures timely documentation as directed by supervisor, local regulatory body, or written instructions.
• Organizes weekly menus for the facility and ensures that staff/patients follow menus, have needed ingredients, and detailed recipes for preparation.
• Provides menu change recommendations to supervisor/Dietician as requested.
• Ensures menus/menu changes are pre-approved by Dietician or other regulatory body prior to use.
• Assists staff/patients with preparation of daily meals according to weekly menus/recipes. Properly increases or decreases recipes as needed for fluctuations in census.
• Ensures and/or prepares daily meals and/or snacks are planned/prepared according to Special Diet needs utilizing Special Diet recipes or program guidelines as ordered.
• Provides/serves food to patients/units/programs, visitors, and staff with a pleasant demeanor.
• Stores food items according to established guidelines and/or state regulations/guidelines.
• Performs dishwashing and sanitization for all items used in preparation and serving of meals.
• Presents safety and hygiene instruction to any patients who are assigned to assist with dish or clean up duties to ensure safe kitchen environment and safe dish sanitization methods are followed.
• Performs cleaning/sanitizing tasks as outlined on the shift/daily/weekly/monthly cleaning schedules, which may include sinks, counters, ovens, stovetops, grill, fryer, serving line, salad bar, and other equipment and appliances.
• Follows safety guidelines when using appliances, utensils, and other commercial kitchen equipment.
• Reports safety hazards to management.
• Removes trash, boxes, or other materials such as used grease to appropriate containers in a timeframe that ensures staff safety and proper food handling protocol.
• Creates a schedule for the dietary department staff to ensure staff scheduling meets the needs of the organization in preparing 3 meals daily/365 days per year as assigned by supervisor.
• Trains staff and/or patients as needed to ensure they are successfully able to follow cleanliness, food preparation, food safety and storage on a routine basis as assigned by supervisor.
• Prepares weekly order for all department food, sundry items, and cleaning/sanitizing items. Identifies ways to keep food costs down and eliminate food waste, including ordering and preparing food to match current patient census.
• Communicates with management to maintain the level of food quality that is expected.
• Participates in all Dietary department local, state, or other regulatory body inspections. Assists with all post inspection activities including plan of correction and providing training to others in the department as assigned by supervisor.
• Provides input for department personnel performance reviews as assigned by supervisor.

Skills & Abilities:

• Strong knowledge of proper food handling procedures.
• Able to read and follow standardized recipes.
• Effective oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to prioritize competing demands and effectively manage multiple tasks and/or projects while being responsive and flexible.
• Demonstrated attention to detail and ability to ensure accuracy while working in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated ability to work with and maintain sensitive and confidential information.
• Self-directed and motivated; able to meet established timelines.
• Ability to work in a team environment and take direction.

Work Environment:

• Residential and/or outpatient treatment facility setting; requires walking throughout the facility and may require unloading of food/stock in temperature extremes.
• Able to work non-typical hours, which could include early mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays; able to work overtime to the extent necessary.
• Able to stand for lengthy periods and to walk including up or down steps or stairs as needed.
• Able to push, pull, pull up, bend at the knees and waist, twist body at the waist, raise and hold arms overhead, kneel, squat, crawl, turn head-neck-shoulders as needed, grasp items with hands, for either extended periods of time or many times throughout the workday.
• Able to reach, move, grasp, handle, control and maintain with one or both hands in order to operate standard kitchen prep and cooking utensils according to manufacturer instruction.
• Able to lift and carry up to 25 pounds.

Equal Opportunity Employer This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.

Valley Hope Addiction Treatment and Recovery