Lead Cook

LEAD COOK

SUMMARY: Responsible for all levels of food production. Ensures quality food and service

availability while operating within program guidelines. Trains and coordinates staff and

production operations including on the line during meal service times.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Other duties may be assigned.
• Follows the regulations and goals of the Child Nutrition Program set forth on the State

and Federal level.
• Knows, understands and practices food safety regulations as prescribed by the local

health code.
• Prepares food in an eye appealing and appetizing manner.
• Responsible for sanitation of work area and proper care of equipment as well as training

other staff in proper sanitation practices.
• Prepares proper quantity of food in allotted time.
• Performs all other duties, as assigned including but not limited to working in other

positions or alternate locations.
• Creation of, editing and following standardized recipes.
• Recipe testing including tasting and adjusting ingredients.
• Assist with preparation of catering orders and deliveries as needed.
• Coordinates prep efforts on a daily basis in conjunction with the food service supervisor.
• Trains staff on proper food preparation and cooking techniques based on industry

standards.
• Inventory maintenance and reporting including labeling, dating and proper storage of on-

hand products.
• Assists food service supervisor with mealtime coordination of food production and flow

to the serving line.
• Coordinates and orders products and purchases with Food Service purveyors as needed
• Responsible for helping of yearly inventory of all food service products.
• Ability to self organize daily weekly, monthly responsibilities along with coordination of

supplemental staff to complete those responsibilities.
• Follows oral and written instructions.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must

be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are

representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may

be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:

Completion of Serve Safe certified program with a valid certificate is required. Minimum of two

years cook experience as an OPS Employee. Working in the Elementary Hot Food preparation

Room, or Middle school services a minimum of 1 year required.

LANGUAGE SKILLS:

Ability to read, analyze and interpret general Point of Sale reports and recipes. Ability to

effectively communicate with others. Daily use of e-mail and basic data input. Ability to read and

write recipes in the English language.

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS:

Ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Ability to perform these operations using units of

American currency, US units of volume, weight and distance. Mathematical aptitude involving

basic arithmetic skills and use of culinary math to adjust and write standardized recipes.

REASONING ABILITY:

Ability to understand common sense reasoning and to carry out detailed or basic written or oral

instructions with minimal or no supervision. Ability to deal with problems involving a few

concrete variables in standardized situations. Ability to aide by standards of professional behavior

and treating everyone with kindness and respect. Ability to make split second decisions especially

when involving safety issues.

OTHER SKILLS and ABILITIES:

Ability to work in a friendly manner with co-workers and students. Ability to establish and

maintain effective working relationships with students, staff and community. Ability to operate a

personal computer and related software. Ability to perform duties with full awareness of all

district requirements and the Board of Education policies. Ability to taste and evaluate all types of

foods in order to create and accurately adjust recipes.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those that

must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the

essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to walk and to stand

for long periods of time. Ability to work in extreme hot and cold temperatures, high humidity

and congested work areas. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision,

distance vision and color vision. Manual dexterity: Ability to move quickly and efficiently in a

fast paced environment including but not limited to grasping, bending, twisting, lifting at least

50# without assistance, pushing and pulling heavy loads on carts. Manual dexterity: Ability to

move quickly and efficiently in a fast paced environment.

WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work environment characteristics described here are

representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this

job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform

the essential functions. The employee must be able to meet deadlines with severe time constraints. The noise level in the

work environment is frequently loud to where you have to raise your voice to be heard.

The information contained in this job description is for compliance with the American with Disabilities Act (A.D.A.) and is not an

exhaustive list of the duties performed for this position. Additional duties may be assigned.

Okemos Public Schools is an equal opportunity employer. In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of

Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions

participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex,

disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA.