Food Service Worker

Job Summary

Job Title: School Nutrition Food Service Workers – Full-time

Department: Administration

Location: Rockbridge County Public Schools - On-Site

Supervisor: School Nutrition Food Supervisor

Job Type: Full-Time

Employment Classification: Non-Exempt

Supervisory Role: No

The School Nutrition Food Service Worker is responsible for preparing, serving, and cleaning up after meals in a school cafeteria environment. The position ensures that all food is handled and served according to safety and sanitation standard while promoting a positive dining experience for students and staff.

Essential Job Functions

1. Equipment Operation: Operate kitchen equipment such as ovens, steamers, slicers, and dishwashers safely and efficiently.
2. Food Safety & Temperature Control: Monitor and maintain proper food temperatures during preparation, cooking, holding, and serving to comply with USDA and health department standards. Follow established food safety protocols, including proper storage, labeling, and rotation of food items. Ensure compliance with HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) guidelines and district food safety policies.
3. Inventory Management: Assists with inventory control, including receiving, storing, and rotating food and supplies.
4. Meal Preparation: Prepare and serve meals in accordance with the daily menu, USDA guidelines, and portion control standards. Provide support for on-site school catering events.
5. Payment Processing: Accepts payment for student meals. Reconcile the ledger.
6. Sanitation & Safety: Maintains cleanliness and sanitation of kitchen, serving areas, cafeteria, tray lines, dining utensils, and equipment in compliance with health and safety regulations. Ensure proper hand hygiene practices are consistently followed to prevent the spread of germs and maintain compliance with health and safety standards. Comply with appropriate accessories, including hairnets, gloves, aprons, and any other required protective gear, to maintain hygiene, safety, and compliance with health regulations.

All other duties as assigned.

Core Competencies

• Adaptability & Accountability: Adapts to changes in the work environment, manages competing demands, is open to criticism and feedback, changes approach or method to best fit the situation, and takes responsibility for own actions.
• Attendance & Punctuality: Schedules time off in advance, begins working on time, keeps absences within guidelines, ensures work responsibilities are covered when absent, and arrives at meetings and appointments on time.
• Business Ethics: Works with integrity and ethics, upholds organizational values, and abides by written policies.
• Communication: Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in English and take direction from supervisors. Expresses ideas and thoughts both verbally and in written form, exhibits good listening skills and comprehension, responds well to questions, and writes clearly and informatively. Edits work for spelling and grammar. Presents accurate numerical data effectively.
• Compliance: Within the specified functional area of authority, is personally accountable for understanding and ensuring regulatory and policy compliance with state and federal requirements in accordance with their respective job duties and responsibilities.
• Confidentiality: Maintains a high degree of confidentiality.
• Culture: Demonstrates and supports a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion through cultivating awareness, continuous development, and modeling inclusive behaviors.
• Customer Service: Provides prompt and high-quality service to team members, vendors, and internal/external customers. Ability to remain calm in stressful situations. Resolves service issues in the assigned project/department in a timely and professional manner.
• Independence of Action: Sets goals and determines how to accomplish defined results with some guidelines. Follows precedents and procedures. Seeks assistance when confronted with difficult and/or unpredictable situations.
• Judgment: Displays willingness to make decisions timely, exhibits sound and accurate judgment, supports and explains reasoning for decisions, includes appropriate people in decision-making process, and takes responsibility for communication including what is heard.
• Organization: Maintains clean, functional workspace, continuous workflow to meet daily/weekly/monthly deadlines.
• Safety: Attends required safety meetings, follows the Injury and Illness Prevention Plan (IIPP)/Safety Plan and reports unsafe conditions, keeps workspace in safe condition.
• Teamwork / Morale: Treats others with professionalism, gives and welcomes feedback, inspires the trust of others, displays a solution-driven mindset, offers assistance and support to co-workers consistent with this role, works cooperatively and collaboratively in group situations. Engages consistently in professional behavior.
• Training: Completes Company-required training timely.

Other Duties

• Attends staff, departmental, and other required meetings and training.
• Completes all districtwide annual education and training assignments.
• Follows universal precautions and infection control procedures.
• May be asked to work after hour school events on occasion.
• Provides back-up during staffing shortages.

Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications, Experience, and Education

• High School degree or GED equivalent (PREFERRED)
• Minimum of one year of relevant experience. (PREFERRED)
• SERV Safe Food Certification (PREFERRED)
• Experience with student meal account management systems. (PREFERRED)

Computer and Equipment Skills

• Basic skills with Microsoft/Google Platform applications, which may include GMAIL, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and/or other web-based applications.
• Use of the internet and online teleconferencing software (e.g., Zoom or Teams).
• Ability to navigate web-based programs

Working Environment and Physical Requirements

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS - None - Under 1/3 - 1/3 - 2/3 - Over 2/3

Standing - X

Walking - X

Sitting - X

Using hands to touch, handle, or feel - X

Reaching with hands and arms - X

Climbing stairs - X

Bending, stooping, kneeling, crouching, or crawling - X

Computer use - X - X

Phone use - X

Talking and hearing - Clear speech and good hearing, both face to face and on the phone; hears well in noisy social environments

Seeing - Clear vision at 20 inches or less with or without corrective lenses; vision sufficient to drive motor vehicles safely with or without corrective lenses

Lifting - Lifts up to 20 pounds routinely, up to 50 pounds occasionally