Culinary Assistant | Dietary Aide | Kitchen Staff

Heritage Senior Living•Middleton, WI

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Heritage Senior Living is hiring a dependable and friendly Culinary Assistant for its dining services team at Heritage Middleton Senior Living. The role supports food preparation, meal service, kitchen operations, and a clean, welcoming dining environment. The Culinary Assistant serves residents, guests, visitors, and team members, helps create an enjoyable dining experience, and supports the culinary team and daily kitchen functions. Previous healthcare or food-service experience is helpful but not required; a positive attitude and a passion for serving older adults are emphasized. The position reports to the Executive Chef and works closely with the culinary team. The work includes serving meals and beverages, taking food orders, preparing room-service trays, assisting with food preparation and special events, receiving and organizing deliveries and inventory, and maintaining kitchen cleanliness and food safety. The role also involves following cleaning, infection-control, food-handling, and compliance procedures; completing required logs; and reporting dishwasher or maintenance concerns. The role requires regular communication with residents and coworkers, reading and following menus and safety information, extended periods of standing and walking, and routinely lifting and moving items up to 50 pounds. The schedule is flexible based on resident and community needs and may include weekends, holidays, and additional hours as needed. Reasonable accommodations may be provided as required by applicable law.

Requirements

Passion for serving older adults.
Positive, friendly, dependable, and hardworking attitude; takes pride in providing good service and doing the job well.
Strong communication and customer-service skills.
Ability to present and serve food in an appealing manner.
Understanding of or willingness to learn sanitation, food-safety, and infection-control practices.
Ability to work collaboratively with coworkers and community team members.
Ability to follow directions and established procedures and pay attention to cleanliness, organization, and food safety.
Ability to meet applicable pre-employment, training, and regulatory requirements.
Ability to communicate effectively and read and follow menus, food labels, cleaning instructions, safety information, and required documentation.
Ability to stand and walk for extended periods and bend, reach, stoop, kneel, push, pull, and perform movements needed for food service and kitchen duties.
Ability to regularly lift, carry, and move items weighing up to 50 pounds.
Ability to safely handle food, dishes, cookware, kitchen equipment, cleaning supplies, and other materials and work around heat, steam, hot surfaces, sharp utensils, cleaning products, wet surfaces, and temperature changes.
Ability to work a flexible schedule that may include weekends, holidays, and additional hours as needed.

Nice To Haves

Previous food preparation, restaurant, hospitality, senior living, healthcare, or food-service experience; preferred but not required.

Responsibilities

Provide friendly, attentive service to residents, guests, visitors, and team members.
Serve meals and beverages, take individual food orders as needed, and prepare and deliver room-service trays.
Present meals in an appealing manner and respond to resident requests professionally and courteously.
Assist with food preparation and meal production as directed by the Executive Chef or Sous Chef.
Prepare food and dining areas for special events, celebrations, and community programs.
Receive and properly store food and supply deliveries; assist with inventory and organization.
Label, date, rotate, and store food products according to established procedures; organize refrigerators and other kitchen spaces.
Wash and sanitize dishes, utensils, cookware, and kitchen equipment.
Maintain clean and organized kitchen, food-preparation, storage, and service areas; follow cleaning schedules and infection-control procedures.
Assist with garbage removal and general kitchen cleanup.
Follow safe food-handling, sanitation, and infection-control practices.
Assist with food, equipment, cleaning, in-service, OSHA, and other compliance logs.
Monitor dishwasher temperatures and chemical levels and report equipment or maintenance concerns to the Executive Chef.
Follow Heritage Senior Living policies, procedures, and applicable food-service requirements.
Maintain regular and reliable attendance and perform other essential kitchen functions as needed.