Lead Cook

The Yay Company•Greenwich, CT

8d•Onsite

About The Position

The Lead Cook is the engine of the Yay kitchen. This is a hands-on cooking role where you are at the line, in the prep, making sure every meal that goes to students is on spec and on time. You also help keep the kitchen organized and set the standard for how the team works. This is the right role if you love to cook, take pride in consistency, and want to be trusted to run the kitchen when it matters.

Requirements

Current Food Handler certification (required)
Experience in a high-volume kitchen (school food service, catering, or similar)
Strong knife skills
Comfort with both hot line and cold prep
Detail-oriented: follow recipes, label correctly, do not cut corners
Reliable, on time, and ready to work hard

Nice To Haves

ServSafe certification

Responsibilities

Hot Food Production: Cook from recipe cards, portion correctly, spot check portions, verify temperatures, and keep production on schedule.
Cold Batch Production: Ensure cold items (fruit cups, veggie packs, snack packs, wraps, salads, etc.) are produced on time, portioned correctly, labeled immediately with prep date and use-by date, and stored at 41°F or below. Enforce FEFO (First-Expired, First-Out) at all times.
Kitchen Pars & Inventory: Conduct full inventory counts weekly, order based on counts and the batch schedule, enforce FEFO across all storage, receive deliveries personally, verify against the invoice, and log all waste daily.
Team Development: Brief the team at the start of every shift with clear assignments, ensure everyone knows their role in cold production on batch day, debrief at least twice a week, and address performance issues directly and document them.
Sales & School Happiness: Communicate proactively with school administration about menu changes and service updates, collect feedback from students and staff, and pass it up.
Kitchen Standards: Complete food safety logs daily (temperatures at opening, during cooking, during holding, and at close), keep station and shared kitchen spaces clean and organized, log waste accurately, and help receive deliveries and verify product against invoices.
Team Support: Set the pace and standard for the kitchen team during your shift, support and lead team members, show them the right way to do things, and lead on where you need support.