Lead Cook

Houston Food Bank•Houston, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Lead Cook is responsible for assisting in the daily food production at either Kids Café or Texans Café/535 Catering. This position coordinates meal plans, supervises kitchen operations, and ensures compliance with food preparation standards. The Lead Cook organizes kitchen workflows, assists in managing volunteers and student workers, supports delivery drivers, and ensures the accuracy and quality of all meals prepared. This includes monitoring production sheets, verifying proper ingredients and quantities, and upholding food safety standards. This role is required to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as scheduled. Adhere to PACT values. (Purpose: Using our strengths passionately to contribute to our mission. Accountability: Choosing to rise above one’s circumstances and demonstrating ownership to achieve results. See It. Own It. Solve It. Do It. Courage: Standing up for what’s right and acting. Transparency: Doing things openly and honestly).

Requirements

High School Diploma from an accredited school or general education development (GED) certificate
3+ years’ experience working in a full service or institutional food service production environment
Must have Food Handlers certificate
Ability to work with a diverse population
Knowledge of basic cooking skills, basic math skills (add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions and decimals)
Basic MS Office Suite Excel, Word and Outlook
Strong customer service skills and willingness to assist others
Able to communicate and understand written and verbal instructions
Attention to detail
Strong problem-solving abilities
Able to coordinate well with other departments and personnel
Flexibility to work evenings, weekends, and holidays
Is legally able to work in the United States.

Nice To Haves

SERV Safe food handlers preferred or able to obtain within the first 90 days

Responsibilities

Ensures all supplies and/or food items are available for the week’s menu and the daily food production.
Provides communication to the Kitchen Operations Manager, Sous Chef and Production Lead, and volunteers on all needed food items and non-food supplies needed for meal production.
Checks daily number counts for all sites, changes daily production sheet metal count if needed.
Ensures that all allergen and infant meals are produced accurately for the meal counts.
Assists cooks with preparing the daily meal using the production sheets provided to prepare and use correct portion control.
Ensures the quality of all food is at the highest quality possible.
Complies with all state, local, and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) policies, practices and procedures.
Monitors production during service to ensure that the correct amount of food is produced in a timely manner so that production speed is maintained, and excess waste is prevented, taking into account meal count adjustments and any variance to portion control or accidental loss.
Assists with cleaning, temperature logs, and HAACP compliance procedures.
Ensures that all injuries are reported in a timely manner with accurate documentation.
Maintains the daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning schedule.