Senior Cook / North County

County of Los Angeles•Los Angeles, CA

5d•Onsite

About The Position

This position is for a Senior Cook within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Food Services Bureau. The role involves supervising and leading food service staff and/or inmate workers in the preparation and serving of large-quantity meals for staff and correctional inmates. The Senior Cook is responsible for ensuring compliance with department policies, health and safety regulations, and dietary guidelines. This role also includes instructing staff and inmates on proper food handling, ensuring quality assurance of food supplies, coordinating cooking activities across different facilities, and modifying recipes as needed. The position is assigned to the Pitchess Detention Facility and North County Correctional Facility.

Requirements

Option A: Completion of a certificate program accredited by the American Culinary Federation Educational Institute (ACFEI) of at least 48 semester units in Culinary Arts from an accredited college AND two years' experience in quantity food preparation and cooking of complete meals in an institutional, commercial, military, or similar establishment.
Option B: Two years' journey level experience in quantity food preparation and cooking of complete meals in an institutional, commercial, military, or similar establishment.
A valid California Class C Driver License or the ability to utilize an alternative method of transportation when needed.
Must be willing to work any shift, including evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays.
Must be willing to work at Pitchess Detention Facility and North County Correctional Facility.
Must be willing to work in a jail facility where you will be working with and monitoring the work of inmates.

Nice To Haves

An Associate's or Bachelor's Degree in Culinary Arts or a related field from an accredited college.
Full-time work experience: monitoring and arranging food inventory based on freshness and expiration dates; cooking complete (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) large quantity meals; preparing and cooking complete (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) meals in accordance with health and safety regulations; ensuring that the utensils and work areas are clean; modifying food items, as necessary, to meet changing demands/needs; preparing food items for the next shift or day.
Culinary experience in institutional establishments (e.g., hospitals, correctional facilities, universities, schools, etc.).
Culinary experience in commercial establishments (e.g., nursing homes, restaurants (other than fast food service), hotels, catering businesses, etc.).
Culinary experience in military establishments (e.g., Army, Navy, etc.).
A valid formal culinary certification(s) (e.g., ServSafe Food Manager Certification, CFC - Certified Fundamentals Cook, CEPC - Certified Executive Pastry Chef, and Certified Fundamentals Pastry Cook (CFPC), etc.) completed within the last five (5) years.
Supervisory/Acting Supervisory experience training employees; motivating employees; promoting employee safety; handling employee grievances; monitoring and reviewing the work of employees; documenting and implementing disciplinary action; directing and evaluating the performance of employees; planning, assigning, and delegating assignments to employees; participating in employee hiring, appointment, and termination processes.

Responsibilities

Supervises the work of food service staff and/or inmate workers by overseeing meal facility setup, food serving, planning work, assigning work, advising, monitoring, motivating, training, supporting, coaching, counseling, disciplining, approving/auditing work products, and evaluating performance to ensure efficient and cost-effective delivery of services and compliance with policies and regulations.
Leads the work of food service staff and/or inmate workers by assigning work, inspecting work, providing guidance and technical expertise, aligning work with priorities, monitoring, reviewing, evaluating projects, and training, coaching, and mentoring to ensure compliance with department policy and health and safety regulations.
Cooks large quantity meals using standard preparation and cooking techniques, preparing a variety of food items, properly using kitchen utensils and equipment, portioning and serving food, preparing and setting up meal facilities, and properly cleaning dishes, pots, pans, equipment, kitchen work areas, and food storage areas.
Instructs food services staff and/or inmate workers in health and safety regulations by observing, communicating, demonstrating sanitization, providing training videos, and offering participation in food handling activities.
Ensures quality assurance by inspecting food supplies, rejecting poor quality items, overseeing proper storage, and monitoring supply rotation to prevent spoilage.
Coordinates workstation cooking activities with other kitchen units by organizing inmate meals and medical diets, communicating with other facilities and staff, and preparing food for multiple facilities.
Ensures that utensils and work areas are clean and ready for the next shift by inspecting, cleaning when necessary, logging daily duties, and logging temperatures.
Modifies recipes to meet changes in the number of servings and substitutes ingredients when unavailable by communicating with supervisors and checking stock availability.