Cook

Employment Type: Casual
Schedule: No guaranteed hours, picks up shifts on availability
Reporting to: Food Services Manager
City: Edmonton
Number of Positions to Fill: 2
RFR #: 2151

As a member of the Food Services team, the Cook is responsible for supporting meal service at Shelter locations. Duties include the preparation, storage, distribution, and cleanup of meal service. Recognizing that healthy community and relationships are integral to poverty alleviation, the Cook will not only support the production of nutritionally adequate meals, but also to bring about The Mustard Seed’s mission and values, and create a space of belonging, growth, and wellbeing for volunteers, people accessing services, and staff members.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Fulfill the mission of The Mustard Seed’s ministry and maintain a high level of professionalism, respect and gratitude with all staff, donors, volunteers, community participants and visitors
• Communicate ingredient needs to the Chef
• Prepare and cook for the shelter guests
• Manage the preparation, portioning, service, and storage of meals at designated location
• Be flexible and incorporate food donations into meal plans as much as possible in order to ensure wise stewardship of budget
• Notify Chef of donations received
• Work with Volunteer Services to build a rewarding and meaningful volunteer experience for those helping in the kitchen, including staff, volunteers and community participants
• Understand and communicate the root causes of poverty and poverty alleviation to those helping in the kitchen
• Seek creative ways of including community participants in kitchen tasks and activities; cultivate a culture of hospitality
• Ensure that volunteers treat all community participants with dignity and care consistent with the values of The Mustard Seed when in the kitchen
• In accordance with Alberta Health Standards, ensure food safe practices are followed when receiving food (both donations and orders), storing food, and handling (preparing and serving) food
• Train and mentor those helping in the kitchen—staff, volunteers, and community participants— on cooking skills, interpersonal skills, and food handling and safety
• Foster meaningful relationships with supervisors, co-workers, volunteers and community participants

OTHER DUTIES:

• Maintain food areas’ cleanliness and kitchen safety to building code standards
• Communicate with Chef any incoming donations to process
• Maintain specific records including meal plans and any changes, quantities, daily notes
• Participate in and contribute to team meetings, trainings, and any other event scheduled by supervisor
• Facilitate volunteers around food handling and safety
• Foster, develop and maintain cooperative relationships with donors and volunteers
• Participate in all staff training (e.g. First Aid, SafeTALK, Nonviolence) and attend monthly general meetings and support meetings with supervisor
• Other duties and sites may be assigned when required

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS

• Experience working in food services—food preparation and meal planning skills
• Flexible spirit: able to adapt to changing situations and solve problems creatively
• Understanding of poverty issues within the inner-city and willingness to continue to learn about issues, particularly those pertaining to food.
• Strong interpersonal skills: able to work with a variety of groups and personality types
• Ability to work independently and be a self-starter
• Strong organizational and communication skills
• Strong leadership skills: able to support and train staff, volunteers, and community participants
• Valid First Aid Certification
• Valid Food Safety Certification

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Able to work evening shifts and may include weekends as required
• Fast paced indoor working environment
• Moderate mental effort including: ability to solve problems pertaining to the Meal Program under time pressure, creative use of food donations, engaging volunteers and community participants.
• Moderate physical effort including: regular heavy lifting (50lbs); being on your feet for extended periods of time
• Willingness to work at all The Mustard Seed sites
• Employees are to be aware that many of our clients may experience difficulties or impairment at times, which could result in them uttering threats, discriminatory statements, and other insults at your person. This may be in a raised voice, or in seeing unpredictable behaviour up to and including the possibility of them becoming aggressive

• Training on how to respond is provided, but this is to be considered typical working conditions. Many of our clients are unaware of the impact of these comments

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• An Employment Background Check is required for all positions at The Mustard Seed
• As The Mustard Seed is a Christian ministry, we require our employees to agree to respect and not detract from The Mustard Seed’s Employment Values during their employment at The Mustard Seed.
• Must have legal authorization to work in Canada on a full-time basis for anyone other than current employer

NOTE

• Your privacy is important to us. The information we collect is used solely for consideration for employment.
• We thank all candidates for their interest, however, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. The Mustard Seed reserves the right to amend job advertisements. No phone calls please.
• Please visit our careers page to see more job opportunities.