Sous Chef

Growing Chefs is hiring!  

Do you want to support sustainable and just food practices? Build connections between kids and their food? Make local, sustainable food accessible? Engage communities through food? If yes, then this might be the place for you! 

LunchLAB is a program that is changing the narrative about lunch by empowering students to learn, cook, serve, and share food with their peers and school community. We use edible education to transform school food into meals that kids and youth want to eat – delicious, nourishing, and culturally-relevant food that brings students together to experience dignity and delight in their interaction with food. 

We’re looking for someone who has experience collaborating to put out large volumes of food, enjoys working with kids, and has a passion for nourishing food and supporting food literacy. 

Cash Compensation:  Salary pro-rated for a partial year based on $25.68/hr for 28 hours/week until June 30, 2025 with the possibility of extension. 

Benefits: Health and dental plan (after 3 months employed); three weeks paid vacation (prorated for partial year) + paid two-week winter shutdown per year; 1 paid personal wellness day (aka sick days) accrued monthly (12 days annually prorated for partial year) ; professional development funding; paid volunteer days.

Location: 4 Days, weekdays, (8:30am-3:30 pm) onsite in Vancouver schools (exact location TBD). 

Anticipated Start Date: as soon as possible and/or October 1, 2024 

Positions Available: (2) 

Position Summary: 

This key role supports the LunchLAB Chef in Residence with preparing meals, maintaining a safe and clean kitchen environment, and with the coordination and supervision of student chefs in the kitchen.  Sous Chefs work directly with our community volunteers to deliver interactive edible education and non-stigmatizing, nourishing, and culturally-relevant meals that kids want to eat.

Responsibilities include:

Meal Prep and Service

• Executes meal service for designated number of students at assigned LunchLAB school
  
  
• Executes engaging, nourishing, and culturally-relevant menus for students
  
  
• Executes supplier and vendor deliveries and pick-ups
  
  
• Collaborates with program team to implement weekly food literacy skills curriculum into meal prep for student chefs

Kitchen

• Implements program and procedure manuals and documents kitchen procedures

• Monitors and executes day-to-day maintenance and general upkeep of equipment and kitchenwares 

• Responsible for the safety and security of all those who participate in our programs (children, families, volunteers, staff) through policy implementation

• Monitors and executes proper food storage and transport that follows FoodSafe procedures

• Collaborates to manage usage of school garden produce (if applicable), and supplier orders and deliveries 

• Collaborates to coordinate and execute material and food pick-ups and deliveries 

• Executes day-to-day kitchen opening/closing and cleaning procedures 

Delivery of Growing Chefs Programs 

• Collaborates to execute delivery of high quality programming in schools and in the community

• Contributes to recommend improvements to efficiencies, impacts, complexities, and identified gaps in the program delivery model to executive team

• Contributes to delivery of edible education lesson plans and learning activities for GC programs

• Contributes to program delivery in alignment with GC mission, values, and policies
  
  

• Collaborates to coordinate volunteer activities of the ground

• Collaborates to foster a positive and engaging program environment for all those participating

Community Building

• Contributes to a positive work environment for staff, volunteers, and student chefs

• Mentors student chefs in the kitchen

• Collaborates to manage usage of school garden produce (if applicable), and supplier orders and deliveries 

• Contributes to stewardship of relationships with teachers, students, volunteers, and general school community

Promotion of LunchLAB & Miscellaneous 

• Supports promotion of program in culinary community and builds network of chef recruits
  
  
• Assists with fundraising events and opportunities

• Other tasks as necessary 

Qualifications & Skills:

• Experience collaborating to produce large volumes of food and working in fast-paced kitchen environments 
• Passionate about food justice, local food and supporting a strong, local food system.
• Knowledge of culinary techniques in food production for large-volume kitchen operations. 
• Experience opening and closing kitchens. 
• Excited and open to create varied, culturally-relevant and nourishing kid-friendly menus. 
• Would be comfortable working outside of a traditional kitchen setting and willing to improvise and adapt when presented with challenges. 
• You succeed in a mentoring role and love helping kids learn alongside you.

Job Requirements:. 

• Experience in a restaurant or catering kitchen or equivalent experience preparing and serving 100+ meals. 
• Must be available and able to work weekdays on-site at Vancouver schools 8:30am - 3:30pm
• Must be legally authorised to work in Canada
• Must be able to lift and move up to 50 pounds
• FoodSafe Level 1 Certification (GC able to support acquiring)
• The successful applicant will be required to obtain a Vulnerable Sector Check for working with children. Growing Chefs will cover the cost to obtain this check.
• Valid BC drivers licence

Asset but not required:

• Chef Red Seal certification
• Access to a personal vehicle 

Growing Chefs operates on the on the land of the Coast Salish peoples, including the

Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm

(Musqueam), W̱SÁNEĆ, Lək̓ʷəŋən, and Xwsepsum (Songhees and Esquimalt) Nations. As we

work towards a world with just and sustainable food practices, we continue to learn

and explore how to uplift Indigenous food and cultural values within our local food

systems.

Growing Chefs is an equal opportunity employer and employs personnel without regard to racialization, ancestry, place of origin, ethnic origin, language, citizenship, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, family status, physical and/or mental access needs, or financial ability. 

To Apply:

1. Please submit your resume and the completed questionnaire through this link. Applications will be reviewed upon reception. 

Next Steps:

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until both positions are filled. 

You will receive confirmation via email that we have received your application. 

Candidates selected to move on to the interview phase will be contacted to set up a date for an interview no later than two weeks after the selected application was received, ongoing until the position is filled. 

In recognition of the labour that goes into preparing for an interview, applicants selected for an interview will receive a $25 honorarium for their time. 

Final candidates will be asked to provide up-to-date references who will be consulted.

Apply now