Find your place in the field of good food

Our goal is to connect good people with good food. We advertise sustainable food jobs and training opportunities to help jobseekers and employers find each other.

Roots to Work is a project of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.

Job description

Lifeafterhummus Community Benefit Society Join us as we prepare to launch a waste café and re-launch our waste prevention hands-on cooking classes at Phoenix Road, NW1 1ES We are looking for an experienced cook or chef with a passion for people, food waste and sustainability. This role will have a predominant focus on low-fat, high-fibre plant-based / vegan cooking but not exclusively given the nature of the surplus food we collect. 

Currently we run a social supermarket, re-use centre and redistribution network. We provide support to up to 80 households weekly at the centre, carry out surplus food collections from 45 stores every week, redistribute surplus food to 11 local hostels, two times a week to an after-school club and a faith group. We also provide access to a ‘Room of Things’ where service users can take pre-loved clothing, shoes, children’s books, household items and more. We also operate pre-loved clothing rails at 1 local secondary school, 3 local children centre and family hubs and 1 local council library. We operate a passive surplus food cart outside our centre and have many more associated activities for local residents of St Pancras and Somers Town which is a multi-deprived area. We do this all thanks to the support of 50 local volunteers who are often also on the receiving end of the support. We redistribute 5 tonnes of surplus food per quarter. As a community benefit society, we are continuously adapting to the needs of the community. Our values: Health is a right and not a privilege and vulnerable people will always come before sustainability practices.  

Main duties of the job:

The role will be in a busy and fast paced kitchen with community spirit at the heart of it. You will be responsible for the preparation of food for our waste café located less than 10mins walk away inside the local council library. The majority of ingredients will be provided to you as surplus from collections. The remaining ingredients will be bought through Growing communities/ Kentish Town VegBox/ Angry Monk for fresh produce and from Booker’s for the rest which is located close by. You will be in charge of an ever-changing menu for the café and hold responsibility for maintaining food compliance, prove-it records and cleaning schedules. You will have the joy of cooking from what you have. You’ll work closely at first with the operations manager on the margins that need to be achieved. There will eventually be a POS system in place linked to the café to list new items, pricing, allergens and use by/ best before requirements. 

You will have several helpers in the kitchen in the form of local volunteers who will need to have their induction and be supported to maintain best practice for food safety and hygiene. 

You will also have the local community coming to learn from you live in the café. Seeing how you prepare food using sustainable cooking methods and comply with national nutritional policies and food hygiene standards with minimal use of oil and processed ingredients. This will form part of community conversations around healthy eating and learning how to incorporate more vegetables, wholegrains into their diets and learning techniques such as ‘water frying’. Find out more about our work on instagram, on our website and on LinkedIn.

The post provides a range of experiences and requires a variety of skills. You will be supported with your ongoing development by our operations Manager. As the café grows, the staffing will grow. 

Working for our society

Lifeafterhummus Community Benefit Society is committed to recruiting the best person for the job, based solely on their ability and individual merit as measured against the criteria for the role; through a process that is fair, open, consistent and free from bias and discrimination.

We are committed to being a diverse and inclusive employer and foster a culture where all staff are valued, respected and acknowledged. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, or length of time spent unemployed.

We particularly welcome applicants from the global majority, people living locally, neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ community members.

You will be joining a team of two women who are both from ethnic minorities, speak more than 1 language, are queer, neurodivergent (ADHD and AUDhd) and one has a hidden disability. 

We have policies and procedures in place to ensure that all applicants and employees are treated fairly and consistently. We are proud to be a London Living Waged Employer.

Person specification

Knowledge & Experience: Essential criteria

• Passion for food and cooking
• Knowledge and Experience with a broad range of cooking methods
• Qualified to City & Guilds 706/2 or NVQ Level 3 in food preparation or have significant experience
• Intermediate food hygiene qualification
• Allergen qualification/training
• Supervisory and coordinator experience
• Applied knowledge of stock rotation and stock management
• Experience of working in a busy environment with frequent interruptions, and dealing with queries from a range of stakeholders and adaptable to change 
• Experience in dealing with complaints, incidents, problem solving and the ability to apply creative thinking to find effective solutions
• Knowledge and understanding of different cultural needs
• Accountability – Takes responsibility for own actions and promotes good team working
• Openness – Shares information and good practice appropriately
• Mutual respect – treats others with respect
• Adaptability – we are forever adapting to the needs of the community and the society. 

Desirable criteria – Training can be provided

• Level 3 HACCP Training for Catering & Retail
• Advanced food hygiene qualification
• Understanding of applying a precautionary allergen risk assessment
• Experience in large scale catering
• Experience working with special diets
• An understanding of surplus food and recycling practices
• Knowledge of basic practices that would prevent the risk of fire
• An understanding of the volunteer community sector 
• Previous experience in a community setting (employed or volunteering)
• Experience of catering from surplus food would be an advantage
• Basic adult safeguarding
• First aid in the workplace
• Manual handling applied understanding
• Experience in delivering community cooking classes

Skills & Abilities:

Essential criteria 

• To be thorough and pay attention to detail
• Leadership skills
• The ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
• The ability to use your initiative 
• The ability to work well with your hands 
• The ability to organise your time and workload 
• Physically fit and be able to work long shift
• Ability to follow instructions
• Excellent communication skills (oral and written)
• Ability to multi-task and delegate effectively
• Ability to remain calm under pressure
• Ability to develop good rapport with volunteers and service users
• Basic computer skills and proficient with cloud-based applications
• Excellent customer service skills
• Able to build positive relationships with various stakeholders: volunteers, stores and local businesses, service users, volunteer community sector partners, management and members of the local community, working collaboratively to achieve excellent outcomes and sustainable delivery

Project length: 12 months (renewable subject to funding) Weekend work will be required at times, 3 months probationary period, 20 days leave pro-rata (with cover pre-arranged) £13.90ph, Lunchbreaks paid included (30mins)

35 hours per week – overtime may be available and necessary. 5 days a week, days off will most likely be Sat/Sun/Mon – dependent on learnings from the café Hours of work – to be determined - will be dependent on the opening times of the café in the library

 

Application information

 Please be advised that:

The recruitment process will be a two-stage recruitment process whereby shortlisted candidates will undertake an in-person suitability trial. Only those candidates who pass the competency test will proceed to a formal interview.

We may have to close this vacancy once sufficient applications have been received. It is therefore advisable that you submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment. Only those candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification criteria for this post will be shortlisted. Please note that where high volumes of applicants have been received, additional criteria may on occasion be used to determine the final shortlist.

To apply send your covering letter, CV and link to chef/ cook portfolio to info@lifeafterhummus.com

FOR FULL JOB DESCRIPTION VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.lifeafterhummus.com

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs