Chefs

Chef-in-Residence

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 loves to collaborate, has experience putting out large volumes of food, enjoys working with kids, is creative and imaginative in the kitchen, and has a passion for nourishing food and supporting food literacy.

Position: Chef-in-Residence

Salary: $53,690 Annually (based on 35 hours/week), 1 year contract with the possibility of extension. 

Benefits: Health and dental plan (after 3 months employed); three weeks paid vacation + paid one-week summer shutdown per year + paid two-week winter shutdown per year; 12 paid personal wellness days per year (aka sick days); annual professional development funding; paid volunteer days.

Location: Four to five days a week (9am-3pm) onsite in Vancouver schools (exact location TBD). Up to one day of computer admin weekly remote/in-office.

Anticipated Start Date: September 2024 

Position Summary: 

Your role will be mentor, educator, and chef. Each week, you’ll work with youth to teach them new skills, helping them understand the art and science of cooking and nutrition as well as the joy and celebration of connection to nourishing food.

Through day-to-day kitchen operations, meal planning, ordering, preparation, and service, the Chef-in-Residence, together with our Chef Educators, deliver engaging, non-stigmatizing, nourishing, and culturally-relevant meals that kids want to eat while providing embedded food literacy education and mentorship.

Chef-in-Residence positions are responsible for the day-to-day kitchen operations including meal planning, preparation, and service at their assigned LunchLAB location(s). 

Responsibilities include:

Supports the Programs and Engagement Director to train chef teams. 

  • Fosters positive work environment for staff and volunteers

  • Leads culinary and kitchen operations aspects of training process

  • Identifies knowledge and skills gaps on chef teams and develops training accordingly

Meal Prep and Service

  • Manages meal service for designated number of students at assigned LunchLAB school

  • Develops engaging, nourishing, and culturally-relevant menus for students

  • Collaborates to build supplier and vendor relationships that align with LunchLAB and Growing Chefs mission and policies

  • Manages supplier and vendor deliveries

  • Collaborates with admin team to manage budgets, feedback, processes and systems

  • Collaborates with Chef Educator and admin teams to develop and implement weekly food literacy skills curriculum into meal prep for student chefs

Manage School Kitchen

  • Collaborate to oversee chef team function and flow as it relates to kitchen operations

  • Designs and oversees program and procedure manuals and documents kitchen procedures

  • Supervises 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

  • Accountable for food procurement and meal service that meets program needs and aligns with Growing Chefs mission and policies

  • Ensures day-to-day operations have proper food storage and transport that follows FoodSafe procedures

Kitchen Leadership

  • Develops and manages a positive work environment for staff, volunteers, and student chefs

  • Ensures work environment, partnerships, ordering, and meals are mission and values aligned 

  • Collaborates to lead and mentor student chefs in the kitchen

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

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

  • Collaborates with senior coordinator and school administration/teachers to structure service days in accordance with staggered lunches, shared kitchen space, and involvement of student chef/clean teams

Delivery of Growing Chefs Programs 

  • Leads delivery of high quality programming in schools and in the community

  • Collaborates to deliver Community Eats SOYL summer program 

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

  • Develops, improves, and leads delivery of edible education lesson plans and learning activities for GC programs

  • Leads program delivery alignment with GC mission, values, and policies

  • Supports Program Coordinator to oversee volunteer activities of the ground

  • Leads and oversees establishment of a positive and engaging program environment for all those participating

Promotion of Growing Chefs

  • Promotes program in culinary community and builds network of chef recruits

  • Assists with fundraising events and opportunities

Qualifications & Skills:

  • Extensive experience in kitchen management with strong supervision and leadership skills. 

  • Passionate about food justice, local food and supporting a strong, local food system.

  • Comprehensive knowledge of culinary techniques in food production for large-volume kitchen operations. 

  • Experience setting up and running your own kitchen. 

  • Able to create diverse, 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.

  • High level of organization. This is a new program, with the opportunity to transform school food in Vancouver and beyond. You like to keep records and communicate frequently. 

  • Comfortable and willing to perform ongoing administrative tasks.

Job Requirements:

  • Minimum 3 years experience in a restaurant or catering kitchen or equivalent experience preparing and serving 100+ meals. 

  • Must be available and able to work on-site at Vancouver schools

  • Must be legally authorised to work in Canada

  • Must be able to lift and move up to 30 pounds

  • FoodSafe Level 2 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.

Asset but not required:

  • Valid BC drivers licence

  • Chef Red Seal certification

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 healthy, just, 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:

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

Next Steps:

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. The first interviews will begin in early August.

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.

The Recipe for a Happy Holiday

Monday, December 14th, 2020
NEWS RELEASE: THE RECIPE FOR A HAPPY HOLIDAY

Local food-focused charities partner with chefs and local businesses to support edible education this holiday season

Growing Chefs and Fresh Roots Farms have written the recipe for a happy holiday

  • Start with two local food-focused charities (Growing Chefs and Fresh Roots) 

  • Engage three talented local chefs (Chefs Robert Clark, Tasha Sawyer, TJ Conwi) 

  • Add generous philanthropists (Willow Grove Foundation and more)

  • Throw in a boatload of sustainable seafood (Organic Ocean) 

  • Mix with 345 spatulas and ladles (House of Knives)

  • Finish with a cup of creativity, teaspoon of generosity, and pinch of love.

Chef Tasha Sawyer Photo Credit: Mavreen David Photography

Chef Tasha Sawyer
Photo Credit: Mavreen David Photography

LunchLAB is a collaborative project between two local charities, Growing Chefs and Fresh Roots. In LunchLAB, students learn to grow their own food, supplement that food from local farms, and with the support of their teacher and chef-in-residence, learn to cook for themselves and their peers. This week, hundreds of children will go home with one of their favourite LunchLAB dishes and a special gift to help them keep cooking at home.

“We are not able to be in schools right now and our LunchLAB chefs and team miss spending time with the LunchLAB students,” said Amanda Adams, Growing Chefs’ Program Director. “We wanted to let them know that we are thinking of them this holiday season. We can’t wait to be in the kitchen with them again.”

At Total Education High School, 45 students who regularly would be a part of our LunchLAB program are receiving a pasta meal kit with ingredients and instructions so they can practice their cooking skills at home by creating a nutritious meal for their family, all created by Chef Tasha Sawyer. Additionally, Chef TJ Conwi has bottled up the kids’ favourite salad dressing from the salad bar for 300 LunchLAB students at Lord Roberts Elementary School. They will also receive the recipe for this healthy dressing so they can teach their caregivers how to make it at home. All students will also receive a special gift from our friends at House of Knives to help them keep cooking.

Additionally, 80 local families in need will receive a generous gift of healthy, sustainable seafood (frozen shrimp and salmon, and canned tuna) from Organic Ocean, made possible by a donation from the Willow Grove Foundation. These families will also receive a recipe and cooking tips by Chef Robert Clark, recently appointed to the Order of Canada in November 2020 for establishing a world-renowned program to help businesses and customers identify and purchase sustainable seafood.

Seafood hampers will be distributed to families by Vancouver Coastal Health's Leadership and Resilience program team and Vancouver Technical Secondary School. These are many of the same families that were provided with weekly meals earlier in the pandemic through our LunchLAB pivot, Chefs for Families.

“We are incredibly grateful for such a seamless collaboration between organizations and blown away by the number of people reaching out to volunteer their time and donate food, space, services, products and money. The resilience and support from our community is truly inspiring,” says Alexa Pitoulis, Executive Director of Fresh Roots.

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About LunchLAB 
Both Growing Chefs and Fresh Roots believe food can be a catalyst for positive change and a source of joy and inspiration, even during challenging times. LunchLAB is a collaborative project between two local charities, Growing Chefs and Fresh Roots. In LunchLAB, elementary and high school students learn to grow their own food, supplement that food from local farms, and with the support of their teacher and chef-in-residence, learn to cook for themselves and their peers.

About House of Knives
House of Knives’ vision is a simple one: to improve the quality of life of all those they encounter through education and innovation. Their goal is to match our customers with quality and functional tools, and to educate them on how to use and maintain their tools. To achieve this, they strive to create an inclusive atmosphere within each of their stores where customers who appreciate quality feel comfortable entering and inquiring about their products and services. If customers' needs are not obvious, they listen openly, and without prejudice or bias, to help them determine what their needs are and how to fulfill them.House of Knives aims to have their customers view them as not only as a destination where one can purchase fine quality tools and functional gifts, but as a resource for the service, knowledge, and education required to use and maintain their investments.

About Organic Ocean 
Organic Ocean was established by fishers who recognized that sustainable livelihoods rely upon sustainable fisheries. Driven by the growing demand for responsibly sourced seafood, Organic Ocean has evolved into a community of seafood producers — traditional, modern, and indigenous — all dedicated to ecosystem and social stewardship. The top chefs were the first to recognize that by making choices for the good of our oceans, they were also being provided the finest ingredients. Now Organic Ocean fish and shellfish is also available for contactless, door to door delivery to the home or office. Organic Ocean is a Certified B Corporation and a member of 1% for the Planet and was named one of the Top 25 Sustainability-minded Seafood Suppliers That Have Transformed The North American Industry. 

Websites:

Donation Websites:

Instagram:

Photo and interview opportunities available. 
Download High Resolution Images Here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JSpuxcrbfls0-H988HPkhkt5doKkZhR4?usp=sharing

Media Contacts:
Jaydeen Williams - Co-Interim Executive Director at Growing Chefs
jaydeen@growingchefs.ca
604-710-1677

Caroline Manuel - Communications and Engagement Manager at Fresh Roots
caroline@freshroots.ca
778-764-0DIG (0344), ext. 108

Program Contacts:
Amanda Adams - Program Director at Growing Chefs
amanda@growingchefs.ca 
604-916-2556

Alexa Pitoulis - Executive Director at Fresh Roots
alexa@freshroots.ca 
778-764-0DIG (0344), ext. 101