Cafe Kitchen Hand

Employment Hero; City of Melbourne; On-site; AUD 30,000 - 41,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Guaranteed hours

Salary packaging

Meals & entertainment benefits

Professional development

Employee assistance program

Paid leave

Job summary

The Little Social, based in Port Melbourne, is seeking a hands-on Kitchen Hand to support food preparation, catering, cleaning and day-to-day kitchen operations. You will help deliver a high‑quality café experience while contributing to a social enterprise that provides employment and development opportunities for young people.

We are looking for applicants with food prep experience, a Food Handlers Certificate, and a full driver’s licence.

Qualifications

• Experience in food preparation or a relevant qualification.
• Food Handlers Certificate (or willingness to obtain one).
• Strong knife skills and confidence using kitchen equipment.
• Ability to multitask and work well under pressure.
• Passion for hospitality and social impact.
• Full driver’s licence.

Responsibilities

• Preparing high‑quality meals and catering orders in a fast‑paced environment.
• Maintaining food safety standards and a clean, organised kitchen.
• Creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for customers, trainees, and colleagues.
• Supporting trainees through positive role modelling and day‑to‑day teamwork.
• Working across kitchen, café, and catering operations to ensure smooth service.
• Contributing to both great customer experiences and positive community impact.

Skills

Food prep experience

Food Handlers Certificate

Driver's license

Multitasking under pressure

Hospitality passion

Tools

Commercial kitchen equipment

Job description

AI Job Summary

• Experience in food preparation or a relevant qualification.
• Food Handlers Certificate (or willingness to obtain one).
• Must hold a full driver's licence.

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Role Type

• On-site
• Temporary
• Casual
• Frontline

Description

Great food, Great Coffee, Big Impact!

Come join The Little Social and be part of a team where great hospitality creates opportunities beyond the café. As a Kitchen Hand, you’ll play an important role in keeping our kitchen running smoothly while contributing to a social enterprise that creates employment, training and development opportunities for young people.

We’re looking for a hands‑on hospitality all‑rounder who is ready to jump into food preparation, catering support, cleaning, and day‑to‑day kitchen operations.

Based in our purpose‑built sensory kitchen in Port Melbourne, you’ll be part of a social enterprise creating meaningful opportunities for neurodivergent people and others facing barriers to employment, while helping deliver an outstanding café experience.

What you’ll be doing:

• Preparing high‑quality meals and catering orders in a fast‑paced environment.
• Maintaining food safety standards and a clean, organised kitchen.
• Creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for customers, trainees, and colleagues.
• Supporting trainees through positive role modelling and day‑to‑day teamwork.
• Working across kitchen, café, and catering operations to ensure smooth service.
• Contributing to both great customer experiences and positive community impact.

What we’re looking for:

• Experience in food preparation or a relevant qualification.
• Food Handlers Certificate (or willingness to obtain one).
• Strong knife skills and confidence using kitchen equipment.
• Ability to multitask and work well under pressure.
• Passion for hospitality and social impact.
• Full driver’s licence.

Come use your kitchen and hospitality skills to inspire the next generation with The Little Social

A little bit about us, The Little Social

The Little Social is a bespoke coffee bar that brews the finest espresso and empowers young people to lead meaningful lives by providing hands‑on skills development and mentoring from industry experts. Each young person has a platform at The Little Social to build self‑confidence, gain key employability skills and genuine work experience in a supportive and judgement free environment. Our cafes harness community goodwill towards social and economic sustainability and ethical business and invests profits into innovate and grow within a social justice framework – reaffirming our vision of young people being good‑to‑go into a competitive job market.

The Little Social is powered by Youth Projects – an independent, registered charity who provides front line support to individuals and young people experiencing disadvantage, homelessness, unemployment, alcohol and other drug issues through a range of holistic and wrap around support services. Youth Projects is on a mission to provide high impact support, without judgement, full stop.

Why should you work with us?

Every day you spend working with us, you’re making a difference. The stronger our frontline warriors, the bigger our impact of breaking the cycle of disadvantage. We think that’s a pretty great perk, but we don’t stop there… here are some of the others;

• Guaranteed hours and shifts
• Access to generous salary packaging
• Access to meals & entertainment benefits
• Supervision, coaching and professional development
• Uncapped Employee Assistance Program
• Plus, additional paid leave including parental, wellbeing, family violence and study

Have you made it this far?

If you’re still reading, we think there’s a strong chance you might be our kind of person.

It is a requirement of all Youth Projects positions that the successful applicant holds a valid Working Children’s Check or Police Check.

Our commitment to diversity: Our commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging: At Youth Projects, we value the unique experiences, perspectives and contributions that a diverse workforce brings. We are committed to creating a safe, inclusive and welcoming workplace for all and actively encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with disability, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and people of all genders, sexualities and identities, including members of the LGBTIQA+ community

Safety screening: Youth Projects is committed to being a child‑safe organisation, providing an environment where children who come into contact with the organisation feel safe. Youth Projects has zero tolerance.

Company Overview

We are an independent, registered charity which provides front line support to young people and individuals experiencing disadvantage, unemployment, homelessness, alcohol and other drug issues. We also help those looking to re‑engage with learning and employment. We recognise the complex and varying needs of the people we work with and go above and beyond, 365 days a year, to provide pathways out of poverty. We are not only changing lives, but saving lives. Comprised of a highly skilled multi‑disciplinary team, we have the ability to provide a complete wrap around, judgement free service with a strong focus on respect, client‑centred care and harm prevention. The impact we seek enables each person to lead longer lives, have improved health, meaningful employment and a greater sense of belonging, safety and security through a holistic model of care.