North Berwick Cafe Volunteer

St Columba's Hospice; North Berwick; On-site; GBP 10,000 - 40,000; Part time

Job summary

An established community-focused organization is seeking enthusiastic volunteers for their café in North Berwick. This role is perfect for those who enjoy engaging with people and providing excellent service in a welcoming environment. Volunteers will be involved in taking orders, serving food, and ensuring high hygiene standards while working alongside a supportive team. This is a fantastic opportunity to gain experience in the hospitality sector while contributing to a meaningful cause. Join a vibrant community space where your efforts will help create a warm atmosphere for visitors and locals alike.

Benefits

Complimentary tea and coffee

Free meal for full-day volunteers

Travel expense reimbursement

Qualifications

• Excellent customer service and communication skills are essential.
• Ability to work well in a team and handle cash transactions.

Responsibilities

• Provide friendly service, take orders, and serve food.
• Maintain hygiene standards and handle food allergens.

Skills

Customer Service

Communication Skills

Teamwork

Numeracy

Food Hygiene Practices

Job description

The purpose of this role is to provide a café service for the local community and visitors to North Berwick. The café sits within our secondhand bookshop, art gallery and new gift shop on Westgate in the centre of North Berwick. Our aim is to provide a welcoming, friendly, attractive space for people to meet together with friends and family or just come in for a quiet coffee on their own. We aim to maintain a high level of professional service and cleanliness. Our Hospice Values are: Care and Compassion, Respect, Trust and Partnership. We aim to demonstrate these values in the way that we operate our café and shop in North Berwick.

What will I be doing/ involved in?

Depending on your role in the café, this may involve some or all of the following:

• Providing a friendly, helpful and professional service to customers
• Taking orders, serving food, clearing tables, washing up
• Preparing and serving hot food (e.g. paninis, toasties etc)
• Using the till system and handling cash
• Maintaining excellent levels of hygiene in the preparation, serving and seating areas of the café, following food hygiene standards.
• Being aware of food allergens and intolerances and knowing which of our products these apply to.
• Taking part in any relevant training as requested by the café manager; including Food Hygiene Training and Allergens Training
• Communicating with customers and co-workers to improve the service and solve problems

What experience or skills do I need?

• Friendly with excellent customer service and communications skills
• Able to establish good working relationships and work well within a team
• Numerate (able to operate till and handle cash transactions)
• Able to prioritise when the café is busy
• Willingness to undertake training in the operation of equipment within the café
• Willingness to abide by food hygiene standards and allergen training
• Good personal hygiene practices
• Some experience of volunteering or working in a café would be an advantage, but full training will be given
• Willing to keep informed and stay updated about the work of St Columba’s Hospice and the services that we offer, so that this can be communicated to customers

Time commitment and duration

We are looking for volunteers able to commit to weekly or fortnightly shifts of 3 - 4 hours a day.

Where will I be based?

The café in North Berwick.

Who will be supporting me?

Café Manager and other members of staff; Volunteer Services team.

Recruitment checks

• Interview with Volunteer Services Manager and Café Manager
• Application Form
• Two references
• Volunteers must be 14 years or over

Training

• Café Induction Programme (including 1:1 induction with café manager and work shadowing with experienced volunteer)
• Team meetings (as necessary)

Additional information

• Volunteers may claim reasonable travelling expenses for transport to and from the café. Please speak to your manager about this.
• The café provides complimentary tea and coffee to all volunteers whilst you are on shift.
• If you volunteer for a full day at the café, you can claim a free meal from the café. Please speak to your manager about this.

Go to our Volunteer page to find out more about volunteering at the Hospice.