Cafe and Catering Associate

Houston Food Bank; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 29,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Houston Food Bank is seeking a Cafe and Catering Associate to manage the café registers and support catering events. The role requires evenings, weekends, and holiday shifts, with a flexible schedule (5am–10pm).

You will greet guests, collect payments, provide pricing information, set up catering requests, deliver and service events, and maintain a clean, welcoming environment for customers and staff.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED required.
• 1 year of experience in kitchen or restaurant environment.
• 1 year of customer service and cash handling experience.
• 1+ years of catering experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Set up tables and food service areas for catering events.
• Greet guests and manage café cash registers; collect payments and provide pricing information.
• Deliver, set up, and service catered events; maintain a clean work area and professional appearance.
• Respond to customer inquiries and resolve issues; balance cash register and issue receipts.

Skills

Customer service

Cash handling

Food service

Time management

Guest experience

Education

High School Diploma or GED

Tools

POS systems

Job description

Description

**Must be open to working a flexible work schedule with varying hours (5am-10pm), days or shifts (including nights, weekends) **

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Cafe and Catering Associate is responsible for catering the Houston Food Bank’s banquet services and managing the café registers. This position setups up tables and food service areas for catering events, manages the café cash registers by greeting and welcoming guests, collecting payments, and providing pricing information. This position ensures a warm and welcoming guest experience to all Houston Food Bank customers. This role is required to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as scheduled.

Adhere to PACT values. (Purpose: Using our strengths passionately to contribute to our mission. Accountability: Choosing to rise above one’s circumstances and demonstrating ownership to achieve results. See It. Own It. Solve It. Do It. Courage: Standing up for what’s right and acting. Transparency: Doing things openly and honestly).

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

1. Reliable, consistent, attendance is a requirement. This position requires punctuality and dependable attendance to meet the needs of the business, including attending and taking part in meetings and presentations.


2. Collects payments.


3. Answers customers questions about goods or services.


4. Helps customers find products and pricing information.


5. Issues receipts, refunds, credits, or changes due to customers.


6. Greets customers entering and exiting the establishment.


7. Monitors and balances the cash register.


8. Calculates and records the total amount of transactions.


9. Resolves and or escalates any complaints from customers to the supervisor.


10. Maintains a clean work area and maintains personal hygiene.


11. Communicates with staff involved with scheduling catering clients regarding menu requests, and special delivery requests.


12. Prepares, assembles, and sets up catering requests for delivery.


13. Delivers, set ups, and service catered events.


14. Cleans up and returns catered events to pantries.


15. Maintains an “on time” delivery schedule for catered events.


16. Acts as the “Guest Services Contact” between catered event participants and HFB.


17. Organizes and maintains all conference area locations including storage areas.


18. Keeps all equipment services ready and inventoried.


19. Participates in assignments/projects, which achieve the established goals of HFB and the client.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

Requirements

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education/Experience:

• High School Diploma from an accredited school or general education development (GED) certificate


• 1 year of experience working in a kitchen or restaurant environment


• 1 year of customer service and cash handling experience


• 1+ years of catering experience preferred


• 1+ years of barista experience preferred

Certificates, Licenses, and Registrations:

NA

Special Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability needed. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. (For best performance, the job holder in this position would be expected to show the right knowledge, skills, and abilities in the listed areas.)

• Knowledge of basic cooking and baking skills, culinary terms, commercial food service equipment & quantified cooking


• Courtesy and tact in dealing with guests, co-workers, as well as others in the community


• Ability to perform basic arithmetic, including the use of percentages


• Excellent written and verbal communication skills


• Ability to work with a diverse population


• Strong administrational, organization, and follow-through abilities


• Strong internal and external customer interaction skills


• Time management skills and the ability to multi-task

COMPLIANCE:

Carries out responsibilities in accordance with HFB policies.

REASONING ABILITY:

Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out detailed but uninvolved written or oral instructions. Ability to deal with problems involving a few concrete variables in standardized situations. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily. The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability needed. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. (For best performance, the jobholder in this position would be expected to show the right knowledge, skills, and abilities in the listed areas.)

COMPETENCIES:

Action-Oriented / Customer Focus / Drives for Results / Informing / Approachability / Learning on the

Fly / Perseverance / Self-development / Listening / Peer Relationships / Integrity and Trust / Functional/Technical Skills

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

The physical requirements described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. While performing the duties of the job, the employee is required daily to analyze and interpret data, communicate, and remain in a standing or stationary position for a significant amount of the workday; and often access, input, and retrieve information from the computer and other office productivity devices. The employee must regularly move about the kitchen and around the facility, use hands, wrists, and fingers to grip, type, and write. The employee must frequently lift 25 pounds. The employee will need to have the average ability to hear horns, warnings, and alerts associated with a warehouse.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. The job is generally performed in a kitchen environment, the employee is frequently exposed to wet and/or humid conditions, strong food-related smells, and outside weather conditions. The noise level in the office environment is typically quiet, but the employee will be occasionally exposed to loud noise levels (e.g., horns, fans).

TRAVEL REQUIRED:

No travel is required for this role.

This role supports hours of operations at the Houston Food Bank facilities, as necessary, and may require flexibility (e.g., times of disaster, community events, company events).

*Is legally able to work in the United States.