Kitchen Lead

Upper Crust Food Service, LLC; Cairo (IL); On-site; USD 21,000 - 30,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Few late nights

Holidays time off

Paid vacations

401K match

Health dental vision

Pet insurance

Job summary

Upper Crust Food Service seeks a Kitchen Lead to set up stations, prep ingredients, and ensure attractive presentation for clients. You will maintain safety standards while delivering high-quality meals in a busy kitchen environment.

The role emphasizes teamwork, excellent communication, and a professional attitude. Benefits include holidays off, paid vacations, and a competitive benefits package in a supportive kitchen setting.

Qualifications

• 2+ years food service experience preferred.
• Ability to maintain sanitation and safety standards.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Familiarity with food handling techniques and cooking procedures.
• Knowledge of industry best practices and standards.

Responsibilities

• Set up workstations and prepare ingredients for cooking.
• Dress dishes to ensure attractive presentation before serving.
• Apportion and serve food to clients.
• Enforce sanitation and food safety standards per state/local regulations.
• Maintain professional and positive attitude with coworkers and customers.
• Assist in planning and executing special events as directed by management.
• Help unload, inspect, and store raw ingredients and supplies.
• Communicate regularly with management via calls, emails, and texts.

Skills

Teamwork

Interpersonal skills

Verbal & written communication

Food handling knowledge

Best practices familiarity

Education

High school or vocational kitchen coursework

Job description

Proudly serving Sororities and Fraternities, Upper Crust Food Service is known for freshness, quality, variety, and excellent customer service. Upper Crust Food Service began with a vision to solve a problem that many Fraternity and Sorority houses face. That problem is a lack of consistency and professionalism in the kitchen. With a focus on great food and personal service, we’ve remained true to our roots. Today, the chefs of Upper Crust Food Service prepare tens of thousands of meals weekly for students across the country.

Kitchen Leads are responsible for setting up workstations and preparing ingredients for cooking, including chopping vegetables and cutting meat. They ensure great presentation by dressing dishes before serving the client. Additionally, they assist with fostering a positive atmosphere with coworkers and customers.

If you are excited to create cool from-scratch food and make people happy every day, we’re currently looking for a classically trained Kitchen Leaf who is driven by their love and passion for food.

What’s in it for you?

• Very few late nights and weekend hours
• Time off for most holidays
• Paid vacations
• A competitive 401K with company match
• Health, dental, vision, and pet insurance

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Set up workstations to prepare food and ingredients to use for cooking
• Ensure great presentation by dressing dishes before they are served
• Apportion and serve food to clients
• Enforce sanitation and food safety standards per state and local regulations.
• Maintain a professional and positive attitude with coworkers and customers.
• Assist in planning and executing special events as directed by management.
• Help with unloading, inspecting, and storing of raw ingredients and supplies.
• Communicate regularly with management via calls, emails, and texts.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Required Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to work well as part of a team.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work well with a variety of personalities and under pressure.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Understanding of or the ability to learn food handling techniques, preparation, and cooking procedures.
• Be familiar with the industry's best practices

Preferred Education and Experience:

• 2+ years food service skills or related experience preferred.
• Have experience with bulk food prep and production in a commercial kitchen setting.
• Ability to pass a background check
• Have a valid food safety handler and sanitation certification in accordance with state and local regulations or obtain one within 30 days of employment
• High school or vocational school coursework in kitchen basics such as food safety, preferred.

Special Demands:

• The work environment can be loud and busy. There are many kitchen hazards such as hot surfaces and liquids, sharp knives, and slippery floors.
• Capability to work in a kitchen environment that may involve exposure to extreme heat or cold.
• Required to stand for long periods, up to 8+ hours, as well as walk, bend and stoop.
• Must be able to lift up to 50 pounds at times.
• Exposure to cleaning chemicals

Upper Crust Food Service provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.