Lead Kitchen Cook — High‑Volume School Food Service

Yay Lunch; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 23,419 - 31,684; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Accrued paid time off

Job summary

Yay Lunch in Durham, NC is seeking a Cook for a hands-on commercial kitchen role focused on student meals. You’ll work at the line and in prep, ensuring every meal meets the standard and is ready on time.

This role requires high-volume kitchen experience, food safety certification, strong knife skills, and reliability. You’ll lead a small team, maintain safety logs, and coordinate with school partners.

Qualifications

• Current Food Handler certification required; ServSafe a plus.
• Experience in a high-volume kitchen — school food service, catering, or similar.
• Strong knife skills and comfort with hot line and cold prep.
• Detail-oriented: follow recipes, label correctly, don't cut corners.
• Reliable, on time, and ready to work hard from the moment you walk in.

Responsibilities

• Hot Food Production: You and your team cook from recipe cards, portion correctly, spot check portions, verify temperatures, and keep production on schedule.
• Cold Batch Production: Produce cold items on batch days; label with prep date and use-by date; store at 41°F or below; FEFO enforced.
• Kitchen Pars & Inventory: Weekly inventory counts; order based on counts and batch schedule; log waste daily.
• Team Development: Brief shifts, clear assignments, debriefs, address performance issues in real time.
• Sales & School Happiness: Be the face of Yay at schools; communicate updates; collect feedback.
• Kitchen Standards & Support: Maintain logs, keep spaces clean, receive deliveries, and support team during shifts.

Skills

Food safety

High-volume kitchen

Knife skills

Detail-oriented

Reliable

Education

Food Handler certification

Job description

Yay Lunch in Durham, NC is seeking a Cook for a hands-on commercial kitchen role focused on student meals. You’ll work at the line and in prep, ensuring every meal meets the standard and is ready on time.

This role requires high-volume kitchen experience, food safety certification, strong knife skills, and reliability. You’ll lead a small team, maintain safety logs, and coordinate with school partners.