Lead School Kitchen Cook – Hot & Cold Prep

Yay Lunch; Chantilly (VA); On-site; USD 28,000 - 36,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Accrued paid-time off

Job summary

Yay Lunch is hiring a Cook for Chantilly, VA to lead hands-on kitchen production for school meals. You will cook hot dishes, prepare cold batches on a weekly batch day, manage temperatures and labeling, and maintain FEFO inventory accuracy.

You’ll supervise Kitchen & Service Assistants, brief the team at each shift, and engage with school staff to ensure consistent, high-quality meals for students.

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 both hot line and cold prep.
• Detail-oriented: you follow recipes, you label correctly, you 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 and portion correctly, verify temperatures, and keep production on schedule.
• Cold Batch Production: Produce fruit cups, veggie packs, snacks, wraps, salads on a set batch day; label with prep/use-by dates and store at 41°F or below; FEFO enforced.
• Kitchen Pars & Inventory: Full inventory weekly; order based on counts; log waste daily; receive deliveries and verify against invoices.
• Team Development: Brief and guide Kitchen & Service Assistants; debrief twice a week; address performance issues.
• Sales & School Happiness: Be the face of Yay at the school; communicate changes and collect feedback.

Skills

Food Handler certification

High-volume kitchen experience

Knife skills

Detail-oriented

Reliable and punctual

Tools

ServSafe

Job description

Yay Lunch is hiring a Cook for Chantilly, VA to lead hands-on kitchen production for school meals. You will cook hot dishes, prepare cold batches on a weekly batch day, manage temperatures and labeling, and maintain FEFO inventory accuracy.

You’ll supervise Kitchen & Service Assistants, brief the team at each shift, and engage with school staff to ensure consistent, high-quality meals for students.