Nutritional Services Associate JobID: 12856

Mesa-County-Valley-School-District-51; Colorado; On-site; USD 25,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

Mesa County Valley School District 51 is seeking a Nutrition Services Culinary Associate to join our school meal program in Colorado. You will prepare scratch meals, follow USDA guidelines, and contribute to serving nutritious dishes to students with strong food safety practices.

Under the Culinary Manager, you will work in a fast-paced kitchen, handle equipment, follow recipes, and participate in incentives and open houses while maintaining high standards of customer service and teamwork.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent required.
• Conversational English language skills required.

Responsibilities

• Using scratch meal production techniques to prepare nutritious meals for students.
• Operate commercial kitchen equipment safely and in accordance with USDA recipes.
• Serve meals and ensure proper portion sizes and adherence to USDA guidelines.
• Maintain HACCP food safety practices and monitor temperatures.
• Assist with stock rotation, inventory, and daily deposits at assigned sites.
• Perform cleaning and sanitation of all food-contact surfaces and kitchen areas.
• Participate in annual district events and cross-train across stations.

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Conversational English language skills

Job description

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Frontline Applicant Tracking - Mesa County Valley School District 51

Job Title: Nutrition Services Culinary Associate

Pay Program: Support Staff

FLSA Status: Non-Exempt

Reports to: Culinary Manager, Nutrition Services

Pay Range:CH 6 $17.83 - $20.27

Hiring Incentives (2026/27 School Year) - Eligible Nutrition Services employees may qualify for the following incentives during the 2026/27 school year:

• Earn $1.00 more per hour - Grant-funded wage incentive available to eligible employees for hours worked during the 2026/27 school year.
• $500 New Hire Bonus - One-time lump sum payment for newly hired Nutrition Services employees who remain actively employed through their first 90 work days.
• $250 Completion Bonus - One-time lump sum payment for eligible Nutrition Services employees who successfully complete the 2026/27 school year.

Have a passion for cooking, food prep and serving great food ? Put your skills to work in a rewarding role where every meal helps kids learn, grow, and thrive!

VISION: We Fuel Successful Learning.

SUMMARY: Operating under the general supervision of the school's Culinary Manager, employee is a member of the school's culinary team working to create and serve scratch produced meals to the District's students. Performs Highly technical scratch food production duties utilizing all components of the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act and Nourish Colorado Scratch School Meal Initiative. Employee is charged with providing well-balanced nutritious meals per approved USDA & Live Well recipe & production records. Serving high risk populations, school food service activities require the highest degree of customer service skills, production & food safety practices.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Job Duties

1. Using highly technical scratch meal production techniques, employees provide well-balanced, nutritious, and tasteful meals to students. Employee uses a wide range of commercial kitchen equipment including but not limited to food processors, steamers, kettles, immersion blenders, and convection ovens as part of the scratch cooking environment. Cooking skills required include basic cooking principles for prep work, baking, stove top, and knife work. District follows United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) standardized recipes, maintains production records, and incorporates Nourish Co. scratch meal training into employee's daily responsibilities.

2. Serving prepared meals as part of the school's culinary team in a friendly, tactful, and professional manner, employee must adhere to the school's established mealtime schedules and maintain compliance with correct portion size and correct USDA Offer versus Serve regulations. In addition, employee is aware of and follows the USDA Counting & Claiming procedures as part of the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act.

3. Ensuring the health and safety of students and staff is paramount as scratch ingredients are used at each site, including raw proteins and produce products, employee must incorporate a high degree of food safety knowledge and procedures. Employee must be knowledgeable of and maintain compliance with all District, Colorado Department of Education, USDA, state and federal laws, statutes and guidelines. Employee is also responsible for monitoring proper food and equipment temperatures using Health Analysis Critical Control Point (HAACP) standards and when necessary taking proper protocols for foods outside the safe range.

4. Focusing on the highest hygiene and sanitation standards, employee performs cleaning tasks including, but not limited to; dishwashing, cleaning and sanitizing all food contact surfaces used for preparation, cleaning all non-food contact surfaces such as floors, shelving, walls, windows, kitchen restroom facilities, laundering of linens, and towels etc. Employee follows all health & safety Vector training.

5. Rotating and cross-training in all scratch meal production and serve stations within the kitchen employee is able to easily adjust and change assigned tasks to ensure food quality, safety, and customer service standards are met. Duties will include point of sale (POS) and time clock computer usage as well as cash handling and daily deposit preparations. In some circumstances the employees will need to be utilized at other school locations. All nutrition staff are required to work one annual food open house event per year to help promote & market our healthy school meal program to parents & community.

6. Assisting the Culinary Manager, employee uses First-In, First-Out (FIFO) and the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) guidelines to rotate stock and manage inventory.

7. Other duties as assigned

EDUCATION AND RELATED WORK EXPERIENCE:

• High school diploma or equivalent required (Acceptable education will be at the sole discretion of the District) D51 student 16 or>working towards diploma
• Position requires conversational English language skills

LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS or CERTIFICATIONS:

• Criminal background check required for hire;
• Current Mesa County Food Handlers Card required within 90 days of hire
• A variety of lift tests, including carrying liquids, of up to 50# is required at time of hire with recertification every three years;
• Attend and successfully complete all staff development training as required by law or as directed by the Director of NutritionServices.

TECHNICAL SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE & ABILITIES:

• Basic written communication skills using English;
• Oral bi-lingual skills English/Spanish are desirable;
• Ability to learn and comply with components of the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act;
• Ability and passion for culinary training in order to develop and grow their role with the District;
• Ability to manage multiple priorities with frequent interruptions in a timely manner;
• Ability to maintain confidentiality in all aspects of the job;
• Ability to work collaboratively within a team setting;
• Ability to follow and comply with the current Colorado Department of Education and District policies and guidelines regarding food preparation, delivery, and storage;
• Ability to communicate, interact and work effectively and cooperatively with students and people from diverse ethnic and educational backgrounds;
• Ability to recognize the importance of safety in the workplace, follow safety rules, practice safe work habits, utilize appropriate safety equipment and report unsafe conditions to the appropriate administrator.

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT OPERATING KNOWLEDGE:

• Operating knowledge of and experience with institutional food service equipment; ovens, warmers, mixers, steamers, kettles, meat slicers, food processors, sectionizers, and immersion blenders etc.
• Operating knowledge of and experience with mechanical dishwasher and three compartment sinks
• Operating knowledge of and experience with personal computers and peripherals
• Operating knowledge of and experience with typical office equipment, such as telephones, copier, fax machine, E-mail, etc.

Need Help?

We're here to help! For questions regarding position qualifications or application procedures, please contact Mesa County Valley School District 51 directly. For technical questions regarding the Applicant Tracking system, please contact the Applicant Tracking help desk using the Request Technical Help link below.