Prep Cook

Colton's Social House; Clovis (CA); On-site; USD 21,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

Colton's Social House is seeking a dedicated Prep Cook to join our kitchen in Clovis, CA. You will prepare ingredients and recipes, maintain quality, and ensure readiness for service across stations. You’ll read recipes, measure portions, and monitor freshness to support the entire kitchen team.

Ideal candidates bring professional prep experience, strong organization, and a commitment to consistency. We offer full-time and part-time schedules with opportunities for growth in a fast-paced

Responsibilities

• Prepare ingredients, components, sauces, dressings, and other menu recipes according to established recipes, methods, portions, yields, and quality standards.
• Work from daily prep needs and pars to make sure the Kitchen is prepared for service.
• Read and follow recipes accurately, including measurements, batch sizes, preparation methods, cook times, and yields.
• Cut, chop, slice, portion, mix, cook, cool, and otherwise prepare food using the proper techniques and equipment.
• Evaluate ingredients before using them for freshness, quality, appearance, and overall condition.
• Evaluate finished prep for flavor, texture, consistency, appearance, and accuracy before it becomes someone else’s ingredient.
• Portion and store prepared products correctly and follow established procedures for labeling, dating, rotation, cooling, and storage.
• Maintain awareness of pars and product levels, communicating shortages, unexpected usage, quality concerns, or additional prep needs before they affect service.
• Balance productivity with accuracy - working with urgency while recognizing that getting through the list means very little if the product isn’t right.
• Minimize unnecessary waste through proper handling, portioning, storage, rotation, and preparation.
• Maintain clean, sanitary, organized prep and storage areas throughout the shift.
• Safely use knives, slicers, food processors, mixers, scales, cooking equipment, and other tools required for prep.
• Receive, organize, rotate, and put away deliveries as needed.
• Help maintain organization in walk-ins, coolers, dry storage, and other Kitchen areas.
• Complete opening, cleaning, stocking, organizational, and ongoing sidework responsibilities.
• Communicate clearly with Line Cooks, Expo, Kitchen leadership, and Management about anything that could affect the next stage of service.
• Support other areas of the Kitchen when needed. There is no 'that’s not my job'.
• Take ownership of what you prepare. If something isn’t right, fix it, communicate it, and don’t pass the problem forward.

Job description

PREP COOK - Start It Right. Set the Standard. Make Every Plate Better.

At Colton's Social House, Social Therapy may be experienced at the table, but a big part of it is built in the Kitchen. Long before a ticket comes in, ingredients have to be prepared with care, recipes have to be made correctly, and the Kitchen has to have what it needs to execute consistently throughout service.

Our Prep Cooks are responsible for helping make that happen.

Our Prep Cooks work with the ingredients and recipes that become the foundation of our menu. They prepare food according to our recipes and standards, maintain appropriate pars, evaluate product quality, portion and store ingredients properly, and help ensure the rest of the Kitchen is stocked and prepared for service.

Working Prep requires more than knowing how to chop, measure, or follow a recipe. It requires accuracy, organization, consistency, efficiency, and attention to detail. What you prepare becomes what someone else works with next, so the quality of your work directly affects the Line, Expo, and ultimately the plate that reaches the guest.

Great food starts well before it’s ordered. Prep is where we make sure it starts right.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Prepare ingredients, components, sauces, dressings, and other menu recipes according to established recipes, methods, portions, yields, and quality standards.

• Work from daily prep needs and pars to make sure the Kitchen is prepared for service.

• Read and follow recipes accurately, including measurements, batch sizes, preparation methods, cook times, and yields.

• Cut, chop, slice, portion, mix, cook, cool, and otherwise prepare food using the proper techniques and equipment.

• Evaluate ingredients before using them for freshness, quality, appearance, and overall condition.

• Evaluate finished prep for flavor, texture, consistency, appearance, and accuracy before it becomes someone else’s ingredient.

• Portion and store prepared products correctly and follow established procedures for labeling, dating, rotation, cooling, and storage.

• Maintain awareness of pars and product levels, communicating shortages, unexpected usage, quality concerns, or additional prep needs before they affect service.

• Balance productivity with accuracy - working with urgency while recognizing that getting through the list means very little if the product isn’t right.

• Minimize unnecessary waste through proper handling, portioning, storage, rotation, and preparation.

• Maintain clean, sanitary, organized prep and storage areas throughout the shift.

• Safely use knives, slicers, food processors, mixers, scales, cooking equipment, and other tools required for prep.

• Receive, organize, rotate, and put away deliveries as needed.

• Help maintain organization in walk-ins, coolers, dry storage, and other Kitchen areas.

• Complete opening, cleaning, stocking, organizational, and ongoing sidework responsibilities.

• Communicate clearly with Line Cooks, Expo, Kitchen leadership, and Management about anything that could affect the next stage of service.

• Support other areas of the Kitchen when needed. There is no 'that's not my job'.

• Take ownership of what you prepare. If something isn’t right, fix it, communicate it, and don’t pass the problem forward.

COMPENSATION & SCHEDULING

In addition to hourly pay, Expeditors receive:

• Additional weekly cash earnings based on restaurant sales and tip-outs

Full-Time and Part-Time opportunities are available. Evening, weekend, and holiday availability is expected.

Schedules are posted every Friday for the workweek beginning the second Monday after posting, giving our team advance notice to plan around their work schedule.

YOUR WORK GETS PASSED FORWARD

Prep at Colton's isn’t limited to preparing ingredients for the Cook’s Line. Our Prep Cooks produce food and ingredients used throughout the restaurant - from App, Sauté, and Broiler to our Salad & Dessert Station, Expo, and even the Bar.

That means there’s a lot to learn. Throughout training, you'll become familiar with our recipes, preparation methods, equipment, portioning standards, pars, storage systems, and quality expectations, along with understanding where the things you prepare are used and why consistency matters once they leave the Prep Kitchen.

You do not need to walk in already knowing our recipes or systems. You do need to bring a foundation of professional food preparation experience and the willingness to learn our way of doing things.

The goal isn’t simply to work through a prep list. It’s to understand your work well enough to prioritize what the restaurant needs, prepare it correctly and consistently, recognize when something isn’t right, and make sure the teams relying on you have what they need to do their jobs well.

A strong Prep Cook doesn’t just know how to make the recipe. They understand how their work supports the entire restaurant.