Job Title: Salinas Union Program Chef
Job Status: Full-time Exempt
Supervisor: Brigaid Regional Chef
Location: Salinas, CA
Compensation: $85,000 plus full benefits

About Brigaid: Founded by former Noma head chef Dan Giusti, Brigaid is a startup that began challenging the school food status quo by putting professional chefs into public schools to cook fresh, wholesome food from scratch. In 2016, we launched our first pilot program with the New London Public School district in New London, Connecticut. Since then, we’ve partnered with several more school districts around the country and expanded our reach into institutional kitchens of all kinds, equipping chefs to work within the parameters of federally-funded food assistance programs to provide organizations with practical solutions and hands-on training that facilitate improved outcomes for those they serve. We encourage you to learn more about our work by visiting our website, chefsbrigaid.com, and our Instagram, @brigaid.

About Position: Brigaid has partnered with the Salinas Union High School District (Salinas Union), a public school district of 13 neighborhood middle and high schools serving 14,000 students from Salinas in California’s Monterey Bay area. Salinas has a large agricultural base, with a significant number of residents who work on local farms.

Brigaid is hiring a Program Chef to help Salinas Union improve the overall quality of food offerings, maximize the value of current infrastructure, establish a financially viable and sustainable program, and increase student satisfaction. The Program Chef will spearhead these tasks and serve as a long-term fixture in the district, working closely with both district leadership and kitchen teams on the ground. This individual will also be essential to training the kitchen teams on basic cooking techniques, measurements, food safety, and organization.

Job Responsibilities:

• Work with district kitchen teams to implement the protocols and best practices contained in the Brigaid training program. Your job will be to set the highest example in quality and food safety for district employees to uphold every day, then to reinforce these standards and continue to monitor progress and adherence.
• Interface with food service employees, managers, and supervisors from a wide variety of backgrounds in ways above and beyond a strict teaching capacity, including the possibility of engagement with the school and broader community.
• Independently plan, manage, and document visits to district kitchens, fill out daily chef journals for internal recordkeeping, and participate in regularly scheduled Zoom calls with the Brigaid HQ team to discuss progress.
• Assist with any job-related tasks, including, but not limited to, receiving and storage of food and supplies, kitchen setup and breakdown, recipe scaling, food preparation, packing, serving, cleaning, dishes, etc., recognizing that other duties not listed may be required as needed.
• Follow all Brigaid/school district protocols and standards of conduct according to the Brigaid and school district employee handbooks.
• Adhere to all United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Health (DOH) guidelines and regulations.

Job Qualifications:

• At least 5 years of professional cooking experience, including at least 2 years in a kitchen supervisory role (high volume cooking experience is a plus).

• ServSafe Manager certified, or the ability to take a Brigaid-sponsored 8-hour ServSafe Manager course and pass the exam during the initial training period.
• Strong understanding of good food safety practices.
• Strong cooking ability, with understanding of all basic cooking techniques.
• Strong leadership and teaching skills.
• Ability to lead, direct, and inspire food service teams.
• Ability to use high volume kitchen equipment.
• Ability to follow recipes and use basic math to determine preparation quantities.
• Good verbal and communication skills.
• Well versed in USDA National School Lunch Program (NSLP) standards and regulations, or the ability to learn and adhere to these standards.
• Basic computer literacy, including Microsoft and Google programs and Zoom.
• Flexibility in accommodating emergencies or changes in schedule.
• Ability to work well under pressure and coordinate tasks.
• Ability to work well with others in a team environment.
• Fluency in verbal/written Spanish is a plus.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to travel between various district school kitchens in a timely manner (and the possibility of carrying kitchen/culinary equipment during this travel).
• Ability to lift and carry heavy objects up to 50 pounds.
• Ability to walk around and stand for long periods of time.

To Apply:

To be considered, please submit a resume. The first round of the hiring process will be one or two Zoom interviews, after which qualified candidates will be invited to a three-hour in-person practical interview in Salinas, CA. To be considered, you must be able to attend this in-person interview and follow the COVID-19 protocols listed below. A travel stipend of $250 will be offered to each candidate living more than 120 miles away from Salinas, and all candidates participating in the practical interview will receive compensation for their time. Should the final candidates for these positions need to move, Brigaid also offers a one time, lump sum of $5,000 in relocation assistance, which is subject to tax.

Due to the high volume of applicants, only qualified candidates will be contacted–no phone calls or emails, please. Brigaid is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, socio-economic status, marital status, national or ethnic origin, age, religion or creed, disability, or political or sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic under state or federal law. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities as defined by the ADA to perform the essential functions of the job.

Benefits:

• 100% company-paid health insurance - a gold level plan through Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield
• 100% company-paid dental insurance through Guardian
• 100% company-paid vision insurance through Guardian
• 10 days of paid vacation
• 14 paid federal holidays
• 6 days of paid sick leave
• 401k with 4% company match

COVID-19 Considerations:

• Initial interview(s) will be conducted virtually, and a mask may be required to be worn at the in-person interview. Depending on the requirements of specific partner organizations, we may ask that you provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination.