Project Bread connects people and communities in Massachusetts to reliable sources of food while advocating for policies that make food more accessible—so that no one goes hungry. To assist us in meeting our mission, Project Bread – The Walk for Hunger is seeking a Chef Educator to join our team.
At Project Bread, we have a deep commitment to creating positive social change and recognize that hunger and racism are inextricably linked. We work in a fast-paced environment that values learning, innovation, and diverse perspectives. Knowing its centrality to our work, Project Bread is committed to equity and inclusion. We aspire to build a diverse team, including groups that are traditionally underrepresented among our sector leadership. We strongly encourage people of all backgrounds to apply.
Supervisor: Director of Community Nutrition Services
Starting Salary Range: $65,000-68,000
The Role: The Chef Educator plays a central role in supporting school districts to offer healthy, affordable, and appealing meals to fuel students’ success. As part of Project Bread’s School Food Fellowship, the Chef Educator leads professional development for school nutrition staff to help build skills in scratch cooking, food presentation, and kitchen management. The Chef Educator is a hands-on trainer and trusted collaborator, willing to pitch in and support school nutrition staff.
This role combines culinary expertise, relationship building, and program management. The ideal candidate will be equally comfortable leading trainings in busy school kitchens as they are managing program data and documentation, while staying responsive and communicative with the Director of Community Nutrition Services and the Chef Team. This role frequently serves as an ambassador for Project Bread’s mission, collaborating across Project Bread’s Programs and Communication Team to represent the organization in school communities.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Partner with school nutrition programs to deliver engaging professional development for school cafeteria staff, both virtually and in-person, on topics such as scratch cooking techniques and kitchen management strategies.
- Adapt and expand upon existing curriculum and materials to meet programmatic goals and school district's needs.
- Support the development and dissemination of appealing and affordable recipes for healthier school breakfast, lunch, and summer meals programs.
- In partnership with the Director of Community Nutrition Services and Chef Educator team, contribute to setting team goals, assess intervention strategies for each district, and make adjustments as necessary.
- Collect and report on program data, including training and outreach progress and feedback from school nutrition staff and students.
- Collaborate with the Communications team to document School Food Fellowship work through stories, quotes, and photos.
- Support other Project Bread programs through culinary demonstrations, food service consultations, or recipe testing.
Organizational Responsibilities:
- Participate in community, fundraising, and media events as needed, highlighting the Community Nutrition Services program, School Food Fellowship, and other programmatic work.
- Support the annual Walk for Hunger, including working as event staff the weekend of the Walk (first weekend in May), and attending pre-Walk events as assigned.
- Participate in organization-wide events and meetings.
- Act to promote, sustain, and grow Project Bread’s positive, productive, and inclusive working environment.
Qualifications:
There are innumerable ways to learn, grow and excel professionally. We know people gain skills through a variety of professional, personal, educational, and volunteer experiences. Project Bread recognizes this when we review applications and take a broad look at the experience of each applicant. We want to get to know you and the unique strengths you will bring to the work. This said, we are most likely to be interested in your candidacy if you can demonstrate most of the qualifications and experiences listed below.
- 5 years+ culinary experience, ideally with background in institutional food service, education, nutrition, and/or public health
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build trust with school partners, motivate school nutrition staff, and foster a positive learning environment
- Demonstrated ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds; experience working with children is a plus.
- Highly organized and self-directed; comfortable working independently at school sites, while also proactively communicating and staying aligned teammates working across multiple locations.
- Interest in school nutrition and knowledge of USDA school meals standards, guidelines, and recipe development; experience working with menu planning software such as Mosaic a plus.
- ServSafe and Allergen Awareness Certified, or ability to acquire within 60 days of hire required.
- Ability to facilitate trainings in Spanish strongly preferred.
- Must have reliable personal transportation to travel within assigned school districts.
Additional Requirements
Working Location & Schedule: All employees are currently working a hybrid remote and in-person model. The Chef Educator will travel to school districts state-wide 3-4 days a week, with weekly travel expected to Holyoke and/or Greater Worcester, and will be required to be in the East Boston occasionally, typically 4-6 times a year.
This role typically works in line with school day schedules, 7:00 AM-3:00 PM, with evening and weekend Project Bread events a few times a year.
Work Environment: This position frequently works in kitchen and school lunchroom environments, and will require standing and walking for long periods of time, lifting and moving items weighing up to 30 pounds, tolerating temperature fluctuations, and
COVID-19 Vaccine Policy: For the safety and protection of Project Bread Staff & Constituents we do have a COVID-19 Vaccine Policy that requires all staff to be fully vaccinated per the CDC definition. Accommodation requests will be considered through our normal request process.
Background Checks: This position will need to complete a CORI and additional background checks as required by each school district.
How to Apply
Please apply here by completing our application form and uploading your resume and cover letter in MS Word or Pdf format.
Review of applications will begin in the week of August 4th and continue until the position is filled.
Project Bread is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, height, weight, or marital status in employment or the provision of services. Please contact us at [email protected] if you would like to request special accommodations during the interview process.
