Cook Lead

Job DetailsJob Location: Moscow Food Co-op Downtown - Moscow, ID 83843Position Type: Full TimeEducation Level: High SchoolSalary Range: $18.00 - $23.00 HourlyTravel Percentage: NoneJob Shift: AnyJob Category: Restaurant - Food ServiceJoin Our Prepared Foods Team at the Moscow Food Co-op! The Moscow Food Co-op is looking for an experienced, dependable, and motivated Kitchen Lead to help lead our high-volume, production-style kitchen. This is a hands-on leadership position for someone who enjoys great food, thrives in a fast-paced environment, and can help keep a team organized, productive, and focused on excellent customer service. The Kitchen Lead works alongside the kitchen team to prepare high-quality food, maintain strong production and food safety standards, and provide day-to-day leadership when managers are unavailable. Why You’ll Want to Work at the Co-op At the Moscow Food Co-op, you’ll be part of a community-focused organization that values great food, excellent customer service, teamwork, and the people who make it all happen. We offer a positive, fast-paced workplace where employees have opportunities to learn, develop their skills, and make a meaningful contribution to the success of their department and the Co-op. Our kitchen produces a wide variety of fresh foods for our deli cases, grab-and-go selection, hot bar, salad bar, and other prepared foods programs. We prioritize quality ingredients and offer options that reflect our customers’ interest in natural, organic, local, seasonal, vegetarian, vegan, and specialty-diet foods. What You’ll Do As Kitchen Lead, you’ll work directly alongside the team while helping keep daily kitchen operations running smoothly. You will: Lead by example and help create a positive, productive, and respectful work environment. Coordinate daily production priorities, workflow, breaks, assignments, and task completion. Prepare high-quality foods for the hot bar, salad bar, deli cases, grab-and-go, and other prepared foods programs. Monitor production levels and help ensure products are prepared, stocked, rotated, labeled, and available when customers need them. Maintain high standards for food quality, consistency, presentation, cleanliness, sanitation, and food safety. Support efficient production by minimizing waste and making good use of time, ingredients, equipment, and labor. Coach and support employees, provide clear direction and feedback, and help train new and existing staff. Provide excellent customer service and ensure the team follows Co-op customer service expectations, including greeting and acknowledging customers promptly. Communicate production needs, staffing concerns, equipment issues, food safety concerns, and other operational needs to management. Step into different areas of the kitchen as needed and help the team respond to changing priorities throughout the day. What We’re Looking For We’re looking for someone who combines strong food-production skills with the ability to lead and support others. Our ideal Kitchen Lead is: Experienced in a fast-paced, high-volume restaurant, deli, commercial kitchen, or production-style kitchen. Comfortable leading a team while remaining actively involved in daily production. Dependable, punctual, organized, and ready to work with a sense of urgency. Positive, approachable, and able to communicate clearly and respectfully. Able to give and receive feedback and help employees improve their performance. Self-directed and able to identify what needs to be done without waiting to be asked. Able to prioritize multiple demands and adjust quickly when production or staffing needs change. Knowledgeable about basic cooking techniques, kitchen equipment, food safety, sanitation, and safe food handling. Familiar with natural, organic, vegetarian, vegan, and specialty-diet foods or interested in learning. Committed to excellent customer service, teamwork, productivity, cleanliness, and continuous improvement. Available for a flexible schedule that may include early mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays. Able to obtain and maintain a current Idaho food safety card and meet the physical requirements of working in a busy production kitchen. Schedule & Availability Full-time: 38–40 hours per week Flexible scheduling, including mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, and university breaks Must be able to stand for extended periods and lift up to 50 pounds Why Work at the Co-op? We're a community-oriented, values-driven workplace offering a supportive environment, living wages, and excellent benefits. In a recent employee survey, staff overwhelmingly said they're proud to work at the Moscow Food Co-op! All employees receive: 20% store discount Employee Profit Sharing 401(k) retirement plan participation Full-time employees also receive: Paid Time Off (PTO) Accrual Medical, dental, and vision insurance Short-term disability coverage Accidental & hospital insurance Telemedicine & mental health support Part-time employees working 20+ hours/week receive: Dental insurance Short-term disability, accidental & hospital insurance Telemedicine & mental health support   Position Summary The Kitchen Lead supports the Kitchen Manager and Prepared Foods Manager in the daily operation of the Moscow Food Co-op’s high-volume, production-style kitchen. This position combines advanced food production responsibilities with shift leadership, staff training, workflow coordination, and operational oversight to ensure the Kitchen consistently produces high-quality, fresh food while meeting customer service, food safety, production, sales, labor, and margin goals. The Kitchen Lead performs all Cook and Cook II responsibilities while providing leadership and direction to Kitchen staff during assigned shifts. This position helps organize daily production, assign and prioritize work; monitor food quality and department standards, train and coach employees, troubleshoot operational issues, and ensure the Kitchen is prepared to meet changing customer and production needs. Kitchen Leads model the Co-op’s performance standards by demonstrating exceptional customer service, urgency, accountability, teamwork, communication, and attention to detail. The Kitchen Lead serves as a department resource and is expected to take ownership of Kitchen operations when the Kitchen Manager or Prepared Foods Manager is not immediately available. Essential Duties and Responsibilities Customer Service & Engagement Model exceptional customer service and create a friendly, welcoming, and helpful experience for every customer. Greet and assist customers promptly and remain approachable and available when working in customer-facing areas. Prioritize customer service over production tasks whenever customers require assistance. Answer questions regarding prepared foods, ingredients, allergens, cooking methods, and dietary options. Make knowledgeable product recommendations and educate customers about natural, organic, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and other specialty foods. Assist staff with resolving customer questions or concerns and escalate issues to the appropriate manager when necessary. Ensure Kitchen staff consistently meet the Co-op’s customer service expectations. Leadership, Training & Teamwork Provide day-to-day leadership and direction to Kitchen staff during assigned shifts. Assign and prioritize work based on production needs, staffing, customer demand, and department priorities. Ensure employees understand expectations and remain productive throughout their shifts. Train new employees and provide ongoing coaching and skill development. Model urgency, professionalism, communication, accountability, and a positive attitude. Support managers in implementing department standards and employee development. Promote teamwork, assist during busy periods, and maintain a respectful, solutions-oriented work environment. Communicate important production, staffing, equipment, customer, and operational information to managers and incoming shifts. Productivity & Operations Coordinate daily production flow, communicate priorities, and adjust assignments to meet production goals. Balance customer demand, staffing, food quality, labor expectations, and department priorities. Identify and respond to production delays, staffing challenges, shortages, equipment issues, and other operational barriers. Minimize waste through accurate production planning, portioning, recipe adherence, and inventory rotation. Ensure production records, waste logs, temperature logs, cleaning logs, and other required documentation are completed accurately. Anticipate department needs and identify opportunities to improve workflow, quality, efficiency, and waste reduction. Support department goals for sales, margin, labor, productivity, and customer service. Serve as the department lead during assigned shifts when the Kitchen Manager or Prepared Foods Manager is unavailable. Promptly communicate significant operational, staffing, safety, customer, or food quality concerns to management. Complete additional duties and projects assigned. Food Preparation & Service Prepare high-quality foods for hot bar, salad bar, grab-and-go, deli, catering, and other Prepared Foods programs. Follow standardized recipes, portions, production procedures, and presentation standards. Complete and adjust production schedules based on customer demand, staffing, and product availability. Monitor food quality, freshness, presentation, and stocking levels throughout the shift. Maintain strong knowledge of recipes, ingredients, allergens, substitutions, and specialty diets. Support recipe development, testing, and costing as directed. Monitor inventory and communicate ingredients and supply needs before shortages occur. Maintain clean, organized coolers, freezers, storage, and production areas using FIFO practices. Ensure products are properly labeled, dated, priced, and include required ingredients and allergen information. Accurately document waste, samples, donations, and other product adjustments. Cleanliness, Food Safety & Sanitation Model and enforce food safety, sanitation, and personal hygiene standards. Ensure staff follow established HACCP, temperature, cooling, heating, labeling, storage, and cleaning procedures. Promptly correct food safety and sanitation concerns. Maintain clean, safe, and organized workstations, equipment, storage, and production areas. Ensure required temperature, cleaning, production, and food safety logs are completed accurately. Ensure opening and closing procedures are completed and promptly report equipment, safety, facility, or food quality concerns. Maintain Idaho Food Safety Certification and support staff certification compliance. Co-op Performance Standards Customer Service & Communication Provide excellent customer service by creating friendly, welcoming, and helpful experience for every customer. Remain approachable, attentive, and professional while assisting customers, coworkers, and vendors. Communicate effectively with supervisors and team members regarding customer concerns, product issues, and operational needs. Offer product suggestions and respond to questions with professionalism, patience, and respect for diverse customer needs and perspectives. Maintain a positive, solutions-oriented attitude and continuously build product and operational knowledge. Teamwork & Professionalism Work cooperatively with all departments to support a respectful, inclusive, and team-oriented workplace culture. Demonstrate flexibility by assisting in other areas of the store, including cashier backup and cross-department support as needed. Follow the direction of the Manager on Duty (MOD) and contribute to department and store-wide initiatives. Assist with staff training and participate in Co-op meetings, inventories, and required training. Operations & Accountability Maintain excellent attendance, punctuality, and scheduling flexibility, including arriving on time and following break and time-off policies. Follow established opening, closing, safety, and operational procedures. Maintain accurate use of scheduling and timekeeping systems and assist with shift coverage when needed. Ensure a safe, organized, and professional environment for customers and staff through attention to detail and follow-through.  Qualifications Commitment to the mission, values, and goals of the Moscow Food Co-op. High school diploma or equivalent required. Two or more years of progressively responsible experience in a fast-paced, high-volume restaurant, deli, grocery kitchen, commercial kitchen, or food production environment preferred; or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Previous lead, supervisory, training, or shift leadership experience strongly preferred. Demonstrated advanced cooking, knife, recipe execution, and food production skills. Strong working knowledge of commercial kitchen operations and high-volume food production. Knowledge of food safety, sanitation, allergens, ingredient substitutions, and safe food handling practices. Knowledge of or willingness to develop strong knowledge of natural, organic, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and other specialty diets. Demonstrated ability to organize and prioritize production, delegate tasks, and coordinate multiple employees and projects in a fast-paced environment. Ability to provide clear direction, training, coaching, and constructive feedback to employees. Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. Ability to remain calm, professional, and solutions-oriented when responding to changing priorities or operational challenges. Ability to work independently while recognizing when issues should be escalated to management. Strong organizational skills and attention to detail. Basic computer and math skills. Ability to safely operate commercial kitchen equipment. Current Idaho Food Safety Certification or ability to obtain certification within the required timeframe. Reliable, predictable attendance with the flexibility to work early mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, inventories, and department meetings as required. Willingness and ability to adapt to the changing requirements of the position and department. Physical Requirements Ability to remain standing and work in a commercial kitchen for extended periods. Ability to work safely in hot, cold, wet, and noisy environments. Frequently bend, kneel, squat, twist, reach, and perform repetitive hand and wrist movements. Lift and carry up to 50 pounds regularly. Push or pull carts, racks, and equipment weighing up to 200 pounds. Manual dexterity and ability to safely operate commercial kitchen equipment, including knives, ovens, mixers, slicers, food processors, and other food preparation equipment. Ability to move throughout the Kitchen, store, walk-in coolers, freezers, and storage areas throughout the workday. Ability to work safely near coworkers in a fast-paced production environment. The job duties, responsibilities, skills, and the requirements and conditions listed in this job description are representative only and not exhaustive of the tasks that an employee may be required to perform. The employer reserves the right to revise this job description at any time and requires employees to perform other tasks such as circumstances or conditions of its business, competitive considerations or the work environment change.