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Moon Rabbit Chef / Cook

Bridge Darebin
  • Reports To: Moon Rabbit Manager
  • Hours: 32 hours per week, part time
  • Award Neighbourhood House and Adult Community Education Collective Agreement 2010
  • Classification and salary NHACE Agreement 2010 Level 5.1, $29.20 per hour
  • Location: Preston, 3072

Internal and external Liaison

Chief Executive Officer, Management team. Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Bridge Darebin staff, volunteers and Board of Management, Contractors, Moon Rabbit café staff , Moon Rabbit customers

Direct reports

Food preparation staff and volunteers

Organisational overview

Bridge Darebin is a vibrant, not-for-profit community organisation based in the Darebin LGA. A Social enterprise that incorporates a Neighbourhood House, a Learn Local organisation, low-waste training café and Occasional Care Centre. We value community ownership and management and provide our services free from discrimination. We are a registered charity and Public Benevolent Institution.  

 We are an economically and environmentally sustainable social enterprise NFP that provides social, educational and support programs to meet community needs. The organisation has five main areas of activity across multiple sites: adult education, children’s services, community programs, venue hire and our socially responsible café, Moon Rabbit.  

More about moon rabbit

Moon Rabbit is an environmentally sustainable social enterprise café and a key element of the Bridge Darebin 2019 – 2022 strategy. It aims to provide an outstanding experience for customers, clients, staff and volunteers, to meets its commercial targets and engage the local community. Furthermore, Moon Rabbit strives to enable young people supported by our disability training program (TTT) to develop their technical, life and employability skills in a supportive, real work environment. Leading by example Moon Rabbit instils up-to-date sustainability practices whilst serving top-quality food and beverages to all clients both internal and external. Moon Rabbit has established itself as the flag-ship service of Bridge Darebin and serves as the “face” of the organisation.

Like all hospitality businesses during Covid-19 we have experienced a significant drop in revenue. Two new parts of the business were set to formally launch just before Covid-19, being catering and the mobile coffee van. The new position of Moon Rabbit chef/cook will help position our business to push forward with these launches, better meet our targets and support our community, including the students of the TTT program. 

position objective

The primary focus of the Moon Rabbit Chef/Cook is to oversee the food operations of Moon Rabbit. That is: preparation and service for the café, mobile coffee van and catering jobs. This position will also assist the Café Manager in growing and developing Moon Rabbit’s offerings and kitchen operations, particularly within the context of directional changes due to the impact of Covid-19.

Moon Rabbit’s food is playful, seasonal, honest, colourful and caters to all dietary requirements deliciously. The Moon Rabbit cook will create food with these values at the forefront, as well as maintaining our Zero-Waste Goal - aiming to use locally sourced produce and ingredients where possible, using the top-to-tail of fruits and vegetables and ensuring that nothing is wasted. The chef/cook should show passion and innovation in everything they do and desire to create local, sustainable food systems.

duties and responsibilities

People:

  • Strengthen the capability of all staff and volunteers in preparation of food, plating techniques and stock maintenance, back-of-house operations and menu knowledge
  • Uphold Moon Rabbit's highest quality food service ethos in all decision making as well internal and external communications
  • Provide training and mentoring to all Moon Rabbit staff and volunteers to ensure standards are maintained at all times, by all team members

Consistency & Quality:

  • Create and prepare food with an eye for detail and commitment to excellence whilst maintaining preparation standards
  • Train café staff, students and volunteers to prepare food to standard, providing ongoing support and guidance so that all individuals feel empowered and confident to complete tasks to standard
  • Create a space for both customers and staff that feels safe and inclusive
  • Use your eye for detail to maintain a clean, hygienic and sleek space in both indoor and outdoor spaces

Menu Planning and Development:

  • Create a menu and source ingredients in conjunction with the Café Manager 
  • Use both creative thinking and food preparation methods to create consistently delicious food for our customers whilst aiming to eliminate food waste
  • Always consider portion sizes to reduce plate-waste 
  • Embrace community and be inspired by the staff, volunteers and customers at Bridge Darebin and Moon Rabbit when creating menu items and specials 
  • Create weekly specials that are primarily vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free friendly that aim to utilise any ingredients already on hand first

Ingredient Sourcing, Purchasing and Food Preparation:

  • Create weekly food preparation lists
  • Oversee the running of the café kitchen
  • Prepare, cook and plate food to order during café hours
  • Order fresh produce and pantry items through the ordering system 
  • Create easy-to-follow instructions for café staff to prepare weekly specials to-order 
  • Assist the Café Manager to develop relationships with local suppliers to source fresh produce and reduce food miles
  • Consistently adhere to waste management procedures and demonstrate innovation in aiming to eliminate any ‘general waste’ 
  • Follow all legislative food safety procedures and maintain an optimally clean working space 
  • Report any damages or faults of equipment to the café manager

Volunteer and Student Supervision:

  • Be willing to share knowledge and teach skills to staff and volunteers who assist with food preparation
  • When present, delegate and supervise food preparation tasks to staff and volunteers of Bridge Darebin
  • Provide training, support and guidance to Moon Rabbit staff and TTT students with the support of the Café Manager

Budgeting and Pricing:

  • Work with café manager to create economically sustainable menu items and increase average spend per customer
  • Seek to expand on the café menu offering, in line with Moon Rabbit’s food ethos
  • Make well-informed menu planning decisions that include: price, seasonality, locality, supply chain, packaging, logistics and efficiency

Other Responsibilities: 

  • Actively embrace and promote Moon Rabbit’s sustainability values and environmental practices
  • Participate in daily operations, including set up and clean down of kitchen areas
  • Assist with the set up and clearing of the café for events and functions
  • Ensure that WorkSafe and OHS practices are met and maintained
  • Communicate and collaborate with all parts of the Bridge Darebin organisation

The Moon Rabbit Chef/cook can expect to be allocated duties, not specifically mentioned in this document, but within the capacity, qualifications and experience normally expected from persons occupying positions at this classification.  

key selection criteria

The person for this position will have demonstrated experience in: 

  • Minimum two years working in a café and/or catering operation as a chef
  • A passion, curiosity and enthusiasm for great food, produced in a manner to eliminate waste
  • Embracing and promoting sustainability values and environmental practices
  • Independently managing time, prioritising and planning work to meet set timelines in an environment of competing priorities
  • Understanding of and commitment to working in a community organisation or social enterprise
  • Leading and supervising teams in a hospitality environment
  • Highly developed interpersonal negotiating, problem-solving and communication skills
  • Computer literacy in the Microsoft Office suite

qualifications

Essential Skills / Experiences: 

  • Certificate III Commercial Cookery or equivalent
  • Demonstrated ability to multi-task, prioritise, and manage competing tasks
  • Demonstrated ability to follow policies and procedures, especially in relation to OH&S
  • Demonstrated ability to pro-actively seek out and complete tasks any time you are not actively serving customers
  • Ability to work at a fast-pace in a high-energy environment
  • Food Handling Certificate and/or Food Safety Supervisor Certificate

Highly Desirable:

  • Experience in teaching or training
  • Knowledge and experience of Not-for-Profit community organisations and social-enterprise
  • A passion and understanding for working with and helping people with additional learning needs to achieve their goals
  • Experience in training people in hospitality environments

appointment is subject to:

  • Current Working with Children’s Check
  • Current Victorian Police Check
  • Current Victorian drivers’ licence

application

Click "Apply Now" to submit an application.

Bridge Darebin strongly encourages people with diverse backgrounds and identities to apply, including but not limited to:

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
  • People from culturally diverse backgrounds and identities
  • LBGTIQA+ people
  • People with lived experience of disability

How to apply

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