What are the responsibilities and job description for the Chef position at Falling Creek Camp?
Overview
Falling Creek Camp is hiring a seasonal chef to complete our Kitchen Staff team for summer 2025. We are not your regular camp kitchen as we prepare as much from scratch as possible and focus on whole foods. We are located in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina and feed 500 campers and staff per day family-style in our dining hall.
Schedule
- Season runs Wednesday, May 7 - Wednesday, August 27 with some flexibility
- 10-hour shift – 11:30am - 9:30pm with two 30-minute breaks
- 1 day off per week (Most of the summer, it will be same the day of the week, but during May, Session Breaks, and end of August, your designated day off will change)
Responsibilities
- Preparation and execution of dinner entrees, sides, and alternative dietary options (including vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free)
- Work the seconds window during the meal to be available for answering questions (generally questions are about ingredients in alternative foods)
- Coordinate with Kitchen Managers to ensure smooth operation during meal service, including supervision of all kitchen staff and DASH guys
- Work with Kitchen Manager to ensure all salad bar components and dessert are properly prepared and served on time
- Prepare a “leftovers” dish for salad bar utilizing the previous day’s leftovers
- Work with Pack Out Manager to prepare foods for Adventure Trips (includes cooking 100 pounds chicken fajita meat weekly and browning ground beef or cooking pasta for a meal)
- Maintain a clean and organized kitchen that meets all food safety and sanitation standards
- Oversee all aspects of the Kitchen when Alli, the Food Service Director, is not present
- Use environmentally friendly methods (composting, recycling, limiting food waste) that reflect Falling Creek’s desire to be environmentally-friendly
- Covering the 1st Chef’s shifts on his day off (come in at 9:00am to prepare lunch in addition to typical duties)
Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities
- 4 years of experience in the culinary field
- 2 years of kitchen management experience
- Experience in catering or batch cooking a plus
- Knowledge of preparing special dietary foods
- High school diploma or equivalent
- ServSafe certified or ability to become certified prior to summer
- Ability to lift and carry a minimum of 50 pounds
- Must be able to stand for long periods of time, approximately 9 hours per day
- Excellent time-management and prioritization skills
- Ability to stay calm in stressful or demanding situations
- Ability to lead and work well as part of a team
- Maintain a positive attitude and work to maintain high morale amongst the kitchen staff
Benefits
- Competitive salary DOE ranging from $1,500 - $2,000 per week
- Private housing accommodations on property
- 3 meals per day provided
- Use of laundry facilities as well as a laundry service
- Access to camp grounds and activities including fitness room
Training/Orientation
- Maintain equipment and report anything broken or not functioning 100%
- Review campers’ and staff’s dietary restrictions; plan dishes to ensure safe, healthy, balanced options for everyone
- Lock the Kitchen upon departure
- Check in with 1st Chef upon arrival to shift to offer assistance for lunch prep
- Putting trucks away and keeping all the stock organized and rotated; make sure your ingredients have all arrive (and are thawed) in order to prepare your dishes; oversee all the food for meals aka salad bar, green table rice and beans, entrees, sides, desserts, and allergy options;
Before end of shift leave any messages/tasks for morning crew such as:
- Pull meat to thaw
- Mix steak with marinade
- Prep list
- Leftovers set aside for pack out
Pack Out:
- Cooking 100# fajita chicken strips on weekly basis
Point out that 1st Chef is responsible for breakfast and lunch, 2nd chef is responsible for Dinner and all housemade portions of Pack Out
- Because you’re the second chef, yes, you will do more cleaning than Dee
- Your job to look ahead at the menu and make sure Alli knows what ingredients you need
- Allergy alternatives - know what’s in the food you’re cooking
- How do you handle criticism? How do you want to receive feedback? I’m looking for someone who (when corrected or asked to do something differently) will not make excuses and not take it personally (something I myself am working on).
- Does this position also focus on utilizing leftovers and creating dishes for the green table? Or packing them up for Pack Out? Creating dishes for pack out? Pack out prep? Creating bags of beans and rice or beanie weenies for the trips. Bagging up the dehydrated meals that we create (beans and rice, mac and cheese, jambalaya, veggie soup)
- Is the schedule for this person 1:00 - 10:00? Finalize any staff treats at night, they are the last to leave the kitchen, and they use that time to prep for next day or utilize leftovers.
- Prepping Staff Resource food for nighttime events
- Oversee proper cleaning of the Kitchen nightly–includes equipment turned off, trash taken out
- Writing down recipes and keeping track of what the used/prepared and quantity consumed
Job Type: Temporary
Pay: $1,500.00 - $2,000.00 per week
Benefits:
- Paid time off
Shift:
- 10 hour shift
- Day shift
Work Location: In person
Salary : $1,500 - $2,000