Bastrop Cooking Connections - Culinary Selling Specialist - Part Time

Responsibilities

• Sales / Customer Service:
  • Follows the customer service and hospitality model to connect with Customers, building a sense of community and driving loyalty
  • Welcomes / approaches Customers with the mindset of a host, catering to the needs of the Customer to ensure they feel welcomed, invited, and appreciated
  • Offers advice for menu / meal planning; scales recipes in size and skill level depending on customer needs
  • Conducts cooking method and recipe preparation demonstrations; executes food prep methods with high efficiency to maximize Customer interactions
  • Offers engaging, consistent, and relevant culinary conversations on the microphone to attract Customers
  • Suggests distinctive alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage pairings
  • Develops and maintains relationships with Customers by recalling Customers' dietary needs / restrictions and wine preferences to tailor future visits
  • Contributes culinary insights, food trends, local trends, and Customer insights to in-Store cooking events
  • Affords assistance in Cooking classes, Wine education, and Dinner Series execution when applicable
  • Might conduct Connections floor demos
• Merchandising:
  • Ensures A+ standards at the Connections kitchen including maintaining and cleaning fixtures, stocking conditions, plan-o-gram integrity, daily beginning, mid-day, and end-shift recovery, and perpetual inventory
  • Affords assistance in building / maintaining merchandising displays; uses appropriate signs, tags, and branding for all events
  • Ensures Customer signage for the daily menu and daily sampling hours is updated and on display
  • Ensures backstock is worked
  • Might support food production for retail sale
• Food Safety / Sanitation:
  • Ensures compliance with federal, state, and H-E-B food safety regulations / standards
  • Completes all required food safety and related trainings
  • Maintains a professional, clean, healthy, and safe work environment
  • Ensures proper equipment use; cleans and sanitizes the kitchen, equipment, and counter tops per the A+ Standards
  • Operates under 5-S guidelines set by department leader
  • Premiers products for use in demonstrations, sampling, and production, using the mise-en-place method
  • Uses proper personal protection equipment during operation of the department and during required tasks

Qualifications & Key Requirements

• Age Requirement: 21+
• Work Experience: 2+ years Experience related to food and cooking - Required
• Experience in sales, product demonstrations, or cooking in a professional environment - Required
• Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:
  • Comprehensive knowledge of displayed products to guide customers in multiple uses - Required
  • Knowledge of or aptitude to learn H-E-B systems and processes (e.g., systems related to scheduling, recipe authoring, product ordering, display planning, MS Office, internal websites, H-E-B mobile apps) - Required
  • Advanced communication skills - Required
  • Strong customer service skills; passion for hospitality - Required
  • Merchandising skills - Required
  • Skills in basic cooking techniques (grill, sauté, roast, fry, etc.) - Required
  • Ability to read and interpret documents (e.g., safety rules, maintenance instructions, procedure manuals) - Required
  • Ability to manage multiple priorities and shift focus between projects - Required
  • Ability and willingness to work flexible hours - Required
• Education: Degree in culinary arts, nutrition, home economics - Preferred
• Licenses/Certifications:
  • Completion of / ability to complete H-E-B Wine selling certification or similar experience - Required
  • Completion of / ability to complete TABC Certification - Required

Physical Demands & Working Conditions

• Constantly stand, reach at waist, and grasp
• Occasionally sit, walk, reach overhead, reach at shoulder, reach at knee, reach at floor, bend, stoop, squat, crouch, kneel, stair climb, ladder climb, pivot, twist, push / pull with arms, pinch, and perform fine motor movements
• Occasionally be exposed to cold & hot temperatures, loud noise, wet conditions