Food Prep Lead (75% FTE / 30 hours per week)

Position Summary

Under the supervision of the Retail Operations Manager, the Food Prep Lead provides centralized food-production support across the self-supporting Retail Operations businesses. The Lead ensures that food offered through each operation meets consistent standards for quality, quantity, food safety, and availability. The Food Prep Lead will demonstrate cultural humility and intercultural engagement, including an awareness and understanding of historically disadvantaged populations, and help create an educational environment that affirms the College's commitment to equity and diversity.

This position serves as the experienced kitchen resource for student prep cooks, providing day-to-day direction, technical guidance, production support, and quality oversight across Alki Café, the South Seattle Culinary Convenience Store, the Northwest Wine Academy, the Garden Center, and scheduled catering operations.

This position is in-person with no opportunity for remote work. The schedule is typically Monday through Friday, with specific hours adjusted to meet production and scheduled event needs. The incumbent will work 30 hours per week and is eligible for benefits.

About Us

We are a district of three distinct colleges - North Seattle College, Seattle Central College, and South Seattle College - and five specialty training centers. Which makes us the largest and most diverse community college district in the state of Washington, we are leaders in change and innovation. Seattle Colleges is committed to recruiting dedicated faculty and employees who together create a welcoming academic climate that reflects the diverse backgrounds of our community, including ethnicity, national origin, religion, race, gender, gender identity, age, status as a veteran or disabled veteran, disability, political status, and sexual orientation.

What You Will Be Working On

• Plans and completes food production and replenishment for Alki Café and the South Seattle Culinary Convenience Store, including breakfast items, sandwiches, and other fresh grab-and-go products.
• Prepares food, cheese and pairing components for the Northwest Wine Academy; desserts and specialty items for the Garden Center; and catering orders when events are scheduled.
• Develops weekly and daily production plans based on sales, pars, scheduled events, available student labor, product availability, and anticipated demand.
• Executes and scales recipes while maintaining standards for quality, quantity, portioning, presentation, labeling, dating, and first-in, first-out rotation.
• Monitors product quality and availability across departments and adjusts production based on sales, waste, and changing operational needs.
• Provides day-to-day direction, technical guidance, and hands-on support to student prep cooks, particularly when production volume exceeds student capacity.
• Completes food inventory, ordering, receiving, storage, and rotation while supporting appropriate pars and cost control.
• Completes required temperature monitoring and documentation and ensures compliance with food-safety, sanitation, and allergen-control standards.
• Maintains clean, organized, and production-ready kitchen, storage, and work areas, including routine deep cleaning and end-of-week production-space reset.
• Coordinates core production early in the week; Café and Convenience Store replenishment throughout the week; Wine Academy and Garden Center production later in the week; and major production, catering, inventory, ordering, and cleaning activities on Fridays.
• Performs additional duties as assigned.

What You Bring As a Candidate

• High School Diploma or GED
• ServSafe Certification or Washington State Food Handler's Card
• CPR/AED certification required within the first 30 days of hire.
• Two years of professional food-production experience or a college degree in culinary arts, hospitality, or a related field
• Experience with high-volume food preparation, grab-and-go production, catering, or retail food-service operations

Pay

Salary range for this position at 100% FTE is $44,916.00 to $51,756.00 annually (Grade 35, Steps E–K). Typically, candidates are offered something between Steps E–G to allow for room to grow with scheduled step increases.

Benefits

• Competitive Pay Rates
• Promotional Opportunities
• Great Medical, Dental, and Retirement plans
• Paid Sick and Vacation Leave
• Transportation benefits
• Tuition Waivers
• PEBB Wellness Plan
• Washington State Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
• Professional development opportunities and enrichment experiences in areas of your choice, including committee, workgroup, and affinity group opportunities

Physical Demands and Work Environment

• Ability to safely operate commercial kitchen equipment, receive and store food products, and maintain required production and food-safety records
• Ability to exchange information clearly with supervisors, co-workers, students, vendors, and partner departments
• Ability to provide one-on-one and small-group instruction, perform repetitive food-preparation tasks, and use a computer for ordering, inventory, and documentation
• Work is performed primarily in commercial food-production and storage areas and includes standing for extended periods, frequent interruptions, temperature changes, and noise typical of these settings