Education & Experience
Manager of Community Kitchen
Job Code Number
411424258
Job Description
As the Manager of the Community Kitchen, you’ll lead a hospitality-focused team focused on providing access to free and healthy meals to those in need in our local Holland community Monday through Friday. This position partners with our Lakeshore Food Rescue as well as our Outreach and Housing Access teams, using rescued food to create healthy meals for our guests. The Community Kitchen manager will focus on meal planning, guiding and directing staff and volunteers through daily prep and cooking, and keeping operations running smoothly and safely. Beyond managing the kitchen, you’ll help build a warm, welcoming space that uses food as a bridge to connect neighbors with essential health and support services.
This role is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment, brings a creative approach to scratch cooking and menu planning with variable inventory, and is deeply passionate about community impact.
Responsibilities & Essential Duties
- Lead and oversee daily Community Kitchen operations, ensuring the consistent preparation and service of nutritious, high-quality meals for approximately 100-200 guests.
- Ensure a welcoming, dignified, and high-quality experience for Community Kitchen guests and volunteers.
- Plan weekly menus and provide direction for meal preparation, food utilization, kitchen workflow, and service operations.
- Lead, supervise, develop, and hold accountable Community Kitchen team members, including staff scheduling and coverage, delegation of responsibilities, regular 1:1s and team meetings, performance management, and cross-training.
- Oversee inventory management, and ensure FIFO inventory management system is maintained for both onsite and offsite inventory.
- Establish clear roles, workflows, operational procedures, checklists, and expectations that support effective daily operations and appropriate backup coverage.
- Responsible for oversight of food safety, sanitation, health code compliance, kitchen safety, and readiness for required inspections.
- Oversee Community Kitchen program data, documentation, reporting, and other critical program measures to ensure information is accurate, timely, and useful for program decision-making.
- Maintain strong working relationships and active communication with the partner site leadership and other Community Kitchen partners, vendors, and community stakeholders.
- Assist guest conflict resolution and behavior de-escalation, ensuring team members are supported and challenging situations are managed effectively.
- Work collaboratively with the Food Club, Food Rescue and Partnerships, and Logistics teams to ensure effective flow of food between programs.
- Work collaboratively with the Volunteer Experience Champion to expand volunteer opportunities, creating training documentation and pathways for easy onboarding and training of new volunteers to work in our ‘One Team’ approach to service.
- Provide overall leadership and direction for the Community Kitchen, including annual goals, operational planning, staffing and volunteer utilization, process improvement, special projects, and monitoring overall program quality.
- Collaborate with the Director of Housing Access and other organizational leaders to identify program needs, address challenges, evaluate opportunities, and support the long-term development of the Community Kitchen.
- Other duties as assigned.
Additional Requirements
Education & Experience
To view the full job description and submit an application, please visit our website here → Manager of Community Kitchen
Organization Profile
Description:
Our Mission is to provide area families and individuals with food, clothing, shelter, and the opportunity to build necessary skills to achieve a stable and prosperous life.
