Happy Bean Café – Community Cook

Salary: £25,928.18 per annum (13.44 per hour)

Employment Status: 37 Hours Per Week

Responsible To: Community Coordinator

Location: Weoley Castle Community Centre (B29 5TE)

Who We Look For

Are you a warm, personable, and caring individual who can work well with the public, including people with disabilities, their unpaid/family carers and wider community members? Do you have passion for what you do, a strong communicator and have excellent cooking and hospitality skills? Midland Mencap is looking to recruit a Community Cook to support our recently launched Community Café – The Happy Bean Café. We place a high value upon integrity, ethical standards, and a commitment to excellence. Midland Mencap’s Happy Bean Café is constantly innovating in our pursuit of delivering the best experience for everyone who visits us. To achieve these goals, we need an individual who is prepared to innovate and interact confidently with members of the local community, community centre users, staff and professionals. We seek applications from candidates who thrive in a fast-paced environment and who can bring their skills, high-standards, and experience to a role where no two days are the same.

What Does A Community Cook Do?

Midland Mencap is a local charity committed to benefiting people with disabilities, their unpaid/family carers and our local communities. Our Community Café, The Happy Bean, launched in June 2024 and aims to provide a welcoming meeting place for the local community, with affordable, high-quality food and beverages. The café is at the heart of our community centre and links to activities taking place in the centre, such as cooking classes and hosts information drop-ins. Our goal is to continue to build our customer base and bridge the gap between our current centre users and the wider community. This is an exciting opportunity for a passionate and experienced individual, who enjoys cooking and hosting. As a creative cook, you will bring innovative ideas to grow our community café and collaborate with various partners to achieve this. You will be responsible for maintaining high kitchen standards and adhering to all health and safety regulations.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Continuously review and improve the menu and café performance.
• Prepare, cook, and serve meals efficiently, ensuring quality and minimizing waste.
• Safely store food, rotate stock, monitor ‘use by’ dates, and manage supplier orders within budget.
• Build and maintain good rapport with customers, citizens, and their families; always be polite and courteous.
• Immediately report incidents involving citizens, staff, or visitors to the Operations Manager.
• Ensure kitchen operations comply with Environmental Health and Health and Safety regulations and maintain accurate records.
• Collaborate with colleagues and volunteers to ensure smooth event and programme operations.
• Set up and clean community kitchens before and after activities.
• Assist the Volunteer Manager in recruiting, training, and retaining volunteers.
• Engage with local partners to involve a diverse range of groups and promote participation in our activities.
• Represent the café at local events and groups to promote its work and activities.
• Gather and provide information to support performance monitoring.

General Responsibilities

• Promote and support Midland Mencap’s commitment to accessibility and inclusive activities.
• Uphold and advocate for the values of Midland Mencap in the community.
• Adhere to the organization’s ethos, policies, procedures, and relevant legislation.
• Empower local people to take ownership of their learning and adopt sustainable behaviours.
• Work effectively with team members, including staff, sessional workers, and volunteers, to achieve goals.
• Collaborate constructively with partners, groups, and organisations.
• Ensure an excellent participant experience.
• Report on the success of assigned tasks.
• Attend and contribute to team meetings and training courses.
• Undertake other duties as required, consistent with the job purpose.

Closing Date: This is a rolling recruitment process. Applications will be reviewed as they are received, and interviews may take place at any time. The post will close once a successful candidate has been appointed, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.