Time Frame: Start date in October 2024

Location: Full Time, Remote, Must reside in California

Travel: Travel for this position could be up to 50% of the time

Limited Service Role until December 2025

About the Chef Ann Foundation

Founded in 2009, the Chef Ann Foundation (CAF) believes that all children should have equal access to fresh, healthy, delicious food providing them the foundation to thrive and meet their true potential. We ensure that school food professionals have the resources, funding and support they need to provide cook-from-scratch meals that support the health of children and our planet. To date, we’ve reached over 14,100 schools and over 3.4 million children in all 50 states.

Job Description

The Chef Ann Foundation (CAF) is looking for a School Food Operations Specialist (CA) to assist in key areas within our programs. This is a full-time position working on our School Food Operations team and in partnership with our Programs team, school food contractors, and school district partners. This position will report directly to one of CAF’s Sr. School Food Operations Specialists (CA). This position requires local and national travel. The candidate must possess and maintain a current, valid driver's license in their state of residence. Access to a personal vehicle for local travel is required. Car rentals may be allowed if cost-effective and approved by a direct supervisor. Candidates needing to rent vehicles for travel must be at least 25 years old. 

The ideal candidate will have at least four (4) years’ experience working in a scratch-cook school food operation (in a hands-on capacity), an understanding of what schools need to serve healthier food in a scratch-cook environment, and a passion for supporting districts nationwide in cooking more food from scratch. The ideal candidate will provide support to school districts in CAF’s five key areas of school food operations: food, finance, facilities, human resources, and marketing. This position will primarily work on CA Healthy School Food Pathway.

• Healthy School Food Pathway (HSFP) is a work-based learning experience that aims to prepare individuals for job opportunities in healthy, scratch-cook school food programs. The HSFP program focuses on supporting workforce readiness and professional growth for new, incumbent, and displaced school food operators. 

Key Responsibilities

• Technical Expertise
• Answer technical and operational questions regarding USDA regulations, procurement, school food operations, etc.
• Provide onsite and virtual operational expertise to support the Healthy School Food Pathway program.
• Review all operational content associated with district work and provide feedback on recommendations for districts and technical assistance. 
• Attend meetings as needed with funders and stakeholders to answer operational questions.
• Provide districts with technical assistance (both in-person and virtual) in support of increased scratch cooking and focused on CAF’s five key areas of school food operations: food, finance, facilities, human resources, and marketing
• Support food service directors with the educational components of the Healthy School Food Pathway program. 

Programs Support

• Support the development of assessment reports to support technical assistance provided to districts.
• Provide onsite training including, but not limited to, scratch cooking, recipe development, and local procurement for districts.
• Assist in relationship development with potential, new and existing host districts for the Healthy School Food Pathway program.
• Represent CAF in trade-based channels, conferences, and collaboratives.
• Work with the Ops team to complete implementation tasks with districts that contract with CAF. 
• Ensure that the districts stay engaged and are moving through key program milestones.
• Lead and/or participate in virtual learning sessions for Healthy School Food Pathway and other CAF professional development programs.
• Coordinate schedules, travel and district outreach strategy with CA School Food Operations team.
• Work with the districts and CAF Marketing Team to highlight program results in districts’ communities and nationally.
• Develop and complete presentations for webinars, conferences, and other public presentation opportunities that are focused on specific areas of school food operations.
• Ensure CAF initiatives are managed at the highest level and represent the organization’s commitment to quality, result-driven programming.
• Stay current on emerging trends, factors and regulations that influence the school food landscape, particularly in CA; reflect this knowledge in the programming.

Qualifications

• Four (4) years of college, or equivalent advanced training to qualify for a Bachelor’s Degree with a relevant major: Culinary, Nutrition, Food Service
• Minimum of four (4) years’ experience in food service operations 
• ServSafe Manager Certificate; must acquire within 90 days of initial employment
• Knowledge of NSLP regulations and proactive about staying informed on new regulations
• A strong writer and editor, with the ability to create and edit content for school food operators
• Able to create and run impactful training programs for school food operators
• Very organized and able to meet targeted outcomes
• Understands and is able to develop fiscal budgets and modeling for school food programs
• Understands menu planning and K-12 recipe/menu software as it relates to ingredient-based, cook-from-scratch meal programs
• Knowledge of K-12 procurement including RFPs, purchasing cooperatives, and inventory management
• Proficient in Google Workspace and Microsoft Office Suite   

Compensation

Compensation ranges between $65,100 - $86,100 per year and will be commensurate with the candidate’s previous experience and credentials. The Chef Ann Foundation is a great place to work and provides its staff with a competitive benefits package: medical, pharmacy, dental, vision, short and long term disability, paid time off, one week summer break, floating holidays, sick days, and a 403(b) retirement plan. We are a fully remote organization whose headquarters are located in Boulder, CO, with team members spread across the US. This position is remote and must be in California.

Posting will close on September 20, 2024

Anticipated position start date is October 21, 2024

At the Chef Ann Foundation, our work to ensure access to fresh, healthy school food for all is built on the idea of equity. We support and celebrate differences, and our team and community are stronger with every new voice. CAF is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. CAF is committed to the incorporation of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) throughout our organization, including increased efforts to hire, support, and engage BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and other historically marginalized groups.