Community Kitchen Co-ordinator

Lead and manage People First Tameside's community kitchen, ensuring high standards of food hygiene, health and safety, stock control and kitchen organisation, whilst delivering cooking and food-based activities to adults with learning disabilities that promote independence, healthy eating, practical life skills and social inclusion. 

Main Tasks
Leading and managing the kitchen

• To lead the day-to-day running of the community kitchen, keeping it clean, safe, well organised and ready for use.
• To ensure the kitchen meets food hygiene and food safety legislation, and to maintain all required records (e.g. cleaning schedules, temperature checks, allergen information).
• To manage stock control: ordering, receiving, storing and rotating food and equipment, and keeping within the agreed budget.
• To carry out and record risk assessments for kitchen activities, equipment and individuals, and to review them regularly.
• To ensure health and safety procedures, including fire safety, first aid and COSHH, are followed by everyone using the kitchen.
• To report any maintenance, equipment or safety issues promptly.

Supporting members in the kitchen

• To support adults with learning disabilities to take part in cooking and food-based groups with themed activity and learning programmes.
• To introduce and support people to engage in new activities and develop practical life skills such as meal planning, shopping, food preparation, cooking safely and cleaning up.
• To promote healthy eating, and to support people to make informed choices about food.
• To ensure that everyone using the kitchen is meaningfully engaged and safe from harm, including following any individual dietary, allergy, and eating and drinking support guidance.
• To support individuals to maintain their independence, develop and reach their maximum potential.
• To find out about people's likes, dislikes, interests and life-long ambitions, and to use these to shape kitchen activities.
• To support members to get involved in social groups, events and community activities linked to food, with an emphasis on accessing mainstream services in the local community.

Volunteers and team working

• To work closely with PFT staff, members, volunteers, carers and family members, and with other agencies and services.

Supporting PFT to have a voice

• To support people with learning disabilities to play a strong and active role within the community and to have their voice heard, including having a say in what is cooked, how the kitchen is run and how it develops.
• To promote the principles of self-advocacy and empowerment.

Developing

• To help publicise and promote the community kitchen, its activities and training, and PFT in general.
• To produce accessible information (recipes, instructions, safety information, menus) using a variety of media such as pictures, symbols, photographs and easy read.
• To explore opportunities to develop the kitchen, e.g. community meals, healthy eating projects and links with local growing projects.

Monitoring and recording

• To maintain accurate records of attendance, activities, progress and outcomes for members using the kitchen.
• To keep the members database up to date, in line with data protection requirements.
• To ensure that the work is recorded and monitored, and to provide verbal and written reports as required.

Policy and practice

• To work within the policies, procedures and good practice guidelines that PFT have developed, including safeguarding.
• To work to combat all forms of discrimination, and to ensure that the principles of equal opportunities are implemented in all work undertaken on behalf of PFT.
• To carry out the above duties, and any other duties commensurate with the responsibilities of the post, that may reasonably be required, in a manner which actively supports and promotes PFT's aims and policies.