The posting
Chef, In-School (Multiple Locations)
About the Role
The Chef position is an exciting opportunity for a talented culinary professional looking to transition to meaningful, impactful work. As part of a team of 3-7 people in a Red Rabbit school kitchen, you’ll help prepare and serve culturally relevant, scratch-made meals for hundreds of students each day. Our promise is simple: the food students know and love, at its best cooked with skill, seasoned with care, and presented with pride.
The ideal candidate has strong culinary skills and understands that excellence lives in the everyday details: how the food tastes, how it looks, and how it arrives. Fresh, at the right temperature, and on time. Food safety is a priority in everything you do. You’re organized, dependable, and comfortable working alongside your team to deliver consistent quality through preparation, cooking, and service.
At Red Rabbit, we celebrate the cultural roots of our food through our chefs and the students we serve. You’ll bring care to every meal and warmth to every interaction, helping create a dining experience where students feel welcomed, represented, and served with dignity.
This hands-on role offers stable weekday hours, no nights or weekends, and most major holidays off. If you’re passionate about Food Justice and bringing culinary excellence to the meals children eat every day, we’d love to meet you.
Job Functions
Culinary Execution: You have recipes worth sharing and the skills to make them shine. Contribute your ideas to culturally relevant menus that introduce students to new flavors and connect them with familiar favorites. Draw on your technique, creativity, and experience to turn everyday ingredients into memorable dishes. The kind students look forward to eating and ask for again.
Food Safety & Sanitation: Maintain a food-safe kitchen at all times. Follow proper food handling, storage, cooking, holding, and cleaning procedures. Complete required time and temperature logs accurately, follow allergy procedures, and promptly communicate food safety concerns.
Meal Presentation & Service: Elevate the dining experience by making food look as good as it tastes. Use color, thoughtful plating, and creative touches to get students excited about what’s on their plate. Keep meals fresh, at the right temperature, and ready on time, and bring a warm, welcoming energy to the service line.
School Community: Build positive relationships with students and school staff. Respond professionally to questions and feedback, and communicate service needs or concerns to the appropriate manager.
Kitchen Organization & Administration: Organize your station, support inventory tracking, and use ingredients thoughtfully to minimize waste. Accurately track and submit meal counts, consumption numbers, and required daily reports using company systems.
Required Skills & Experience
- 3+ years of professional culinary experience in a fast-paced kitchen.
- Strong hands-on cooking skills and the ability to follow recipes and prepare consistent, high-quality meals.
- Demonstrated knowledge of proper food safety and sanitation practices.
- Ability to organize preparation and service tasks, manage timing, and maintain quality in a busy kitchen.
- Excellent communication skills, attention to detail, and reliable follow-through.
- Ability to work collaboratively and complete assigned tasks independently.
- Comfort using software, apps, or spreadsheets to record and report daily information.
- Required food safety certification for the assigned location, or willingness to obtain it within the required timeframe.
- Must share our passion for improving nutrition and health in schools and see our work through the lens of food justice.
Preferred Qualifications
- Prior kitchen management, supervisory, or leadership experience.
- Experience in a high-volume kitchen serving 300+ meals daily.
- Experience in school food service or familiarity with National School Lunch Program (NSLP) requirements.
- Culinary education or formal culinary training.
- Experience interacting with students, school partners, or customers.
- Bilingual in English and Spanish.
Additional Information
- Job Type: Full Time
- Typical Schedule: Monday-Friday, 6:30 AM to 02:30 PM; exact hours vary by school assignment
- Location: Various Locations
- Compensation: $30-$35 per hour
Benefits
- Generous PTO (most major holidays off)
- Health, Dental, Vision Insurance
- 401k Option
- Paid Professional Development
- Education Reimbursement Opportunities
- Paid Family Leave
- Paid Parental Leave
- Worker’s Compensation Insurance Coverage
- Free Lunch: Access to great-tasting, made-from-scratch food.
About Red Rabbit
Founded in 2005, Red Rabbit is an MWBE-certified K–12 school food management company on a mission to transform school dining. We believe that serving diverse, high-quality meals to children in urban communities is about more than food, it’s about dignity, representation, and opportunity.
Our professionally trained chefs work in commissaries and onsite in school cafeterias, preparing scratch-made, culturally relevant meals that reflect the heritage and lived experiences of the students we serve. We don’t just deliver food...we become part of the school community.
Today, Red Rabbit prepares and serves millions of meals each year across the Greater New York region, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. If you’re passionate about food, community, and making an impact every day, we’d love to meet you.
Red Rabbit is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, marital status, or sexual orientation.
