Kindness Cafe Coordinator (Bilingual)

Ballard Food Bank’s mission is to bring food and hope to our neighbors because there can be enough for everyone. To achieve our mission, we provide access to nutritious foods through our grocery model food bank, Kindness Café, and Community Resource Hub, which encompasses financial resources, referral, and mail services that support self-sufficiency. We also advocate for food equity and justice. Our new home, which opened in October 2021, serves as a Hub for Hope as it brings together food, services, and community partners in a one-stop shop. The Ballard Food Bank actively strives to be an anti-racist organization and promotes the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in its work.

Position summary:

The Kindness Cafe provides a variety of warm and nutritious menu items for our patrons at no cost. The Café Coordinator will support the café team in the overall operations of Kindness Café. These responsibilities include but are not limited to the following: preparation of daily menu items, support of café volunteers, and daily interface with food bank staff, volunteers, and clients. Café Coordinator reports directly to Café Manager.

Responsibilities:

This position’s responsibilities include:

• Work alongside and support the café team, volunteers, and guest chefs in preparing and serving meals
• Work with our forward-facing team to create systems to support a positive community space
• Support opening and closing to uphold the cleanliness and maintenance of café and prep kitchen
• Support volunteers to work on prep projects and on the line serving meals
• Operate as part of a team working to create a welcoming community environment where individuals feel as though they are respected and a part of the community
• Receive and organize weekly orders from varied purveyors
• Engage in de-escalation to help ensure the safety of our community
• Other duties as assigned

Skills/Qualifications:

We are seeking a highly organized, creative, and detail-oriented individual with 2-4 years of experience in social service adjacent professions as well as food service-related professions. This individual must function as part of a team and should be comfortable working with volunteers and clients in a fast-paced environment.

The successful candidate will possess the following:

• Prior food service experience required
• Knowledge of safe kitchen operations, and Health Department requirements for food preparation and food service
• A valid Washington State Food Worker Card
• Proficiency in Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Ukrainian, Russian, or another language spoken by recent immigrants to Seattle
• Ability to work collaboratively, using discretion, professionalism, integrity, and compassion
• Ability to multi-task, with excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Must be comfortable and respectful in interacting with staff, volunteer, and clients
• Experience with conflict de-escalation and trauma-informed care
• A strong commitment to food, racial, and social justice
• Lived experience and/or extensive knowledge of historically underrepresented groups
• Ability to serve children, adults, and families from diverse backgrounds and cultures in a respectful manner
• Is highly reliable, with initiative, flexibility, and enthusiasm
• Likes being part of a team and able to work independently
• Must be organized and detail oriented, with problem solving skills
• Ability to work and spend extended periods of time standing and or moving
• Ability to lift 50lbs safely

Physical demands and work environment:

Ballard Food Bank strongly encourages vaccination against COVID-19 to keep our community safe. While performing the duties of this job you will:

• Be required to work onsite at Ballard Food Bank
• Engage with clients, staff, guests, and volunteers daily
• Routinely sit/stand at a laptop/computer
• Routinely spend extended periods of time standing and/or moving
• May involve working some evening and weekend hours for some events

The physical demands and work environment described are representative of those for an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Hours:

This is a full-time position with much of the work happening Monday – Thursday with some evening and weekend hours for events or programming. Ballard Food Bank currently works a 35-hour work week. The Kindness Cafe is open to the public Monday – 10am - 3pm, Wednesday – 10am – 1:30pm, Tuesday & Thursday – 10am – 6pm.

Equal Opportunity Employment: Ballard Food Bank is an equal opportunity employer. We seek to cultivate a staff team that reflects the rich diversity of our community. We value a team that is vibrant, inclusive and offers a place of belonging. Applicants representing the diversity of our communities including, people of color, people with disabilities, people with lived experience, and people of diverse sexual orientations and gender expressions are encouraged to apply.