Packaging and Bagging Coordinator
Job Description
DEPARTMENT: Culinary Operations
REPORTS TO: Sr. Manager, Meal Program Operations
LOCATION: Santa Rosa HQ
JOB CLASSIFICATION: L2 - Coordinator
EXPECTED HOURS: 38 per week
SCHEDULE: 38 hours a week including admin and meetings as needed. Occasional nights and weekends.
Position Summary
The Bagging & Packaging Coordinator ensures the efficient and organized execution of meal packaging, bagging, and inventory processes while supporting kitchen production as needed. This role owns the processes from packaging through the point of delivery and is expected to take an active, solutions-oriented approach to identifying opportunities and challenges, proposing improvements, and collaborating with colleagues to adapt workflows as program needs change. This role leads volunteers during packaging and bagging shifts, therefore must be comfortable modeling a supportive culture that engages and empowers adult volunteers and youth. Reporting to the Sr. Manager of Meal Program Operations, and working closely with the Kitchen Manager, Chefs and Culinary, this position ensures that meals are accurately portioned, packed, stored and prepared for delivery according to Ceres and food safety standards. The role provides critical support for meal program operations and will serve as backup to the Culinary PA. This detail-oriented provides critical support for meal program operations.
This role requires a fingerprint background check and mandated reporter training.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities
- Follows all food safety and sanitation protocols explicitly, and ensures food is kept within the temperature and time guidelines.
- Proactively identifies problems and opportunities for improvement, develops and proposes solutions, and collaborates with the Sr. Manager and culinary team to adapt process and workflows as needs change.
- Sets up and leads bagging and packaging shifts.
- Ensures shifts are properly set up including counting out containers, confirming the food is ready, and understanding the order of the shifts and understands the projects to be laid out for volunteers.
- Accounting for any “special” items that need to be packaged and bagged.
- Instructs, assists, and supervises volunteers as they conduct packaging and bagging; gives feedback to ensure volunteers stay within Medically Tailored Meal guidelines and packaging/bagging procedures.
- Ensures recipe packing guidelines and meal bagging procedures are followed and observes
Leads adult volunteer circles regularly (each shift), to communicate the daily plan and flow of activities.
- Teaches volunteers new skills related to the work of the kitchen, packaging and bagging.
- Gives feedback to ensure volunteers stary with in Medically Tailored Meal guidelines.
- Ensure adult volunteers and youth receive a warm welcome, are oriented to shift workflow, and that all volunteers are engaged in meaningful work throughout the course of each shift. Ensure volunteers are communicated with respectfully and with appreciation.
- Holds Adult volunteer circles regularly on each shift, so that volunteers understand the plan and flow of each shift.
- Works closely with the Lead Chef to stay aligned on production timelines, shift priorities, and kitchen needs.
- Communicates in a timely manner with Lead Chef about support needed when items may be short, or overproduced.
- Ensures adult volunteers and youth receive a warm welcome, are oriented to shift workflows, and that all volunteers are engaged in meaningful work throughout the course of each shift (including teaching new skills).
- Properly labels, rotates, stores, and tracks inventory of fresh and frozen meals.
- May be asked to assist or serve as back up to the Culinary Administrative Assistant in freezer or product inventory management or product receiving.
- May be asked to assist or sere as back up to the Culinary Administrative Assistant in preparation of client “letters” and packets it relates to bagging shifts.
- Keeps packaging room neat and orderly during shifts and provides a clean handoff to the kitchen lead with accuracy and good organization including assisting with dish washing, mopping and laundry needs when necessary
- Documents accurate volunteer attendance on shifts.
- Models Ceres’ culture and values, maintains an atmosphere of non-judgement and respect for diverse value sets.
- Conducts deep cleaning and organizational tasks at the direction of the Kitchen Manager.
- May support emergency food provision efforts, which may include shift in role to production line cook, with increased physical demands to support increased production requirements.
- Reads and responds to Ceres emails daily.
- Regular, reliable, predictable attendance is required for all shifts and program meetings.
- Other duties as required and requested.
- Maintains “Positive Youth Development” environment at all times, follow principles of youth development and Ceres youth program standards.
Qualifications
- Strong organizational skills, including the ability to manage timelines and projects.
- Experience in food handling, meal production, or packaging preferred (professional cooking experience not required).
- Experience in a setting working with volunteers strongly preferred.
- Excellent attention to detail and ability to follow instructions such as packaging instructions required.
- Understanding of food safety, portioning, and inventory management in a kitchen or food production setting preferred.
- Ability to lead, train, and engage volunteers in a fast-paced environment.
- Bilingual/Bicultural, ideally in Spanish, preferred but not required.
- Active food handler’s certification (or willingness to obtain upon hire).
- Proficiency in basic computer functions and ability to learn new computer platforms required.
- Commitment to Ceres Community Project’s mission and values.
- Excellent people/communication skills, including the ability to listen, communicate warmly and clearly, work in a team, and set clear boundaries.
Physical Demands / Work Environment
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a staff member to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand in a kitchen; use hands and fingers to operate various utensils and equipment; talk and hear to communicate with coworkers.
- The job requires regular lifting, movement of large or heavy items, and going in and out of cold places.
- Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision requirements to ensure food safety standards.
- Moderate lifting of up to 50 pounds, bending, stooping, and climbing a ladder is occasionally required.
- The work environment is primarily indoors with occasional loud noise in kitchen area. (ie. pots/pans banging, water running, multiple people talking at once, music).
- Occasionally the employee may be asked to work out-of-doors representing Ceres at events.
About Ceres Community Project
Founded in 2007, Ceres Community Project works to foster health for people, communities and the planet through love, healing food and empowering the next generation.
Ceres Community Project's Community Health model provides free and low-cost 100% organic medically tailored meals, nutrition education and caring support to people living with serious, chronic and complex health conditions. The model embeds a Youth Development Program where 14-19 year-old youth learn to grow, cook and eat healthy foods, develop job and leadership skills, and experience their value as contributing members of the community. A robust adult volunteer program supports all aspects of Ceres’ work and strengthens social connections and healthy eating across the community. Ceres’ Community Health model improves healthy eating behaviors among clients, teens and adult volunteers and educates the whole community about the link between healthy eating and the health of both people and planet. It also strengthens the social fabric of the community, another factor that is at the root of health. In times of disaster, Ceres is an emergency nutrition provider for our community.
Ceres delivers meals throughout Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties. Our operations include a Santa Rosa, California headquarters location and two youth-run 1.5-acre food productions gardens. Ceres has trained more than 15 communities around the United States and internationally to replicate our model. We are also active at the state and national level advocating for policies that support equitable access to healthy food and health care, including reimbursement for medically tailored meals by insurers. For more information, please visit www.ceresproject.org.
Ceres Community Project is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All employment decisions at Ceres are made without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin/ancestry, age, disability, marital & veteran status or any other status protected by laws or regulations.
