Cook

Overview

The Cook position focuses on providing high quality, healthy on-campus lunch service to employees, visiting guests, and clients. This position is responsible for preparing and cooking menu items alongside the Sous Chefs. In addition, the person in this position will assist general cleaning and maintenance, kitchen prep and inventory management of kitchen items.

For over 30 years, Zoot Enterprises has been a global provider of advanced origination, acquisition, and decision management solutions. Our customer-centric tools and services enable Zoot's clients to add value and differentiation, while providing nimble, scalable solutions for specific business objectives. A leader in the fintech industry, Zoot provides a cloud based secure processing environment that delivers millisecond real-time decisions, accessing hundreds of cutting edge data sources to help reduce risk and increase conversions.

Essential Job Functions

• Taking guidance from Sous Chefs for daily instruction, from cooking to operating all applicable kitchen equipment while positively and professionally interacting with customers.
• Prepare hot entrees, soups, and salads using ingredients on hand, without the benefit of a specific recipe.
• Create meals from leftover/extra ingredients.
• Maintain standards for both state health code regulations and child care facility regulations in regards to food handling, safety, food preparation, and cleaning.
• Equipment Maintenance: Regularly checking and maintaining the dishwasher machine and other cleaning equipment. Reporting any malfunctions or issues to the kitchen manager.
• Inventory Management: Monitoring cleaning supplies and chemicals, notifying the supervisor when inventory is low, and ensuring proper storage and labeling of chemicals.
• While taking direction from Sous Chefs, this role will be expected to make decisions pertaining to assigned meals without directive.
• Exhibit an ability to multi-task in a fast-paced, commercial environment.
• Clean and inspect galley equipment, kitchen appliances, and work areas to ensure cleanliness and functional operation per state health code guidelines
• Cook nutritional meals, and apportion and serve food to customers.
• Work with nutritionist and Healthy Is Wellness to consider health challenges that cater to the current menu.
• Assist with catering for Zoot and ZALA events.
• Clean, cut, and cook meat, fish, and poultry.
• Per health-code regulations wash and sanitize pots, pans, dishes, utensils, and other cooking equipment.
• Compile and maintain records of food use and expenditures.
• Willing to learn to bake.
• Per health-code regulations check the quality of raw and cooked food products to ensure that standards are met.
• Per health-code regulations ensure sanitation practices, standards, and regulations are followed.
• Check the quantity and quality of received products.
• Order or requisition food and other supplies needed to ensure efficient operation.
• Inspect supplies, equipment, and work areas to ensure conformance to established health code standards.
• Estimate amounts and costs of required supplies, such as food and ingredients.
• Take into account customer feedback when planning and developing recipes and menus, while also taking into account such factors as seasonal availability of ingredients and the likely number of customers.
• Compliance with and knowledge of Zoot's Policies and Procedures, Code of Business Conduct, and Employee Agreement.
• Achieve a service-focused culture with emphasis on delivering on-time, high-quality products and services to internal and external customers.
• Other duties as assigned - it is understood that this list of major duties and responsibilities is not an inclusive list and that other duties and responsibilities, which may include helping others in the same or different departments, may be assigned by supervision.

Core Competencies Required

Job Specific:

• Command Skills - Able to lead people to accomplish tasks; takes unpopular stands if necessary; encourages direct and difficult debate but is able to reach a decision and move on; looked to for direction during problem situations; looks to resolve challenges, not defer to someone else.
• Communication (Manager/Leader) - Creates an environment that fosters open and honest communication from all parties involved; identifies the appropriate medium(s) in which to convey messages and ideas; listens attentively to understand the true meaning in others' messages and input; communicate goals and execution strategies to their team; available and accessible for their team.
• Communication (Oral/Verbal) - Demonstrates the ability to convey thoughts and express ideas effectively using speech in individual or group situations; conveys and presents information appropriately for the needs of various audience groups.
• Composure - Able to maintain a rational and objective demeanor when faced with stressful or emotional situations; makes emotional and physical changes to manage, control, and reduce tension in trying situations; handles pressure and/or stress effectively and does not become defensive or irritated; professional maturity; not derailed by obstacles or rejection.
• Creativity and Innovation - Able to come up with unusual or clever ideas to solve a given problem or situation; develops creative ways to solve a problem and implements unusual and unprecedented solutions, processes, methods, systems, products, or services.
• Dealing with Ambiguity - Able to cope with change; versatile; can shift gears as priorities or business needs change; able to act without having all of the answers; doesn't get frustrated when things are ambiguous; able to move on if situation necessitates it, even if other tasks/projects aren't complete; able to balance acting with uncertainty with risk.
• Decision Making - Makes decisions in a timely manner, sometimes with incomplete information and under tight deadlines and pressure; able to make a quick decision; also able to make good decisions using a mixture of analysis, experience, and judgment; decisions generally turn out to be correct/accurate when evaluated over time; is someone others can rely on for quality decisions.
• Motivating Others - Engages and inspires others toward excellence; gets others to follow for their own reasons, not your own; shows others the value of moving forward in a chosen direction.
• Process Oriented - Able to determine the processes necessary to accomplish tasks; utilizes existing processes effectively; knows how to organize or combine tasks that align with processes to make workflow efficient; looks to improve existing processes when appropriate.
• Quality Focused - Approaches tasks with attention to detail and a desire to get it right; reviews planning or requirements documents to ensure a thorough understanding of the deliverable; asks questions if uncertain; seeks feedback from others and isn't defensive in receiving it.
• Team Building - Taps the power of the team to identify and solve problems and make decisions to accomplish goals efficiently; fosters an environment of teamwork in which members seek and rely on the strengths of others on the team and solving problems as a group; aligns the correct person to the correct job/task.

Companywide:

• Accountability - Takes responsibility for tasks and projects as assigned; holds self and others accountable for high quality, timely, and cost-effective results; accepts responsibility for mistakes.
• Action Oriented, Initiative - Works hard every day, self-motivated; energized by both tasks expected of the role and new or challenging projects; willing to act even with minimal planning, however, doesn't act carelessly and takes responsibility for actions, whether end result is positive or negative; moves on to the next task or project without being asked or seeks out additional ways to help.
• Communication (General) - Effective with the form(s) of communication that are applicable to a given role (oral, presentation, written); able to be detailed enough to show that the right work was done, yet succinct enough to effectively communicate data, opinions, or findings.
• Critical Thinking - Uses logical, strategic, analytical, reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a given situation and possible solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems; able to think outside the box to generate possible solutions.
• Customer Focused, Service Oriented - Actively works to meet the expectations, requirements, or needs of internal and external customers; understands who their customer is; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
• Development Focused - Knows or is able to recognize personal strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and limits; learns from mistakes; receptive to sharing one's own shortcomings with others; is comfortable with balanced performance reviews (both positives and areas to improve) and honest professional development and career discussions.
• Driving for Results, Solutions Focused - Motivated by success and passionate about working and achieving results that align with the plan; finds ways to complete tasks or projects, even in the face of adversity, and remains optimistic and driven to the end; looks for ways to improve performance all the time.
• Integrity and Trust - Widely trusted across the organization; seen as a direct, truthful individual; maintains confidentiality as required; admits mistakes; doesn't misrepresent themselves or the facts for personal gain.
• Listening - Practices attentive and active listening; has the patience and ability to hear people out; able to accurately restate the opinions of others to validate understanding, even if there is disagreement.
• Mentoring - Able to effectively share knowledge and insight with others so that they can accomplish tasks, achieve goals, and enhance skills.
• Organization and Time Management - Able to manage multiple projects or tasks and adapt to changing priorities; effective and efficient with own time; able to bring resources (e.g. people, materials, processes, budget) together to get things done and uses them effectively; shows up on time and respects the time of others.
• Problem Solving - Willing to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; examines all angles and sources before developing a solution; looks beyond easy solutions and doesn't stop at the first answer; able to uncover or anticipate hidden problems; provides honest analysis, even if the answer isn't what people want to hear.
• Professionalism - Easy to approach and talk to; able to put others at ease, either naturally or due to self-awareness to adjust; warm, pleasant, and gracious; sensitive to and patient with the personalities of others; builds rapport by making people feel comfortable; works well with others; is seen as a team player and is cooperative; easily gains trust and support of peers; encourages collaboration; able to be candid with peers; solves problems in a way that minimizes negative impacts to others.
• Technical Aptitude - Has the functional and technical knowledge and skills to perform a job's duties at a high level of accomplishment.
• Working with Existing Tools - Able to leverage current tools, services, process, and procedures to accomplish tasks; seeks additional understanding of existing processes and procedures; finds ways to improve upon existing options before proposing or exploring new options.

Education, Training, and Experience Requirements

This position requires:

High School Diploma

Years of Experience 3-5 years of experience in a restaurant or commercial kitchen preparing meal service for large groups (50+ per day).

Demonstrated knowledge of food safety and preparation guidelines.

Strong knife skills

Ability to take direction from supervisors and managers

Independent thinking to recognize daily needs

Initiative

Or, an equal combination of education and experience.

Physical Requirements:

• All positions at Zoot require the ability to move about inside an office environment which includes the operation of computers and other office productivity machinery and frequently communicates with other employees, clients, vendors, and visitors.
• This position specifically requires long periods of activity including standing, walking, bending, kneeling, stooping, crouching, and exposure to elements such as heat and cold in a kitchen setting.
• This position may be required to lift up to 50lbs.

Working Conditions

• This position will take place primarily in a commercial kitchen setting.
• This position requires maintenance of a clean working environment.
• This position will require travel 5% of the time.
• The Cook position requires self-initiative, efficient work, and regular management of changing priorities.