Work with us to change the food system

3-year role, 3 days p/w, £17,331

This is an exciting opportunity for a passionate and organised trainer to join our growing Social Enterprise and support our mission to transform our local food culture and people’s lives through food education and free meals. 

Our passion is for educating and equipping young people and communities, with the skills and knowledge to feed themselves well. Scotland is full of amazing produce and here at Edinburgh Food Social we want to make sure that not only everyone has access to it but knows what to do with it. 

About you and the Community Chef Trainer role

This role will form an integral part of the roll-out of an ambitious programme to transform the food culture in Craigmillar. 

We’re progressing to the next stage of our community food work with an intensive programme of food education, free community dinners, free recipe kits and ready-to-reheat meals, training for young people to become Chefs, pop-ups in our food truck, classes in local schools and trips to farms… 

We are looking for a dedicated and excellent Chef Trainer to become part of our team and help us achieve our mission. It is integral that this person has very strong people skills and is able to work with people from all different backgrounds with no prejudice or judgment. 

As a Chef Trainer, you will help plan and deliver our programme to a whole host of different individuals and organisations. Some will be short 1 day courses, some 6-month Apprenticeship schemes.

Your job is to inspire and motivate the local community to get cooking and train people who leave school with no qualifications to work in the industry. 

We’re only a small organisation and so the Community Chef Trainer has to slot into the wider organisation and be able to be a strong team player as well as an independent worker. They will need to help maintain and keep clean the kitchen and there will be times they have to help with catering for weddings and events. 

The responsibilities, skills and experience listed below are intended to give you an idea of what we need for this role. If you don’t meet every requirement but feel you would be able to work with us to deliver the majority of them, we urge you to apply anyway. We are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, and for us, the most important ‘experience’ is a passion for our mission. 

Key Community Chef Trainer responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Deliver in-person training sessions to individuals and groups of all ages and backgrounds
• Maintain, update and develop relevant training materials to keep our programme up to date and identify areas to develop new programmes that complement our organisational strategy
• Develop additional training resources, where necessary, to support the delivery of project objectives 
• Gather feedback to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the training programme
• Maintain partner and community relationships to ensure smooth delivery of training programmes
• Develop recipe kits
• Cook for community dinners and pop-up events  
• Some flexibility with working times and days to work evenings and weekends for events. 

Skills & experience

• • Excellent verbal communication skills 
  • Experience working in a catering or kitchen environment
  • Able to create user-friendly and engaging recipes
  • Great people skills to build rapport with learners and strike a balance between being supportive and challenging 
  • Excellent presentation and facilitation skills to deliver engaging training sessions and experience in doing this 
  • Excellent scheduling and time management skills to manage workload 
  • Experience delivering training to a kitchen workforce or adult learners 
  • An understanding of hospitality, especially how to deliver quality food and service 
  • A background in training
  • An understanding of economic or nutritional deprivation and the challenges these pose for people 

Our team

You would be joining a dedicated, friendly, supportive team who works hard but believe in a healthy work/life balance. Any overtime hours will be replaced with TOIL or paid. Joining a small, collaborative team means you’ll be able to contribute to our projects. You’ll be part of the wider organisation’s work and everyone works together to do what needs to be done to help the organisation succeed.

Chef Trainer application process

We ask you to please send a cover letter explaining why you meet the criteria for the job and are passionate about the issue along with your CV to kirsty.haigh@edinburghfoodsocial.org 

If you are shortlisted then we will ask you to come in for half a day. This will consist of a short chat/interview and you will be asked to do a short cookery class for staff. This portion will last 2 hours. You will then cook with some of the team so we can gain an understanding of your skills in the kitchen. This section will last 2 hours and you will be paid for this as we are putting you to work.  

The deadline for applications is 20/06/23

3-year role, 12 hours per week, £7,390.20

We are looking for a responsible Administrator to organise our social enterprises’ day-to-day operations. Your job will be to provide back-end support to our staff, take our catering orders and book deliveries, send the bookkeeper files, keep paperwork up to date and carry out surveys and feedback work for our community food projects. 

The Administrator should be highly organised and able to multitask with ease. Our ideal candidate has experience as an Office Administrator, Secretary or relevant administrative role. You should also be familiar with office software, including word processors, spreadsheets and presentations.

The role will also involve doing some work with the kitchen team to ensure the smooth running of the organisation. Ordering cleaning equipment, doing the kitchen laundry, and booking annual servicing for all kitchen equipment. 

Our team
You would be joining a dedicated, friendly, supportive team who works hard but believe in a healthy work/life balance. Any overtime hours will be replaced with TOIL or paid. Joining a small, collaborative team means you’ll be able to contribute to and draw on various projects and strategic insights. You’ll be part of the wider organisation’s work and everyone works together to do what needs to be done to help the organisation succeed. 

Requirements and skills

• Familiarity with office equipment, including printers 
• Knowledge of office policies and procedures
• Experience with office management tools (Google Drive, MS Office)
• Excellent organisational and time-management skills
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Problem-solving attitude with an eye for detail

Application Process

To apply for this role please email a short cover letter explaining how you meet the criteria and your CV to kirsty.haigh@edinburghfoodsocial.org

Short-listed candidates will then be invited for a short interview/chat. 

The deadline for applications is 20/06/23

We’re looking for a new Chair of the board. We would love to hear from you if you’d like to play an instrumental part in our organisation and you have the following experience –

• Previous experience of Chairing a minimum of one other board – preferably a charity or social enterprise
• Sound knowledge of financial reporting and governance
• Experience of funding
• Good track record of managing significant budgets and reviewing financial plans
• Good network of contacts in Edinburgh
• Knowledge of the charity sector
• Strategic thinker with clear vision
• Strong public speaker
• Approachable nature with strong ethical values and inspiring leadership
• Experience in or knowledge of education and/or health would be an advantage

The role of the Chair involves

• Leading the board and ensuring the right balance of skills required
  • Leading on recruitment of suitable new board members
  • Following up with charity trustees on items or actions outstanding 
  • Encouraging dialogue and participation from board members
  • Developing an ethical culture in line with the values of the organisation. 
• Promoting good governance and financial planning 
  • Overseeing the legal requirements and annual financial reporting of the organisation
  • Ensuring Companies House information is up to date
  • Working with the accountant, bookkeeper and treasurer to ensure accurate financial documentation is produced
  • Ensuring effective insurance and liability cover is in place
  • Helping to develop budgets and forecasts to enable the smooth financial running of the organisation
  • Overseeing funding and ensuring critical costs are covered
  • Ensuring clarity of financial reporting and P&L
• Providing supervision and support to the Head of Food Education
  • Weekly call to check in and offer a sounding board / support with any issues
  • Offering training and development where needed
• Acting as a figurehead or spokesperson where required
  • Attending meetings of political or high-profile nature
  • Speaking at public events where required
  • Developing network of contacts and partnership organisations with Head of Food Education

If you’re interested in applying for the position of Chair then please email chair@edinburghfoodsocial.org and you will be sent the short application form.

We are looking for a new Secretary to work with our Chair and support the Edinburgh Food Social Board. The Secretary will be a full member of the Board and will be responsible for organising meetings, taking minutes and ensuring the smooth running of the Board.

• Approachable nature with strong ethical values and inspiring leadership
• Good network of contacts in Edinburgh, the Lothians and beyond
• Knowledge of the charity / social enterprise sector preferable
• Strategic thinker

Board members are responsible for the overall strategic direction of the organisation. They ensure that our organisation is achieving as much as it can and operating to the highest standards. Our Board is made up of people with experts in a whole range of things and who bring this knowledge and their contacts to help with the oversight of the organisation.

We are looking to recruit some general Board members to join our team. The commitment is about 1-2 days per month with Board members expected to attend meetings and follow up on their action points outside of these meetings.

In return, you get to be part of helping us help people across the city and creating the most effective organisation to ensure that everyone can access good food and knows what to do with it.

Board members are responsible for the overall strategic direction of the organisation. They ensure that our organisation is achieving as much as it can and operating to the highest standards. Our Board is made up of people with experts in a whole range of things and who bring this knowledge and their contacts to help with the oversight of the organisation.

We are looking to recruit some general Board members to join our team. The commitment is about 1-2 days per month with Board members expected to attend meetings and follow-up on their action points outside of these meetings.

In return, you get to be part of helping us help people across the city and creating the most effective organisation to ensure that everyone can access good food and knows what to do with it.

We are particularly keen to hear from those with experience of fundraising, social enterprise, impact reporting and business planning.

We have more and more catering jobs and community food events coming up this summer and we need Chefs to help us pull them all off.

We are looking for people who can work the occasional day here and there and don’t mind being added to a list of people when we ask when we need extra help for a job. 

We’ve got breakfasts, weddings, canape parties and dinners at community festivals…. 

As much as we want to spend as much money on those most in need as we can we also appreciate that Chefs deserve to be paid for their work too. So, if you’re not in a position to volunteer but still have the capacity to help out with events then please get in touch and we can pay you as a freelance Chef.

Our freelance Chef rate will be £11.25- 12.50pp/h depending on experience. 

If you’re interested then please email hello@edinburghfoodsocial.org and provide:
– A copy of your hygiene qualifications  

– A reference (or two if you are looking for freelance work) 

– A brief cover letter with information on your cooking experience (or a CV if you’d prefer) 

– Info on any restrictions you have on days/times you could help etc. 

We are also looking for people to staff front of house at our events.

If you like working with people and have the capacity to volunteer or work as a freelance member of waitstaff for us then you can join our pool of people we contact when we have events coming up. Freelance wait staff are paid £11p/h. 

We are always trying to make people smile with great food and drinks. Help us improve people’s special days by providing the best front of house experience.

We’re particularly looking for people with their own transport however, this is not essential.

If you’re interested then please get in touch with catering@edinburghfoodsocial.org and:
– Let us know any and all relevant experience 

– Clarify if you’re looking to volunteer or be freelance 

– Info on any restrictions you have on days/times you could help etc. 

Volunteer Chefs

We are always looking for an extra pair of qualified hands to help us cook for events and deliver our catering.

If you were able to volunteer your time to help us with these events then that would be amazing. Any and all surplus from paid events goes into our community food provision and projects we teach in educationally and nutritionally deprived areas. 

To volunteer as a chef please get in touch with catering@edinburghfoodsocial.org.

Community Food Support

We always welcome volunteers to help at our community meals, social eating events, and educational collaborations. We are currently looking for volunteers to help with a number of events in June, including a community meal at a local high school and with a Syrian men’s group.

If you have availability and would like to help on June 16th, and/or June 21st please get in touch with hello@edinburghfoodsocial.org and let us know your experience in this area.