Cook

Summary

Sets up kitchen areas and assists in preparing meals items for The Pepperberry Suites/The Peachtree Inn by performing the following duties.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Teamwork with the following and all other duties and responsibilities assigned.

• Prepares appetizers, sandwiches, salads, fruit, and other items for meals on the current or next day.
• Delivers pantry items, cold foods and hot foods. Stores cold items in refrigerators and places hot items in steam tables. Hot items may not be placed in steam table any sooner than 15 minutes prior to meal service.
• Assists other food service employees when requested.
• Reads a temperature gauge on heating and cooling equipment in the kitchen. Reports any unusual readings to supervisor and documents on the chart.
• Assists in cleaning the kitchen, which includes washing and sanitizing pots and pans, cleaning the equipment and emptying coffee and iced tea pots, and putting clean dishes away. Sweeps and mops the floor of the main kitchen.

Other Responsibilities:

• Checks daily for diet changes and special dietary needs.
• Washes, peels, cuts, and shreds vegetables and fruits to prepare them for use.
• Bakes bread, rolls, cakes and pastry.
• Fills condiment containers and places them on trays.
• Fills and turns on steam tables and plate warmers in each unit kitchen.
• Ensures that refrigerators in kitchen are stocked appropriately, rotates stock, and discards any old items.
• Procures food items from stock areas.
• Communicates with Nursing staff on needed items, such as cookies, sodas, shakes, puddings, applesauce, etc. for the residents. Prepares and delivers items.
• Trims and cuts meat and poultry prior to cooking.
• Assists the cook in preparing potatoes, starches, gravies, meats, and vegetables.
• Measures and mixes ingredients according to recipe to prepare baked goods.
• Uses the blender to make resident foods pureed or mechanically soft.
• Assesses serving dish and utensil needs and obtains them for use during cooking and meal service.
• Portions food on serving plates, adds gravies, sauces, and garnishes according to instructions from the menu spread sheets and resident preferences.
• Covers, labels, and dates food containers for delivery to the unit kitchens and for storage in the refrigerator or pantry. Checks refrigerator for expired foods.
• Uses small kitchen appliances in the course of preparing resident meal items.
• Rinses empty food containers to be washed. Washes used utensils, dishes, and cookware.
• Collects and takes trash to appropriate receptacles.
• Assists in catering special events as required.
• Receives and inventories in-coming stock.
• Will assume the duties of the Chef and/or cook when and if needed.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and/or Experience

High school diploma or general education degree (GED); Requires at least one month of related experience as a cook or cook’s assistant in a personal care home, restaurant, or institutional setting; or equivalent combination of education and experience; Complete annual state mandated training requirements (Regular In-services as well as any external training).

Language Skills

Ability to read and interpret documents such as recipes, diet cards, safety rules, equipment operation and maintenance instructions, and corporate policy and procedure manuals. Ability to write simple notes. Ability to speak effectively with supervisors and The Orchards at Foxcrest employees.

Mathematical Skills

Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals when assessing required dishware, preparing recipes, weighing or measuring ingredients, and determining cooking times. Ability to read numbers and interpret temperature gauges.

Reasoning Ability

Ability to deal with several concrete variables in standardized situations when following recipes, counting the required number of each meal item, delivering food items to the various unit kitchens, serving meals, and following steps for kitchen clean-up. Ability to follow verbal and written instructions from the Culinary Services Chef. Ability to follow instructions in schedule form (menu calendars and work schedules).

Computer Skills

None required.

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations

None required.

Other Skills and Abilities

Skills specific to preparing meals for geriatric residents are required.

Medical Screenings

Tuberculosis screening is required annually.

Mental Abilities

* The ability to get along with others

* The ability to follow a standard routine with occasional alterations

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by 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.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand while preparing food, plating food, and conversing with various individuals; walk to and from the main kitchen and throughout the campus when going to the various unit kitchens; use hands to finger, handle, or feel when using the telephone, manipulating keys, kitchen equipment, and utensils, transferring food to serving containers, preparing recipes, and cleaning kitchen surfaces and equipment; reach with hands and arms when transferring food to serving containers, obtaining and manipulating ingredients or food items, cleaning kitchen surfaces and equipment, and reaching for supplies; and talk or hear when interacting with various individuals or groups. The employee is frequently required to taste and smell food when it is being prepared and prior to it being served to ensure that it is pleasing, and to determine the freshness of ingredients and produce being used. The employee is occasionally required to sit at a counter; balance when carrying trays of food and dishware; and stoop, kneel, or crouch to turn on steam tables and plate warmers, to get items that have fallen on the floor, or to place items in or get items from low drawers or shelves in the refrigerators, ovens, warmers, serving carts, pantries, or kitchens. The employee must frequently lift and/or move between 10 and 50 pounds of recipe ingredients, frozen meats and foods, canned items, produce, trays, dishware, utensils, and food bins (full and empty). Specific vision abilities required by this job include: close vision, distance vision, and peripheral vision in order to monitor dishes being prepared at close range and at a distance; color vision to identify recipe ingredients, to assess a meal's visual appeal, and to review color-coded diet cards, spreadsheets or documents; close vision to read dials and temperature gauges on kitchen equipment and numbers on keypads in secure areas; peripheral vision and depth perception when maneuvering in the kitchen, pantries, and dining rooms and when walking throughout the facility with carts of food or supplies; depth perception for cooking on stovetops and in ovens and when plating food in the unit kitchens; and ability to adjust focus when obtaining food from the main kitchen, preparing food, and using kitchen equipment.

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly exposed to moving mechanical parts on kitchen equipment, such as the slicer, blender, can opener, garbage disposal, and mixer; and to fumes from products used to sanitize the kitchen and equipment. The employee is frequently exposed to wet and/or humid conditions from the dish sprayer, dishwasher, and equipment using/generating steam; extreme cold when obtaining supplies from the freezer; and extreme heat generated from fryers, ovens, and steam trays in the unit or main kitchens. The employee is occasionally exposed to outside weather conditions when preparing or serving food for an outdoor resident meal; risk of cuts from broken glass or using kitchen knives; risk of burns from hot kitchen equipment and boiling liquids or oils; and risk of electrical shock from kitchen appliances. The noise level in the work environment is usually loud because there are dishwashers and other kitchen machines operating, people entering and leaving the kitchen area, other employees talking, food being prepared, exhaust fans running, and dishes, glasses, or utensils clattering.