Senior Community Chef

Organization: Fred Victor
Location: 145 Queen Street, Toronto, ON, M5A 1S1 and 40 Oak Street, Toronto, ON, M5A 2C6

INTERNAL/EXTERNAL

Job Title: Senior Community Chef, Food Services

• Position Type: Bargaining Unit, Permanent, Full-Time
• Number of Positions: 1
• Rate: $31.30 per hour
• Vacation: 4 weeks to start
• Benefits: Group benefits with Life Insurance, AD&D, Extended Health and Dental Care with premiums 100% paid by the employer, LTD with premiums 100% paid by employees; paid sick leave and float day
• RRSP: RRSP with 6.5% employer contribution and 4% employee contribution after successful completion of probation
• Hours: 37.5 (rotating schedule, includes some evenings, weekends, and holidays)
• Supervisor: Senior Manager, Food Services
• Posting Date: July 31, 2025
• Application Deadline: August 22, 2025
• Location: 145 Queen Street, Toronto, ON, M5A 1S1 and 40 Oak Street, Toronto, ON, M5A 2C6

Why Fred Victor?

For 130 years, Fred Victor has been a leader in helping people rebuild their lives in Toronto. Our mission is to improve the health, income and housing stability of people experiencing poverty and homelessness. We are committed to ending homelessness, one person at a time.

The Community Services (CS) department at Fred Victor is a multi-service, multi-site structure that encompasses the 40 Oak Community HUB and community programs, Consumption and Treatment Services, Employment and Training Services, Drop-Ins, Warming and Keep Cool Programs and Food Services. Additionally, it operates a social purpose enterprise with catering services and spearheads a significant Peer Training Initiative that prioritizes the involvement of individuals with lived experience.

Fred Victor Centre is currently looking for an experienced and passionate Senior Community Chef for the Food Services program to plan and execute meals in 3 priority areas:

1. The Moss Park and Regent Park meal programs - serving meals weekly for up to 300 people each meal.
   a) Our Social Purpose Enterprise - including supporting training and job readiness skills building for peers, staff, and community members.
   b) Fred’s Kitchen - ensuring presentation, taste and quality maintains and generate business.
2. Maintain relationships with Fred Victor programs by delivering high quality food/menus and ensuring our largest client is receiving food that reflects our philosophy and commitment. The ideal candidate is passionate about good food, committed to providing nutritious, delicious, ethically sourced, and culturally inspired meals in a dignified way.

The Senior Community Chef understands the power of food and the many positive impacts on health and social wellbeing, as well as its limitations. The Senior Community Chef celebrates diverse food traditions while possessing a critical analysis of food systems. The successful candidate has strong collaborative skills balanced with an ability to contribute to a supportive environment in the kitchen for a diverse team of staff, peers and community members that enables them to develop their culinary skills in an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere.

The Senior Community Chef will lead a successful food program while teaching and leading Peer Program participants to push out high standard food and challenge food inequality.

Does this sound like work you want to be a part of?

We offer a collaborative environment, an opportunity to join a diverse team of caring professionals and a chance to make a difference. With over 75 programs and 25 sites, there are lots of opportunities to grow your career with us. Many members of the management team started in relief and front-line roles.

What You Will Do:

• Lead the preparation of meals for our Moss Park community meal program.
• Assist the Senior Manager to plan menus and execute community meals (10 meals/week) that reflect our philosophy and commitment to healthy, dignified food in a low-income diverse community.
• Steps in as needed to execute meals across various programs, ensuring seamless food preparation and service across the Fred Victor organization.
• Accept food donations and incorporate into program meals for the Moss Park community Meal Program.
• Assist with sourcing food, and inventory of food for community meals, kitchen supplies and equipment.
• Coordinate meal preparation. Delegating tasks from preparation, to cooking, to cleanup while expecting a high standard and professional approach.
• Coordinate with the Senior Manager to ensure kitchen staff and peers provide a seamless meal service within Moss Park Community Kitchen.
• Ensure strict adherence to health and safety protocols in the kitchen.
• Lead coordination of Fred Victor internal program catering.
• Provide leadership in the coordination and preparation of our internal program catering to deliver high quality, nutritious, fresh meals that meet Toronto Shelter Standards.
• Lead a team of peers through preparation and clean up.
• Assist with sourcing of food for programs as needed.
• Maintain relationships with Fred Victor programs by delivering high quality food/menus.
• Apply food handling, and health and safety guidelines set by the Department of Public Health.
• Work with Peer Training Supervisor to ensure Peers are meeting their work placement goals.
• Training and nutrition education for community members and program participants.
• Facilitate culinary skills training programming, including Safe Food Handling Certificate.
• Supports the culinary skills development program to build job readiness skills for Fred Victor Employment and Training participants.
• Offer training and orientation to kitchen supplies and equipment.
• Advocate for healthy food in our 145 Queen Street HUB community and within our program shelters.
• Participate as a 145 Queen Street HUB team member
• Role model professional behaviour and positive communication with participants, volunteers, and partners
• Promote a culture of wellness, health, and safety within our space.
• Implement and uphold Fred Victor policies, values, and mission.

What You Bring to the Team:

• 5 years’ experience with large-scale food preparation within a professional kitchen setting.
• Experience working in a Social Purpose Enterprise, peer training facility, community kitchen is an asset.
• Ability to prioritize within competing priorities and timelines a) meal program b) SPE training and skills building c) external catering d) program catering.
• Diploma or degree in a related field of study (culinary, nutrition, social work) is an asset.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and prepare healthy, delicious, culturally diverse meals for 250-500 people daily.
• Creativity and ability to take initiative.
• Experience with budgeting, sourcing food, and working with suppliers.
• Experience supervising trainees in a kitchen environment.
• Large scale baking experience.
• Experience in diverse, low-income community setting an asset.

What Sets You Apart:

• Exceptional cooking and food handling knowledge and skills in a busy commercial kitchen.
• Knowledge of nutrition, food access and systemic food security issues.
• Patient, and an ability to inspire and motivate diverse and diversly composed teams.
• Ability to work with complexity and changing requirements on a daily basis.
• Knowledge about and commitment to working from an anti-racist/anti-oppression framework with people from diverse backgrounds within healthy boundaries, an asset.
• Flexibility to work under pressure and with a diverse group of staff and peers.
• Ability to build relationships with diverse stakeholders, including shelter programs and community members.
• Experience with community / social services sector through work or volunteer experience an asset.
• Ability to work sensitively with people of diverse backgrounds who experience poverty/discrimination.

Compensation and Benefits:

• For the Senior Community Chef, Food Services, Fred Victor offers an hourly rate of $31.30.
• 4 weeks of vacation to start + 1 float day.
• Generous paid sick leave allowance.
• A comprehensive Dental, Extended Health and LTD group benefits package includes individual and family coverage, including prescriptions, hospital accommodation, hearing care, paramedical practitioners and a wide variety of dental care. Additional insurance includes vision care and travel for emergency medical services.
• 6.5 % of your gross salary will be contributed to a group RRSP on your behalf after successful completion of probation; you will contribute 4% of your gross salary to the same RRSP
• Access to employee and family assistance plan

How You Can Apply:

Send your resume and an email describing why you want to be part of the Fred Victor Team by August 22, 2025 to communityserviceshiring@fredvictor.org with “Senior Community Chef, Food Services” in the subject line.

Please mention you saw this at FoodWork.ca.

A Police Record Check is required by the final candidate prior to hiring.

Accessibility & Accommodation

Fred Victor is committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible environment where employees feel valued and respected, and where every employee has the opportunity to realize their potential. As such, we welcome and encourage applicants who identify as racialized persons, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and persons across the spectrum of sexual orientation and gender identities and have lived-experience.

If you are a person with a disability and require accommodation and/or assistance during the application process, please contact us in advance. We strive to provide reasonable accommodations whenever requested. Information received relating to accommodation requests will be treated with confidentiality.