SEASONAL COOK

Typical meal structure

Some mornings and evenings, our groups are out in the mountains or ‘surviving’ on an island, so a typical week at the adventure school includes four cooked breakfasts, five evening meals, and one afternoon tea. When the young people are on ‘survival island’, only their teachers and a couple of instructors will be at the adventure school for supper and the chance to cook something a little fancier for small numbers.

The young people staying with us lay the table, clear away, and wash up crockery and cutlery under the supervision of the instructors, often with music playing and lots of laughter.

For you

• Live and work in a beautiful place from early May to mid-September, with your own comfy single room in a cabin yards from the shore. The kitchen is bright and airy with a double aspect and views across the sea loch to the mountains beyond.
• A salary in the region of £30,000 per annum pro rata (£576 per week).
• A 5.5-day working week with 1.5 days off and working hours structured by you to meet your mealtime objectives and our programme. Organised cooks should find they have plenty of time during the day to explore the area or join some of the activities.
• Paid holiday equating to 30 days per annum pro rata.
• Be part of a friendly, happy, hard-working team, with lots of input from Rebecca and Mark, and help with mealtime service from other team members.

Our expectations

• Cook delicious, hearty meals for hungry young people, teachers, and our team (numbers vary from 20 to 44, plus staff, per week). You will most likely have had some kind of formal training, but we have occasionally had great home cooks with the confidence and experience to scale up.
• Organise the kitchen and food store, maintaining a high level of cleanliness, and keep normal food hygiene records.  Rebecca places food orders but will need you to keep an eye on supplies and ingredient levels, and to liaise closely with her.
• Discuss dietary requirements and allergies with Rebecca and plan accordingly within a set menu framework.
• Be bright and cheery with our clients, typically teachers and well-behaved, bubbly, and grateful young people aged 11-17. You’ll see them every day!
• Work to mealtimes rather than set working hours, allowing you to structure your own day and tasks. Organised cooks with good systems should have plenty of spare time during the day.
• At breakfast and supper, delegate tasks to a duty instructor who will help you manage service by tasking young people to: lay the table, come into the kitchen to be served, clear away and wash and dry up crockery and cutlery.
• Communicate well with the team, who range in age from early 20’s to late 50’s.
• Be flexible, as our plans sometimes have to change due to adverse weather, which can affect timings and the structure of the week.
• You must already be able to work legally in the UK, have a UK National Insurance number and bank account. We pay for a PVG (Protecting Vulnerable Groups) disclosure check through Disclosure and Protection Scotland.