Cafe Coordinator

About the team we are recruiting to
We value diverse perspectives and experiences and are striving to create a workplace culture that is inclusive, is accepting of all and is free from discrimination and bias.

The Pod [part of Coventry City Council, Adult Social Care] aims to build individual, organizational, and/or societal capacity for creativity, innovation, compassion, and social/eco-activism - each arm of The Pod’s work asserts the importance of cultivating authentic connection with the city, its creatives, eco-activists, entrepreneurs, academics, change makers, quiet activists and the underheard. We believe that recovery and regeneration are totally intertwined - the city is its people.

Situated in a beautiful heritage building in Coventry’s cultural quarter The Pod Café has been recognised nationally by Guardian Readers, then in The Telegraph as one of the best vegan restaurants to try across the UK, both citing our unique take on the 'soil-to-table' vegan cuisine and social eating, for the last 2 years we have been winners in the regional Foodie Awards.

The Pod Café team in collaboration with our citywide Food Union and Time Union program sees us innovatively address food poverty and social isolation by cultivating an ethos of collectivity, food equality, social activism, food celebration and union.

What is the job role?
This is an exciting time to join our award-winning team as we move into year 7 of being based in our wonderful heritage building. The Cafe Coordinators are involved in all aspects of the cafe operations, they devise menus that optimise the use of produce from the allotment, prepare all the ingredients, make the dishes, liaise with the Food Union Coordinators, develop the recipes, serve the customers, clean down the kitchen and manage all aspects of health and safety. They also run our social media campaigns, co-curate events to include our supper clubs, or song and soil events at the allotment, and work with a range of partners to extend our reach.

It's not unusual for us to have around 50 customers a day - the cafe has a real buzz. A big part of their job is to create an authentic and deep-rooted connection with our customers who represent all walks of life, students, retired professionals, activists, academics, survivors, artists, entrepreneurs.

Who are we looking for?
Do you love making wholesome plant-based meals, are you great at cooking with fresh ingredients, are you interested in growing food, do you believe in the power of food to connect people and communities? if the answer is yes, this job might be for you. We are looking for someone who:

- has experience working in a busy kitchen and is aware of Health and Safety legislation as it relates to catering and hospitality (Food Safety Act 1990)
- Has the confidence and skills to prepare wholesome plant-based (vegan) dishes using fresh locally sourced ingredients (up to 50 customers a day) that reflect the diversity of the city.
- Is able to carry out costing exercises to inform day-to-day operational activity, business plans, and our social account.
- has experience working collaboratively with other organisations/stakeholders and community members and is skilled at engaging customers.
- Is flexible and ready to work across any of our kitchen or garden sites where the preparation of food underpins the engagement activity.
- Can promote/market the service in a variety of innovative ways to sustain the current income level and generate new custom and or external funds, this may include partnership events in evenings and/or weekends.

Interview date(s): 12th February 2024

About Coventry
**Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.**

We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.

At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 5100 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.

To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.

Our Values

Our Values are: