Recruiting : Capable Cook

Overview of Capable Cook role

Application closing date 20th November 2026

Application form

 The Cellarer team cooks good quality, healthy and delicious meals to home recipes from raw ingredients. 

• Shared meals for guests on all our own programme events.
• Stocked larders for about half the guests who make a private retreat.
• Shared meals for some of the groups running their own day or residential programmes here.

You will be taking responsibility for planning, preparing, serving and hosting some of these meals.

Working relationships

Line manager is the Cellarer, Hillary Hanson. The cellarer team collaborates closely with housekeeping and other senior team and community members, and is assisted by an ever-changing team of volunteers. All are very willing, some are highly skilled and others come with less experience.

How the role looks day to day

This is a front line role suited to an active, dependable person who enjoys food and people in equal measure, stays calm under pressure and is good at detail.

Some weeks are primarily running the kitchen and producing meals while others are more office based for planning, stock taking, kitchen hygiene protocols, managing freezers, menu preparation, batch cooking, making preserves or baking. The ratio between the two depends on the bookings calendar, collaboration with colleagues and season of the year. Kitchen days start with getting breakfast organised before 8am prayers and finish after 7pm supper is cleared up, usually with a decent break after lunch.  

Skills

Required entry level

• Prior experience of cooking or catering in different contexts 
• Practical experience will count more strongly than formal training
• Awareness and experience of food hygiene, special diets and allergies
• Capable of leading a small team through the day and supporting volunteers
• Practical day to day use of Microsoft Office especially Word and Outlook (especially emails and calendars) plus basic use of Excel

To learn on the job as necessary

• Timings and planning for the kitchen day to ensure prompt service of meals
• Purchasing to a menu plan
• Planning a menu based around special diets, garden and freezer supplies and staffing capacity
• Accessing information from our bespoke bookings system
   

About you and your experience

• You enjoy cooking and you enjoy caring for people through the medium of food and have a generous attitude. 
• You are willing to learn from the experience and expertise of the existing team what works well in the Sheldon context. 
• You have sufficient physical strength and stamina to sustain the necessary standing, lifting and carrying entailed in the role.