Test Kitchen Chef

Picado Mexican is a vibrant Mexican grocery store, cookery school, and test kitchen passionate about sharing Mexico’s diverse food culture with Ireland. We are looking for an enthusiastic, friendly, and approachable chef at the chef de partie / line cook level with at least two years of experience to join our small but growing team. If you love food, especially Mexican food, enjoy interacting with people, and want to contribute to a fun, dynamic work environment, we’d love to hear from you.

As our Test Kitchen Chef, you will be an essential part of our team. You will help ensure that everything runs smoothly in our cookery school and test kitchen and contribute to the success of our cookery classes, events and culinary experiences. Your role will involve working on our own and as well as part of a small kitchen team in preparing and cooking products, recipes, and dishes for our new test kitchen retail products, as well as the cookery classes, supper clubs and events we host. You will contribute to the development of a new test kitchen, which is home to our traditional Molino, producing fresh masa, handmade tortillas, meal kits, pastries, and other fresh Mexican goods. There are plans to develop a coffee bar that will only service Mexican drinks and baked goods.

• Location: Picado at the Loom, Cork Street, The Liberties, Dublin 8
• Position: Test Kitchen Chef
• Reports to: Test Kitchen Chef Manager and our founder, Lily Ramirez-Foran
• Hours: 20 to 30 hours per week, mainly daytime with some evening and
  weekend work
• Salary: Open to discussion for the right candidate
• Benefits: Shop discounts, education outings and events

How to Apply

If you are passionate about food and excited to be part of a small, close-knit team, please send your CV and a brief cover letter to Lily at jobs@picadomexican.com.

We would love to hear about your passion for food and customer service and why you think you'd be a great fit for Picado Mexican.

This is a wonderful opportunity for someone eager to develop their skills in a hands-on cookery school, test kitchen and customer-focused environment. As part of your training, you will spend time in our Grocery store in Portobello as well as our warehouse in Clondalkin to fully understand our business. We look forward to hearing from you.

Key Responsibilities

• Team Collaboration: Work closely with team members to support Picado Mexican's daily operations and growth.
• Food Inventory and Stock Control: Assist with cookery school and test kitchen food orders, inventory checks, stock rotation, and ensuring ingredients are available and stored correctly.
• Food Preparation: Assist with preparing ingredients and cooking dishes, following recipes and techniques for the cookery school, supper club events, test kitchen products, festivals and TV appearances.
• Consistency and Quality Control: Ensure all products and recipes we make meet our quality standards regarding taste and presentation.
• New Recipes and Cookery Classes: Contribute to the development of sourcing new ingredients, new recipes, classes and products.
• Hygiene and Safety: Adhere to all health, safety, and HACCP regulations in
  the kitchen.
• Training and Mentorship: Provide guidance and support to junior kitchen and cookery school team members and apprentices as needed.
• Time Management: Work efficiently under pressure, ensuring timely preparation of cookery school classes, supper clubs events, recipes and products during busy periods.
• Customer Service: As our cookery school and test kitchen is an open plan where customers can see what we make, you will be expected to greet and interact with customers, ensuring they feel welcome and well-cared for. Assist with customer questions and maintain a positive, friendly atmosphere.

Skills and Requirements

• Experience: At least two years of experience at the chef de partie / line cook level in a professional kitchen is essential. Experience in making fresh products for retail is a plus.
• Education: A third-level qualification in culinary arts, food production, bakery
  or related field.
• Culinary knowledge: Strong culinary skills and understanding of food preparation and running of a professional kitchen. An understanding of Mexican food is a plus.
• Food Production: Ability to follow recipes and class plans and ensure consistency in food quality and presentation. An understanding of how to produce retail products is an advantage.
• Food Safety and Cleanliness: Ensure HACCP compliance with all food safety regulations, kitchen cleanliness, and organisational standards.
• Fluent English speaker: Excellent written and oral communication skills is essential.
• Customer Service: Strong communication skills with a customer-first attitude. Ability to work with people of all backgrounds and make them feel welcome.
• Flexibility: Availability to do mainly daytime hours with some evening and weekend work occasionally. Flexibility with scheduling is essential as hours may shift to accommodate events we host.
• Team Player: A collaborative spirit who can work well with others in a fast-paced, small-team environment.
• Organisational Skills: Managing multiple tasks at once and staying organised in a busy cookery school, test kitchen and events space.
• Passion for Food: A genuine enthusiasm for food and cooking, specially Mexican food and its diverse culture.
• Learning: A willingness to learn and develop their skills.
• Residency: Live in Ireland and have the right to work in Ireland.

Sample Schedule

The role is part-time with approx. 20-30 daytime hours, with flexible hours based on the cookery school and test kitchen events schedule. The weekly breakdown of hours may look like this:

2 to 4 days a week: Tuesday to Saturday

• Daytime: 8 am to 4 pm / 10 am to 6 pm / 11 am to 7 pm

Note: Hours may change to accommodate our event schedule, so flexibility is required to do some evening and weekend work.

Why Join Us?

• Great Work Environment: Work in a friendly and supportive team with a shared passion for great food.
• Learn and Grow: Opportunity to learn more about Mexican food and its culture and cooking techniques and to gain experience in a dynamic, customer-facing environment.
• Flexible Hours: We offer flexibility with hours while being part of a growing, exciting business.
• Work with Lily-Ramirez Foran: Ireland’s leading authority on Mexican food.

Data Protection: We will treat all the information given to us, including personal data as confidential, subject to the Data Protection Acts.