Kitchen Assistant

As a Kitchen Assistant at Avocet Court Care Home, you will be responsible for supporting the Head Chef to provide a high-quality food service within the home, ensuring that high standards are achieved to meet the needs of the residents. 

About Avocet Court Care Home: 
Situated in a residential nook in Ipswich, our 115-bedroom Avocet Court Care Home is surrounded by beautiful gardens. As one of the top residential care homes, we provide exceptional standards of care.  

We’re proud to have an award-winning activities team and a newly refurbished café that is the heart of our home. We also have fantastic sustainability credentials, including solar panels and green initiatives to minimise our environmental impact. 

About the role: 
Reporting to the Head Chef, the Kitchen Assistant will work to ensure the catering services and dining experiences are of the highest standard and quality for our residents – this includes the maintenance of public areas, such as the café area, and providing refreshments for our residents and their guests. 

Salary: 
£11.44 per hour. 

Shift Pattern: 
33.75 hours per week, worked on a rota basis from Monday to Sunday.

Home Location: 
Monmouth Close, Ipswich, England, IP2 8RS. 

Key Duties & Responsibilities: 

• Support the Head Chef to ensure the catering services and residential dining experience is of the highest standard and quality.
• Assist the Head Chef with meal service to the residents, ensuring the meals cater for the resident’s dietary requirements and the areas are clean and stocked appropriately.
• To actively engage with residents in conversation and meaningful occupation related to their lifestyle choices at a level and pace that values the individual and respects their dignity and communication differences.
• Ensure Health & Safety within the services team, residents and visitors meet the requirements of the Food Safety Manual and Health and Safety Manual. 

Training, Skills & Experience Required: 

• Experience of working within a kitchen environment, or have a catering background, ideally within a care environment but this is not essential.
• NVQ Level 2 in Food Hygiene is desirable.
• Reliable with excellent communication skills, and high attention to detail.
• Computer literate, with the ability to use basic Microsoft Office applications. 

What we can offer: 

• Fully comprehensive induction.
• Competitive salary, plus enhancements on bank holidays.
• 28 days of holiday per year.
• Free Blue Light Card & access to the Blue Light discount platform.
• Refer a friend scheme. 

About Athena:
Athena Care Homes are a family run business with seven homes across East Anglia. We have care homes in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, Kings Lynn (West Norfolk) & Ipswich (Suffolk).
 
We want to be the first choice for high quality residential, nursing and dementia care, leaving a positive legacy within our communities.  ​
 
Our care homes are managed by amazing and passionate people, including strong leadership by our home managers with dedicated care, clinical, hospitality and activities teams to provide exceptional care and experience, achieving brilliant outcomes for people in our care.​
 
We hold our values close to our hearts and ensure that team members throughout each of our residential and nursing homes understand them and what importance they hold. We approach everything we do with thought, and we deliver with passion.