Company description
In 2012, we took our toddler & newborn to the jungles of Costa Rica for an unplugged life and a little adventure. We didn’t know if we’d be there 6 months, a year, or indefinitely but we knew we needed to return to this sleepy town we had backpacked through a decade earlier where the lush jungle unfurls straight into the sea. With a love of travel we wanted to imprint into our two young kids and on the same shoestring budget we lived off of as backpackers years ago, we rented a tiny house in the jungle and settled into our new community. Luckily for us, we quickly befriended local chocolate makers who were making dark chocolate from cacao growing in those very jungles.
This chocolate was intensely flavorful, unadulterated, and pure and we soon discovered that chocolate made from cacao grown on different farms even in the same region had noticeably different flavor profiles and none were like the dull sweetness of the candy bars we grew up calling chocolate. Every Saturday morning at the local farmer’s market, we would stretch our budget with a new bar of freshly made chocolate and each evening, after the kids were asleep, we’d share a tiny square until the night it occurred to us that WE could learn how to make this type of pure chocolate and introduce it to Atlanta where we knew other people would love it too.
Excited by the idea of this newest adventure, we flew back to Atlanta with bags packed full of Costa Rican cacao and spent the next year developing recipes, refining our technique, and reaching out to source raw cacao from different origins to highlight the ranging diversity of flavor naturally inherent in fine cacao. By late 2014, we opened our small micro-factory and retail store at the Krog Street Market and quickly became Atlanta’s bean-to-bar craft chocolate company. With a full team now of incredible staff, we’ve been able to grow our company beyond just ourselves and Atlanta, proudly shipping our chocolate to customers across the US.
Although we didn’t come from the food industry, building this craft food business is a natural, if indirect, extension of our previous careers. As a former campaign manager to the late and great Congressman John Lewis among other progressive political leaders, Matt is committed to leveraging Xocolatl as a force for social good in our local community and beyond. A former Peace Corps Volunteer, Elaine also worked in international and domestic non-profits on issues like environmental justice and improving livelihoods and knows that business choices at home have the power to elevate human potential and environmental stability across our interconnected world. With our orientation pointed toward social justice and our tastes deeply planted in honestly made foods, we hope our chocolate provides you with the same sense of contentment and adventure from which it originally came.
--Founders Elaine Read + Matt Weyandt
Job description
Chocolate Maker Assistants are part of a small but dynamic team of individuals who make literally tons of dark chocolate every year. Led by the Lead Chocolate Maker, Chocolate Maker Assistants learn all steps of the chocolate-making process (from cacao bean to finished chocolate bar) while being responsible for the support functions that help the team work efficiently. Chocolate Maker Assistants will learn how to support the manufacture of Xocolatl’s product line which includes bars, drinking chocolate, trail mix, hazelnut spread, and other delicious products. This position is an entry-level position with on-the-job training provided and can be the first step into a chocolate-making career.
Regarding COVID-19: We go above and beyond to protect our staff and customers. While we prefer all staff to be vaccinated, for those who are not fully vaccinated, we simply require that they wear a mask & maintain social distancing for their safety and the safety of our customers. Any concerns about COVID-19 will be seriously addressed and managed so as to protect our entire team. We use a partition specifically designed to keep every customer interaction as safe as possible for our staff. In pursuit of a safer environment, paid time off for either vaccinations or testing is provided to guarantee the health of our team.
Roles & Responsibilities:
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Receive on-the-job training on what bean-to-bar craft chocolate is and learn how to taste the differences between single-origin dark chocolates.
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Learn all steps in the craft chocolate-making process, from sorting beans, weighing ingredients, roasting cacao, loading and unloading chocolate grinders, tempering chocolate, and packaging the finished product.
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Clean chocolate molds regularly throughout the day to keep a steady supply ready.
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Package chocolate bars throughout the day to help maintain the flow of production.
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Learn how to package all of the different chocolate products in our product line.
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Assist in receiving deliveries of raw ingredients.
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Clean work stations & equipment throughout the day.
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Help maintain inventory and batch information.
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Complete Food Handler Safety course (provided for as part of on-the-job training) and receive a Safe Food Handler certification.
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Occasionally provide backup for our sales team at our retail location.
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Maintain Xocolatl’s standard of excellence, which is that every customer deserves, and is paying for, a high-quality item and that each item is a reflection of the brand.
Required Qualifications:
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Must be a friendly, people-person who works well in teams.
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Must be comfortable following detailed directions & production schedules.
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Must have an interest in craft-made food and dark chocolate.
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Must have an interest in working with your hands & the ability to jump in & help wherever needed.
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Must be able to occasionally lift up to 100 pounds onto a dolly.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Previous experience working in food or other craft industries is a plus.
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Previous safe food handling training is a plus.
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An interest in building a career with us is a plus.
Wages & Hours:
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Starting rate is $12/hr. All of our positions have opportunities for growth & advancement.
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Full-Time positions are immediately available. Full-time is equal to 5 days per week, 8 hours per day (40 hours/week). Ideal hours are 10 am to 6:30 pm, Saturday through Wednesday, although there is some room for alternate schedules.
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We recommend applying right away because we interview and hire as we receive strong applications.
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Full-Time positions include paid time off and optional enrollment in our health insurance plan, medical and dental plans after the first 3 months.
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WE ARE OFFERING A $100 SIGNING BONUS! Candidates who are offered a position will be given their bonus after completing their first 4 weeks of employment with us. Yay!
Compensation
this position is: hourly, $10/hr to $15/hr
Application instructions
This job expired on September 12, 2021
Deadline
no deadline