Company description

Coastal Foodshed is a non-profit local food hub based in New Bedford, MA. Our mission is to strengthen the local food economy by making it easier for growers to sell, and consumers to buy healthy, affordable, local foods, with a focus on making locally grown and made food more equitably accessible to marginalized and/or food insecure households in New Bedford. We operate year-round in-person and online markets that are accessible not only to New Bedford residents, but also to the Southcoast.

CFS manages farmers markets and mobile farm stands in addition to an online farmers market with delivery services. All of our markets accept SNAP and the Healthy Incentive Program (HIP), in addition to other nutrition incentive programs. We work hard to make local food accessible for everyone regardless of income, and create markets where farmers can sell either directly, or through wholesale channels. We simply want to make local food easier to buy and believe everyone should have equal access to it.

Job description

Position Summary: CFS is seeking an immediate full-time Food Hub Operations Coordinator. The Food Hub Operations Coordinator works both in the warehouse and on site at the markets helping to coordinte day-to-day food hub operations. This includes retail and wholesale operations at farmers markets, farm stands, and virtual market programs. The applicant must be able to prioritize and handle a variety of assignments simultaneously, have exceptional organizational skills, systems thinking, problem-solving and record-keeping skills. An ideal candidate will be highly energetic, detail-oriented, self-motivated, and passionate about community connections and local food systems, particularly food security mission driven work with a focus on local agriculture. This is a hands-on position with the expectation that this individual will be flexible and able to jump in where needed to optimize operations and support other team members. The Food Hub Operations Coordinator is supervised by the Program Manager and Procurement and Sales Director and oversees the Market Associate positions.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

Food Hub Warehouse

• Assists with day-to-day warehouse operations including aggregation, sorting, staging, weekly/monthly inventory, and packing products for the farmers market, mobile farm stands, and virtual market
• Assist in determining product inventory to be sold at the farmers markets and farm stands
• Coordinates with Market Associates to ensure food safety compliance, planning, and adherence to regulatory guidelines, while supporting smooth daily operations
• Receive and check-in deliveries from vendors and weekly CFS sourcing
• Assists with inventory management, ensuring that all inventory is received accurately, accounted for, and stored safely to preserve product quality

Retail and Wholesale Operations

• Drive the CFS farm stand trailer with Market Associates to market sites and set up product/marketing display for the farmers market and farm stands
• Sell products using a point-of-sale system while engaging current and potential customers to encourage them to try new products and promote farmers and local food producers
• Provide quality control and monitoring of products onsite at markets
• Assist with event coordination for music, cooking demos, and other special events

• Educate SNAP/HIP customers on how to shop both online and in-person, and provide general market education to consumers and vendors
• Enforce market rules and codes of conducts at the in-person markets
• Deliver orders to customers including processing SNAP transactions when needed
• Collect data/feedback from customers/vendors for grant reporting

Additional Responsibilities

• Maintain cleanliness to comply with food safety regulations
• Train and supervise Market Associates and volunteers
• Co-facilitate market staff meetings with management team
• Be able to present Coastal Foodshed and all its programs with knowledge and enthusiasm
• Support community outreach, advertising, and digital media content for the markets as needed including SNAP/HIP education efforts
• Other duties as needed to assist CFS in fulfilling its mission

Physical Demands - Required:

• Ability to lift to 50 pounds
• Ability to work in variant weather/temperature conditions
• This position entails some use of a desktop or laptop computer, sitting or standing at a desk workstation

Required Qualifications:

• Be outgoing and able to build relationships with people from varied cultural, economic, educational, racial, and religious backgrounds
• Enthusiastic ability to work in a dynamic environment. Comfortable with change and growth and the ability to jump in where needed to optimize operations
• Cheerful, professional presence. A sense of humor and a positive, can-do attitude
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal: in person, over the phone, email, text
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
• Be able to work effectively on a team
• Have excellent problem-solving skills
• Have a valid driver’s license
• Available to work Saturdays

Preferred Qualifications:

• Knowledge of basic food safety regulations
• Food safety training
• Experience operating pallet jacks
• General knowledge of vegetables, fruits, or other locally produced items
• Passion for Coastal Foodshed’s mission and food systems work
• Farming, foodservice, and customer service experience
• Experience driving a refrigerated van and/or truck with a “landscape” trailer attached or be willing to learn; we will train you!

Hours/Benefits:

This is a full-time, non-exempt, hourly position with a rate of $18-$20 per hour. Compensation determined by experience. Weekend work is required. Benefits include SIMPLE IRA retirement plan after 1-year, paid time off, professional development, and access to some of the best local food around!

Coastal Foodshed vales a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace and strongly encourages women, people of color, LGBTQ+ folks, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, foreign-born residents, and veterans to apply. Applicants will not be discriminated against because of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, citizenship status, disability, ancestry, marital status, veteran status, medical condition, or any protected category prohibited by local, state, or federal laws.

Compensation

this position is: hourly, $15-20/hr

Application instructions

Deadline

no deadline