Company description

About Nourish Colorado

Nourish Colorado is a non-profit organization committed to increasing access to nutritious, local food and building a more equitable food system across Colorado. We conduct policy advocacy for systems change, manage programs that increase food access and support local producers, and work alongside community partners to inspire collective action.

We hold many values sacred in our work; the primary one being building an organization that at its core is focused on equity. We work to establish practices and policies that advance multiracial and multicultural shared power in the food systems space specifically. We aim to do this throughout our organization – from who and how we hire, to where we bank, with whom we advocate, how we write grants and how close we hold our partnerships.

We believe that traditional hiring practices have historically and systemically marginalized entire groups of people — including people of color, people from different socio-economic backgrounds, women, and people in the LGBTQIA+ community, to name a few. We believe that we are better as an organization when we work to deconstruct barriers and build a team that has authentic representation from diverse communities, backgrounds, and beliefs. Hence, we strongly encourage qualified candidates from those mentioned, as well as other marginalized communities, to apply for roles within our team.

To learn more about our vision, values, and organizational commitments, please visit us at https://nourishcolorado.org/about/. Please read on and apply to join our diverse team of food systems and non-profit leaders and to help us do all this better.

Job description

Position Summary: The Culinary Specialist supports the various work happening within our Healthy Food in Institutions program area. This work is primarily focused on supporting implementation of The Local Food Program (LFP). LFP provides money for participating school districts and charter schools to purchase Colorado grown, raised, and prepared foods, bringing fresh, local ingredients into school cafeterias while supporting local farmers, ranchers, and food businesses across the state. 134 school districts and 14 charter schools are participating in this program during School Year 26/27 with just over $15M being allotted to those schools. As part of LFP, Nourish CO applied for and received the Training and Technical Assistance Grant which will provide support to participating schools and producers. This support includes: helping schools transition to scratch cooking with Colorado ingredients, training staff in food preparation and culinary skills, supporting schools with equipment grants to purchase and use commercial kitchen equipment, strengthening menu planning and sourcing practices for Colorado products, connection K12 schools with Colorado producers, food hubs, and distributors, and, building small and medium-sized farms’ capacity to sell into K12 markets. Some examples of the training provided are Knife Skills, Vegetable Cookery, Enhancing Flavors with Fresh Herbs and Spices, Utilizing Mechanization Equipment, Recipe Development and Recipe Reading, Time Management, Food Safety, etc. The Culinary Specialist will be instrumental to these innovative and evolving programs by co-designing and implementing on-site technical assistance, trainings, in-depth workshops, and virtual content.

The Culinary Specialist is an integral member of our team and collaborates primarily with local school districts, state agencies, local farmers and ranchers, and multiple partners around the state. Moderate, in-state travel is necessary for this position depending on regional focus and technical assistance needs; out-of-state travel may be required in the future.

Essential Responsibilities and Duties

Training and On-site Technical Assistance Delivery (50%)

-Support K-12 institutions with culinary training and technical assistance as it relates to their local procurement goals and applicable grant deliverables
-Provide virtual and in-person trainings relating to topics within culinary and local procurement
-Support the design and implementation of the culinary trainings and relevant workshops, with a primary focus on sessions taught within the culinary track
-Support administrative and workshop logistics related to culinary workshops/sessions

Recipe and Resource Development Support (30%)

-Collaboration on culinary-focused resource creation and updates on current resources
-Assist with recipe development and recipe testing, with a focus on local ingredients and or culturally relevant meals
-Collaborating with Institutions Team on integration of recipes into K12 Menus
-Play an integral role in the streamlining and connection of farm to school efforts and resources across the state
-Help facilitate taste tests along with student and community engagement opportunities

Nourish Organizational Support (10%)

-Where needed, assist chef consultants and regional school food program coordinators with logistics (e.g., coordinating travel and TA support, workshop support, event logistics, etc.)
-Represent the program(s) at relevant tradeshows and conferences to promote the program(s) and extend brand recognition
-Be available and responsive to program contractors, partners, Nourish Colorado staff, institutional contacts, and other key partners as needed
-Provide support, content and expertise for communications, marketing, and fundraising efforts
-Actively participate in at least one working group, committee, or coalition
-Participate in and actively engage with organization-wide monthly JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) meetings aimed at fostering connection and belonging across Nourish
-Contribute to team-specific JEDI projects and initiatives, supporting the integration of equity and inclusion into day-to-day work

Documentation, Administrative, & Evaluation (10%)

-Collect and collate training evaluations
-Accurately complete administrative duties (e.g., time tracking, expense coding, etc.)
-Track relevant deliverables on time
-Support reporting to Culinary Programs Director, and where needed, to the Data and Impact Manager

Qualifications and Experience

-Professional culinary training from an accredited institution or equivalent job experience required Job experience must be from an institutional setting (i.e., school, hospital, etc.)
-Understands cooking in a commercial setting at scale
-Commitment to food safety and sanitation; Food Safety Certified preferred – must become certified within 6 months of employment
-Strong culinary organizational and time management skills
-Deep customer service and relationship building skills
-General understanding of K12 meal programs preferred
-Interest in local food procurement preferred
-Ability to function well in a fully remote environment
-Technologically savvy and organized Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook)
-Ability to manage, organize, and analyze information
-Proactive approach to problem identification and resolution
-Ability to adapt and manage complex change
-Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; ability to work collaboratively
-Sensitivity and experience working with diverse populations, cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds
-Commitment to Nourish Colorado’s mission, vision, goals, and organizational values
-Nice to have:
-Bi-lingual English/Spanish
-Culinary Degree
-SNS Certification

This position would ideally start on Oct 5th, 2026 and is fully funded through June 30th, 2027. Extension of position is based on performance and available funding.

Compensation

this position is: salaried, $56,485 - $75,000

Location

job can be done remotely

Application instructions

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Deadline

August 24, 2026