Company description

Jameson Ranch Camp has been in business in California since the early 1930s. Before you start picturing beaches, palm trees, and the Hollywood sign, it's important to know that camp is an extremely rustic space nestled in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains, and is 100% tech free for participants and staff. That means that JRC is outside of cell service and does not provide WiFi for the staff during working hours.

The summer program spans ten weeks, starting June 1, with a week of chef and kitchen staff work, then all-staff Orientation Week preceding the arrival of campers, sessions running until August 9, 2027.

JRC serves 85 campers in four two-week sessions, with about 35 staff members. Each meal is 100% hand cooked and home made—our kitchen is a part of the ranch process as well, and each ingredient is prepped by the kitchen staff for the best quality meals possible.

Most of the staff sleep outside, under a sleeping porch— think a roof without solid walls. There are cots and mattresses provided, participants sleep in sleeping bags. Water conservation requires outhouses instead of flush toilets. Our solar-heated showers are hot, sunny days are the norm at JRC, but they too are outside. This provides a great deal of air flow, the breeze is a nice respite from the sun, and at night temperatures are perfect for sleeping outdoors.

The head chef sleeps in a shared cabin with the medical staff. The bedroom is clean and airy, the cabin has a small kitchen area, library, television, and DVD player for down time. The queen bed has a Casper mattress for comfort. The composting toilet saves water, and there is a shower for the cabin’s inhabitants as well.

JRC has no Wi-Fi for staff nor is there cell phone reception. Both can be accessed once per week on staffs’ scheduled day off. There is a phone line that counselors share and international calls are free.

Job description

Head of Kitchen
Jameson Ranch Camp | Seasonal Summer Position

The Head of Kitchen leads the planning, preparation, and service of daily meals at Jameson Ranch Camp. This role is responsible for creating a clean, safe, organized, and welcoming kitchen environment while ensuring campers and staff receive reliable, nutritious, and thoughtfully prepared meals three times each day.

The Head of Kitchen is both a food-service leader and a vital member of the camp community. They work collaboratively with the camp’s kitchen team, administration, and program staff to support a summer built on Jameson Ranch Camp’s core commitments: unconditional love, celebration of the individual, working through fear, simplicity, and creativity.

Primary Responsibilities
Meal Planning, Preparation, and Service

• Organize and oversee the preparation, cooking, and service of breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day.
• Ensure meals are prepared and served on time, in appropriate quantities, and in a manner that supports the camp schedule and community experience.
• Coordinate daily kitchen workflow, including prep assignments, cooking responsibilities, meal service, cleanup, and food storage.
• Prepare meals that are consistent with approved menus, available inventory, dietary needs, and camp standards.
• Work with camp administration to accommodate documented dietary restrictions, food allergies, and other reasonable food-service needs.
• Maintain a calm, efficient, and solution-oriented approach during busy meal-preparation and service periods.
  Inventory and Purchasing
• Maintain an accurate inventory of food, ingredients, supplies, cleaning products, and other essential kitchen materials.
• Place one organized weekly order for ingredients and supplies needed for upcoming meals.
• Anticipate camp needs, monitor consumption, and make reasonable adjustments to ordering quantities in order to minimize shortages and food waste.
• Receive, inspect, date, store, and rotate deliveries using appropriate food-storage practices.
• Communicate promptly with the Camp Director or designated supervisor regarding supply shortages, equipment concerns, unexpected purchasing needs, or budget-related issues.

Food Safety and Compliance

• Demand, model, and enforce safe food storage, handling, preparation, cooking, cooling, reheating, and service procedures.

Kitchen Cleanliness and Maintenance

• Maintain a kitchen that is clean, sanitary, orderly, and ready for inspection at all times.

Team Leadership and Collaboration

• Serve as an effective, dependable, and efficient member of the Jameson Ranch Camp kitchen team.
• Work willingly alongside kitchen coworkers, modeling a strong work ethic, flexibility, professionalism, and mutual respect.
• Help organize kitchen staff around clear daily priorities and responsibilities.
• Train, guide, and support kitchen team members in safe food handling, cleaning expectations, kitchen systems, and meal-service procedures.
• Foster a kitchen culture that is collaborative, emotionally grounded, and responsive to the needs of the wider camp community.
• Communicate respectfully and constructively with coworkers, campers, and camp leadership, especially during high-pressure or time-sensitive situations.

Community Standards

• The Head of Kitchen is expected to understand that camp is a community intentionally built each summer by the people who live and work within it.
• Food service is an essential part of that construction: meals create rhythm, comfort, connection, and care for campers and staff alike.
• In all interactions and responsibilities, the Head of Kitchen will uphold the Customs and Policies of Jameson Ranch Camp and conduct themselves in accordance with the camp’s standards of safety, inclusion, respect, responsibility, and community care.

Required Qualifications

• Current Kitchen Manager Certification from a recognized food-safety organization; or the ability to obtain and maintain certification before or during employment as required by JRC.
• Demonstrated knowledge of safe food storage, food handling, sanitation, allergen awareness, cross-contamination prevention, and time-and-temperature controls.
• Experience preparing and serving meals for groups, preferably in a camp, school, institutional, hospitality, catering, or high-volume kitchen setting.
• Ability to plan meals, manage inventory, place orders, receive deliveries, and maintain organized food-storage systems.
• Ability to lead and work collaboratively as part of a kitchen team.
• Ability to remain organized, dependable, flexible, and calm in a fast-paced seasonal environment.
• Ability to stand, walk, lift, carry, bend, and perform the physical tasks associated with commercial or high-volume food preparation and kitchen cleaning.
• Ability to meet Jameson Ranch Camp’s employment requirements, including background-screening requirements where applicable.

Drug-Free Workplace Requirement
Jameson Ranch Camp is a drug-free workplace. The Head of Kitchen must remain drug-free throughout their employment and must be willing to submit to random drug testing during the summer season, in accordance with Jameson Ranch Camp policy and applicable law.

Supervision and Schedule
The Head of Kitchen works under the direction of the Camp Director or designated administrative supervisor. Because meals are central to daily camp life, this position requires reliability, punctuality, flexibility, and a willingness to work early mornings, evenings, weekends, and extended hours as needed during the camp season.

The Head of Kitchen’s work directly supports the health, safety, rhythm, and sense of belonging that make Jameson Ranch Camp possible.

Compensation

this position is: salaried, varies DOE, $12,000.00 - $16,000.00

Work visa

This employer is willing to sponsor a work visa for international applicants

Application instructions

If you are not registered, you'll be prompted to do so. Don't worry, it's free!

Deadline

March 31, 2027