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Department: Kitchen Operations

Reports to: Kitchen Manager

Job Type: Fixed Term Contract

Tentative Start: Term 2 (April)

Location: Flexible - deployed across Food for Education kitchens across Kenya

Working Model: On-site

Food4Education is an award-winning, African-led nonprofit tackling classroom hunger with a locally rooted, scalable model. Building on more than a decade of learning by doing, we’re powering a new school feeding industry and sharing our blueprint to scale sustainable, nutritious and affordable school feeding programs across Africa. Today, we serve over 600,000 learners daily in Kenya, but what we deliver goes beyond the meal. Each plate improves nutrition, fuels learning, and creates jobs that uplift entire communities. We are an experienced, trusted non-profit partner that operates with the excellence of a global business, reinvesting the value we create into local economies.

Over the past decade, F4E has scaled its reach exponentially, serving 160 million cumulative meals since its inception, and growing from just 25 children fed daily in 2012 to over 600,000 learners receiving meals every single day in 2026. With our presence now spanning 13 counties, we’re delivering daily meals to children in 1,650+ public schools and ECD centers. Parents pay for these meals through a mobile money system linked to NFC wristbands, which their children wear and ‘Tap2Eat’ in under 5 seconds to access their meal.

F4E is growing quickly. Our mission is to scale a model that prioritises efficient supply chain management and sustainable sourcing, so we can continue lowering the cost of school meals. We have served over 150,000,000 meals since 2012 and are expanding to reach 1 million learners in Kenya by 2027 and another 2 million across Africa by 2030.

• Build with excellence and curiosity - We’re not afraid to try new things and iterate as much as we can to find the best and most efficient way to get results;
• Be the change you seek - We acknowledge that continuous improvement is a shared responsibility;
• We do what we say; and say what we do - We embrace an ownership mentality;
• Ask why; and commit - Share openly and question respectfully, and commit fully. When we understand the why, we are able to work with a purpose.

Food for Education (F4E) is building the next generation of kitchen operations leaders. This role is a 6–9 month accelerated training programme designed to develop you from kitchen operations fundamentals into kitchen management readiness within one of Africa’s largest and fastest‑scaling school feeding organisations.

At F4E, kitchen operations sit at the heart of a mission to end classroom hunger and enable children to learn, grow and thrive through access to hot, nutritious, affordable meals. Combined, F4E kitchens currently serve 600,000+ meals a day countrywide. As a Kitchen Trainee, you will learn inside real, high‑volume kitchens serving tens of thousands of public school learners across an expanding footprint. You will gain hands-on exposure to food safety, production planning, inventory control, cost discipline and team coordination. You will get structured coaching and real-time feedback to enable your growth and development in the role.

By 6 months, strong performers will be ready to apply for a Junior Kitchen Manager role. Over time, continued growth and strong performance position you to take on responsibility for individual kitchens and eventually clusters of kitchens, playing a direct role in scaling efficient, high-quality food operations that serve hundreds of thousands of children every day.

• Master production fundamentals; from production readiness and shift execution to post-production close out while developing operational judgment under coaching.

• Learn and apply standard recipes, portion sizes, menus and SOPs with consistency and discipline.

• Analyse workflows to improve efficiency, reduce waste and support on-time meal dispatch.

• Build judgment by identifying and escalating operational issues (equipment, stock, delays) early and accurately.

• Learn professionalism, discipline and confidentiality in a high-volume kitchen environment.

2. Planning, Forecasting, Inventory and Cost Support

• Learn how meal quantities are decided by using learner numbers and attendance data to support daily and weekly meal volume decisions.

• Develop risk awareness by flagging overstock, understock and expiry risks early.

• Learn inventory management through stock counts, stock tracking and inventory reconciliations.

• Gain exposure to demand forecasting aligned to school calendars and delivery plans.

• Learn basic kitchen-level financial controls, including petty cash, requisitions and expense documentation.

3. Food Safety, Quality and Compliance

• Master food safety fundamentals through strict adherence to hygiene standards and SOPs.

• Learn to conduct routine food safety checks across storage, preparation, water use and waste management.

• Support accurate documentation for audits and inspections.

• Develop a zero-tolerance mindset by escalating food safety risks or incidents immediately.

4. People, Learning and Team Support

• Learn people management basics by shadowing the Kitchen Manager on staff coordination and shift management.

• Build leadership behaviours through reliability, accountability and teamwork.

• Complete required training, certifications and refresher sessions.

• Apply feedback consistently to improve performance.

• Progressively build the capability to support onboarding, coaching and training of junior kitchen staff under supervision.

5. School and Stakeholder Support

• Learn end-to-end service delivery by supporting meal dispatch and delivery to assigned schools.

• Build basic stakeholder management skills by handling school-level queries under guidance and escalating issues appropriately.

• Understand the role of trust and communication in sustaining school and community relationships.

Is this programme for you?
This program is for you if you have the aptitude and attitude to learn, even if you don’t yet have all the technical skills

• You are passionate about food, community impact and service and are motivated by the idea of helping feed hundreds of thousands and eventually millions of children every day.

• You enjoy learning by doing, are not afraid to get your hands dirty and thrive in fast-paced, operational environments.

• You have a strong eye for detail, take pride in doing things right and understand that consistency and discipline matter at scale.

• You are curious, coachable and open to feedback, with a genuine desire to grow into leadership roles in food operations.

• You are comfortable using smartphones and basic digital tools for communication and data capture, and can easily move between phone and computer to communicate clearly with colleagues.

• You are willing to work operational hours aligned to kitchen production schedules, including early starts, peak production windows and shift-based kitchen dynamics.

• You currently live near an F4E kitchen or are willing to relocate independently to an existing F4E kitchen location.

Formal qualifications or prior kitchen experience (e.g. in food service, schools or community programmes) are an advantage but not required. What matters most is your mindset, commitment and readiness to grow.
Why join us:

Food for Education deliberately invests in internal talent development. As a Kitchen Trainee, you will receive structured on-the-job coaching, regular performance feedback and hands-on exposure to planning, food safety, logistics and people leadership within high-volume operations.

Strong performance and demonstrated readiness create clear progression pathways into Junior Kitchen Manager roles within approximately 12 months, and onward to Cluster Kitchen Manager roles over time—offering a long-term leadership career in large-scale, mission-driven food operations.

How to Apply

Please submit your updated CV and answer the application questions listed. All applicants will receive communication on the outcome of their application, regardless of outcome.