Evening Cook

Make lives meaningful through making.

Who We Are

Penland School of Craft is an international center for craft education offering residential workshops, residencies, community education programs, and exhibitions. Located on 420 acres in the NC Mountains, Penland has 16 teaching studios and 60 historic and contemporary buildings. We are an equal-opportunity employer with a staff of 50+. Penland operates with a $54 million endowment and an annual operating budget of $8.4 million. We are located about an hour northeast of Asheville, NC. 

Our Commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

At Penland School of Craft, we believe that fostering a climate of equity, inclusion, diversity, and antiracism are essential to our work. We are committed to creating a campus community free of discrimination, and we welcome everyone who supports this commitment. 

Black, Indigenous, Latine, Asian, and other people who identify as people of color or BIPOC individuals are encouraged to apply, as are people holding other marginalized identities related to gender, sexual orientation, ability, and class background.

Evening Cook

Reports to: Evening Supervisor Department: Operations Supervision: None Employment Status: Seasonal Full-time (Feb. - Nov.) 40-hours weekly

FLSA Status: Non-exempt Start date: TBD Last Updated: February 13, 2026

 

Position Summary

The Penland Evening Cook reports to the evening supervisor and is responsible for executing dinner menus and the coordination of serving and shutdown of dinner service.  They support approximately 230 meals daily in the summer, and 100 in the spring and fall, along with various special events throughout the year.  In addition, this position supports prep for breakfast and lunch as needed. Additionally, they support the food services team in ensuring the delivery of delicious food in a friendly atmosphere to meet all food needs at Penland. This position is a full-time, seasonal, hourly position and may be re-evaluated at the end of the fall season. 

Primary Responsibilities

• Ensures a friendly, cooperative atmosphere for staff and students while providing healthy and delicious food for Penland. 
• Oversees all evening meal preparation, service, and support kitchen and Pines cleanup. 
• Oversees nightly shutdown of all Pines services, including kitchen, dining room, and coffee shop as needed.
• Ensures proper training and the highest cleanliness standards are met in regard to health code standards. Keeps current on health code regulations. 
• Ensures storage, clean-up, and care of tools and equipment during shifts are complete. Support the kitchen with all equipment maintenance, creation, and problem-solving of kitchen and inventory systems.
• Ensures consistency of efficient operations between day and evening shifts. Assists in tasks that support this consistency.
• Participates in all work weeks to clean and inventory during seasonal changes.
• Participates in the kitchen on-call system as needed. 
• Maintains Serve Safe, First Aid, CPR, Bloodborne Pathogen & AED training and certification. First aid trainings are offered annually at the school.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Be able to work from 12 noon to 8 pm and occasionally on weekends, holidays, and seasonal peak periods.
• Have at least 3 years of commercial/catering cooking.  Culinary education is preferred but not required. 
• At least 1 year of supervisory experience is preferred. 
• Have worked in a high-volume setting with a diverse menu. 
• Experience with kitchen inventory systems and equipment maintenance coordination.
• Have clear communication and customer service skills, as well as the ability to teach others.
• Be able to work well with others and help create a positive team environment with support staff and other departments.
• Be able to perform the responsibilities above satisfactorily and work safely in a commercial kitchen environment.
• Demonstrate a commitment to uphold and implement Penland’s mission, educational philosophy, and diversity & inclusivity statement.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.

• Ability to stand and walk for extended periods (6–8 hours per shift).
• Ability to lift 25 pounds frequently and up to 50 pounds occasionally (food cases, equipment, bulk ingredients).
• Ability to bend, stoop, kneel, crouch, and reach overhead.
• Ability to push and pull carts and racks loaded with food or supplies.
• Ability to perform repetitive motions, including chopping, stirring, plating, and cleaning.
• Manual dexterity sufficient to operate commercial kitchen equipment safely.

 

Benefits

We take care of our staff through a wide range of benefits. For your wellness, we offer multiple medical plans, vision, dental, long-term disability, life insurance, retirement, and an EAP program. Benefits include generous vacation, sick, extended sick, PTO leave programs, access to studios, free classes, meals during programming, and other discounts. We have other generous benefits that we can explore more during the interview process. 

 

Compensation

This is a seasonal, full-time, benefits-eligible position that works from mid-February through mid-November annually.  This position will work 40 hours per week, totaling 1560 hours annually. The starting wage for this non-exempt position is negotiable within the range of $17.70 - $19.66, based on the applicant’s skills and experience they bring to the position.   Employees at Penland enjoy competitive pay, attractive benefits, and a lively, creative work environment.