Cafe Coordinator

Our Values

In line with our One Coventry Values we strive to have a workforce that reflects our local communities and welcome applicants from all sections of the community. We particularly welcome applicants from minority ethnic backgrounds, applicants who have a disability and applicants who are from the LGBTQ+ community to apply for our senior leadership roles. 

Our Values are:

About the team we are recruiting to

We value diverse perspectives and experiences and are striving to create a workplace culture that is inclusive, is accepting of all and is free from discrimination and bias.

The Pod [part of Coventry City Council, Adult Social Care] aims to build individual, organizational, and/or societal capacity for creativity, innovation, compassion, and social/eco-activism -  each arm of The Pod’s work asserts the importance of cultivating authentic connection with the city, its creatives, eco-activists, entrepreneurs, academics, change makers, quiet activists and the underheard. We believe that recovery and regeneration are totally intertwined - the city is its people.  

Situated in a beautiful heritage building in Coventry’s cultural quarter The Pod Café has been recognised nationally by Guardian Readers, then in The Telegraph as one of the best vegan restaurants to try across the UK, both citing our unique take on the 'soil-to-table' vegan cuisine and social eating, for the last 2 years we have been winners in the regional Foodie Awards.

The Pod Café team in collaboration with our citywide Food Union and Time Union program sees us innovatively address food poverty and social isolation by cultivating an ethos of collectivity, food equality, social activism, food celebration and union. 

What is the job role?

This is an exciting time to join our award-winning team as we move into year 7 of being based in our wonderful heritage building. The Cafe Coordinators are involved in all aspects of the cafe operations, they devise menus that optimise the use of produce from the allotment, prepare all the ingredients, make the dishes, liaise with the Food Union Coordinators, develop the recipes, serve the customers, clean down the kitchen and manage all aspects of health and safety.  They also run our social media campaigns, co-curate events to include our supper clubs, or song and soil events at the allotment, and work with a range of partners to extend our reach.

It's not unusual for us to have around 50 customers a day - the cafe has a real buzz.   A big part of their job is to create an authentic and deep-rooted connection with our customers who represent all walks of life, students, retired professionals, activists, academics, survivors, artists, entrepreneurs. 

Who are we looking for?

Do you love making wholesome plant-based meals, are you great at cooking with fresh ingredients, are you interested in growing food, do you believe in the power of food to connect people and communities? if the answer is yes, this job might be for you.  We are looking for someone who:

• has experience working in a busy kitchen and is aware of Health and Safety legislation as it relates to catering and hospitality (Food Safety Act 1990)
• Has the confidence and skills to prepare wholesome plant-based (vegan) dishes using fresh locally sourced ingredients (up to 50 customers a day) that reflect the diversity of the city.
• Is able to carry out costing exercises to inform day-to-day operational activity, business plans, and our social account.
• has experience working  collaboratively with other organisations/stakeholders and community members and is skilled at engaging customers.
• Is flexible and ready to work across any of our kitchen or garden sites where the preparation of food underpins the engagement activity.
• Can promote/market the service in a variety of innovative ways to sustain the current income level and generate new custom and or external funds, this may include partnership events in evenings and/or weekends.

You can find out more about The Pod Café and our wider work here: https://www.coventry.gov.uk/pod-1/pod or our Instagram page @the_pod_cafe

Contact the manager of The Pod:  Christine Eade: christine.eade@coventry.gov.uk if you require further information. 

If you need help or support to complete your application, please visit our accessibility page to see how we can assist you.

For full details on the application process please read the attached document labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'

Interview date(s): 12th February 2024

About Coventry

Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.

We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.
At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 5100 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.

To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.

If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards and benefits package - to find out more please visit https://www.coventry.gov.uk/council-vacancies

Coventry City Council