Overview
Lodge Cook
Position type: Full time, salaried, seasonal
Season: April 3–October 13, 2023
Location: Silver Falls State Park, Sublimity, Oregon (60 miles from Portland, Oregon)
Compensation: $3,300 average monthly salary (about $18/hour); 7 days PTO
Perks: Meals provided while working/Basic housing on site/Staff housing in greater Portland/Salem area for subsidized rate (optional)
Program: Opal Creek Outdoor School (spring/fall); YMCA Camp Silver Creek Camp (summer) Work schedule: ODS: Mondays-Fridays; YMCA: Sundays-Fridays: 2 weeks on, 1 week off (always Saturdays off); averaging 8 hrs/day
As a Lodge Cook, you execute buffet-style meals in our renowned Opal Creek Kitchen. We believe it’s the most delicious food you’ll ever find in a camp facility: seasonal, hearty, kid- and adult-friendly fare. As a semi-open kitchen, you frequently greet and interact with students, campers, and staff in the dining hall. Your backdrop will be the forests, creeks, and waterfalls of Silver Falls State Park, Oregon’s most beloved and largest state park and the ancestral home of the Kalapuya and Molalla Tribes.
You’ll join a team that prepares meals for on average 100 people and as many as 160 people. Throughout your shift you’ll execute a full meal from start to finish: prepping, cooking, serving, and dishwashing, you will cater meals to guests’ dietary restrictions and allergies, and you’ll promote a fun and hospitable environment for coworkers and guests. After a three-year hiatus, the Opal Creek Kitchen is relaunching in a new setting; through your collaboration, and ideas, you’ll play a key role in shaping the food service experience for students, campers, and staff for years to come!
Qualifications, Skills, and Experience
A successful candidate will possess these minimum qualifications. We are less interested in the titles you’ve held and more interested in what you’ve actually done and who you are.
● 1+ years in a high-volume, commercial, or camp-like kitchen
● Previous experience with from-scratch cooking and baking
● Strong hospitality skills
● Strong communication skills
● Proven improviser, in general and specific to kitchen equipment use and recipe interpretation
● Previous experience integrating equity, inclusion, and cultural relevance into food service and the workplace
● COVID-19 vaccine (by time of employment)
● Safe food handling practices
● Able to pass a criminal background check
We are committed to having an applicant pool that reflects the diversity of the students we work with, and we highly encourage Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to apply.
About Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center
Our mission is to provide transformative wilderness experiences that grow a community of environmental advocates. All of our work is based around one simple idea: people will protect what they care about, and they will care about what they know. Through our outdoor school and backpacking expedition programs, we bring youth and adults face-to-face with the outdoor places that make Oregon great—pristine mountain streams, uncut vistas, and old-growth forests.
