State School Food Operations Specialist

Full-time, Remote in New York State

Founded in 2009, the Chef Ann Foundation (CAF) believes that all children should have equal access to fresh, healthy, delicious food, providing them the foundation to thrive and meet their true potential. We ensure that school food professionals have the resources, funding, and support they need to provide cook-from-scratch meals that support the health of children and our planet. To date, we’ve reached over 19,000 schools and over 5.9 million children in all 50 states with our school food programming.

The School Food Operations Specialist resides within the New York State School Food Operations Program and reports to the Senior School Food Operations Specialist. In this role at the Chef Ann Foundation (CAF), you will provide expert technical support and programmatic guidance to school districts partnering with Sullivan 180 in Sullivan County and supporting New York Healthy School Food Pathways programs.

Focused on driving scratch cooking and sustainable practices, you will leverage deep expertise in USDA regulations, procurement processes, and food service operations to deliver high-impact virtual and on-site assistance. Specifically, the Specialist reviews operational content, provides targeted feedback, and guides district teams across the five core pillars of school food operations: food, finance, facilities, human resources, and marketing.

• Answers technical and operational questions regarding USDA regulations, procurement, school food operations, etc.

• Provides on-site and virtual operational expertise to support the New York Healthy School Food Pathway programs.

• Reviews all operational content associated with district work and provides feedback on recommendations for districts and technical assistance.

• Attends meetings as needed with funders and stakeholders to answer operational questions.

• Provides districts with technical assistance (in-person and virtual) to increase scratch cooking, focused on CAF’s five key areas of school food operations: food, finance, facilities, human resources, and marketing.

• Supports food service directors with the educational components of the New York Healthy School Food Pathway programs.

• Supports the development of assessment reports to support technical assistance provided to districts.

• Provides on-site training, including but not limited to scratch cooking, recipe development, and local procurement, for districts.

• Assists in relationship development with potential, new, and existing host districts for the New York Healthy School Food Pathway programs.

• Represents CAF in trade-based channels, conferences, and collaboratives.

• Works with the Operations team to complete implementation tasks with districts that contract with CAF;

• Ensures that the districts stay engaged and are moving through key program milestones.

• Leads and/or participates in virtual learning sessions for New York Healthy School Food Pathway programs and other CAF professional development programs.

• Coordinates schedules, travel, and district outreach strategy with the School Food Operations team.

• Works with the districts and CAF Marketing Team to highlight program results in districts’ communities and nationally.

• Develops and delivers presentations for webinars, conferences, and other public opportunities focused on specific areas of school food operations.

• Ensures CAF initiatives are managed at the highest level and represent the organization’s commitment to quality, result-driven programming.

• Stay current on emerging trends, factors, and regulations that influence the school food landscape, particularly in the state…