Prep Cook
About Nooners
For 40 years, Nooners has been a London favourite for fast, fresh, homemade-style lunches. We are a busy, high-volume scratch kitchen preparing homemade soups, sauces, salads, take-home meals, and daily specials for both our restaurant and catering operations.
We're known for quality, consistency, efficiency, and reliability — the four pillars of the Nooners kitchen.
Position Overview – Prep Cook
This role centers around a production-focused kitchen:
Daily production schedule → prepare ingredients → cook from scratch → portion and package → stock → repeat.
You'll prepare soups, sauces, chili, salads, vegetables, proteins, take-home meals, and daily specials in a steady, high-volume scratch kitchen environment. Strong organization, knife skills, consistency, and excellent time-management are essential to keep production moving smoothly.
If you enjoy staying busy, cooking from scratch, and contributing to a tight, efficient kitchen team, this role is a great fit.
Who Thrives in This Role
This job is ideal for someone who:
- Enjoys working in a fast-paced scratch kitchen.
- Takes pride in preparing homemade food from raw ingredients.
- Has strong knife skills and enjoys food preparation.
- Can manage their time effectively throughout the production day.
- Stays organized while producing consistent, high-quality food.
- Works well independently AND within a small team.
- Takes pride in accuracy, consistency, cleanliness, and food safety.
- Can keep production moving steadily throughout the day.
- Offers steady daytime hours and a predictable schedule ideal for work–life balance.
⭐ This Role Is Not Suitable For
Because this is a busy, high-volume scratch kitchen producing food from raw ingredients, this position requires strong cooking fundamentals, knife skills, organization, production pace, and the ability to stay organized while managing multiple production tasks.
For that reason, this role is not a good fit for applicants who:
- Have only worked in kitchens where food was primarily reheated, fried, assembled, or prepared from pre-made products.
- Have limited experience preparing food from raw ingredients.
- Have limited knife skills or are uncomfortable with daily vegetable and ingredient preparation.
- Have difficulty learning quickly or adapting as production priorities change throughout the day.
- Prefer preparing individual customer orders instead of producing large batches of consistent food.
- Become overwhelmed during steady or busy production periods.
- Need constant direction, reminders, or step-by-step supervision to stay on pace.
- Have trouble managing time, speed, and multiple responsibilities simultaneously.
- Lack the situational awareness required to anticipate production needs, restock proactively, and keep the kitchen prepared for service.
This role requires someone who consistently brings strong cooking skills, knife skills, solid time-management, good judgment, reliable pace, and the ability to stay organized, consistent, and confident throughout an active production day.
Key Responsibilities
- Prepare soups, sauces, chili, salads, vegetables, proteins, and daily specials from raw ingredients.
- Produce take-home meals including lasagna, cabbage rolls, shepherd's pie, pot pies, meatballs, and seasonal menu items.
- Prepare ingredients for lunch service, catering, and retail production.
- Portion, package, label, and rotate products according to company standards.
- Maintain a clean, stocked, and organized production kitchen.
- Assist with daily production planning and inventory preparation.
- Follow all food safety and sanitation procedures.
- Work independently with confidence while supporting the kitchen team.
Qualifications Required
- 3–5 years of experience preparing food from raw ingredients in a scratch kitchen, catering kitchen, bakery, hotel, retirement home, institutional kitchen, or similar food production environment.
- Strong knife skills and confidence preparing vegetables, proteins, and ingredients.
- Strong time-management skills — able to stay ahead of production and maintain pace without reminders.
- Strong multitasking ability — comfortable handling multiple production tasks at once.
- Consistent pace and a reliable work ethic throughout the production day.
- Ability to work independently AND as part of a small, fast-moving team.
- Reliable, punctual, and professional.
- Food Handler Certification (or willingness to obtain).
Preferred
- Experience preparing soups, sauces, salads, take-home meals, and other homemade foods from scratch.
- Experience working from daily production schedules.
- Familiarity with maintaining a clean, stocked, and organized production kitchen.
- Ability to proactively prepare for upcoming production without being asked.
What We Offer
- Competitive hourly wage
- Tips
- Mostly Monday–Friday daytime shifts
- Staff meal discounts
- Small, supportive, family-run environment
- Consistent scheduling
- Opportunities for additional responsibility for strong performers
Schedule
- Day shifts
- Primarily Monday–Friday
- Occasional Saturdays during busy weeks
How to Apply
If you bring strong cooking skills, excellent knife skills, and thrive in a fast-paced scratch kitchen, we'd love to meet you.
Apply through Indeed or email your résumé to [email protected]
Subject line: Prep Cook – London
Job Type: Full-time
Benefits
- Company events
- Store discount
Application Questions
- Have you regularly prepared food from raw ingredients in a scratch kitchen?
- Are you confident using chef's knives for daily vegetable and ingredient preparation?
- Have you worked from daily production or prep lists while managing multiple production tasks?
Experience
- Food industry: 3 years (preferred)
- Scratch kitchen: 3 years (preferred)
- Food preparation: 3 years (preferred)
Work Location: In person
Pay: $17.60-$25.50 per hour
Benefits:
- Company events
- Store discount
Education:
- Secondary School (preferred)
Experience:
- Hospitality: 5 years (required)
Language:
Licence/Certification:
- Driving Licence (preferred)
Work Location: In person
