Retail Security Officer
Full Time
Care Home Kitchen Assistants
Our roles
Care
Posted 3 weeks ago
The cleaner who works around residents, not despite them — pace, dignity, and infection control all at once.
The role
Care Home Kitchen Assistants and Cooks prepare and serve meals for residents in nursing and residential care homes. The work is recognisably catering — but the residents have allergies, dietary requirements, modified-texture diets, and personal preferences that have to be tracked meal by meal. It's where catering meets clinical care, and getting it wrong has consequences a hotel kitchen never has to think about.
Who it suits
You'll thrive here if you've got hospitality kitchen experience and the patience to learn the resident profile of the home you're placed in. Good for experienced cooks moving in from restaurants or hotels who want regular hours, and for kitchen porters and assistants ready to specialise in care catering.
A typical shift
Shifts are typically eight hours, often early starts (6am–2pm) for breakfast and lunch service, or 11am–7pm for lunch through dinner. You'll prepare meals to the home's menu, manage the IDDSI-compliant texture-modified diets (Levels 0–7), allergen control to Natasha's Law standard, plate up to individual resident requirements, support service to residents who can't make it to the dining room, and handle kitchen cleanliness and stock.
Requirements & expectations
- Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene, or Level 3 for cook roles
- IDDSI awareness for modified-texture diets
- Allergen awareness training, including Natasha’s Law standard
- Right to work in the UK and Enhanced DBS on the Update Service
- Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training Tier 1
- Care-context induction, including safeguarding adults, dignity and dementia awareness
- Hospitality or care kitchen experience preferred
Skills you’ll gain
- IDDSI fluency and confidence with modified-texture diets
- Allergen and dietary requirement management at care-sector standard
- Understanding of the link between nutrition, hydration and resident outcomes
- A care-sector specialism that opens doors to Head Cook and Catering Manager roles in nursing homes and hospital settings
Where you could work
Conifer places Care Home Kitchen Assistants and Cooks across nursing and residential care homes, hospices, supported-living services, and dementia-specialist units. Many of our placements come through our Hospitality team's relationships, repurposed for care-sector standards and rates.
About Conifer
Conifer isn't another agency. We're the partner businesses call when reliability matters, when fit matters, and when "good enough" isn't good enough. We look after our people, take care of the compliance behind the scenes, and pick up the phone when you need us — every shift, every site, every time.
