Seasonal Catering Assistant

While this role primarily focuses on the catering aspects of our hostel, you may also be called upon to assist in other hostel departments. We are a friendly team and will provide the training required for you to undertake the role. However, there is plenty for you to get stuck into from day one, including:

• Ensuring adherence to food hygiene standards in food storage, preparation, and delivery.
• Upholding health and safety regulations, ensuring timely and accurate completion of kitchen checks.
• Taking pride in the preparation, presentation, and service of high-quality food.
• Recording food wastage in accordance with your hostel's procedures, focussing on minimizing waste to maximize profit.
• Assisting in the preparation of food and serving food and drinks with genuine warmth, hospitality, and pride that will influence in more sales.
  
  To provide this service to our guests we are looking for the following qualities in our Catering Team Members:
• Experience of working face to face with customers
• Experience of working in hospitality or customer service (desirable)
• Food Safety Level 2 Certificate (desirable) - otherwise will be required to complete within hostel
• Experience of working in a team - can help others to achieve a common goal
• Excellent timekeeping, with flexibility to cover different shifts - punctual, can work to deadlines
• Ability to manage varying pressures, include peaks in workload demands - can prioritise, able to deal with conflicting duties
• Basic IT skills (ideally Microsoft Office) - able to use Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel
• Knowledge and understanding of the core purpose of YHA - what YHA does and how we do it
• Demonstration of our HEART values - they're part of everything we do, and we look for team members who bring them to life in their everyday work
  
  YHA is a social enterprise with a mission to enrich the lives of all, especially young people. YHA does this by providing brilliant hostel stays and experiences that improve physical health, mental wellbeing and life skills.
  
  Seasonal, flexible contract - May to November 2026
Minimum 25 hours per week £12.71 per hour (applies to all, including those under the age of 21) Are you looking for a fun and varied job in hospitality? YHA York are looking for a Catering Team Member to join their team! As Kitchen Team Member you will be diving into our busy kitchen, preparing meals for families, individuals, and groups, large and small. You will be working between the kitchen, buffet service and front of house, communicating with the rest of our team and our guests to ensure a great experience for all. A keen eye for food safety, hygiene and presentation are key for success in this position. Situated on the leafy bank of the River Ouse, YHA York is a stone's throw away from York's quirky and historic city centre to one side and the gorgeous North Yorkshire countryside on the other. York is the perfect place for history, art and nature lovers alike. YHA York really does a bit of everything! We welcome families, individual travellers and tonnes of groups of all ages, as well as running our local cafe and hosting events. We are proud of our team's creativity and hard work. As Kitchen Team Member you will be working back and front of house, preparing great quality meals for families, individuals and groups, supporting the service of buffet breakfast and amazing café service for our local guests. Why work for YHA? Join our team and enjoy a range of exclusive staff benefits that support your well-being and career growth:
• 10 nights free hostel stays per year for you and up to 3 friends or family
• Access to YHA's staff discount and cash back portal
• Free YHA Membership each year
• Access to support via our Employee Assistance Program
There are many more benefits to working for YHA so please visit our YHA Jobs website for more information.