Catering Assistant Job Description

As a Catering Assistant, you'll be contributing to a fast-paced kitchen, helping the team whip up the culinary magic they provide each day. This is an in-demand job with opportunities across the UK that could kickstart your career in the food and hospitality industry.

About you: Do you thrive working as part of a busy team in a loud and noisy environment with a great buzz? Do you like to maintain a clean, tidy and hygienic workplace? Do you have good social and communication skills and enjoy interacting with customers? Can you keep calm under pressure? Are you flexible and happy to chop vegetables one minute, serve coffee the next, before taking food to the table and then unloading the dishwasher, gaining hands-on catering experience? If so, this could be the job for you.

What you’ll be doing as a Catering Assistant:

• Assisting the kitchen team.
• Basic food preparation such as peeling and chopping.
• Plating up food.
• Serving food.
• Cleaning work surfaces, walls and floors.
• Washing dishes and kitchen appliances.
• Unloading deliveries.
• Preparing dining areas, cleaning and setting tables.
• Working the till.

Skills, qualifications and experience needed for Catering Assistant jobs:

• Previous culinary experience is an advantage.
• Food Safety Hygiene Level 1.
• Ability to work unsupervised and deliver quality work.
• A team player.
• Excellent customer service skills.
• First-class communication skills and the ability to demonstrate accuracy and attention to detail.
• Good standard of numeracy.
• A desire to succeed in your role.

What could a Catering Assistant role lead to?

If you can show your enthusiasm and knowledge, then your experience as a Catering Assistant will put you in a good position to apply for a role such as a Commis Chef. This is the first real rung on the ladder of your chef career. As a Commis Chef you would work under a Chef de Partie to learn the different techniques, methods and skills required in their section. It's also helpful to work towards a formal qualification such as a diploma or NVQ.

View the latest Compass jobs listed below to see what Catering Assistant roles are available, or click here for all Catering Assistant roles across multiple companies. If a Catering Assistant role is not for you, have a look at other Compass roles we recruit for: