Lead Pastry Chef and Cake Decorator

Harmons is a well-established grocery store chain known for its commitment to providing high-quality fresh food products and exceptional customer service to communities it serves. With a strong focus on sustainable practices and local sourcing, Harmons ensures that customers receive the freshest ingredients available while supporting local farmers and producers. The store prides itself on creating a welcoming shopping experience and a friendly, knowledgeable staff dedicated to meeting diverse customer needs.

The Bakery department at Harmons is a vital part of the store, offering a wide variety of pastries and cakes made fresh daily. This department is recognized for its quality and creativity, satisfying customers' sweet tooth while catering to special occasions through custom cake decorating and specialty baked goods. The Bakery team at Harmons is composed of skilled Pastry Chefs and Cake Decorators who work collaboratively to produce delicious and visually appealing products.

This particular role is for an experienced Pastry Chef and Cake Decorator at Harmons, with an hourly wage ranging from $17.99 to $21.42. The position emphasizes not only the preparation and decoration of high-quality pastry and cake products but also involves training and mentoring other members of the Bakery team. This dual responsibility ensures that all bakery items consistently meet the store’s quality standards while fostering a positive and productive learning environment among the pastry team.

The role demands a high level of skill in mixing, baking, assembling, packaging, labeling, and decorating pastries and cakes. Additionally, it includes monitoring inventory, ordering supplies, and ensuring product freshness and accurate pricing, with special attention to promotional items. The Pastry Chef and Cake Decorator is expected to maintain cleanliness and sanitation standards daily to meet company guidelines, contributing to a safe and hygienic workspace.

Exceptional customer service is a core element of this position. The individual will interact with customers regularly, answering questions, providing assistance, and ensuring a great shopping experience. The role requires following detailed production sheets to maintain proper inventory levels and minimize waste by proper stock rotation and handling of ingredients. The position also involves preparing frosting, writing schedules, participating in inventory counts, and communicating frequently with Bakery management and other store leadership.

A strong candidate for this role will have at least a high school diploma or GED and preferably one year of bakery experience. Food handling certification is required, and experience in efficient cake decorating and pastry preparation with professional results is essential. The role also demands good organizational skills, basic math abilities for recipe scaling, and the capacity to mentor and develop associate skills effectively.

This position requires physical stamina to perform various bakery duties, including standing, walking, lifting heavy objects up to 50 pounds, and working under varying temperature conditions. Flexibility to work weekends, evenings, and holidays is necessary to meet the store's and customers' needs.

Overall, joining the Harmons Bakery team as a Pastry Chef and Cake Decorator offers an opportunity to work in a dynamic, customer-focused, and supportive environment where creativity, quality, and teamwork are highly valued. This position plays a crucial role in delivering exceptional bakery products that contribute to customer satisfaction and store success.