Director of Dining Services

HIRING: DIRECTOR OF DINING SERVICES — WE ARE BUILDING A CAMPUS-STYLE DINING PROGRAM FOR A K-12 SCHOOL

We grow the scholars. We grow the scores. We do not yet grow the food they eat — and we want the director who will.

SR1 College Preparatory & STEM Academy is hiring a Director of Dining Services (child nutrition director) to run our meal operation and build a campus-style dining program. Bring culinary skill and we will happily call you Chef.

88% of our 3rd graders passed the Mississippi ELA reading assessment on their first attempt — more than 10 points above the state average. We did that in four years, in Canton, Mississippi. Now we want our dining program run the way a great college campus runs one: tight on the operation, ambitious on the food.

That means one leader who owns the operation and builds the program.

The operation comes first:

• The National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, run to USDA meal-pattern rules
• Claims, budgets, vendors, procurement, and state reporting that are right and on time
• Food safety, production records, and review-ready documentation every day
• Serving as our school nutrition program director of record with the Mississippi Department of Education

Then you build what we do not have yet:

• Farm to Table — the pipeline from garden bed to cafeteria tray, starting with what already grows on SR1's own ground. Scratch cooking, local sourcing bought the right way, real budget.
• Culinary education for scholars — hands-on cooking, food science, and nutrition tied to Mississippi Academic Standards, alongside our Agriculture & Food Science team.
• Culinary education for families — cooking nights, take-home recipes, and nutrition literacy built around dishes our families already know and love.
• A global culinary perspective — a rotating "world table" that introduces scholars and families to food and farming traditions from beyond Mississippi. Not a unit, a habit.
• Your own team — you lead our Culinary Specialists, and as we add grades you hire the sous chef, kitchen manager, and garden educator who grow this with you. You will also lead live cooking demos and be comfortable on camera for the short videos we plan to build around this initiative.

What we're looking for:

• Meets USDA professional standards for a school nutrition program director (7 CFR 210.30) — we will verify eligibility
• Real operations experience running a school, campus, or institutional food program, with specifics on claims, production records, budgets, and reviews
• Understand food cultural competency
• Business and budget management — you can read a monthly financial statement, control food and labor cost, and manage vendors by the book
• Culinary skill is a plus, not a requirement. If you cook, tell us. If you don't, tell us how you'll keep the food excellent through your team.
• A builder of teams, comfortable presenting to families and donors
• ServSafe Manager or equivalent required, or obtainable quickly. A Mississippi teaching license is not required.

Compensation: base $60,000 on a 12-month contract — a founding-year starting number, not a ceiling. Pay is built to grow with the program and with what you produce: growth steps, partnership and grant incentives, and incentives tied to program quality, operational excellence, and measured scholar and family learning gains push total compensation potential above $80,000 in year one, with room to grow from there. Candidates who advance to interview receive a full written incentive guide.

The honest part: this is two jobs at once. The daily operation has to be right every day, and it comes first. The second job is a founding one — there is no Farm to Table program yet, no built-out teaching kitchen beyond standard cafeteria service, and no supply chain beyond in-kind support from partners such as Davis-Green Farms and whatever you build next. The heavy lifting is real. So is the ownership.

If you want to run a cafeteria and nothing more, this isn't the job. If you want to run a dining program the way a great campus does and put your name on the menu, let's talk.

Apply: email info@sr1cpsa.org with subject line "Director of Dining Services & Chef Application – [Your Name]." Include your résumé/CV, a summary of your education and food service experience, food-safety certification if you hold one, and three professional references.

And one thing that matters more than the résumé: attach a one-page vision. If you had one year, our scholars and their families, and a blank plate — what would you put on it first, and how would you know it worked? Add two lines on how you would keep every meal, claim, and report right while you build it.

Finalists should expect to work: our interview process includes a short compliance working session and a business presentation. If you cook, a live demonstration is a welcome plus.

www.sr1cpsa.org | 601.206.4544 | Canton, MS SR1 CPSA is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Creating the Future as One with A Commitment to Excellence

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