Hosting Project Leader

As a volunteer Hosting Project Leader you’ll be looking after a team of volunteers and making sure our guests are made to feel safe and welcome. Under your guidance the team will lay the tables, greet guests, serve the food, and clean up at the end! You’ll be helping to build a resilient community through the sharing of delicious food and conversation, including reducing loneliness and contributing to improving the mental health and wellbeing of guests.

Every Friday 18:00 until 21:30pm

Responsibilities include:

• Running hosting sessions, leading a team of volunteers to serve a three-course meal in a limited timeframe.

• Encouraging the whole team to have input into creating a warm, friendly atmosphere for guests.

• Inducting new volunteers.

• Ensure that all elements of the Project run smoothly, including liaising with the Cooking Project Leader at each session to gather information, e.g. about food allergens.

• Ensuring that all volunteers are following the food safety procedures set out in our kitchen handbook.

• Completing the closing checklist in the kitchen handbook and the weekly session report via our website.

You don’t need to have any previous hosting experience – you just need to love food and motivating people!

About FoodCycle:

We are FoodCycle, and our vision is to make food poverty, loneliness and food waste a thing of the past for every community.

We connect communities, reducing loneliness and food poverty by creating welcoming spaces for people from all walks of life to meet, eat and have great conversations.

Skills you'll learn:

✓ Teamwork: you’ll work as part of a team to prepare a delicious meal and serve it to our guests.

✓ Leadership and delegation: we'll train you up to lead hosting sessions and induct new volunteers.

✓ Hosting: you’ll lead on ‘front of house’ duties, coordinating a team of hosting volunteers and making sure all our guests feel equally welcome.

✓ Safeguarding: you’ll learn how to ensure that the safety of our guests and volunteers is always maintained and everyone acts within the correct boundaries.

✓ Rapport building: you'll be building meaningful connections with your guests and volunteers, ensuring they come back each week.

What to expect from FoodCycle:

✓ Expenses covered in line with our volunteer policy.

✓ Accredited Level 2 Food Safety qualification provided by FoodCycle.

✓ A other training opportunities provided throughout the year, including safeguarding and nutrition training.

✓ Support and guidance from the local FoodCycle staff team.

✓ An annual volunteer conference to help share knowledge and experience with other volunteers on a national level.

✓ The opportunity to take on additional tasks/responsibilities within your Project Leader team.

✓ Impressive skills to add to your CV and a reference if/when you need it.

✓ The opportunity to meet a community of like-minded people.

✓ A fun, creative volunteer experience with impactful influence over a community-led Project.

What’s expected from me:

We hope that Project Leaders stay with us for a minimum of 6 months, to enable them to get the most out of the role. As Cooking Project Leader, you will be expected to:

✓ Attend Project Leader meetings to discuss as a team how things are going.

✓ Lead a minimum of one session per month.

✓ Follow all FoodCycle policies and procedures, including reporting any accidents and incidents.

✓ Complete Level 2 Food Safety, Food Allergens, and safeguarding training.

✓ Complete an enhanced DBS check (required for all roles involving ‘regulated activity’).

✓ Recognise, respond to, and report any safeguarding issues or concerns.

✓ Complete the session Project report on our website after leading a session.