Kitchen Lead — Suma Coffee Co.

Full-Time | 18+

Suma Coffee Co. is looking for a hands-on, organized, and experienced Kitchen Lead to take ownership of our kitchen operations.

This is a fast-paced café environment where quality, cleanliness, consistency, and organization matter. We’re looking for someone with at least 1 year of professional kitchen, café, bakery, or food-service experience who takes pride in their work and can keep things running smoothly from prep to close.

The Role

As Kitchen Lead, you’ll oversee the day-to-day flow of our kitchen and be responsible for making sure our food and baked goods are prepared to a high standard while keeping the kitchen and dining areas clean, organized, and fully stocked.

Responsibilities

- Prepare and assemble all café food items, including sandwiches, breakfast items, pastries, and other menu items
- Prepare and bake baked goods and pastries according to Suma standards
- Follow recipes while maintaining consistent quality, portioning, and presentation
- Organize daily prep and ensure everything is ready for service
- Manage kitchen inventory and monitor ingredient levels
- Receive, check, date, label, and properly store deliveries
- Rotate stock using FIFO and minimize food waste
- Monitor food freshness and expiry dates
- Maintain a clean, organized, and efficient kitchen throughout the entire shift
- Clean and sanitize kitchen equipment, work surfaces, floors, storage areas, and other kitchen spaces
- Wash kitchen dishes, cookware, utensils, and equipment throughout the day
- Wash and maintain dining dishes, cups, cutlery, and other customer-facing dishware
- Keep dishwashing areas clean, organized,



and stocked with necessary supplies
- Maintain the dining area and customer-facing spaces to a high standard of cleanliness
- Take responsibility for garbage, recycling, and proper waste disposal
- Maintain proper food storage, temperature control, and food handling procedures
- Follow all applicable health, food safety, and workplace safety standards
- Complete cleaning and kitchen checklists consistently
- Monitor kitchen supplies and communicate ordering needs
- Help control food costs and reduce unnecessary waste
- Keep the kitchen organized so the team can work efficiently during busy periods
- Support baristas with food preparation and kitchen-related tasks when necessary
- Train and coach team members on proper kitchen procedures when needed
- Communicate with management about inventory, food quality, equipment, or operational issues
- Open and/or close the kitchen and ensure everything is properly completed at the end of the day

We’re Looking For Someone Who Is
- 18+
- Minimum 1 year of professional kitchen, café, bakery, or food-service experience required
- Confident preparing both food and baked goods
- Highly organized and able to manage multiple priorities at once
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment
- Extremely attentive to cleanliness and food safety




- Reliable, punctual, and accountable
- A strong communicator and team player
- Able to work independently and take ownership of the kitchen
- Detail-oriented and consistent
- Comfortable working on their feet and keeping up during busy periods
- Proactive and willing to jump in wherever needed
- Someone who takes pride in keeping a kitchen running efficiently and to a high standard

Food Handler Certification is an asset. Baking or pastry experience is an asset.

Previous lead or supervisory kitchen experience is an asset.

What Success Looks Like A successful Kitchen Lead keeps the kitchen clean, stocked, organized, and ready for service.

They know what needs to be prepped before the rush, what needs to be restocked, what needs to be cleaned, and what needs attention before being asked. They maintain consistent food quality while keeping up with the pace of the café.

Most importantly, they take ownership. If something needs to be done, you get it done.

Why Suma?

Suma is a modern café where the details matter. From the presentation of our pastries to the cleanliness of our kitchen and dining area, we want every part of the experience to reflect the quality of our brand.

If you’re an experienced kitchen professional who enjoys working in a rapid-paced environment, takes pride in organization and cleanliness, and wants to play an important role in building something special, we’d love to meet you.

Come be part of Suma Coffee Co.

Pay: From $17.90 per hour

Benefits

- On-site parking

Experience:
- Kitchen: 1 year (required)

Work Location: In person

📌 Kitchen Lead (Oakville)
🏢 Suma Coffee
📍 Oakville