Brunch Chef
The Acorn | Vancouver, BC
The Acorn is looking for a talented and creative Brunch Chef to join our kitchen team and help lead our weekend brunch program.
The Acorn is a Michelin Recommended, vegetable-forward, locavore restaurant on Main Street in Vancouver. Our cooking is rooted in the seasons and the incredible produce grown around us, with a deep commitment to local sourcing, sustainability and zero-waste practices.
Our brunch program is a playful extension of The Acorn kitchen. It is an opportunity to approach familiar brunch ideas through an Acorn lens: seasonal, inventive, technique-driven and a little unexpected. We want brunch to be fun and approachable while still reflecting the creativity, attention to detail and ingredient-driven cooking for which The Acorn is known.
The Role
The Brunch Chef will take ownership of the execution and ongoing development of The Acorn's weekend brunch service, working closely with our Chef and kitchen team.
This is a hands-on cooking position for someone who loves vegetables, enjoys working creatively within the constraints of the seasons, and understands that thoughtful cooking means finding value in every part of an ingredient.
Responsibilities
- Lead and execute Saturday and Sunday brunch service to The Acorn's standards.
- Contribute creatively to the development and evolution of the brunch menu.
- Create playful, compelling dishes that explore brunch through The Acorn's vegetable-forward perspective.
- Work closely with local and seasonal ingredients, allowing what is coming from our farms and suppliers to help shape the menu.
- Embrace and contribute to The Acorn's zero-waste philosophy, finding creative uses for trim, surplus ingredients and by-products across the kitchen.
- Coordinate with the dinner team to identify opportunities for cross-utilization, preservation and waste reduction.
- Complete and organize brunch prep efficiently and maintain appropriate pars for service.
- Maintain consistency, presentation and quality throughout service.
- Ensure proper food handling, sanitation, labelling, storage and kitchen organization.
- Communicate clearly with the Chef and the broader BOH and FOH teams.
- Help create a kitchen environment that is organized, collaborative, respectful and genuinely enjoyable to work in.
- Shifts are Friday, Saturday and Sunday days with the potential to work a 4th shift supporting dinner service
Who We're Looking For
We're looking for someone with strong cooking fundamentals who is also curious and creative.
You should be excited by a beautiful case of summer tomatoes, a strange-looking chayote from one of our farmers, or the challenge of figuring out what to do with yesterday's trim.
You don't need to come from an exclusively vegetarian kitchen, but you should be genuinely interested in vegetable-forward cooking and excited by the challenge of building flavour and complexity without relying on meat as the centre of the plate.
The ideal candidate:
- Has 5 years of professional kitchen experience, ideally in a quality, ingredient-driven restaurant.
- Is comfortable working independently and taking ownership of a service.
- Has strong organizational and prep-management skills.
- Understands seasonality and has an interest in local food systems.
- Cares about sustainability and reducing food waste.
- Enjoys developing dishes and contributing ideas.
- Can balance creativity with consistency, efficiency and food cost.
- Works well collaboratively and communicates clearly.
- Is dependable, calm under pressure and takes pride in their station and kitchen.
- Wants to continue learning and developing as a cook.
Schedule:
3–4 shifts per week, with a regular schedule built around:
- Friday: Brunch prep
- Saturday: Brunch service
- Sunday: Brunch service
- Optional fourth shift: Working alongside The Acorn's dinner team
The salary range listed for this position includes hourly wage plus gratuities.
Benefits & Perks
- Extended medical benefits after three months of employment
- Free confidential counselling available from your date of hire
- Access to a staff yoga pass
- Family meal while working
- Staff discounts at The Acorn and our sister restaurant, Lila
- The opportunity to work with exceptional BC produce and build relationships with some of the region's best farmers and producers
- A creative environment where cooks are encouraged to contribute ideas and develop their skills
About The Acorn
Since opening on Main Street in 2012, The Acorn has built its reputation around the idea that vegetables deserve to be treated with the same ambition, technique and creativity traditionally reserved for meat and seafood.
We work closely with BC farmers and producers, building our menus around what is actually growing here rather than sourcing ingredients to fit predetermined dishes. Preservation, fermentation, dehydration, pickling and whole-ingredient utilization allow us to extend the seasons while dramatically reducing kitchen waste.
The Acorn is Michelin Recommended and has been recognized locally and nationally for its cooking, sustainability practices and commitment to our regional food system.
Brunch is one of the more playful expressions of that philosophy. It's a chance to loosen the tie a little, have fun with the format and create food that is comforting, surprising and unmistakably Acorn.
We're looking for someone who wants to help make it special.
Pay: $23.50-$26.00 per hour
Expected hours: 35.0 – 40.0 per week
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Company events
- Dental care
- Discounted or free food
- Employee assistance program
- Extended health care
- Paid time off
- Store discount
- Vision care
- Wellness program
Application question(s):
- What is your favourite vegetable and why?
- Give an example of a zero-waste practice you've implemented at work
Experience:
- Cooking: 5 years (preferred)
- Leadership: 1 year (preferred)
Work Location: In person
