NOW HIRING:
Chuckwagon Chef & Outdoor Cooking Teacher – Summer Seasonal
Please Note: This is a summer seasonal position, but Trackers is expanding its food service and cooking education programming. For the right person, this role may open the door to future year-round collaboration in outdoor cooking, food education, events, and hands-on culinary programs. Future opportunities depend on program needs, performance, availability, and mutual fit.
As a Chuckwagon Chef & Outdoor Cooking Teacher with Trackers, you lead the outdoor kitchen for our overnight camp at our Sandy, Oregon site. You cook hearty, memorable meals for 80+ campers and staff, manage food orders with our vendor, and teach campers hands-on outdoor cooking skills as part of the camp experience. This is not cafeteria food service. It is a campfire chuckwagon, field-kitchen role for someone who can feed a community and make meals part of the adventure.
We are an action-packed, fast-paced old school outdoor and craft program. We value competence-building field education where kids earn confidence through real adventure, challenge, and shared service. Our overnight kitchen is outdoors, practical, lively, and built around fire, teamwork, food safety, and real meals prepared in camp conditions.
Who You Are
You have experience cooking for groups and staying organized when the setting is busy, imperfect, and outdoors. You can plan ahead, adjust when conditions change, and keep meals moving while holding your fantastic humor. You understand that feeding campers is about nourishment, morale, timing, and culture.
You are steady, direct, caring, and great with students. You can plan menus with support from the Site Supervisor, place vendor food orders, and make dinners feel like the highlight of overnight camp—the meal everyone raves about. You love BBQ and want to sear, smoke, roast, and grill whenever you can. You do not need to be a restaurant executive chef, though we welcome that background, but you do need to be a creative cook, organized food handler, and outdoor educator who enjoys building competence in young people.
Your Camp Setting
- Overnight Camp: Work at our Sandy, Oregon overnight camp site, preparing meals for campers and staff during multi-day residential programs.
- Outdoor Kitchen: Lead camp meals in an outdoor kitchen environment using practical field systems, group cooking, fire-based or outdoor cooking methods, and strong sanitation routines.
- Campfire Cooking: Help create hands-on outdoor cooking moments, including weekly Dutch oven or campfire meals cooked by student groups with Guide support.
Skills & Experience
- Group cooking experience: Experience preparing meals for groups, camps, schools, lodges, retreats, restaurants, or outdoor programs
- Menu planning and food ordering: Ability to plan practical camp menus with the Site Supervisor, track counts, place vendor orders, manage inventory, and adjust quantities based on enrollment and staff numbers
- Outdoor cooking comfort: Experience or strong interest in cooking outdoors, working with camp kitchen systems, and adapting to weather, fire, burn bans, equipment, and field conditions
- Dinner leadership: Ability to make dinners feel hearty, memorable, organized, and worth gathering for, while keeping breakfasts and lunches simple, efficient, and reliable
- Food safety: Strong understanding of food handling, sanitation, allergen awareness, temperature control, dish systems, and clean kitchen habits
- Youth edcuation: Ability to involve kids in safe, age-appropriate food prep, campfire cooking, cleanup, and shared service with Guides helping oversee campers
- Team coordination: Ability to direct kitchen helpers, communicate clearly with overnight staff, and keep meals on schedule during a busy camp day
- Certifications: Current Oregon Food Handler’s Permit required before start; CPR/First Aid preferred
Successful Chuckwagon Chef & Outdoor Cooking Teachers may come from backgrounds including camp cooking, outdoor education, restaurant management and cooking, school food programs, retreat centers, farm education, guiding, homesteading, live-fire cooking, expedition cooking, and youth programs. You may come from many worlds, but your focus is simple: feeding the camp well while teaching kids how meals build community become part of the adventure.
What You’re Responsible For
- Safety: Maintain strong food safety, sanitation, allergen awareness, knife safety, fire safety, and outdoor kitchen routines. Keep campers and staff safe around food prep, cooking areas, tools, hot surfaces, and cleanup systems.
- Operations: Prepare and serve meals for 80+ campers and staff in an outdoor overnight camp setting. Keep meal timing, prep flow, dish systems, storage, and cleanup organized across each camp session.
- Administration: Plan menus with the Site Supervisor, track meal counts, place vendor food orders, receive and store supplies, monitor inventory, and communicate food needs before they become shortages.
- Stewardship: Care for the kitchen, tools, food storage areas, dish systems, and outdoor cooking spaces. Reduce waste, maintain cleanliness, and model respect for food, gear, and place.
- Camper Teaching: Create hands-on moments where campers contribute safely to food prep, campfire cooking, cleanup, and camp kitchen routines. Work with Guides so campers can help meaningfully without slowing the whole kitchen down.
- Dinner & Campfire Meals: Make dinners a memorable part of overnight camp, including outdoor meals, Dutch oven cooking, and team-based campfire cooking experiences when appropriate.
- Leadership: Coordinate kitchen helpers, supervise kitchen staff as assigned, communicate with the Site Supervisor and overnight staff, and help the camp team understand what support is needed for meals to run well.
- Culture: Make meals feel like part of camp, not a break from camp. Bring warmth, humor, competence, and high standards to the gathering table.
- Program Implementation: Support the overnight camp experience by connecting food, fire, outdoor skills, teamwork, and shared service to the larger Trackers program.
Kids Run Camp
At Trackers, we build independence through shared service, not free play. In the outdoor kitchen, that means campers help in real, age-appropriate ways: carrying water, setting tables, prepping ingredients, cleaning dishes, tending simple cooking tasks, and caring for the camp kitchen. Guides help oversee campers during kitchen participation so you can protect safety, timing, and flow while still giving kids meaningful ways to contribute to the meals that feed their community.
Schedule & Program Structure
- Camp Weeks: June 15 – Sept 4, 2026
- Training & Prep: June 1–12, 2026 (start date may be flexible depending on experience)
- Location: Overnight camp at our Sandy, Oregon site
- Overnight Camps: This role stays onsite during assigned overnight camp sessions; room is available during camp
- Meal Structure: Lead all meals and snacks, with special focus on excellent dinners and hands-on outdoor cooking experiences
Pay & Compensation
- Position Type: Seasonal overnight camp role
- Weekly Pay: $1,250–$1,420/week
- Meals & Lodging: Provided during assigned overnight camp sessions
- Training Pay: Training is paid at local minimum wage; add-ons do not apply during training
This is a seasonal overnight camp role with weekly pay during camp sessions. Workload may vary with enrollment, food orders, logistics, and program needs.
Physical Readiness
This is a hands-on outdoor kitchen role. Physical demands vary by camp session and conditions. Reasonable accommodations may be available for qualified individuals.
Outdoor Camp Kitchen
- Lift, carry, and move up to 50 lbs regularly, including food bins, coolers, water, cookware, firewood, and kitchen equipment; assist with team lifts or moves up to 60 lbs as needed
- Stand, walk, bend, lift, prep, cook, serve, and clean for extended periods during active meal blocks
- Work outdoors in heat, cold, rain, smoke, dust, and changing camp conditions with appropriate breaks and modifications as needed
- Use knives, cooking tools, stoves, fire systems, hot cookware, dish systems, and food storage equipment with safe control and attention
- Maintain clean and organized kitchen systems in an active overnight camp environment with campers and staff nearby
Required Certifications
- Oregon Food Handler’s Permit
- CPR & First Aid preferred, or ability to obtain before start if required for assignment
- Emergency allergy response training
- Mandated Reporter Training (Oregon; 18+)
Additional Requirements
- Background check + references
- Complete required Trackers trainings (paid)
- Ability to work and stay at our Sandy, Oregon overnight camp site during assigned camp sessions
- Comfort working in an outdoor kitchen around campers, staff, tools, fire, food systems, and changing weather
How to Apply
Apply early and note your cooking experience, outdoor experience, teaching experience, and availability for overnight camp sessions. Qualified applicants may be placed on an on-deck list for upcoming openings. Employment is at-will, and this posting is not a contract.
Mutual Fit Period: All new hires—including seasonal transitions—begin with a 90-day mutual fit period for onboarding, training, feedback, and clear shared expectations.