NAPLES, Fla. — If you love to cook, like a learning-environment, and want to work for an organization that gives back to our community, St. Matthew's House is hiring multiple line cooks to work at their restaurant, LuLu's Kitchen.
"I love it. Here is the first job I don't mind coming to, that I'm happy to come to, and I know what I'm doing," Ginger Berry, a line cook at LuLu's Kitchen, said.
She's been working at the restaurant in Naples for eight months.
"I started out as prep, making the food, prepping it out for the line, making dressings and everything. And they needed a line cook, and they were like, 'So, would you like to try to be a line cook?' I was like, 'OK!' so he gave me an opportunity,” Berry said.
Berry said she was grateful for the opportunity, because otherwise, she doesn't know where she'd be.
"I can't guarantee that I would be standing here," she said.
St. Matthew's House is a non-profit that focuses on helping people who are homeless, hungry, or addicted.
Berry said she ended up in the St. Matthew's House women's shelter for four months.
"I messed up, and I'd been looking for work, and every door closed because of my background. And I kept praying. I was like, 'I know the Lord's going to open the correct door for me,'" Berry said.
She said she talked to LuLu's Kitchen's Executive Chef, filled out an application, and got the job.
"I come in at 5:30 in the morning, I set up for breakfast, I do my oatmeal, my grits, sausage gravy. We get biscuits and everything ready," she said.
The Executive Chef, Sean Dietzel, said they're looking for someone who's willing to do it all.
"We're looking for somebody that's well rounded, that’s teachable, that can get along with others, and function in a tense or stressful situation," he said.
He also said it is a teaching kitchen.
Berry said if you need a job, you should consider LuLu's Kitchen because every day is a learning experience. She said the job is hectic, but rewarding: all money made at LuLu's Kitchen goes back into St. Matthew's House to help others.
"I love the fact that everything that they put into here, or that we make, it goes back into the shelter, or helping the homeless," Berry said. "What I love about being here is that I can give back to the people that helped me. I can be on that line, I can train somebody else to maybe not go down the same path as I did."
For more information and to apply for a job at St. Matthew's House, click here.
