Prep Cook / AM Production (Seasonal)

Ability Culinary brings refined, performance-focused cooking to elite athletes across the NBA, NHL, and WNBA through a multi-location culinary system.

We run the kitchen at Capital One Arena for the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals — pregame and postgame team service, plus a range of hospitality programs serving athletic staff and executives. Our headquarters kitchen supports the arena with detailed mise and also produces for professional practice facilities, charter flights, and private clients.

Driven by a commitment to ingredient purity and physiological benefit, we uphold the highest standards for product integrity. We source wholesome, non-toxic ingredients, emphasizing organic, non-GMO, and sustainable selections. Our mission is to craft extraordinary food that fuels peak human performance, blending classic and modern culinary techniques with Michelin-level precision to celebrate pure flavors, never relying on artificial enhancements.

Join our culinary team as a Prep Cook on the morning production side, working in our new kitchen inside Capital One Arena and/or our headquarters kitchen in Dupont Circle. This is the role that gets the kitchen ready you set the mise, run batch production, and stage everything so the service team walks into a finished station. When a game night runs clean, it's because the morning was done right.

You'll work alongside our Chef Leadership and production team, and you'll learn our systems from the ground up. For cooks looking to move onto a professional service line, this is the best seat in the house to do it from.

Early morning start. Most days begin between 6:00AM or 7:00AM and finish mid-afternoon. Hours shift somewhat with the game calendar, and some weekends and holidays are required, but this role is significantly more predictable than our service positions. Consecutive-day runs are common during peak weeks. If you want early mornings and your evenings back, this is the one.

This is a seasonal position with full-time hours, running from mid-September through the end of the arena season in April/May. Our volume follows the professional sports calendar: October through April is our heaviest stretch, and spring and summer shift toward baseball charters, corporate catering, and commissary production. We extend strong performers into the summer season and onto our year-round team whenever we can.

Start date: We're targeting mid-September, evaluated case by case — tell us your availability when you apply. Note that arena credentialing includes a background check, so applying early helps.

• Day-of mise for service: portion, weigh, sear off, blanch, build, label, and stage
• Batch production 
• Volume vegetable and fruit processing to spec
• Build and pack standardized kits for charter flights, road pack-outs, and grab-and-go
• Label accurately, including allergens. We feed athletes with real restrictions and the margin for error is zero
• Receive and put away deliveries; rotate and date stock; keep coolers organized
• Maintain sanitation standards throughout your shift

• Some kitchen or high-volume food production experience. 
• Consistency and reliability above all: show up on time, every time, and do it the same way every day
• Comfortable with repetition and volume, and precise about quantities, labels, and dates
• Can read a prep sheet and follow a recipe without improvising
• Reliable transportation and the flexibility to report to either DC location
• Food Handler certification, or willing to obtain one immediately
• Discretion.
• Able to pass a background check for arena credentialing
• Able to stand for long shifts and lift 50 lb

No fine-dining background required. We are hiring for dependability, care, and cleanliness.

Nice to have: commissary or catering production; protein fabrication, and or bakery fundamentals.

• Real cooking at real scale whole proteins, house stocks, from-scratch pastry
• A clear path onto the service line for cooks who want it
• A team small enough that your work is visible