Join Our Team

There are many different tasks that help Berries and Flour make its magic. Are you interested in joining our team and helping us to make some magic?

Berries and Flour Employment Application

About Berries and Flour:

Foraging and eating locally isn’t just about food for me — it’s about resilience, community, and joy. Around the world, there are hundreds of thousands of edible plants, but humans rely on just a small handful. When we expand our food sources, even in small ways, we open up new flavors, strengthen local food systems, and reduce our dependence on fragile, global supply chains. Plus, it’s just fun — who wouldn’t be curious to try magnolia blossom pickles or roasted fig leaves that taste like coconut?

I started Berries & Flour in 2017 as a bakery, making cakes and cookies with unique flavors rooted in the Midwest landscape. Berries and Flour's line of preserved goods celebrates our region’s abundance year-round. Some of our ingredients are typical cultivated crops, some are unexpected and wild and others are local substitutes for imported foods. Everything is created with the same goal: to highlight what grows around us and keep our food systems more resilient. Running a business focused on our local produce means we spend a lot of time not just baking and jamming, but preserving delicate, seasonal ingredients so they aren’t lost to spoilage. Pawpaws brown in minutes. Elderflowers fade in hours. If we don’t process things quickly, the abundance of a season can vanish before we ever get to share it. Over time, we have expanded into something much bigger — a small wholesale manufacturing kitchen for processing produce, and manufacturing hot-filled glass, acidified, and dehydrated products.

With our FDA-and IDPH-compliant kitchen, Berries and Flour processes, cold-stores, and distributes value-added ingredients and products for farmers, businesses and local consumers. We are working hard to increase market access for specialty crop growers across Central Illinois, create and expand local employment, support the growth of agroforestry and perennial agriculture, and position Champaign County as a replicable model for regional specialty fruit processing infrastructure in Illinois.

Central Illinois small fruit growers face a structural bottleneck that prevents them from fully participating in the local economy. With nearly 1,000 producers growing more than $22 million dollars in fruit, nut, and berry sales, there is a near-total absence of fruit aggregation, processing, and cold storage infrastructure at a scale designed for their farms. Our role has the potential to transform local agriculture, by focusing on mid-scale processing of fruit. We can provide a vital entry point for farmers to continue to produce fruit, scale their operations safely, build small value-added businesses, and increase the availability of local fruit products grown, processed, and sold in Illinois.

We have several distinct branches:

1) We grow, harvest, forage, commission, and purchase locally-grown produce. We then process it in a variety of ways to make these foods easy to access.

2) We have our own line of "harvest goods", primarily jam, simple syrups & shrubs, dry teas, and baked goods.

3) We offer co-packing/ co-manufacturing services to small- to medium-sized Illinois specialty crop growers.

4) We can help with R&D, recipe development, kitchen building, food safety, and a variety of other consulting services.

5) We rent our kitchen space to small wholesale businesses whose mission is aligned with our own.

6) We teach classes, give lectures and workshops, and offer other educational opportunities around native edible plants, agroforestry, and botany.

We provide much-needed infrastructure, services, and space, supporting farmers and connecting them with the community.

When you purchase our products or services, you support our business and a network of over 30 local farms and farm & food security-focused organizations. You can find our products at farmers markets, and local businesses. Supporting us is a vote for local farms, strengthening our local economy, and promoting a delicious sustainable food system.

About the Positions:

There are many different tasks that help Berries and Flour make its magic. We hire people for 9 to 20+ hours. We all work inside & outside, on & off the farm, and throughout our community. If you join the crew, you can expect to gain an understanding of many aspects of supporting a local food system, edible plants, and a sustainable farm. Some days are full of many varied tasks, while others are more routine. While we have fun, we are also dedicated to staying focused on completing the tasks in an efﬁcient manner.

You'll be asked to work alone and with other staff, interns, and volunteers. This work often requires doing the same task for a sustained period of time while remaining focused, staying calm in a sometimes chaotic environment, maintaining safety when using tools/equipment, and communicating effectively with others.

As an employee of Berries and Flour, you become an ambassador for our mission and work. We hope you treat this role seriously and with respect.

We are an equal opportunity employer.

There are also additional opportunities in R&D, recipe development, and education.

For more information or to apply, go to www.berriesandflour.com or contact berriesandflour@gmail.com

Work Logistics:

2-5 days/week (days and times determined together, usually TWTh)
Starting wage $15/hr with bonuses and raises based on role, production, and longevity
Space is available at the farm for employees to have a personal veggie garden in exchange for tending the farm
Employees are responsible for having reliable transportation, and appropriate clothes and gear
Quick, accurate, and efficient production of harvest goods
Preference for kitchen staff that can work all year

Required Qualiﬁcations:

Valid Certified Food Protection Manager’s license (preferred, but a Food Handler's license is acceptable though it will limit what work you can do in the kitchen)
Valid driver's license
Excellent communication (both in person and via text and email)
Commitment to support local food systems
Exhibit responsibility and good work ethic
Good work ethic
Timely and reliable
Dependable, honest, accountable, initiative, and adaptability
Excellent communication with employer and colleagues (in person, email, and text)
Can work independently and as part of a productive group
Works safely, following food safety and common decency rules

Desired Qualiﬁcations:

Comfortable being outdoors
Interest in vending/ retail sales at markets, fairs, and farms
Excellent communication (both in person and via text and email)
Ability to make decisions under pressure
Interpersonal skills
Familiarity with plants (particularly native species & specialty crops), local ecosystems and landscapes, work with small farms & agriculture, and local food systems & food security (or willingness to learn)

First name

Last name

Pronouns

Phone

Do you text at this number?

Yes

Are you willing to text regarding business no more than 1 hr a week, usually regarding questions that come up and scheduling?

Yes

Why are you interested in working for Berries and Flour?

What is your experience and/ or interest in local food systems?

Our location is “in the country” and we often find ourselves outside. What experience do you have working outdoors?

Do you have transportation to and from the farm (NW Champaign)?

Yes

Do you have a valid driver’s license?

Yes

Describe your experience cooking? Can you make jam and other preserves? Can you follow a recipe and also troubleshoot?

We don't do elaborate decorations on anything, but use edible flowers and natural food dyes to make things lovely for customers. Describe your experience baking cookies, cakes, and decorating cakes.

We don't always use common fruits and vegetables and you will be expected to learn to identify the plants we use and tell them apart. Explain your plant identification knowledge or whether or not you are willing to study and learn them.

We try to have a low ecological footprint. How will you support and contribute to that?

Describe any experience with food safety rules. Our kitchen gets busy and we have farmers, clients, customers, and IDPH and FDA inspectors come by. How will your experience help to maintain the cleanliness and sanitary conditions of our kitchen?

Berries and Flour relies on a steady and reliable crew working together. Briefly describe your reliability, and give an example that shows you have integrity.

We collect data for clients, as well as state and federal entities. Are you able to keep tight records? Explain.

You are making a specific hot sauce for a client that needs to be delivered the next day, and you run out of an ingredient. What are reasonable options in this situation?

If you have not uploaded your resume to Indeed, upload now

Do you have a current Food Handler’s, IDPH Sampling, and/or Certified Food Protection Manager's license? Check all that you currently have.

If you have a Food Handler’s License please note the Date of Issuance and Date of Expiration.

If you have an IDPH Sampling Certificate, please note the Date of Issuance and Date of Expiration.

If you have an Certified Food Protection Manager's License, please note the Date of Issuance and Date of Expiration.

If you have attended Better Process School, please note the Date of Completion

If you have HAACP training, please note the Date of Completion

Upload a copy of your current licenses.

When can you begin working?

Month

Day

Year

What duration of employment are you looking for?

Through the summer (until August)

Through the growing season (until October)

Through the holidays (Until December)

As long as it works for us

Are you a morning or night person?

Morning

Any time

Afternoon

Evening

Is there anything else you want us to know?

Please provide three references that can speak to your work ethic, character, problem-solving skills, creativity, teamwork skills, or any related experience.

You will be required to sign an NDA for the company to maintain trade secrets within Berries and Flour and between clients. Are you willing to do this?

Yes

Other

By checking this box, I certify that I accept the responsibility of working with trade secrets, local habitats, ecosystems, food systems, and our community, and will represent Berries and Flour professionally.

I verify that everything is accurate to the best of my knowledge.

Drawing mode selected. Drawing requires a mouse or touchpad. For keyboard accessibility, select Type or Upload.

Add your signature to verify.