Are you known amongst your friends as the one who has a food obsession? If you’re a foodie, you know that eating is not just that thing you need to do to survive.

No. You relish every morsel that passes your lips. You get excited about different ingredients and count the days until the next episode of your favourite foodie tv programme. Food magazines, blogs, online videos – these are your favourite pastime. And perhaps you just love to experiment in the kitchen, cooking for friends or just taking pleasure at the sight and taste of your culinary creations.

If food really does get you this excited and you are thinking about where next for your next part time job, how about tapping into this passion of yours and finding a job that allows you to immerse yourself in the world of food?

If the idea of standing over a stove in a hot and steamy kitchen doesn’t really float your boat, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a part time job where you work with food. There are lots of other jobs for foodies out there – and some of them, you might not have considered.

Let’s have a look at some top part time job ideas for food enthusiasts.

Food Photographer

As well as a passion for food – and how food is presented – you will obviously need to have good photography skills to be a food photographer.

Food photographers stage settings for food and their photos appear in cookery books, magazines and online. You could also work with hotels and restaurants, staging their food for promotions and menus.

Food photography can be a good idea for those of you who want to work flexible hours. Once you have built up a reputation for being a good, reliable food photographer, you will be able to choose the projects you want to work on.

Chef / Kitchen Assistant

Yes, we know this involves working in the kitchen – but some of you might really enjoy the buzz of a kitchen. And you don’t need to be a fully qualified top head chef to be able to work in a kitchen.

Part time kitchen jobs could be working as a chef’s assistant or a kitchen assistant. As well as being responsible for keeping work stations and the general kitchen area clean and tidy, you can still indulge your passion for food by helping with food prep and the cooking of simple dishes or parts of dishes.

Chefs and kitchen assistants often work shifts and these types of foodie jobs lend themselves well to flexible hours and those of you looking to work part time.

Personal Chef

If you really enjoy cooking but don’t want the stress of a busy kitchen, why not think about becoming a personal chef? You could do this locally and, as with many other types of foodie jobs, you will be able to work flexible hours.

Being a personal chef means you will really have to understand food and ingredients and you will need to be confident when dealing with clients and advising them about meals. You will need to choose dishes for them that match their own foodie preferences rather than your own. You will also need to be able to adapt easily as you will be working in different kitchens.

To get started as a part time personal chef, you could use your friends as guinea pigs and practise coming up with meals in their kitchen.

Personal chefs work on contracts that could be anything from cooking a meal for a one-off dinner party to working long term with families who might need a whole menu planned and prepared for the week ahead.

Restaurant Critic

Do you love to eat out at different cafes and restaurants in your local area? If so, then you could make a part time career out of this by becoming a restaurant critic. A good restaurant critic does, of course, need other skills, too. A way with words, for example, will be necessary as you record your findings in a style that is interesting and entertaining for others.

A restaurant critic is not just there to report back on the food they have eaten, either. As a restaurant critic, you will need a good eye for your surroundings – the setting of the eatery your are in. The decor. The staff and their uniforms. How does it all blend together – or not?

Restaurant critics write for national and local publications. And, of course, you could always set up your own blog to write your articles there.

Foodie Tour Guide

How well do you know your city or town? Do you know about great little eateries that specialise in particular local dishes? Do you know where all the great bakeries and food stands are that serve up interesting foods that have a story to tell?

If you have confidence in leading people and love to tell a story and interact with others then walking tours with a foodie theme could be the ideal part time job for you. As with other types of part time tour guide jobs, you will need to be happy to work outside in all types of weather.

If you live in a city or town that already attracts tourists and you can come up with a foodie tour itinerary, these types of activities are increasingly popular for tourists.

Teach Your Passion

Are you the type of person who likes to pass on your knowledge to others? If foo is your passion and you are keen to get people of all ages into the kitchen then part time jobs where you are teaching cooking skills could be an option.

This could be the type of teaching where you are teaching young adults and students towards a formal catering qualification.

But there are also other options, too, where you could teach night school or weekend classes where people attend to get a particular experience. If you have knowledge of a particular country’s cuisine, for example, you could teach about this in an informal kitchen setting where your attendees make certain dishes under your guidance and eat them all afterwards.

Nutritionist

Being a nutritionist is the type of part time job that would require some formal training and qualifications if you don’t already have them but it could also be a really rewarding part time job, too, as it is the type of role that lends itself to self-employment. If you are looking for rewarding flexible work, this could be ideal.

A nutritionist can work in a whole host of settings both in the public and private sectors. You might work with sports teams, for example, or you could just be working with private clients who need your expert advice on menus that match their lifestyle and dietary needs. If promoting a healthy diet and lifestyle are your thing then becoming a nutritionist could well be a great option.

Food Blogger / Columnist

This is the type of part time foodie job you can set up in your own time. To be a successful food blogger, you’ll need a way with words, you’ll need to be able to take decent photographs and videos and social media skills will be useful, too. Once you have built up a few readers, you can start to try and monetise your food blog.

Successful food bloggers sometimes get the opportunity to write food columns for national press and other food publications, too. How much time you spend on your blog is up to you so you could do this whilst also holding down other part time jobs.

If you consider yourself to be a wordsmith, take a look at some other ideas for part time jobs for those who love to write.

Be Part Of The Waiting On Team

Part time foodie jobs don’t necessarily have to be about preparing food. Working in a restaurant as part of the waiting on team is ideal if you are looking to work flexible hours. Restaurants are often happy for staff to swap shifts with each other if a particular shift becomes inconvenient for you for whatever reason.

If you have a knowledge of the food you are serving and you care about the diners’ experiences, serving food as a waiter or waitress can be extremely rewarding. This type of work is ideal for those of you who are looking for entry level part time jobs. And don’t forget, all those diners who enjoyed their experience are likely to leave a tip which means you get to top up your wages.

Party Food Creation

Again, this is the type of part time job where you could work flexible hours. As you will generally be making buffet food for celebrations and get togethers, you will need to be prepared to work evenings and weekends.

Making party food for people’s celebrations and other events will require you to sit with your clients and create a buffet selection to meet their needs. Some people might want a themed event and there will also be people attending these events who could have specific dietary requirements.

You could be doing buffet food for weddings, christenings, birthdays or funerals so you will need adequate transport for transporting your food to different venues.

Run A Food Truck

If you are a street food enthusiast, then you could have your own food truck or get a part time job working for someone else who has one. In the past, the UK food truck scene was all about processed burgers and hot dogs. Things have moved on, however, and food trucks now have all types of creative owners who are serving up all types of international and inventive street foods to their customers.

Successful food trucks can either stay in one place or move around the country, attending summer festivals and other events. If you are self-employed, you will be able to decide which events to attend to fit in with your lifestyle.

Sales Assistant In A Delicatessen

A part time job in a delicatessen or a an emporium of fine foods can indulge your foodie passion and earn you some money at the same time. Whatever you particular passion for food is, there could be part time jobs in shops or bakeries that sell those foods.

For some of these types of jobs, as well as serving customers and recommending different goods to them to buy, you could also be required to cook or bake certain items.

Make Your Own Food At Home To Sell Elsewhere

This is the type of part time job that mixes working from home with travelling around. The popularity of farmers’ markets and specialist food events has soared over recent years with vendors renting a stall to sell their goods.

So, if you are a keen baker, or you like to make jams and pickled fruits and vegetables, or you are a specialist in making dishes from another country – whatever your passion – you could prepare these at home and then sell them around the area at pop up food markets and other events.

Getting Started

For some part time foodie jobs, it is simply a case of getting your CV relevant and up to date and then applying for the job.

For other types of part time job where you are working with food, make sure you do your research first so that you are working within the law. Some roles will require you to have at least a Food Safety Certificate.

There are lots of different part time opportunities out there for foodies. These are just a few examples. Take a look at our list of current part time vacancies to see if there are any roles out there to whet your appetite. You could soon be earning a wage whilst also indulging in your passion for food.