Meet Jason Smith. CEO and founder of Yummy Jobs.

He grew up in England as a shy kid, mostly comfortable hiding behind his siblings in the shadows. In his teen years, he suddenly found himself in the hospitality industry with a job stint at his aunt and uncle’s pub. He was content doing dishes in the back kitchen but every now and then would get thrown into the crazy world in the food serving front where he had to interact with customers. It not only helped him overcome his inhibitions but started to sow the seed of a love for hospitality. He went on to work in Italy for a bit but somewhere inside him lay the dream of working in the US. The dream was realized at age 18 when he went for an interview with Disney and got hired and came to the US under the J1 visa program to train at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. He had to embrace the culture of a new workplace. “I wore pale blue pants, yellow suspenders, and a yellow bow tie with a pastel striped shirt. We used to dance to the juke box in the diner when a guest ordered a “Kitchen Sink” (the largest ginormous ice cream dish served in a kitchen sink). The lights would flash, and all the servers would be out on the floor dancing away” says Smith.

He returned home to England and then came back to work for Disney in one of the J1 International Management Training programs. This helped develop his leadership skills to become a future leader in his own business back in the UK.

In his new H2B program journey, he found that there is limited American born talent which is available to the big resort industries and many remote locations. North American mountains and ski hills find it challenging to fill unskilled labor positions. They would not be able to open full capacity if they did not fill their positions through foreign born unskilled labor on H2B visa programs (a heavily regulated temporary unskilled labor program).

 In 2000 Smith founded Yummy Jobs to tap into International Programs. The focus was on tourism, hospitality, and culinary sectors, which was where his own experience lay, and he saw significant potential for growth and building fantastic training and cultural experiences through J1 programs. He saw a clear mission in connecting people with international cultural learning opportunities and enhance their careers and broaden their horizons. Main employer clients include well renowned theme parks, award winning boutique resorts, as well as high end luxury resorts across the USA. The UK based company has forty-five employees.

Yummy Jobs started to help recruit participants from all over the world (inc. The Netherlands, Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, South Africa) through J1 training programs, Seasonal Work Programs, and summer cultural exchange programs. These participants would train in the US, share the culture, and learn from Americans and of US hospitality and then return to the country of origin, to excel in their future home career.  

Yummy Jobs International Inc. (US Entity) was born in January 2017 which now has seven employees in the US. They opened the South African, Canadian and Mexican Yummy Jobs businesses in 2024.

The Yummy Jobs’ team visit schools and recruitment events around the world, taking time to speak with both students and education leaders, so that they can better understand which hospitality trends are of key interest. By gathering a comprehensive understanding of the current industry, and by recognizing how this can change, Yummy Jobs has developed a catalogue of exciting opportunities that really does have something for everyone which includes Farm to Table, Wellbeing destinations and now includes cities like Nashville & so many more.  Many US host employers provide great housing and transportation, and Yummy Jobs International Programs provides support in connecting participants to the local US community too.

Smith himself has now moved to Orlando with his family to help expand the US business. He supports strong measures to heavily regulate these great temporary visa waiver programs and curb criminal or illegal activity around immigration and but wants to make sure that the rhetoric is based on good information and on the basic reality that “Immigrants and people from other countries are still welcome through legal channels, because they are not only a great source of cultural and economic exchange but bring immense prosperity to so many regions of the United States of America”

You can tap into many yummy stories at www.yummyjobs.com.

Manpreet Grewal