Development Chef

Summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen to lead the food development team and deliver exiting new recipes for our restaurants and cafés.

You have an unmatched passion for ensuring that the right product is developed to meet the needs of both the consumer and the business by balancing quality and consumer appeal while demonstrating profitability and minimising labour requirements and complexity.

Your awareness of current trends in food, in both the workplace and the high street, allows you to contribute to the calendar planning and the creation of project briefs. You will build the relationship with the Buying team, helping to ensure that we have access to the best in new suppliers and ingredients.

You will have a passion to understand the opportunities and restrictions within which we work from our varied and challenging operations and work closely with sector Culinary Leads to ensure that our food is fit for purpose in many situations.

You will then manage the development process. Coordinating the requirements and efforts of the finance teams and sector operations management for trials and testing you will produce business case benefits from launching the concept.

You report into the Head of Food & Beverage Innovation within Central Marketing and work closely with the stakeholders from across the business.

Accountabilities 

• Become respected as a key generator of innovation and profitable food
• Manage the Innovation Centre Food Development team
• Interface with the Culinary Directors for each sector
• Manage the structural and seasonal food requirements for the Restaurant Consumer Driven Offers in Workplace and our centrally managed Café brands 
• Delivering profitable, easy to operate food solutions that maximise Consumer appeal while minimising the labour requirement.
• Demonstrate the results of your development with clear business cases that show the quantified benefits
• Demonstrate the ability to take new products to market in a complex environment
• Work with the central team, sector marketing, commercial and operations teams to ensure the central innovation activities meet and support the business requirements and time schedules
• Ensure that the time of the development team is used effectively and efficiently
• Work alongside operational leadership teams and sales teams to support new business bids and retention activity across all sectors
• Present innovation at all levels from leadership meetings to regular site meetings
• Work with integrity
• Taking ownership for identifying trends in food and nutrition and respond accordingly prepare, organise and deliver presentations to all levels of the business

Person Requirements 

Essential

• Degree level qualifications in a food related subject
• 5 years’ experience in food development in either contract catering / major retailer’s / food service or the suppliers to them with a proven record of launching major projects into national markets
• Commercially astute and able to generate business cases
• A passion for minimising complications and ensuring new ideas are easy to activate and deliver well
• Taking a lead role in project management   Leading a project team from multiple sectors and central functions to achieve the agreed objectives efficiently through collaborative working
• Experience of working with senior leadership teams and able to positively influence at all levels to achieve the desired end result
• Open to feedback and you seek out constructive criticism
• You are calm under pressure and communicate effectively
• Experienced and familiar with IT including Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, word but also, ideally the Compass support systems
• Full driving licence
• Working with integrity and having a reputation for reliability and an enthusiasm for hard work
• The ability to ask searching and relevant questions to ensure you understand what is required

Desirable

• Experience in a field based role
• An appetite to succeed and progress in the business
• Experience of coaching and mentoring others