As a Culinary Innovation Chef at Farmer Focus, you'll be at the forefront of great food, crafting new flavors and foods that impress our customers and consumers. Collaborating closely with the sales, marketing and quality teams, you will ideate, conceptualize and develop new food items that expand our culinary reach and grow our business in the prepared foods division.
This position requires extensive culinary expertise, which you will draw on to bring to life a wide range of flavors and cuisines. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a refined palate, deep understanding of global ethnic cuisines, and a strong interest in and understanding of culinary trends in restaurants and retail, as well as online. Your passion for food and your ability to forge taste profiles that range from authentic global flavors to "Middle America" mass appeal will be instrumental in driving the success of our products in the market.
Key Responsibilities:
- Flavor: Develop "Gold Standard" foods, flavors and recipes that the company can commercialize for the Retail and/or Foodservice channels
- Innovation & Innovation Process: Managing innovation from Ideation to Commercialization
- Collaboration: With Marketing, Sales, Operations and R&D to successfully scale and launch new products
- Budget Management: At the team level on an annual basis; at the project level, understanding innovation retail prices and how to engineer recipes that maximize distribution opportunities and company profits
- Regulatory Compliance: Understanding of USDA and FDA product regulations, ensuring products meet industry regulations and safety standards
- Culinary Trends: In conjunction with Marketing and Sales, staying current on culinary trends and flavor adoption cycles
- Market Visits: Getting in market to better understand culinary trends and opportunities for the company both domestic and global
- Competitive Evaluations: Provide detailed and actionable evaluations of competitive food items to inform our product development and innovation
- Presentations: Will present in various settings, including to Executive Leadership, company team members and customers
- Taste Panels: Conduct internal and external taste panels to refine recipes and ensure viability of new food items
- Production & Commercialization: Knowledge of production processes and what it takes to commercialize food items; expectation is to learn over time to increase our efficiency in innovation and product development
Qualifications:
- Culinary Arts Degree, and or 5 years operating as Chef
- 2 years CPG Development experience preferred
- Passion for food and culinary creativity
- Stong desire to make your mark on the national food scene
- Knowledge of global ethnic cuisines
- Strong leadership and project management skills
- Excellent communication and organizational skills
- Understanding of USDA and FDA regulations
- Understanding of Fully Cooked Poultry
- Understanding of MAP and Product Shelf-life
