Junior Development Chef / NPD

Summary

Required a Junior Development Chef. This is a fantastic opportunity for Chef to take the first step to a career in food product development. We are particularly keen to hear from those who have a BA in Culinary Arts or those who have completed The Specialist Chef Course and of course those who have well rounded core craft skills from working in respected kitchens.

Job Description

This is a great chance to work and learn from some fantastic NPD Chefs with proven track records of developing across a number of chilled product categories and ranges.

Our client is a manufacturer of a chilled ready meals, a key supplier for a number of supermarket chains. The site has outstanding facilities; superb development kitchens and a factory that is really versatile and truly lends itself to ensuring product quality. The culture within this business is Chef lead; strong food values throughout are easily detectable.

On a typical day you will work along side the Executive Development Chef developing products; Traditional and Mediterranean exploring and trialling new recipes working from client driven briefs and also on new blue-sky opportunities. You will research food trends through a number of mediums and utilise the expertise of the marketing team. As a Development Chef you will need to be resourceful and tirelessly exhaustive in your search for current and emerging trends.  Sharing information from your findings, trialling potential new ingredients and new cooking methods and researching new food technologies, keeping the team internally and the customer up-to-date.

There will be lots of samples to make and taste panels to attend, presentations to be compiled and presented. You will be trained in all aspects of development related paperwork; formulation of recipes and process flow documentation. With this in mind you will need to be IT literate and have an eye for detail.  
Gaining an understanding of transferring products to the factory is really exciting, seeing that kitchen approved recipe come to life in thousands of meals. You will become familiar with factory systems and processes and in time be able to challenge the norm and also be mindful in your kitchen development of really maximising plant core capabilities.

It is imperative that you have a sound culinary training and well developed core craft skills and have an excellent palette. Your experience should be from a main kitchen environment. It is important that you have a willingness to learn new skills, and be able to handle criticism

....So if you are a Chef who wants to transfer your kitchen skills to an environment other than a hotel or restaurant kitchen, are willing to leave AA Rosettes and Michelin behind and develop food for a much wider audience get in touch as soon as possible as interviews will begin immediately.

Ref JBM8488