Development Chef

Are you passionate about food and love to innovate with flavours? Are you bursting with creative ideas and eager to learn? If so, we've got a fantastic opportunity for you at The Compleat Food Group, based in Middlesbrough to join our brilliant Culinary Innovation Team.
At The Compleat Food Group we never just make food. We make food to feel good, taste good and do good for everyone. Our aim is to delight our customers and consumers every day, creating the best possible foods for shoppers needs and budgets.
With operations across two manufacturing sites and one distribution location, Middlesbrough is the home of party food including bhajis, samosas, onion rings, and spring rolls.
Our ability to drive category growth for our customers is through our focus on understanding our consumers and our relentless pursuit of innovation we have the courage to think differently and challenge the status quo. We work at the correct pace to make clear decisions and deliver on our commitments on time every time. Quality is at the heart of everything we do, always. We take in pride in everything we produce.
We value everybody who works in our organisation. Everyone is treated with respect and encouraged to thrive and develop. Together we will become number one for culture.
Location: Middlesbrough, Southbank, TS6 6BJ - with additional travel to Milton Keynes as required.
Hours: Monday Friday, 8:00 17:00.
Salary: From £30,000 per annum.
Purpose
The Development Chef works extremely closely with the wider NPD and Category teams to support the development and innovation plan at site. This is done across a multiple customer base for the chilled fried food category.
Your Duties Will Include:
Effective delivery of the business strategy and customer category plans as directed by the Development Manager.
Interpret varying customer briefs to create and deliver innovative concepts that meet customer and market requirements.
Gather information required and confidently present products to customers and internal site teams
Recipe build and interpret theoretical nutritional results against guidelines
Understand and drive proactive development initiatives which push factory production and Technical boundaries to maximise cost savings and efficiency.
Identify new trends and maintain current products to deliver newness to the category by understanding the market.
Communicate with teams including NPD, purchasing and finance to interpret briefs, source new ingredients and carry out costings
Promote health and safety culture across the site and follow health and safety requirements during kitchen and process development work
Work alongside development technologists and chefs through travel to other sites when required
Requirements:
Experience as a Development Chef or similar role in the food industry.
Experience of working successfully in a Michelin or Rosette level kitchen (desirable)
Catering college qualification (desirable)
Valid driving licence due to expectations to travel to our other sites across the UK (essential)
Key Skills:
Strong cookery skills with flare for innovation and creativity
Organisation and planning
Communicating at different levels of seniority
Presentation skills
Basic computing skills
Team player but can work independently
Qualities:
Passion for food
Enthusiasm to learn and grow
Hard working and driven
Benefits to Include:
2 Employee Volunteering Days per year
Online and High-street retailer discount scheme and well-being portal
Employee well-being and community support groups
Charity Initiatives and Team events
24/7 Access to Grocery Aid
The Compleat Food Group are proud to have built an inclusive and respectful culture where our colleagues feel safe, supported and valued. A place where they can bring their whole selves to work to achieve exceptional results and thrive.
We continue to attract diverse talent into our teams, because we know greater diversity leads to exceptional results and provides a better working life. Thats why were committed to ensuring Fairness, Equity, Inclusivity, and Respect in all that we do.
Recruitment Agencies: We have an active and trusted Preferred Supplier List to assist us if required. We do not acknowledge any speculative CVs or unsolicited candidate introductions from agencies.
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