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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.
Who We Are:
At The Compleat Food Group we’re not just serving up great food, we’re creating an environment where our people can thrive. As one of the leading chilled prepared food manufacturers in the UK food industry, we believe that our employees are the secret ingredient to our success. We’re passionate about fostering a culture where quality, innovation, collaboration, and personal growth are at the forefront.
Location: Middlesbrough,
With operations across two manufacturing sites and one distribution location, Middlesbrough is the home of party food producing bhajis, samosas, onion rings, and spring rolls to top UK retailers.
Hours: Monday – Friday, 8:00 – 16:00 (with some flexibility required)
Purpose:
The Development Chef works extremely closely with the wider New Product Development (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:
* Interpret varying customer briefs to create and deliver innovative food concepts that meet customer and market requirements.
* Effective delivery of the business strategy and customer category plans as directed by the Development Manager.
* 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:
* Strong chef experience and with willingness to train as a Development Chef
* Previous experience as a Development Chef (desirable but not essential)
* Experience of working successfully in a Michelin or Rosette level kitchen (desirable)
* Valid driving licence and access to a vehicle due to occasional expectations to travel to our other sites across the UK (essential)
Key Skills and Qualities:
* Strong cookery skills with flare for innovation and creativity
* Passion for food essential
* Organisation and planning
* Enthusiasm to learn and grow
* Communication skills at different levels of seniority
* Basic computing skills
* Team player but can work independently
Benefits to Include:
* Dynamic Environment: You will be working in a fast-paced, future-thinking agile company where your contributions make a real difference.
* Culture: Be part of a fantastic team that values diversity, innovation, collaboration and excellence.
* 33 days annual leave
* 2 Employee Volunteering Days per year
* Employee well-being and community support groups
* Charity Initiatives and Team events
* 24/7 Access to Grocery Aid (Free Financial, Emotional and Practical Support)
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. That’s why we’re 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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