Job Title: Food & Coffee Developer
Location: Cheltenham (min. 3 days a week)
Reporting to: Director of Food and Marketing
Contract Type: Full Time
Job Purpose
To create a market leading food and drink offering that SOHO Coffee can be proud of, by continuously driving creativity and fantastic quality, all of which create repeat customers and drive sales. This role will bring ideas, trends and flavours and be responsible for taking them from concept to launch, into viable, profitable products sold across the SOHO Coffee estate. A big foodie, with endless creativity and a passion for great tasting food and drink, they will work closely with the wider teams to deliver this and meet customer expectations.
Key Responsibilities
- Identify and develop new food & drink products based on market & global trends, customer needs & feedback, and business strategy.
- Drive continuous improvement across existing products and categories.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams including Supply Chain, Technical and Marketing.
- Work closely with Store Teams, Central Production Kitchen and Operations, to ensure simplicity and their ability to deliver consistency.
- Manage product development timelines within the gated process, and all associated documentation and systems.
- Collaborate with Finance to ensure products are commercially viable.
- Stay up to date with industry trends, emerging ingredients and products.
- Maintaining the standards within the Development Kitchen, making it a proud and comfortable place to work.
- Be the champions for all things SOHO Food & Drink.
Required Qualifications and Experience
- 2+ years experience product development or R&D within the food industry. Retail experience would be preferred.
- Expertise of working with a range of different food categories.
- Experience working with external suppliers.
Skills and Competencies
- Hugely creative and passionate about great quality food and drink.
- Bold and confident to push boundaries within innovation, not being afraid to fail.
- Stores and customers first mentality.
- Strong communication and presentation skills.
- Excellent attention to detail, with proactive and solutions-focused mindset.
- Good IT skills.
- Ability to work under pressure and manage multiple priorities.
- Excellent collaborator and team player.
Compensation: To be discussed
