Associate R&D Chef

Home Chef • Chicago, IL

1d • $50,000 - $60,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Associate R&D Chef supports the Tempo culinary team within Home Chef’s new product development department. The role assists with developing compound ingredient formulations and meals, cooking for meal research and development, preparing ingredients for sampling, editing production meals for accuracy, and photography. The position works in person in both the R&D kitchen at the Old Post Office in downtown Chicago and the production kitchen in Bedford Park, Illinois. It requires 0–10% travel.

Requirements

• Culinary background required.
• Strong understanding of food.
• High attention to detail and ability to follow shopping lists and Home Chef cooking specifications exactly.
• ServSafe certification or a strong understanding of sanitary practices.
• Ability to carry grocery bags through an elevator daily; carts are available.
• Ability to taste and provide thorough feedback on meal and ingredient samples, including vegetarian, pork, chicken, steak, seafood, dairy, and added-sugar items.
• Completion of a two-year program such as an Associate degree in Culinary Arts.

Nice To Haves

• At least 1 year of consumer packaged goods experience.
• At least 1 year of professional cooking experience.

Responsibilities

• Manage and maintain ingredients for R&D and recipe scaling at the Bedford Park production kitchen, including inventory, ordering stock items, and removing expired products.
• Ensure items are transferred from the production kitchen to the R&D kitchen as needed.
• Maintain the RTH ingredient inventory in the R&D kitchen, including locating, tracking, and storing items for near- and long-term use.
• Work with Culinary Apprentices on grocery processes, including communicating with kitchen personnel, preparing lists, shopping, putting away groceries, and sourcing last-minute items.
• Help order kitchen supplies, specialty ingredients, and equipment from suppliers, production facilities, and online sources.
• Serve as a resource for cross-functional teams.
• Prepare and execute meals or compound ingredients as assigned by the manager.
• Cook preliminary bench-top compound ingredient formulations and assess production viability, including flavor, nutrition, ease of execution, and performance over time.
• Assemble meals according to specifications.
• Photograph meals, edit photos, and upload them for internal production and customer-facing use; photograph compound ingredients and upload those images as well.
• Participate in meal and compound ingredient feedback discussions and implement feedback to improve formulations and procedures.
• Refine ingredient quantities, recipe wording, and timing to support successful meals and compound ingredients.
• Scale recipes to full R&D batches for testing and formulation refinement, and to full production batches for testing at the Bedford Park facility as needed.
• Scale non-cooking kitchen or assembly operations at the Bedford Park facility, such as testing planetary mixer settings or refining assembly-only compound ingredients.
• Follow food safety practices in the R&D kitchen and sanitation, GMP, and food safety rules in the production kitchen.
• Respond to feedback from R&D chefs, production chefs, and other Product Team members to improve output and workflows.
• Test techniques and recipe changes to improve quality, yield, nutrition, and efficiency.
• Participate in setup and tasting for the new ingredient sampling process.
• Execute key project work and drive workstreams when necessary.
• Participate in weekly and ad hoc production meal edit checks and ad hoc bulk meal and ingredient updates.
• Assess the accuracy of meal assembly photos on live menus and reshoot photos as needed.
• Taste and provide daily feedback on Tempo R&D chef meals, including meals containing red meat, vegetarian ingredients, soy, seafood, shellfish, and pork, with limited exceptions.
• Analyze customer comments and recommend improvements.
• Regularly attend and participate in required Tempo culinary and cross-functional team meetings.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance.
• Paid holidays, sick time, and vacation time.
• 401(k) program.
• Flexible spending accounts for qualified medical, dependent care, parking, or transit expenses.
• 401(k) match.
• Promo code for $30 off a first Home Chef order.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Associate degree