Culinary Innovation & Brand Marketing Manager

Natural Grocers•Lakewood, CO

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Culinary Innovation & Brand Marketing Manager brings culinary expertise to Natural Grocers Brand Products (NGBP), meal deals, national events and food-focused marketing. This role develops and tests recipes and product-use concepts, translates culinary and consumer trends into campaign ideas, and manages assigned initiatives from concept through execution. Working closely with the Sr. Marketing Manager, Local Marketing and Brand Products marketing lead, the role supports brand priorities and product launches while continuing hands-on cooking, food preparation and styling for photography, video and social media. This is a manager-level role focused on programs and projects, with no direct reports initially.

Requirements

Five years experience in culinary innovation, recipe development, or food marketing required
Demonstrated experience developing, testing and standardizing approachable recipes, menus, meal solutions and product-use concepts from ideation through execution.
Strong hands-on culinary skills, including food preparation, cooking, plating and the accurate documentation of ingredients, methods, yields, preparation times and substitutions.
Working knowledge of food safety, sanitation and kitchen procedures, with the ability to maintain a clean, organized and production-ready workspace.
Ability to research culinary, consumer, product and competitive trends and translate findings into practical recommendations for recipes, product positioning, launches, campaigns and customer engagement.
Experience supporting food photography, video or social-content production through advance planning, ingredient sourcing, preparation, food and prop styling, plating, continuity and on-camera demonstrations.
Strong project-management and organizational skills, including the ability to manage calendars, milestones, budgets, dependencies, production needs and deliverables across multiple initiatives.
Effective written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to prepare clear creative briefs, ingredient lists, preparation guidance, standard operating procedures and training materials.
Demonstrated ability to collaborate with marketing, merchandising, product development, creative, social, video, web, nutrition education, store and external partner teams.
Sound judgment in distinguishing culinary and product-use content from nutrition education and in routing nutrition guidance or claims through established review processes.
Ability to use or quickly learn workflow and project-management tools, including Lytho, and to attend scheduled in-person cooking and production sessions at designated locations.
Experience in grocery, retail, consumer packaged goods, natural or specialty foods, or another consumer-focused environment that combines culinary development with marketing.
Experience supporting product research and development, prototypes, sensory evaluation, commercialization or new-product launches.
Experience creating consumer-facing culinary content for social media, email, web, in-store campaigns, recipe collections, seasonal events or promotional meal programs.
Experience with food costing, ingredient sourcing, production budgeting, promotional pricing or vendor coordination.
A portfolio demonstrating recipe development, food styling, culinary content, product innovation or successful cross-functional campaign execution.

Nice To Haves

Culinary arts, or marketing degree preferred

Responsibilities

Develop, test and refine approachable recipes, menus, quick meal ideas and product-use concepts that demonstrate the quality, versatility and value of Natural Grocers products.
Research culinary trends, competing products and launch activity; turn findings into practical recommendations for new concepts, product positioning, recipe content and customer engagement.
Support NGBP product innovation through culinary research, prototypes, preparation tests and sensory feedback, partnering with the teams responsible for product development and commercialization.
Document ingredient quantities, methods, yields, preparation times and substitutions. Develop repeatable procedures and training materials that help teams execute concepts consistently.
Partner with the Sr. Marketing Manager, Local Marketing and Brand Products lead on themed events, product launches and campaign development; own assigned projects and move approved concepts through planning, production and delivery.
Develop product-use stories, serving ideas and simple food content, such as ways to use yogurt or rolled oats, and translate them into briefs for photography, video, social, email, web and in-store assets.
Research successful product launches and brands built around standout products, such as Coconut Cult, but as they pertain to the category - to identify effective positioning, messaging, content and promotional tactics; adapt those learnings into focused, high-impact launch plans that build excitement, encourage trial and sustain interest in individual Natural Grocers Brand Products SKUs.
Recommend culinary messaging, props and food presentation for wellness and brand campaigns. Coordinate with creative and channel owners to deliver work aligned with approved brand strategy.
Own the culinary development of Npower meal-deal options, including menu combinations, serving sizes, preparation guidance and visual presentation. Partner with merchandising on availability, costs and final promotional pricing.
Develop seasonal and national-event food concepts, such as date-night dinners, Big Game menus and other affordable meal occasions, and coordinate supporting culinary content.
Partner with the Food Photographer and creative team to plan and execute photography for new products and brand campaigns, including supplement campaigns, coordinating shot concepts, props, styling and product preparation to create compelling imagery across marketing channels.
Continue hands-on recipe cooking for social shoots, food photography and video. Participate in advance planning with the Food Photographer/Stylist, social media and Video Production teams.
Prepare recipes, shopping lists, check pantry inventory and shop for ingredients using the company-provided Recipe Demo Expense Card and established expense procedures.
Prepare and cook food in designated Natural Grocers Demo Kitchens; coordinate cooking schedules with photography and filming so food is ready at the appropriate time.
Collaborate with the Food Photographer/Stylist on culinary photo direction, props, garnishes, plating and food continuity. Prepare food comfortably with hands on camera and demonstrate techniques as needed.
Provide practical feedback on recipe timing, methods and presentation. Clean and reset the kitchen after production, following established food safety, sanitation and kitchen SOPs.
Maintain organized ingredient, supply and prop needs; track preparation time and production expenses and submit required documentation.
Attend scheduled in-person cooking and production sessions, generally Monday through Friday. The existing shoot cadence is approximately three to four 6–8-hour days per month, with additional development and campaign work scheduled around production needs.
Partner with the social content coordinator to develop quick recipes, food tips, preparation demonstrations and timely concepts suited to short-form video and social channels.
Provide culinary briefs, ingredient lists, preparation notes and food presentation guidance that help the social and production teams capture useful, repeatable content.
Work with the web team to improve recipe organization and discovery and curate seasonal, product-focused and event-based recipe collections using approved content.
Distinguish simple culinary and product-use content from nutrition education. Coordinate with NED when content includes nutrition guidance or claims or requires review under established processes.
Manage calendars, milestones, dependencies and deliverables for assigned culinary and brand initiatives; submit and track Lytho requests and coordinate work with creative and channel owners.
Build productive relationships with merchandising, NGBP, creative, social, video, web, NED and store teams; coordinate approved vendor or external partner involvement as needed.
Plan ingredient and production needs within approved budgets, communicate capacity and timing constraints, and identify solutions that keep projects moving.
Review feedback and available content, campaign and meal-deal performance with relevant teams; recommend improvements to concepts, workflows and future campaigns.