K-12 Development Chef- Brooklyn Culinary

Whitsons Culinary Group•New York, NY

23h•$55,000 - $65,000

About The Position

Do you have a passion for culinary creativity, recipe innovation, and building menus that delight and nourish students? Join Whitsons as an R&D Chef and play a key role in shaping the future of K–12 school nutrition across the Northeast. This is a unique opportunity to work in our state-of-the-art R&D kitchen with access to a vast supply chain, multi-departmental collaboration, and the support of our Nutrition, Production, and Sourcing teams. You’ll design menus that meet nutritional guidelines, cost targets, and production capabilities—while delivering unique, seasonal, and culturally diverse offerings that keep students engaged and excited about healthy eating.

Requirements

Associate degree or higher in Culinary Arts, Food Science, or related field.
Culinary Degree/Certificate or equivalent professional experience.
ServSafe certification required (must maintain throughout employment).
Strong knowledge of cooking techniques, recipe adherence, and sanitation standards.
Familiarity with a variety of cuisines, flavor profiles, and global food trends.
Understanding of nutritional values and their impact on menu development.
Experience with recipe scaling, costing, and food production equipment.
Strong collaboration skills and ability to work across departments.
Ability to speak and read English in order to understand and perform job assignments
Complete knowledge of cooking techniques/recipe adherence
Understanding of sanitation standards
Familiarity with culinary techniques and terminology
Strong grasp on cuisines and flavor profiles from various cultures and areas of the world
Strong understanding of nutritional values of ingredients and their impact on recipes
Familiarity with equipment throughout the plant in order to complete day to day assignments

Nice To Haves

Comfort with culinary math, cost analysis, and MRP systems a plus.

Responsibilities

Create innovative menu items that align with cost, nutritional, and crediting parameters.
Collaborate with production kitchens to commercialize recipes from concept to large-scale execution.
Document and maintain yield analyses, routing details, and product specifications for golden sample runs.
Input and verify recipes in our MRP system, apply routings, and run cost analyses.
Conduct taste tests with customers, students, and district partners.
Lead roving chef demonstrations, special events, and seasonal menu launches.
Develop appealing, balanced, and cost-effective student menus.
Drive new product development, process improvements, and cost/quality optimization initiatives.
Assist Sales with proposal sampling and tasting presentations.
Observe daily operations and provide suggestions for improvements.
Conduct data collection for yield, shelf life, and sensory testing.
Maintain organized inventory of R&D projects.
Perform food cost analysis and culinary math calculations.
Create and manage Bills of Materials (BOM) within cost, nutritional, and operational guidelines.
Package and ship product samples as needed.
Ensure quality control through tasting and observation during production runs.