: R&D Chef

Taco Cabana•San Antonio, TX

11d

About The Position

San Antonio is where it all began — the birthplace of Taco Cabana , where vibrant flavors, warm hospitality, and a love for bold, handcrafted food came together to create something special. Now, we have a culinary challenge for the city we love--we're looking for a chef who embodies that same San Antonio spirit — a mix of creativity, pride, and pure flavor. If you: • Bring energy, authenticity, and passion to every dish • Believe food should be fresh, fun, and full of heart • Take pride in Tex-Mex traditions while adding your own creative twist • Thrive in a fast-paced environment that feels like fiesta Then you're exactly who we're looking for. We're looking for a Research & Development Chef who embodies San Antonio's culinary spirit — someone who knows our guests, our culture, and our love for great food. This is your chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with Corporate Chef David Cisneros, bringing new ideas, local inspiration, and authentic taste to our menus, all created right here in the place that started it all. Whether you're a seasoned professional or an inspired innovator ready to make your mark, this is your opportunity to help write the next chapter in Taco Cabana's story. Come create with us. Come home to flavor. SUMMARY: The position supports the organization in the identification, ideation, development and implementation of New Product initiatives and Innovation pipelines in support of the Brand vision and growth strategies, bringing Core Menu brand positioning to life through the optimization, benchmarking, testing and validation of current menu offerings under the direction of the Head of Culinary. Skills required include a blend of highly developed culinary creativity with a demonstrated knowledge of food (a well-developed understanding of Tex-Mex/Mexican/Latin inspired food is greatly preferred). Practical operational capabilities must include: food costing and related financial skills, practical experience with both quantitative and qualitative evaluation of foods and food equipment/procedures, effective utilization of vendor/supplier assets against strategic goals and a demonstrated ability to effectively train peers and unit-level internal partners in support of new product roll-outs. Key responsibilities include: concept ideation; prototype development; manufacturer scale up, operational viability optimization, training and presentation of concepts and products, analytical evaluation of products, maintenance of the internal recipe and costing database and the efficient sourcing and management of the Test Kitchen product inventory. Must demonstrate the ability to successfully manage multiple projects concurrently in a lean, dynamic and fast-paced culture.

Requirements

2+ years minimum progressive experience as an R D Chef/Executive Chef.
Experience in the chain restaurant (QSR/Fast Casual) segment preferred.
Creativity: ability to identify opportunities and create new, innovative solutions.
Culinary expertise: theoretical understanding and practical application of culinary principles.
Ability to create a prototype product solely from an idea. Can reverse engineer a finished product back to its source ingredients.
Well-developed sense of taste, aesthetics, and value-drivers in food.
Knowledge of Tex-Mex/Mexican/Latin cuisine.
Operations experience: is familiar and comfortable with the level of operational capabilities and equipment platforms within our category and is able to design products for success within those parameters.
Financial acumen: has experience in food costing, yield analysis and financial reporting.
Consumer driven: integrates consumer feedback, trends and insights into product development process.
Demonstrated ability to take direction, formulate a plan and execute that plan with limited direct supervision.
Demonstrates the exceptional attention to detail required when documenting formulations, inputting costs, evaluating products and managing multiple deliverables/timelines.
Written and oral communication skills.
Must possess experience and strength presenting ideas in a food cutting/training environment.
Must openly engage and leverage knowledge and experience during cross-functional ideations, meetings and planning sessions.
Good computer skills with advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Word and Power Point.
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, talk, or hear. The employee frequently is required to use hands to handle or feel, and also to reach with hands and arms. The employee is regularly required to stand and/or walk for extended periods of the workday. Must be able to lift up to 40 lbs.
All relevant kitchen/food production equipment Computer, fax, calculator, copier, phone.

Nice To Haves

Experience in the chain restaurant (QSR/Fast Casual) segment preferred.
Bi-Lingual (Spanish-English) preferred.

Responsibilities

Identification and presentation of opportunities to optimize Core Menu products, procedures or workflow.
Function as a liaison with Operations and various departments to provide culinary/R D solutions and improvements to in-restaurant performance.
Support training department with the development and execution of operations procedure, job aids and in-field training.
Regularly audit unit-level execution of food and beverage initiatives, providing feedback and solutions for improvement.
Maintain and regularly update the internal recipe and recipe costing databases, yield calculations and vendor portfolio.
Partner with Purchasing and other departments on the development of packaging and procedural solutions for all products.
Prepare appropriate documentation and materials to insure a seamless transition from Research and Development to key departments, including cost analysis.
Interact in partnership with Operations/Purchasing/QA to refine product specifications to deliver executional consistency, viability and recipe yields
Take on additional projects as required by department or concept.
Partner with Purchasing on an as-needed basis to validate cost savings opportunities.
Support Marketing on projects requiring a culinary resource such as photo shoots