Research and Development Chef

Meijer•Grand Rapids, MI

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Meijer is focused on enhancing the lives of our customers, and ensuring a competitive advantage through developing innovative Meijer Manufactured products and services. The R&D Chef’s focus will be to influence that journey by leveraging experience and interpersonal skills to develop Meijer Food Products and Solutions in collaboration with Meijer Manufacturing & Business Development, Merchandising, and Marketing teams. The R&D Chef plays a principal role in the development of Meijer manufactured Food Products, and inspiring passion and the love of food in Meijer Team Members, and Customers. As part of the Meijer Foods Research and Development Team, core responsibilities include researching food trends and translation of trends into culinary concepts and prototypes that meet customers’ needs. This includes the creation of bench top formulation, as well as supporting new product concept development, evaluating manufacturing and operational feasibility of new product concepts, and providing culinary expertise through product scale up and commercialization. Position will follow a hybrid schedule: Monday-Wednesday in office, Thursday-Friday remote.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree preferred in addition to a culinary degree from an accredited institution.
5-7 yrs experience in development of food products for Food Service industries.
Perishables experience preferred.
Manufacturing experience required.
Previous experience as an Executive Chef, Research Chef, Product Developer or equivalent.
Successful track record in bringing new products to market from concept, bench, scale up, commercialization, to market.
Strong presentation and writing skills.
Must be flexible, adaptable, with professional agility.
Proven ability to research and apply market / trend information.
Must have skill set, and experience in ingredient technologies, and food formulation, in addition to an understanding of production processes, and operations.
A self-starter with a strong work ethic.
Ability to work with, individuals at every level of the organization.
Ability to develop and convert formulation from bench top, to scale up, to full production.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Proactive thinker and problem solver.
Strong interpersonal, organizational and time management skills.
Ability to travel domestically and internationally on occasion.
Proficient with MS Office.

Nice To Haves

Perishables experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Develops and maintains partnerships with Manufacturing, Merchant and Business Development core team members.
Works collaboratively with cross-functional Manufacturing Support Team and Shared Services (Analytics, Direct Sourcing, Quality Assurance, Regulatory, Procurement, Marketing) to efficiently and effectively develop innovative Meijer Brand Food Products and Customer Solutions that differentiate Meijer in the marketplace.
Defines and leads formulation development, focusing on innovation (as defined by Meijer), core business optimization and COGS reduction.
Partners with and supports cross-functional teams in developing Meijer Manufactured Food Products.
Acts as the culinary expert for trade shows and product innovation.
Partners with Meijer Manufacturing Directors, Marketing, and Merchandising leadership in developing customer solutions that help drive the growth of Meijer Brand foods.
Works with Meijer Manufacturing Director to ensure continuity and alignment of Product Development responsibilities along with initiatives around core growth strategies, brand strategies, and business development initiatives.
Partners with Meijer Merchants, Meijer Manufacturing Teams, and the supplier community, utilizing market research, prototype development, scale up, production implementation, and store operations optimization to create a product innovation pipeline.
Supports and influences the evolution of Meijer Brand and Product Development by leveraging experience in culinary innovation, research, and project management.
Supports Marketing programs to build culinary credibility and customer solutions throughout the Meijer footprint.
Development of Nutritional Facts Panels, Ingredient Statements, and Allergen Statements from formulation, laboratory data and research.
Maintains the label database and ensures all labels are created using the software and database (Genesis).
Responsibility as key contact for routing of developed product labels.
Performs sourcing activities through direct contact with suppliers and raw material validations.
This job profile is not meant to be all inclusive of the responsibilities of this position; may perform other duties as assigned or required.