R&D Chef

About the role

This role is for a R&D Chef at Farmer’s Fridge. You will be responsible for developing delicious and scalable recipes to fill our core menu and build variety to keep our customers engaged. You will work collaboratively with various teams to develop recipes that meet the constraints and capabilities of our business.

Responsibilities

• New Product Development
• Develop a continuous, high volume of bench-top recipes to populate our recipe vault to influence our Core and Rotating assortments
• Design recipes for both taste and large-scale consistency
• Meet cost, nutrition, shelf life, and culinary guardrails and balance creative ambition with production realities and capability constraints
• Execute internal and external sensory panels to ensure recipes meet scoring benchmarks and brief requirements
• Stay ahead of food trends, emerging ingredients, and flavor innovation and translate them into concepts that are both craveable and manufacturable
• Operational Fluency & Capability
• Advocate for developing a deep, working knowledge of our production environment and design recipes within real constraints to reduce commercialization complexities
• Support building business cases to bring on new capabilities or ingredients
• Work with the production teams to understand constraints and come up with creative solutions
• Scale-Up and Continuous Improvement
• Provide feedback and assistance through scale-up testing and pilot runs ensuring achievable adherence to the gold standard recipe
• Iterate quickly based on production feedback, sensory data and customer feedback
• Assist in diagnosing and resolving recipe issues that surface at scale
• Culinary & Test Kitchen Management
• Champion a culture of passion for the food we produce
• Maintain a well-stocked, organized test kitchen
• Support culinary-related marketing & menu events

Requirements

You must have 5+ years of experience in food R&D or culinary product development, ideally in a RTE/fresh food manufacturing environment. A Culinary Degree, Culinology Degree, Food Science or equivalent background and experience is preferred. You must have a proven track record of successful recipe development. You must generate options, not just favorites, and can work cross-functionally with marketing/insights to develop purposeful, high quality recipes. You must understand what scalable actually means - not just in theory, and have a deep understanding of mass market trends and flavors. You must have strong project management skills and ability to manage multiple work streams and priorities. You must have experience in a high-growth, rapid-change environment. You must have a direct impact on the company’s bottom line and participate in the 401(k) plan that includes a company match with immediate vesting.

Qualifications

You must have a Bachelor's degree in a relevant field such as Culinary Arts, Food Science, or a related discipline. You must have 5+ years of experience in food R&D or culinary product development, ideally in a RTE/fresh food manufacturing environment. You must have a proven track record of successful recipe development. You must have a deep understanding of mass market trends and flavors. You must have strong project management skills and ability to manage multiple work streams and priorities. You must have experience in a high-growth, rapid-change environment. You must have a direct impact on the company’s bottom line and participate in the 401(k) plan that includes a company match with immediate vesting.

Skills

You must have experience in high-volume food production. You must understand what scalable actually means - not just in theory. You must have a pulse on food industry trends and a demonstrated track record of leveraging insights to inform new products. You must have a proven track record of successfully recipe development. You must be creative and able to work cross-functionally with marketing/insights to develop purposeful, high quality recipes. You must have a proven track record of successfully recipe development. You must have a proven track record of successfully recipe development. You must have a proven track record of successfully recipe development.

Benefits

The base salary range for this role is $95,000 to $105,000. The base pay offered will be determined by factors such as experience, skills, training, certifications, education, and any applicable minimum wage requirements. In addition to base salary, this position is eligible for company performance-based/performance (sales) bonuses and equity. Benefits include daily Farmer’s Fridge meal, draft cold brew and beer, and office snacks. There is also a paid sabbatical program after four years of service. You can also impact your personal bottom line by participating in our 401(k) plan that includes a company match with immediate vesting.

Pay

The base salary range for this role is $95,000 to $105,000. The base pay offered will be determined by factors such as experience, skills, training, certifications, education, and any applicable minimum wage requirements.

Schedule

This is an on-site role. Our office is located at 2000 W Fulton St. Chicago, IL 60612. You will occasionally visit our manufacturing facility to support Pilot Runs, Troubleshooting, and First Production Runs which is located at 5370 S. Cicero Ave, Chicago, IL 60638.