WHO WE ARE:

At The Compleat Food Group we’re not just serving up great food, we’re creating an environment where our people can thrive. As one of the leading chilled prepared food manufacturers in the UK food industry, we believe that our employees are the secret ingredient to our success. We’re passionate about fostering a culture where quality, innovation, collaboration, and personal growth are at the forefront.
Location: Middlesbrough, TS22 5TB
With operations across two manufacturing sites and one distribution location, our Middlesbrough sites are the home of party food including bhajis, samosas, onion rings, and spring rolls.
Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00 – 17:00 (some flexibility required)
Salary: £31,000
Contract: Permanent, full time

REQUIREMENTS:

• Experienced chef or similar role in the food industry
• Previous Development Chef experience desirable but not essential
• Experience of working successfully in a Michelin or Rosette level kitchen (desirable)
• Food or catering college qualification (desirable)
• Valid driving licence due to expectations to travel to our other sites across the UK (essential)

KEY SKILLS:

• Strong cookery skills with flare for innovation and creativity
• Organisation and planning
• Communicating at different levels of seniority
• Presentation skills
• Basic computing skills
• Team player but can work independently

PURPOSE:

The Development Chef works extremely closely with the wider New Product Development (NPD) and Category teams to support the development and innovation plan at site. This is done across a multiple customer base of top UK retailers for the chilled fried food category.

YOUR DUTIES WILL INCLUDE:

• To interpret varying customer briefs from retailers to create and deliver innovative food concepts that meet customer and market requirements.
• To gather information required and confidently present products to customers and internal site teams
• Recipe build and interpret theoretical nutritional results against guidelines
• To understand and drive proactive development initiatives which push factory production and Technical boundaries to maximise cost savings and efficiency.
• To identify new trends and maintain current products to deliver newness to the category by understanding the market.
• Communicate with teams including NPD, purchasing and finance to interpret briefs, source new ingredients and carry out costings
• Promote health and safety culture across the site and follow health and safety requirements during kitchen and process development work
• Work alongside development technologists and chefs through travel to other sites when required