Associate R&D Chef

Detailed Responsibilities

Kitchen Operations

• Manage and maintain ingredients for R&D and for scaling recipes at our Bedford Park production kitchen, including taking a regular inventory, placing orders for stock items, cycling out old or expired products, etc.
• Ensure that needed items are properly transferred from the production kitchen to the R&D kitchen
• Own inventory of RTH ingredients in the R&D kitchen, including knowledge of where items are located, as well as tracking/storing items that are needed both near and long term
• Work with Culinary Apprentices to help manage the grocery process, including communicating with all r&d kitchen personnel, making lists, shopping, and putting away groceries, as well as sourcing last minute items
• Helping to order kitchen supplies, including speciality ingredients & kitchen equipment, directly from suppliers, production facilities and/or online sources
• Become a resource for cross-functional teams

Meal and Ingredient R&D

• Mise en place and execution of meals or compound ingredients as assigned by manager
• Cook bench top rough draft formulations of compound ingredients to dial in viability for production (flavor, nutritionals, ease of execution, performance over time, etc.)
• Assemble meals according to specifications
• Take meal pictures, edit them and upload them into appropriate folders for both internal production photos and customer facing photos
• Take compound ingredient photos and upload to appropriate folders
• Participate in compound ingredient/meal feedback discussions and then work with manager to implement that feedback into formulation and procedure improvements
• Refine ingredient amounts, recipe wording and timing to ensure compound ingredient/meal success
• Scale recipes to full R&D batches for testing and further refinements to the formulation
• Scale recipes to full production batches and test as needed at our production facility in Bedford Park
• Scale non cooking kitchen or assembly operations at Bedford Park facility (ex. testing planetary mixer settings or refining assembly only compound ingredients)
• Follow general food safety rules in the R&D kitchen
• Follow all sanitation and GMP rules and food safety rules in the production kitchen
• Respond to feedback from R&D chef, production chefs and other Product Team members to continuously improve output and workflows
• Test new techniques to increase quality, yield, nutritionals and efficiency of compound ingredients
• Test recipe techniques and changes on an as needed basis
• Participate in setup and tasting for the new ingredient sampling process
• Execute key project work and drive workstreams when necessary

New Meal Development Support

• Participate in production meal edit checks each week and on an ad hoc basis
• Participate in ad hoc bulk meal and ingredient updates
• Assess accuracy of meal assembly photos on live menus and reshoot photos as needed
• Taste and provide feedback daily on all meals Tempo R&D chefs develop, including red meat, vegetarian, soy, seafood, shellfish, and pork (with limited exceptions)
• Analyze customer comments and make recommendations on ways to improve

Team and Cross Functional Meetings

• Regularly attend and participate in all required Tempo culinary and cross-functional team meetings

This position requires 0-10% travel

Qualifications

• 1+ year experience with consumer packaged goods preferred
• 1+ year professional cooking experience preferred
• Culinary background required
• Strong understanding of food
• High attention to detail: must adhere exactly to shopping list & Home Chef cooking specifications
• ServSafe certified or strong understanding of sanitary practices
• Required to carry bags of groceries through elevator daily (carts available)
• Must be able to taste and provide thorough feedback on every meal and ingredient sample test in the kitchen, including vegetarian, pork, chicken, steak, and seafood meals, as well as meals with dairy and added sugar
• Completion of a two-year program such as an Associate degree (please describe): Culinary Arts degree

Perks and benefits

• Candidates can experience Home Chef as a customer - enter promo code PEOPLE30 for $30 off your first order!
• Medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance available
• Paid holidays, sick time and vacation time
• 401k program
• Flexible spending accounts for qualified medical, dependent care, parking, or transit expenses

• How We Work Together
• We are humble team players.
• We are warm and gracious with team members and customers. We seek feedback to improve ourselves - and respectfully listen to and accept input.
• We are pragmatic next-level thinkers.
• We come up with novel and unique ideas. We explore new strategies to avoid being constrained by conventional thinking.
• We take ownership.
• We approach ambiguous problems, prepared to dive in, get curious, and learn more. We are results-driven, always challenging ourselves to exceed goals.

Be at Home at Home Chef

• We all show up authentically at Home Chef.
• Our team includes individuals with a variety of identities, backgrounds, and perspectives.
• You can trust that you'll be able to bring your whole self to an inclusive and enjoyable workplace.

• Home Chef offers the base salary range as posted below, with the exact offer depending on factors such as geographic location, experience, skills, and internal equity.
• While compensation is within the provided range, it is not typical for offers to be made at the upper end.
• In addition to base salary, Home Chef provides a comprehensive benefits package, including healthcare coverage, 401k match, and paid time off.

• Illinois Pay Range $50,000 - $60,000 USD
• To view the California Applicant Notice