Location:  HWY 403 & Dundas St W, Mississauga

Shift: Tuesday to Saturday from 9:00am-5:00pm. This position will require availability outside these hours, as per operational needs. 

About the Role

We are looking for a Commercialization Chef to support the seamless transition of recipes from concept to commercial production as we grow the product footprint of our newest brand, Factor: a healthy, ready-to-heat meal delivery service.

This culinary expert will act as a liaison between product development and kitchen operations, supporting process development and scalability, quality assurance, and yield establishment within our operation. You’ll be responsible for the rapid and successful launch of new Factor meals on a weekly basis.

In addition to working alongside our Production, Product, Procurement, and Menu Planning teams to test, launch, and continually optimize new and existing recipes, you’ll be responsible for clearly documenting cook process requirements and identifying opportunities for improvement in both quality and efficacy. This truly is a process-oriented culinary role.

We are looking for entrepreneurial minds who are passionate and result-driven, have a strong team spirit, and will take on a diverse set of challenges to pioneer the ever changing food industry!

What you will be doing:

Support culinary excellence through scaling tests and process development and refinement

• Own and manage the scale-ups of new recipes, ensuring product meets quality standards before large-scale production runs for customers. Create R&D recipes at production scale, responsible for weekly ingredient organization, equipment planning, execution, plating and organoleptic testing on scale-up samples.
• Test and confirm written methods and processes, ensuring alignment with existing operational processes to set the kitchen up for success. Making notes and sharing improvements with chefs directly regarding process and recipe method modifications.
• Create an initial yield based on equipment capacity. Communicate yield requirements with the owning R&D chef for recipe updates.
• Collaborate closely with the Culinary Team, providing valuable insights to bridge the gap between creative concepts and production realities. Conduct weekly meetings with Culinary Lead to discuss findings and solutions
• Work closely with R&D, FSQA and Kitchen Operations to test and scale net new processes to determine feasibility and success rate. 

Collaborate closely with Kitchen Operations to improve product quality and operational process

• Identify areas for improvement, and provide leadership in measuring, assessing, and enhancing production capabilities and performance through close collaboration with Sous & Executive Sous teams. Address and eliminate product quality issues/customer complaints arising from problems originating with the production of meals.
• Ensure that all quality standards, specifications, and procedures are met for all recipes entering production. Work side-by-side with owning sous chefs to ensure success of new product development.
• Lead new equipment recommendation/justification and support with associated testing. Conduct capacity studies on equipment and work centers to standardize procedure and create efficiencies in production.
• Oversee follow up yield tests as required. Collaborate with special operations to identify opportunities for yield improvement. Work alongside kitchen operations to ensure initial yields are validated through production runs. Run follow-up tests when production yields + initial yield are inconsistent using data to drive decision making.

Support Co-Manufacturing Relationships by ensuring process consistency and adherence

• Guide co-man in manufacturing best practices ensuring quality is consistent with that in our own facility
• Spend time on-site at co-manufacturing facilities observing process and setting standardized procedure to support infrastructure differences 
• Act as a liaison for co-man relationships, with weekly check-ins with co-man culinary leads to continue optimizing quality.
• Develop and implement process controls to ensure scalability based on equipment and capacity differences.

At a minimum, you have: 

• Degree or diploma in culinary arts, culinary science, or a similar field.
• 2+ years experience corporate food R&D, food manufacturing,  and/or large restaurant/banquet/catering.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented: you have a track record of turning ideas into reality, meeting deadlines, and not overlooking key details. You should also be comfortable juggling multiple priorities at once.
• A process-driven individual, excited about developing processes at scale and ensuring adherence across a large operational body.
• Comfortable with ambiguity, interested in solving problems autonomously and delivering impactful solutions.
• Entrepreneurial with an ownership mindset: you enjoy working in small teams, taking ownership of your work, and always thinking beyond the scope of a given assignment.
• Naturally curious: you’re innovative, creative, and constantly looking for ways to improve.
• Customer centricity: you understand how your decision-making abilities will impact internal and external customers.

What you’ll get in return:

• Competitive salary and health benefits
• 75% discount on HelloFresh or Chefs Plate weekly box subscription
• High impact work to help feed thousands of families in Canada
• Opportunity to learn and grow
• Work with a hard-working and supportive team

Working Conditions:

It’s no surprise that as a food company, we use many ingredients that may be considered common allergens (i.e. peanuts, tree nuts, milk, etc.). Whether this role is based out of our headquarters or one of our distribution centers, it is possible that you may be exposed to such allergens in this role. If you have any concerns with being exposed to any particular food ingredients, including meat, please disclose this during the hiring process.

If this sounds like you, please click the "Apply Now" button. If this role doesn't quite match what you're looking for, but you'd like to know more about joining the HelloFresh team, please visit our Jobs page to view our other vacancies. We'd love to hear from you!

#JD1003