Sr. Manager, Culinary Development

Sr. Manager, Culinary Development at Boar's Head Brand

Boar’s Head Brand is seeking a dynamic and polished relationship-driven professional with strong knowledge and passion for food and the retail foodservice industry. In this role, the candidate will be responsible for developing and implementing new Prepared Foods products, programs, and foodservice concepts in both manufacturing and retail environments, enabling the Boar’s Head Brand to bring fresh, innovative, and trendsetting products. The Sr. Manager, Culinary Development will empower retail/foodservice customers, Local Purveyors, and Sales teams to grow sales while promoting and protecting the Boar’s Head Brand. Duties include food production management, ordering, managing labor, quality assurance, sanitation, and staff relations.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Represent, protect, and grow our Brand across all business channels by elaborating on trend recipes across multiple dayparts.
• Collaborate under the direction of the Ass. Director of Culinary Development and in conjunction with the Prepared Foods team.
• Maintain strategic accountability for all product development and research, including management and scheduling of test kitchen facilities and collaboration with Commercialization Manager.
• Build and nurture customer relationships that separate Boar's Head Experience from competition.
• Develop effective build sheets and training materials to insure the ability to execute at both store level and at central manufacturing facilities.
• Sell a premium brand as a food solution by generating concrete value-added propositions to Chefs and retailers.
• Create effective and simple demonstration recipes and techniques that effectively help Distributors to sell the "better because aspect" into foodservice accounts.
• Assist in menu development for retail and foodservice concepts, including on-site training and evaluation of operations.
• Determine how to get the most utility across product lines. Understand the benefits of additional sales opportunities and secondary opportunities for selling products, reducing overall shrink risk.
• Design and implement new products in high volume facilities. When possible, be on-site for initial product runs to ensure first runs meet document organoleptic measures.
• Actively support training and development team in Sarasota and New York with Best-Practices and trainer leadership. Routinely shares relevant best-practices with internal network.
• Analyze customer menus to create and communicate Boar’s Head Products into unique, versatile, and operational concepts.
• Organize, schedule, and conduct off-site demonstrations with clients to illustrate the benefits of various BH products and their potential applications.
• Research, create, and write recipes that are scalable in retail and commissary environments.
• Engage with professional affiliations (ACF, WCR, Catersource) to showcase Boar's Head commitment to Culinary Arts while networking for business development.
• Maintain current and up-to-date on evolving all food and culinary trends with focus on global and domestic influences.
• Assist clients and Local Purveyors in development of new culinary and Grab & Go programs.
• Possess well-developed ability to taste and evaluate food with a strong ability to accurately communicate findings using sensory-based language.
• Ability to communicate important details from customer, Local Purveyor meetings, and other interactions to internal team members using communication tools in an accurate and timely manner. Preference is to provide written documentation (i.e minutes meeting, call report, photographs…).
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Education and Experience

• Associate degree in Culinary Arts, or Certified Research Chef preferred.
• Additional BS in Food Science preferred or related discipline.
• ACF Certification.
• 7-10 years of field experience as an Executive/Corporate Chef or Chef de Cuisine.
• At least 5 years of progressive broad and deep product innovation, value generation, and commercialization experience required.
• Knows difference with premium brands vs. value drivers.
• A mix of career experiences across culinary, R&D, and QA is desirable.

Skills / Abilities

• Advanced working knowledge of Microsoft Office: Excel, Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint; competencies: e-mail, cell phones etc.
• Excellent organizational skills to include time/project management skills and the ability to prioritize projects based on business.
• Be a self-starter: i.e. be able to recognize, analyze, develop solutions and initiate problem solving action with very little information and/or direction.
• Ability to coordinate off-site training sessions, communicate with on-site management and/or distributors.
• Demonstrate above-average problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to present at all levels.
• Ability to effectively communicate with all levels of the organization, particularly with Local Purveyors, Product Managers, Channel Sales, and cross-functional teams.
• Highly motivated self-starter with results orientation.
• Work independently and/or with teams.
• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects.
• Ability to manage and control, under specific criteria, budget and expenses.
• Be able to travel extensively utilizing commercial flights, automobile and other forms of transportation.
• Understanding dynamics of commercial and non-commercial channels.

Language Skills

Must be fluent in English (oral and written).

Mathematical Skills

Intermediate to Advanced math skills required – ability to convert grams to lbs, oz to kg, and be able to properly quantify recipes, formulas, etc.

Reasoning Ability

Position requires the ability to work independently, exercise good judgement, and be proactive. The candidate must also maintain confidentiality to ensure the integrity of the department is not jeopardized.

Work Environment

This position involves up to approximately 35% travel utilizing commercial flights, automobile, and other forms of transportation. The remainder of time is spent in an office environment.

Key skills/competency

• Culinary Development
• Product Innovation
• Recipe Development
• Foodservice Concepts
• Retail Foodservice
• Brand Management
• Commercialization
• Menu Development
• Quality Assurance
• Trend Analysis