Associate, Pantry Development

About Home Chef

Founded in 2013, Home Chef is a leading meal solutions company with a strong retail and online presence. Available online at homechef.com and in over 2,100 Kroger grocery stores, Home Chef is dedicated to helping people cook simple, delicious meals, regardless of their busy schedules.

In 2023, Home Chef launched Tempo!, a new brand offering ready-to-heat meals delivered directly to your door. Tempo meals are healthier versions of familiar favorites, designed to save time and reduce stress while supporting a healthy lifestyle. The Tempo menu includes protein-packed, fiber-rich, calorie and carb conscious, keto-friendly, and dietitian-approved options.

Home Chef values diversity and unique contributions from its employees. The team seeks humble team players and pragmatic next-level thinkers to innovate its offerings.

The Role: Associate, Pantry Development

The Associate, Pantry Development reports to the Director, Culinary and is responsible for tactical support of Home Chef Culinary pantry development. This includes ingredient onboarding, maintenance, and associated Supply Chain processes.

Detailed Responsibilities

Pantry Development & Maintenance

• Facilitate the Culinary onboarding process for all new ingredients in collaboration with Food Supply Chain and FSQA, including ingredient creation.
• Work with Food Supply Chain to schedule and prioritize samplings and associated processes.
• Communicate new ingredient developments to the culinary team.
• Monitor the impact of meal ratings due to specific ingredients and collaborate with Food Supply Chain to mitigate issues by reformulating or sourcing new ingredients.
• Execute tactical weekly ingredient processes related to customer-facing menus.
• Maintain the pantry database in admin.

Support Culinary Shorts and Replacements Process

• Approve shorts and replacements from a culinary perspective in a timely manner, maintaining high standards (this includes working on-call nights and weekends).
• Work with procurement managers and chefs to find suitable replacement ingredients for various situations.
• Collaborate with the Recipe Testing Associate to communicate new instructions due to shorts to Customer Support.
• Monitor the impact of shorts on weekly meal ratings and communicate learnings to all stakeholders.

Assist Quarterly Pantry Processes

• Monitor and execute proposed ingredient swaps at the time of menu publish.
• Collaborate on ingredient alignment.

Culinary General Work

• Actively participate in daily stationing & tastings of R&D meals; support sampling for Culinary R&D, New Product Development, and Food Supply Chain.
• Attend weekly Culinary Team meetings.

Qualifications

• 1-2 years of experience in a rigorous, fast-paced work environment.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex projects and initiatives simultaneously with a results-oriented approach.
• Basic knowledge of Google apps such as Gmail and Google Sheets preferred.
• Independent self-starter inclined towards finding solutions without significant oversight.
• Passion for food & willingness to eat all meals created by chefs.
• 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. No food restrictions or allergies if working in the office (for Tasting purposes).

Perks and Benefits at Home Chef

• Experience Home Chef as a customer: Use 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.

Key skills/competency

• Pantry Management
• Ingredient Sourcing
• Culinary Operations
• Supply Chain Collaboration
• Food Quality Assurance
• Project Management
• Database Maintenance
• Recipe Development Support
• Google Workspace
• Problem-Solving