Development Chef

About the role

We are recruiting a Development Chef to join our team at Booker.

In this new role, you'll support our Own Brand food innovation programme, helping turn market insights into viable menu solutions that respond to customer needs, culinary trends and Booker’s Own Brand priorities.

You'll act as a culinary ambassador for Booker Own Brand, leading our point of view on food, drink and hospitality trends and helping shape future innovation priorities.

Working with the Product development team across a broad range of categories, you'll drive quality & innovation whilst bringing a deep understanding of the food service customer base.

This is a highly collaborative role where success comes from building strong relationships with the own brand team as well as a wider range of stakeholders

If you're passionate about food, have a self-starter attitude & thrive on working on a wide number of projects simultaneously, we'd love to hear from you.

What is in it for you

At Booker, along with being a great place to work and giving you an opportunity to get on in your career, we also offer the following fantastic package of benefits:

- A Booker colleague card with 10% off purchases at Booker and double discount events up to three times a year.
- After 3 months service, a Tesco colleague discount card with 10% increasing to 15% off most purchases at Tesco for a 4 day period after every four-weekly pay day, ie. thirteen times a year. In addition to 10% off at Tesco Cafe and 20% off all F&F purchases.
- 10% off pay monthly & SIM only deals with Tesco Mobile for yourself, along with further great deals through-out the year.
- Up to 30% off car, pet and home insurance at Tesco bank. Terms and conditions apply.
- Free eye test when you spend £50 or more. You can also save 30% when you spend £50 or more on glasses, prescription sunglasses and contact lenses.
- 50% off health checks at Tesco Pharmacy.
- Exclusive access to discounted RAC breakdown cover rates
- An exclusive deals and discounts website saving you money on everyday purchases including a cycle to work scheme.
- After 3 months service, you can join our annual Save As You Earn share scheme which allows you to buy Tesco shares in the future at a discount.
- Retirement savings plan (pension) - save up to 5% and Booker will match your contribution.
- Life Assurance - You are covered for death in service life cover of up to three times annual pay
- Health and Wellbeing support and resources including our 24/7, confidential Employee Assistance Programme and Virtual GP for you and your family.
- A great holiday package

You will be responsible for

- Using excellent culinary expertise and customer / market insight to inspire, problem solve and elevate our product development.
- Drive the creation of compelling and insight- led menu solutions
- Showcase & support own brand proposition development by leading internal and external stakeholder engagement ex: events, lunches and meetings, finding new opportunities to engage stakeholders
- Build strong relationships across the product team, the supplier base and their chefs, marketing & coms, sales team, and customers, to inspire & advocate our own brand offer
- Drive quality and excellence: Champion quality, food safety and customer standards throughout the development and benchmarking processes.
- Autonomously manage multiple priorities: Balance several projects simultaneously while delivering to deadlines in a changing and fast-moving environment.
- Pro-actively seek opportunities to elevate the customer & colleague exposure and understanding of our brands. Your passion for product shows up at all occasions.
- Work closely with cross functional teams including Own Brand, Buying, Marketing and sales teams to ensure successful product roll outs
- Contribute to Booker’s culinary visibility and credibility through media campaigns, acting as the Ambassador for own Brand excellence

You will need

- Proven experience as a Development Chef within food manufacturing, with a strong understanding of hospitality and foodservice problematics.
- Outstanding culinary skills and a genuine passion for food and drink innovation.
- Strong knowledge of UK foodservice, hospitality and consumer food trends.
- Commercial awareness and the ability to balance creativity, quality and cost.
- Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the confidence to engage stakeholders at all levels.
- A collaborative approach and the ability to build effective working relationships across functions.
- Strong organisation skills and the ability to prioritise competing demands while maintaining attention to detail.
- Proactive and inquisitive attitude to create opportunities for yourself
- Resilience, adaptability and a positive, solutions focused mindset.

About us

Booker is the UK's leading food & drink wholesaler. We are privileged to serve independent retailers, caterers and small businesses, from locations across the country. We operate over 190 cash and carry branches, 8 distribution centres, 5 Best Food Logistics sites, as well as 6 support centre locations across the UK.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) at Booker means that whoever you are and whatever your background, we always want you to feel represented and that you can be yourself at work. In short, we’re a place where Everyone’s Welcome.

We know life looks a little different for each of us. That’s why at Booker and Best, we always welcome conversations about flexible working. Some people are at the start of their careers; some want the freedom to do the things they love. Others are going through life-changing moments like becoming a carer, nearing retirement, adapting to parenthood, or something else. So, talk to us throughout your application about how we may be able to support you.

We’re proud that Booker is a Disability Confident Committed Leader and we’re committed to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. For further information on the accessibility support you can expect, please contact [email protected]

Please note

We can only accept candidates over the age of 18 if the role requires working before 6:15 am or after 9:45 pm or involves working in areas such as the warehouse, beers, wines & spirits, and driving roles.

On the occasions where we have high volumes of applicants, some roles may close earlier than the advertised end date in order for us to manage all of the applicants appropriately. We will only be able to offer individual feedback to those candidates who attend an interview.

*Booker Group is part of Tesco plc, however, is operated separately from the core Tesco business and as such the benefits offered will be different from those offered at Tesco*

For more information about us please visit www.bookergro upjobs.co.uk