Development Chef (Bicester, United Kingdom)

Job Description

Development Chef

Remote based ideally located within Bicester / Oxfordshire area

39 hours per week

Competitive Salary and Company car or car allowance, a home-based contract, additional holiday purchase options to top up your annual leave and our award-winning food at significant discounts.

Fresh Direct is the UK's leading supplier of Fresh produce, fresh fish and seafood, speciality ingredients and meal solutions. Incorporating Fresh Direct, M&J seafood, Wild Harvest and Fresh Kitchen. we have an enviable product portfolio, impressive customer base and national reach. 

An opportunity has arisen to join the Food Development team at Fresh Direct. We are
looking for an experienced Development Chef with an unquestionable passion for fresh food.  This role involves frequent travel throughout the country and will involve overnight stays on occasion.  

What you will be doing:

• Develop meaningful, close working relationships with customers food development teams
• Develop relationships internally with category team, manufacturing teams, sales team, procurement team, marketing team and technical team to support in delivering innovation and support to customers menu development and grow sales and margin for Fresh Direct
• Take an active role in NPD with wider Food Development team – creating recipes, managing customer expectations, tracking progress, managing data
• Plan, prepare and present customer food days in line with brief and customer and business expectations
• Provide food and industry knowledge, support and expertise to colleagues

What we are looking for:

• Good commercial knowledge with excellent culinary skills and a proven track record in the foodservice industry at a senior level
• A passion for fresh produce and ingredients
• Ability to adapt to and adopt a number of culinary styles and cuisines in line with our varied customer base’s menu offerings and brands
• Enthusiastic with a can do attitude
• Ability to build and develop customer relationships
• Strong relationship builder & team player with excellent inter-personal skills
• Influencing and negotiation skills
• Flexible, adaptable and resourceful
• Good knowledge of Foodservice Industry (brands, operators, influencers, trends and current market)
• Previous experience of presenting to large audiences
• Good, working knowledge of PowerPoint, Excel, Word
• Full UK Drivers Licence