Development chef

Location: Ellesmere

We’re looking for a highly creative and commercially minded Development Chef to join our innovation team and help shape the future of our product ranges across major UK retailers. This is an exciting opportunity for someone who thrives on turning trends into commercially viable concepts, understands retailer expectations, and can work confidently from kitchen bench to factory scale‑up.

As part of our NPD function, you’ll work closely with Category, Commercial, Technical and Operations teams to deliver outstanding food that meets brand standards, customer briefs and commercial targets.

What You’ll Be Doing

* Create innovative, commercially viable concepts aligned to retailer briefs and category strategy

* Translate trends and insights into new product ideas using strong culinary innovation and market awareness

* Develop recipes, gold standards and kitchen samples for presentations and internal reviews

* Lead customer presentations with major retailers, showcasing concepts with confidence and clarity

* Support factory trials, scale‑ups and recipe costing to ensure products meet quality, yield and margin targets

* Work cross‑functionally with Procurement, Technical and Operations to source ingredients and ensure feasibility

* Conduct competitor benchmarking, food safaris and trend mapping to stay ahead of the market

* Maintain development kitchen standards, documentation and sample management

* Support seasonal, core and premium range development across multiple categories

What We’re Looking For

* Strong background as a Development Chef within food manufacturing

* Proven experience working with major UK retailers (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, M&S, Co‑op, Morrisons etc.)

* Excellent culinary skills with a strong understanding of global flavours, ingredients and techniques

* Confident presenting to customers and senior stakeholders

* Strong commercial awareness — costing, yields, feasibility and margin management

* Ability to work at pace, manage multiple briefs and deliver to tight deadlines

* Collaborative, positive and solutions‑focused approach

* Experience supporting factory trials and scale‑up processes

What’s On Offer

* Competitive salary depending on experience

* Opportunities to work across multiple categories and major retailer accounts

* A creative, supportive and fast‑paced innovation environment

* Career development within a growing NPD and culinary team