Product Development Manager

Development Chef / NPD Chef, UK Chilled Food‑to‑Go

Great Foods is an established Egyptian grower and manufacturer of tomato, vegetable and pulse products, supplying retailers and manufacturers across the UK, EU and North America since 1978. We are launching a range of chilled food‑to‑go products into the UK market: grain and Mediterranean bowls, fresh pasta pots and salad bowls, built from produce we grow and process ourselves. We are looking for a Development Chef to create the recipes and help us win the listings.

This is a hands‑on product development role, not a restaurant one. You will turn our raw ingredients into finished, retailer‑ready chilled products that taste excellent, hit a target cost per unit, and can be manufactured at scale.

• Develop hero recipes for chilled bowls, pasta pots and Mediterranean lines from concept to tasting‑ready sample
• Cost recipes, manage ingredient declarations and allergens, and reformulate to protect margin
• Design for shelf life, chill and reheat performance, and factory scalability
• Prototype pack formats, including sealed pot and bowl concepts
• Present and cook tastings for retail and manufacturer buyers alongside our commercial team
• Help spec and set up our Reading test kitchen

• Proven NPD experience in UK chilled, ready meals or food‑to‑go, ideally from a retailer own‑label programme or a chilled food manufacturer (for example M&S, Waitrose, Greencore, Bakkavor, Charlie Bigham's, Samworth, Oscar Mayer)
• Strong commercial literacy: costing, target pricing, spec and technical basics
• Confidence presenting and tasting to category buyers
• A feel for provenance and flavour, and genuine interest in developing from a grower that controls its own supply from farm to finished product

Based at our office in Reading, with easy reach of the M4 corridor. We are open to freelance, contract or permanent depending on fit, and happy to start on a project basis to develop an initial range.

• To apply, message me directly with a short note on relevant chilled or food‑to‑go products you have developed.