Food Scientist - Sauces​/Dressings​/Condiments

This range is provided by Kari-Out. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

$95,000.00/yr - $/yr

Founded in 1964, Kari-Out Company prides itself on being built up from the ground floor with an entrepreneurial attitude towards the growing food service industry. After gaining a strong position in our condiment lines, the company has expanded to include virtually all areas of the food service industry. Today, Kari-Out Company employs over 500 people and has locations throughout the country.

It is a privately held business that has a unique culture of customer service and entrepreneurship. It is recognized for their broad assortment of quality products and commitment to high quality, customer focused products and service.

The Food Scientist - Sauces, Dressing, Condiments - is critical to the success of the company. The position will report to Executive Member and work closely with Director of Quality/Regulatory and the Director of Manufacturing.

This role is primarily responsible for executing product development including innovation pipeline, renovation on existing products, as well as commercialization through qualification. The Food Scientist will carry out the company vision and mission through their work, as an integral part of the Kari-Out team. Works in both office and manufacturing environments.

• Works with Sales/Marketing and Innovation Engineering to develop new products beginning at the concept phase through successful commercialization.
• Conduct plant trials and new product start-ups including full-scale production on any product innovation and renovation project. Provide support to plant when challenges arise.
• Conceptualize and develop new products prototypes.
• Maintain recipes, SOPs for batching and ingredients in Kari-Out’s systems. This includes generating Nutrition Facts Panels and ingredient statements.
• Working with procurement in identifying and sourcing ingredients from vendors that follow established marketing guidance and quality assurance standards for use within the product portfolio.
• Liaison with corporate resources on verification of new suppliers and raw materials as well as feasibility of new products under development.
• Coordinate and conduct both internal and external shelf-life studies.
• Initiate and assist in managing all product formulation change management control by issuing approved recipes, communicating changes, and approving BOMs.
• Management of product development schedules that are required to meet project timelines.
• Communicate effectively to all partners within the development process to ensure on time and on budget development.
• Work with finance to develop strawman costs to adhere to guidelines early in the development cycle.
• Participate in co-manufacture or third-party product development when required.
• Lead efforts to consolidate like raw materials while maintaining product integrity and optimizing formulations.
• Responsible to help review formulas and look for cost savings opportunities while maintaining safety and product performance, which could include finding substitute ingredients.
• Find and evaluate new technologies to keep our portfolio current with emerging trends.
• Key member on the NPD implementation team.
• May require some travel to larger customers
• Comfortable and skilled at customer facing communication. Specifically with R&D, Culinary and QA teams.
• Experience at reverse engineering to match existing formulations
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, microbiology, or related field with at least five years of experience in product and/or formula development. MS preferred.
• Culinary training is a plus
• Good understanding of formula costs
• Technical knowledge of food quality/safety procedures and programs, regulatory requirements and working knowledge of microbial hazards, HACCP program development, microbiological laboratory procedures, sanitation procedures, plant operations and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)
• Understanding of process capability and the application of…