Culinary Solutions Chef

About the role

We are looking for a Culinary Solutions Chef who can transform traditional dishes into simple, scalable and standardized recipes that can be consistently executed for hundreds or thousands of meals. This is not a conventional restaurant chef position. The role combines culinary development, recipe standardization, industrial catering, supplier coordination, client training and operational problem-solving.

Key Responsibilities

1. Menu & Recipe Development

• Develop breakfast, lunch and dinner menus suitable for high-volume industrial catering and factory canteen operations.
• Create Malaysian, Asian and other relevant menu concepts according to client requirements.
• Develop menus based on the client’s workforce demographics, ethnic composition and cultural food preferences, ensuring meal selections are relevant and suitable for their factory workers.
• Develop practical menu rotations that provide sufficient variety for daily and weekly meal planning.
• Simplify traditional recipes into cooking methods suitable for large-volume production.
• Design recipes primarily around combi ovens and other efficient bulk-cooking methods.
• Minimize complicated preparation such as excessive chopping, marination, frying and multi-stage cooking.
• Maximize the use of ready-to-use sauces, pastes, seasonings and pre-portioned ingredients.

2. Recipe Simplification & Standardization

• Convert culinary concepts and traditional recipes into simple, repeatable cooking systems.

• For example: 1 pack sauce/paste + X kg chicken + X ml water + X g supporting ingredients → Cook at X°C for X minutes → Ready to serve

• Standardize each recipe with clearly defined:

  • Ingredient quantities
  • Portion size
  • Expected yield
  • Cooking temperature and time
  • Equipment settings
  • Cooking sequence
  • Holding requirements
  • Serving instructions

• Conduct trials to ensure recipes remain consistent when scaled to different production volumes.

• Ensure recipes can be reproduced successfully by kitchen operators without requiring highly skilled chefs.

3. SOP Development

• Develop clear and practical Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all approved menus.
• Ensure SOPs are simple enough for client kitchen operators to understand and execute consistently.
• Customize SOPs according to each client’s available kitchen equipment, production capacity and operational environment.
• Validate SOPs through actual cooking trials before client implementation.
• Maintain and update recipe specifications and SOP documentation whenever improvements or changes are made.

4. Raw Material & Ingredient Specifications

• Determine the appropriate raw material specifications for every menu developed.

• Define specifications including:

  • Meat/chicken cut and portion size
  • Vegetable type and cut size
  • Seafood specifications
  • Rice/noodle requirements
  • Sauce/paste quantity
  • Seasoning and supporting ingredients

• Design ingredient requirements to minimize preparation work at client kitchens.

• Work towards ingredients being supplied pre-cut, pre-portioned or ready-to-cook wherever commercially feasible.

• Ensure ingredient specifications provide consistent cooking results, yield and food quality.

5. Supplier Collaboration

• Liaise with poultry, meat, seafood, vegetable and other ingredient suppliers to establish the required product specifications.
• Communicate requirements such as cut size, portion size, packing format and quality standards.
• Conduct supplier ingredient trials where necessary.
• Evaluate alternative ingredients or suppliers when required due to cost, availability or operational considerations.
• Work closely with internal commercial and operational teams during supplier discussions and implementation.

6. Client Kitchen Assessment & Customization

• Conduct site visits to understand each client’s:

  • Kitchen equipment
  • Kitchen layout
  • Cooking capacity
  • Storage capacity
  • Manpower
  • Meal volume
  • Operational limitations

• Customize recipes and cooking SOPs according to the client’s actual kitchen setup.

• Recommend the most suitable cooking methodology and equipment utilization to achieve efficient large-volume production.

• Identify potential operational challenges before menu implementation.

7. Client Training, Implementation & Post-Service Support

• Support new client onboarding and menu implementation.
• Conduct cooking demonstrations and hands-on training for client kitchen teams.
• Train kitchen operators on how to correctly read, understand and follow the provided SOPs, including ingredient quantities, cooking sequence, equipment settings, cooking time, portioning and serving requirements.
• Provide post-implementation training and follow-up support to ensure client teams can independently execute the SOPs correctly.
• Observe actual kitchen execution and identify gaps between the documented SOP and actual operating practices.
• Conduct refresher training where necessary.
• Conduct follow-up visits and operational audits when required.
• Troubleshoot cooking, food quality, product performance and SOP execution issues at client sites.

8. Cost & Operational Efficiency

• Develop menus with consideration for both culinary quality and commercial viability.

• Work with internal teams to evaluate:

  • Cost per serving
  • Ingredient utilization
  • Food wastage
  • Preparation time
  • Cooking time
  • Labour requirements
  • Equipment capacity
  • Batch size
  • Portion control
  • Cooking yield

• Continuously identify opportunities to simplify recipes, reduce operational complexity and improve efficiency.

• Ensure menu solutions are practical for high-volume commercial implementation.

About you

• Diploma or Degree in Culinary Arts, Food Service Management or a related discipline is preferred
• Minimum 3–5 years of relevant culinary experience
• Experience in industrial catering, factory/institutional catering, central kitchen operations, food manufacturing, QSR / chain restaurant operations, large-volume catering, or culinary R&D / product development is highly advantageous
• Strong understanding of bulk cooking, recipe scaling and portion control
• Hands-on experience with combi ovens is highly preferred
• Good understanding of ingredient functionality, cooking yield and food quality
• Able to develop recipes using precise measurements and standardized processes
• Able to prepare clear recipe documentation and cooking SOPs
• Comfortable communicating and working directly with suppliers and clients
• Willing to travel to client sites when required