Research & Dev Chef/Food Product Development Specialist

Position Summary

The Research & Development Chef drives innovation by creating, testing, and commercializing high-quality food solutions across the airline, healthcare, education, and retail sectors. This role blends culinary creativity with scientific precision to develop products that meet strict safety, nutritional, and operational standards—from high-altitude airline meals to specialized hospital diets.

Key Responsibilities

Product Innovation & Formulation

• Multi-Sector Development: Design new menu items and retail-ready products tailored for airline catering, patient meals, and school nutrition programs.
• Process-Specific Design: Formulate shelf-stable, chilled, and frozen products optimized for large-scale production, including blast-chilling, sous-vide, and MAP (Modified Atmosphere Packaging).
• Optimized Performance: Reformulate existing products to improve quality, improve freeze/thaw performance, reduce costs, meet "clean label" requirements, or manage allergens.
• Environmental Adaptation: Ensure products maintain flavor and texture under unique constraints, such as high-altitude service or industrial reheating systems.

Healthcare & Specialized Nutrition

• Dietary Compliance: Develop therapeutic and diet-specific items (e.g., low-sodium, diabetic-friendly, or texture-modified) that align with clinical nutrition standards.
• Precision Portioning: Create cost-effective, high-volume items suitable for both bulk service and portion-controlled healthcare environments.

Testing, Quality & Compliance

• Validation: Lead bench-top trials, sensory panels, and shelf-life validation (including microbiological and chemical testing).
• Regulatory Oversight: Ensure all formulations and labels comply with CFIA, FDA, HACCP, and sector-specific nutritional guidelines.
• Technical Documentation: Generate accurate ingredient statements, nutritional panels, and standardized SOPs for production.

Commercialization & Collaboration

• Scale-Up Support: Provide on-site technical guidance during pilot runs and plant trials to troubleshoot production issues.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate with Culinary, Procurement, and Sales to evaluate new ingredients and support successful product launches.
• Client Engagement: Lead technical discussions and tastings for key stakeholders and customers.

Qualifications

Education

• Degree: Bachelor’s or Master’s in Food Science, Food Technology, or other related field.

Experience:

• 2+ years in food manufacturing, R&D, or large-scale commissary production (experience in airline or healthcare sectors is a significant asset).
• 2+ years in the hospitality industry in a culinary role.

Technical Skills

• Science & Functionality: Deep understanding of food chemistry and how ingredients behave during industrial processing (chilled, frozen, sous-vide).
• Regulatory Knowledge: Proficiency in CFIA/FDA standards, GMP, HACCP, and allergen management.
• Systems: Skilled in Microsoft Office and professional recipe/formulation management software.
• Ability to excel in a fast-paced environment on multiple concurrent projects with tight deadlines.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $75,000.00-$85,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental care
• Employee assistance program
• Extended health care
• Life insurance
• On-site parking
• Paid time off
• Vision care

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Mississauga, ON L5S 1A8: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Experience:

• Food Product Development Specialist: 5 years (required)

Work Location: In person