Job Description
As a Food Scientist at Kevin’s Natural Foods, you will bridge the gap between culinary creativity and food science expertise. You will be responsible for developing innovative, flavorful, and health-conscious products that meet our rigorous quality, safety, and certification standards. This role requires a unique combination of culinary intuition, scientific rigor, and commercial awareness to take concepts from initial ideation in the test kitchen through full-scale manufacturing. You will collaborate cross-functionally with R&D, Operations, Marketing, and Sales to ensure products not only delight our consumers but also align with Kevin’s mission of empowering busy people to eat clean without sacrificing flavor.
What You’ll Do:
Develops new product ideas and concepts, from test prototype samples through commercialization
Creates product specifications and calculating initial formula and ingredient costs.
Assists with sourcing new and uncommon ingredients to match our healthy standards, along with meeting our SQF and USDA certifications.
Owns formulating product to meet all product claims.
Assumes the role of an innovator and project leader, demonstrating initiative, creativity, and thoroughness in the execution of complex projects.
Actively seeks out new food trends, consumer tastes, requests, and nutrition while monitoring local and national competition.
Responsible for creating and maintaining data in a variety of systems for product IP, Operations training and internal/external compliance
Works closely with the teams on establishing production processes, monitoring consistency and quality of foods, problem-solving production variances, and packaging of all items.
Partner with Marketing and sales for new product introductions, food styling, photoshoots, etc.
GFCO/Paleo/NGPV/USDA awareness and applied knowledge
All other duties as assigned or necessary.
What You’ll Need:
Passion for delivering safe, quality and delicious food to Kevin’s Natural Foods consumers.
Bachelors degree in Culinology, Culinary Science, Food Science, Meat Science, Nutrition, or Culinary School certification with applied technical experience.
1-3 years applied experience in a restaurant kitchen or commercial/manufacturing environment, research chef experience is a plus.
2-4 years product development experience in a food manufacturing environment.
Extensive ingredient functionality, flavor development, and sensory evaluation experience.
Understanding complex food systems from a physical and chemical perspective.
Sound working knowledge of food science principals and manufacturing principles such as GMP, HACCP, food safety, sanitary practices and regulations.
Good laboratory practices, including organized data documentation and presentation, attention to detail, and ability to follow batch protocols.
Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and handle multiple projects/tasks at any given time.
Strong computer skills, especially working with nutritional software, spreadsheets, and quality systems.
Strong communication and presentation skills.
Proven success in development using sterilization of food products.
Proven teamwork and collaboration in small groups.
Product development of paleo/keto food products a strong plus.
Healthy, Diverse Teams Breed Innovation:
Kevin’s Natural Foods is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We deeply believe that diverse backgrounds and experiences make better teams, and we seek to attract talent from all walks of life. The team at Kevin’s is smart, humble, and passionate and we value a work environment that fosters personal development and opportunities to move within our small, but quickly growing organization.
More About Kevin’s Natural Foods:
Kevin’s Natural Foods is a line of healthy entrées, sides, and sauces, on a mission to make clean eating delicious and accessible. Kevin’s guilt-free, sous-vide entrées and sides, and signature certified paleo, keto, and gluten-free sauces allow health-conscious home cooks to whip up delicious meals in five minutes or less.
With restaurant-quality ingredients and recipes, Kevin’s products are readily available on the shelves at leading grocery retailers nationwide including Costco, Whole Foods, Albertsons, HEB and Publix. All Kevin’s products contain no refined sugar, artificial ingredients, grains, or soy, and are made with antibiotic- and hormone-free meat. A true market disruptor, Kevin’s Natural Foods is the first clean refrigerated entrée brand.
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