ORGANIZATION: Real Food for Real Kids 

WEBSITE: www.rfrk.com 

LOCATION: On Site, East End of Toronto, ON

JOB TITLE: Recipe & Process Improvement Specialist

WORK HOURS:  Monday - Friday, Typically 8:00am - 4:00pm but must be available outside of those hours for recipe trials

COMPENSATION: Commensurate with Experience & ability to create value on day 1 

Real Food for Real Kids (RFRK) is a growing company on a mission to make real food the standard rather than the exception.

A multiple award-winning company recognized for excellence and innovation, we’re a leading healthy catering company for child care centres, schools and camps. RFRK proudly serves nutritious meals and snacks to thousands of children throughout the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area every day. We’ve also recently launched our Real Food Kitchen Delivery service (https://realfoodkitchen.ca/) to get our yummy food directly into households. 

Our Product Design Team is looking for a fantastic person who excels at taking new product ideas and specifications and cooking them into reality to join us as a Recipe & Product Development Specialist. If you like the sound of us so far, keep reading to see if you have the experience and skills needed for this rewarding role!

RFRK VALUES:

• Put Health First
• Find a Better Way
• Trust & Team
• Spread Good Energy
• Authenticity

About the Role:

As the Recipe & Product Development Specialist you’ll manage the product development process including product formulation and the development of prototypes, and work closely with our Recipe & Process Improvement Specialist to ensure the recipes scale successfully for a high volume food manufacturing/complex catering business. You will create products and recipes that are aligned with RFRK values, production planning, budgets, customer needs, and nutritional/regulatory parameters. And you demonstrate RFRK’s Values while you’re at it.

Some of the things you’ll get paid to do:

Recipe Development

• Creation of Gold Standard “Base” Recipes for new recipes and reformulations of existing recipes for improved food quality, increased client satisfaction, and operational efficiencies
• Document formulations and production procedures that are scalable in % formulations
• Knowledge and ability to leverage local, national and global food trends to add value to our menu development process
• Coordinate and conduct sensory evaluations of products with stakeholders 
• Support shelf-life testings in collaboration with Food Production and QA

 Planning, Organizing & Documenting Resources

• Produce robust product specification sheets so that the highest levels of food quality & consistency can be achieved by production (hot chain and cold chain services and products).
• Explore new or alternative manufacturing methods and support the Production team in the acquisition/testing of new pieces of equipment, equipment vendors and the design of process flow of manufacturing to ensure product quality and consistency and enable efficiencies

Key Performance Indicators  

• Completion of product plan fulfilling project scope brief criteria
• Accuracy budget to actuals for recipes
• Product popularity and menu satisfaction scores

About You

Must-haves

• A minimum of 3 years of experience in Recipe R&D/Culinary Arts
• Natural alignment with RFRK Food values and mission
• BS or MS in Food Science or similar
• Advanced understanding of food chemistry, shelf life, and recipe costing
• Experience with food production for special/allergen free meals, including vegetarian, gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, nut-free, halal, infant meals, and others
• Knowledge of the Safe Food for Canadians Act & Passion for Food Safety
• Experience with diverse food manufacturing and shelf life packaging machinery (combi ovens, mixers, steam jacketed kettles, blast chillers, vacuum sealer, food pumps, Cryovac, etc)
• Demonstrated success achieving cost, quality, timing and consumer appeal goals with product development projects
• Computer skills - Microsoft Office (especially Excel), Google Suite, nutrition analysis software such as Genesis R&D®, Food Processor® & FMP (Filemaker Pro) or similar associative database program typically called ERP

Nice-to-haves 

• Training in protocols such as HACCP, SQF, GFSI, BRC and CFIA standards
• Project and cost management experience a plus, including knowledge of ingredient sourcing and costing

WORKING AT RFRK COMES WITH OTHER PERKS TOO:

• Competitive salary
• Significant price discounts on our Real Food Kitchen online store
• Employee Savings Program (RRSP/TFSA Matching)
• Benefits program including alternative and preventative health treatments
• Participation in RFRK’s Profit Share Program

To apply, please upload your résumé and cover letter, including salary expectations, explaining why you’d be a great fit for this role!

_Real Food for Real Kids is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from diverse backgrounds and communities. _

Real Food for Real Kids welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

No phone calls or emails, please. We’ll contact applicants that fit the bill, and invite them in for an interview.

Thanks for your interest in Real Food for Real Kids!

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