Generation Plant: join our global movement

CULINARY CHEF – Saudi Arabia

Location: Riyadh or Jeddah

Reports to (role): Head of Sales - Middle East & North Africa

 
About Upfield

At Upfield our purpose is clear: we make people healthier and happier with nutritious and delicious, natural, plant-based products that are good for you, our planet; and with packaging that’s free from plastic.

We are the largest plant-based company in the world, and we believe in doing what’s right for our people, our customers and the planet.

We’ve got iconic brands like Rama, Country Crock, Blue Band and Flora that people all over the world know and love. We’ve been a trusted category leader since 1871 and yet we feel like we’re only just getting started.

Performance, Passion and Care define who we are as a company, how we work every day, and the responsibility we feel toward our Associates, our consumers, our business partners and our world.

We have big ambitions to grow this business and we want to attract the right people – those that love what they do, thrive on responsibility and are looking for limitless career defining opportunities.

You’ll have to enjoy working in a fast-paced environment and it will take hard work and determination; we will give you the ownership you need to make an impact. 

You’ll have to deliver on the commitments you make. And we’ll give you the freedom and flexibility to do your job and build your own career. 

If you want to make an impact where it matters apply now!

#upfielders #upfielder #upfieldglobal 

About the position

We need a culinary superstar to win customers and convert them to our plant based portfolio of Butters, creams, cheeses and spreads.

We’re looking for someone with experience cooking professionally – this doesn’t necessarily mean fancy Michelin, but we are looking for high level culinary skills. You’ll bring the skills, creativity and knowledge of food which can inspire and educate our team and our customers. You’ll earn their trust because of this extensive and valuable experience.

You have to be able to travel within the Kingdom and being externally focussed every day of the week.

This is a role for someone with passion not only for being in the kitchen, but also for communicating culinary knowledge. You’ll be just as comfortable leading a workshop with professional chefs - as you are leading a product demonstration to a retail buying team – or a training session with our own team.

Developing & Testing

This role will require extensive culinary testing of current & new products. You will be taster and tester in chief of all things culinary in our business! You’ll participate in the development of cutting-edge innovation, and as a global organization, you’ll interact and exchange ideas with Upfield Chefs from around the world. You will also be responsible for maintaining the market leading taste and performance of our current portfolio. We are serious about product quality, so frequent benchmarking and performance assessments will be high on the agenda.

Showcasing & Training

You will be the face of our market leading culinary content – including recipe videos and product showcases. We produce a lot of content, so you’ll need to bring the ideas and ability to create fantastic applications for our portfolio - from great cakes to stunning inspiration for dinners both in and out of home. Experience of contemporary food styling is a must!

You’ll have the opportunity to work alongside some of the most exciting food businesses in the world - our customers. These include major supermarkets, global food service leaders and high street household names. You’ll be responsible for working together with their development teams to create magic with our portfolio. You’ll also lead the charge in keeping our full team at the cutting edge of all things culinary. We’re serious about knowing our products inside and out, and you will be responsible for making sure were the best in the business in terms of culinary knowledge and training.

In short, this is a career defining role for someone with serious food chops who wants to drive the culinary agenda of a progressive and entrepreneurial organization.

Main Responsibilities

• Meet customers daily to convert them to our plant based and blended portfolio of products of spreads, butters, cheeses and creams
• Travel within the Kingdom to meet with Distributors, Sales teams and customers to educate them on Plant Based food and the benefits of it.
• Design menus for key accounts and implement them with a time frame pre determined by management
• Be the culinary and technical expert in our full retail and food service portfolio.
• Support our customer development teams with culinary showcases for our customers.
• Provide customer technical support and developing product solutions.
• Be a core member of all innovation projects in MENA.
• Support (and deliver) compelling culinary content for all our advertising – which will include appearing in social media videos and tutorials.
• Support our technical teams in the testing of product functionality and claims.

Key interfaces

• Retail and Food Service Marketing teams
• The Upfield technical and nutritional team
• Customer Development teams – and our customers.
• The international community of Upfield Chefs

Key skills & experience

• Professional calibre culinary skills. This will likely mean experience cooking at high level in professional kitchens, or market leading experience in food development and presentation.
• Technical experience in developing tailored product solutions.
• Experience leading culinary training sessions with qualified cooks & chefs.
• Working knowledge of business operations (front and back of house) and operator commercial decision making.
• Experience in recipe development and food showcases to major customers.
• Experience in plant-based cooking is desirable.
• Highly developed skills in sweet and savory baking.
• Contemporary food styling experience.
• Extensive network in the Kingdom.

What’s next

If this position sounds interesting, please hit the apply button now! 

We understand your resume might not be up to date, we recommend that you apply with what you have or your LinkedIn Profile. Upfield is dedicated to building an inclusive and diverse workplace, we understand that you might not hit all the requirements stated in the description, but we encourage you to apply anyway. You might be the right candidate for this role or other roles. 

“The deadline to apply for this position is 28.04.2023. The first stage of the process will be a phone call.

Upfield is an employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace and equal opportunities for all. We recruit based only on values, qualifications, performance, skills, behaviours, experience, and knowledge. We ensure job advertisements are free from unintentional bias.

No personal characteristics should be a barrier to joining Upfield. We prohibit discrimination and harassment based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or other personal characteristics.

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