Product Developer

Wholly Veggie; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Wholly Veggie, a Toronto-based food company, seeks a hands-on Product Developer to blend culinary creativity with food science. You will develop recipes in a home kitchen and scale concepts with manufacturing facilities in Ontario.

Travel to plants weekly, translate kitchen recipes into scalable processes, and drive sensory testing and optimization for frozen snacks and plant-based products.

Qualifications

• Hands-on culinary development and technical food formulation experience.
• 4–5 years in food product development, culinary R&D or manufacturing.
• Strong cooking and recipe development with ingredient functionality knowledge.
• Plan, execute, document and present development work remotely.
• Residence in Ontario; ability to visit facilities weekly.
• Access to a clean home kitchen for small-batch testing.

Responsibilities

• Create products from concept to bench prototypes and commercial readiness.
• Develop recipes and flavours with craveable taste and texture.
• Conduct small-batch trials in a home kitchen; document results.
• Explore new ingredients; benchmark competitors.
• Improve formulas based on feedback and cost targets.
• Apply food science to ingredient functionality and processing.
• Develop repeatable formulas considering nutrition and cost.
• Evaluate freezing, thawing, and reheating performance.
• Troubleshoot issues with ingredients and processing.
• Maintain formulas, trial reports and development records.
• Travel to Ontario plants weekly; translate recipes to scale.
• Collaborate with plant teams to run trials and initial production.
• Solve texture, yield, equipment and cost challenges.

Skills

Culinary development

Food science

Recipe development

Sensory evaluation

Documentation

Remote work readiness

Plant visit coordination

Education

Food science / culinary arts background

Job description

Wholly Veggie is a Toronto based food company focused on pushing the boundaries of vegetable innovation through delicious frozen snacks, veggie burgers and frozen potato products. Our mission is to make it easy, tasty and rewarding to add vegetables to your diet.

THE OPPORTUNITY

We are looking for a hands-on Product Developer who brings culinary creativity and food science together. You will independently develop recipes and prototypes in your own home kitchen, then partner with our manufacturing facilities to bring the strongest concepts to commercial scale. This role is for someone who enjoys both cooking and solving technical formulation problems—not just managing a project plan.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Culinary innovation & kitchen development

• Create new food products from concept through bench-top prototypes, sensory testing and commercial readiness
• Develop original recipes and flavour profiles with an emphasis on craveable taste, texture and appearance
• Conduct small-batch trials from a suitable home kitchen; document ingredients, methods, yields and results
• Explore emerging ingredients, food trends and culinary techniques; benchmark competitive products
• Improve existing formulas based on product feedback, quality opportunities and cost targets

Food science & formulation

• Apply food science principles to ingredient functionality, binding, texture, moisture, stability and processing.
• Develop repeatable formulas with commercial ingredient availability, nutritional objectives and product cost in mind.
• Evaluate freezing, thawing, heating and reheating performance, including air-fryer and oven preparation.
• Troubleshoot technical issues with ingredients, processing conditions and finished-product consistency.
• Maintain accurate formulas, trial reports, ingredient specifications and development records.

Manufacturing & scale-up

• Travel to manufacturing facilities in Ontario at least once per week, with additional visits around key trials or launches.
• Work directly with plant teams and co-manufacturers to translate kitchen recipes into scalable manufacturing processes
• Participate in plant trials, pilot runs and initial commercial production; record results and next actions.
• Help solve manufacturing issues related to texture, yield, equipment, quality, ingredient substitutions and cost.

Sensory evaluation & product improvement

• Run structured sensory evaluations and competitive benchmarks for taste, texture, aroma and appearance.
• Validate consumer cooking directions and evaluate product quality under realistic at-home preparation conditions.
• Recommend formula or process improvements and track outcomes through additional testing.

WHAT YOU BRING

Required

• Professional experience spanning both hands-on culinary development and food science or technical food formulation
• At least 4-5 years of relevant experience in food product development, culinary R&D or commercial food manufacturing.
• Strong cooking and recipe-development skills plus a practical understanding of ingredient functionality and processing.
• Ability to independently plan, execute, document and present development work while working remotely.
• Residence in Ontario and ability to visit manufacturing facilities in person at least weekly.
• Access to a clean, functional, suitably equipped home kitchen for recipe development and small-batch testing.

Preferred

• Education or training in food science, culinary arts, food technology or a related discipline.
• Experience with frozen foods, savoury snacks, prepared meals or plant-based products
• Experience with co-manufacturers, commercial plant trials, sensory testing and formulation costing.

HOW WE WORK

This is a remote-first, highly independent role—not a desk-only position. You should enjoy working from your home kitchen, communicating proactively with a small team and spending meaningful time on the plant floor. Weekly manufacturing visits are essential, not occasional. Successful candidates will be comfortable moving between culinary experimentation, rigorous documentation and production realities.