Research & Development Chef

HelloFresh; Mississauga; On-site; CAD 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A meal delivery service is seeking an R&D Chef in Mississauga to develop and improve recipes for a healthy meal line. This role involves collaboration with various teams, utilizing customer feedback to enhance meal quality, and ensuring that new recipes meet operational guidelines. Ideal candidates will have culinary training and 3+ years in food R&D or large-scale kitchen operations. Attractive perks include health benefits, discounts, and a flexible hybrid work model.

Benefits

Discount on meal kits

Health & Dental benefits from day 1

Generous vacation and PTO

Parental leave top-up program

Career development opportunities

Qualifications

• 3+ years experience in corporate food R&D or large restaurant management.
• Strong understanding of Canadian culinary trends and dietary lifestyles.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and capable of managing multiple priorities.

Responsibilities

• Drive meal product development alongside Executive Chef and other teams.
• Ensure all food products meet quality specs during production.
• Analyze customer feedback to continuously improve meals.

Skills

Team collaboration

Nutrition knowledge

Organizational skills

Creative innovation

Customer-centric thinking

Education

Degree or diploma in culinary arts or culinary science

Job description

S'more about the team

We are looking for an R&D Chef to create and iterate new and existing recipes as we grow the product footprint of our newest brand, Factor: a healthy, ready-to-heat meal delivery service.

We’re seeking a culinary expert to create, iterate, and improve our cuisine, delighting our loyal customers’ taste buds and providing optimal nutrition in the process. These recipes will need to be readily produced in large volumes while maintaining integrity and presentation before, during, and after transit, requiring an equal balance of creative rigor and operational excellence.

Our R&D Chefs work closely alongside our Production, Product, Procurement, and Menu Planning teams to develop, test, launch, and continually optimize new and existing recipes. You’ll be responsible for utilizing customer feedback and performance metrics to create new and exciting meals that align with our performance, cost, and complexity constraints.

You will also be responsible for ongoing sensory testing and analysis, working alongside our production and procurement teams to improve ingredient and process quality in alignment with cost and quality objectives.

We are looking for entrepreneurial minds who are passionate and result-driven, have a strong team spirit, and will take on a diverse set of challenges to pioneer the ever changing food industry!

Lettuce share what this role will be responsible for

Drive Meal (Product) Development

• Work directly with our Executive Chef, Product Manager, and Registered Dietitians to create products that meet our guidelines (cost, ingredients, caloric/nutritional, time constraints, and operational complexity)


• Design new meals that fit our nutrition philosophy and our customers’ preferences


• Leverage your knowledge of nutrition principles, food production methods, seasonal ingredients, etc. into the development of recipes that:
  
  
  
  • maintain their quality, even when transitioned to high-throughput commercial lines.
  
  
  • Travel and present well when delivered to customers via our shipping partners across the country
  
  
  • Are optimized for taste, cost and experience.
  
  
  • Utilize customer data and feedback to continuously evolve and improve our meals and the process by which we develop them. Continuous improvement of our products is a must.
  
  
  
  

Provide Quality Assurance and Supervision

• Work with the production kitchen management and staff to execute new recipes as well as implement improvements to existing recipes (i.e., proper production techniques for all meals)


• Ensure all finished food products meet specifications, supporting with the taste testing and QA-ing of recipes during production (both during net new and modified version runs)

Collaborate with Procurement and Operations

• Work with procurement to ensure the best quality ingredients are used while minimizing food costs


• Help diagnose the root cause of quality issues reported by customers


• Support in new ingredient testing, aiding with the selection, sensory & organoleptic evaluation, and approval of ingredients.

Evaluate Customer Feedback and Drive Product Improvement

• Analyze customer feedback on meals and leverage it to improve existing meals or develop new ones


• Seek extensive and honest feedback on meal accessibility and flavors and incorporate it into new dish ideation


• Attend and participate in weekly culinary meetings including weekly R&D tastings, weekly meal rating reviews, and team check-ins


• Collaborate with other chefs to improve and test each other's dishes


• All other duties, as assigned

Sound a-peeling? Here’s what we’re looking for

• Degree or diploma in culinary arts, culinary science, or a similar field.


• 3+ years experience corporate food R&D and/or running a commissary or large restaurant/banquet/catering.


• Highly organized and detail-oriented: you have a track record of turning ideas into reality, meeting deadlines, and not overlooking key details. You should also be comfortable juggling multiple priorities at once.


• A strong understanding of local and broader Canadian taste profiles, culinary trends, and preferences


• Knowledge of key dietary lifestyles such as the Ketogenic Diet, low/slow carb diet, and vegan and vegetarian diets


• A passion for staying up to speed on the most current research on the science of nutrition.


• Entrepreneurial with an ownership mindset: you enjoy working in small teams, taking ownership of your work, and always thinking beyond the scope of a given assignment.


• Naturally curious: you’re innovative, creative, and constantly looking for ways to improve.


• Customer centricity: you understand how your decision-making abilities will impact internal and external customers

Let’s cut to the cheese, this is why you’ll love it here

• Box Discount - Amazing discounts on 1 box per week! 75% discount on weekly HelloFresh and Chefs Plate meal kits AND 50% off weekly Factor meal box.


• Health & Wellness -Health & Dental benefits from day 1, a Health Spending Account, unlimited access to the Headspace app to meet your self-care needs, and 25% discount on GoodLife fitness memberships!


• Vacation & PTO -Time off is also an important part of self-care! We offer generous vacation and PTO to help you create a good work‑life balance.


• Family Benefits - A parental leave top‑up program for expectant parents.


• Growth & Development - We support your career progression, provide development opportunities, and invest in your continued learning through our organization wide L&D fund.


• Work Hard & Have Fun - From team socials to engaging company days, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to experience the fun!


• Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives -With impactful ERG’s like FreshPride, Women Empowered and LIMES, we are committed to our diversity, equity & inclusion efforts.


• Food Puns - this one is kind of a big dill if you haven’t already noticed. We even have some punny meeting room names!

Flexible Hybrid Approach

At HelloFresh, we know that flexible work arrangements are essential in enabling you to do your best work, while balancing your personal and life needs. Offering remote work flexibility, along with the opportunity to interact and collaborate in the office are all a part of creating a great employee experience.

To meet these needs, we are pleased to provide Flexible Hybrid work. Flexible Hybrid is a people‑first approach that is based on choice, trust, personalization, and empowers teams to choose when and how often they work from the office and work from home, in addition to team days and company days. This means a minimum of 2 days in office per week, with most teams in office between 2-3 days a week.

Working Conditions

It’s no surprise that as a food company, we use many ingredients that may be considered common allergens (i.e. peanuts, tree nuts, milk, etc.). Whether this role is based out of our headquarters or one of our distribution centers, it is possible that you may be exposed to such allergens in this role. If you have any concerns with being exposed to any particular food ingredients, including meat, please disclose this during the hiring process.

HelloFresh Canada uses AI-integrated technology to help us process and evaluate applications more efficiently. This includes tools that screen and assess candidate qualifications based on the requirements for this role. While these tools assist our workflow, all final selection decisions are made by our hiring team.

This is a posting for an existing vacancy. We are actively seeking to fill this position.

Mississauga, ON Pay Range $65,000—$75,000 CAD