Culinary Innovation Lead: Next-Gen Menu Concepts

Inspire Brands, Inc.; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

SONIC Drive-In, part of Inspire Brands, seeks a Culinary Innovation Manager to lead the development of new food and beverage concepts from concept through launch. You will partner with cross-functional teams to deliver products that meet consumer, operations and financial goals while bringing creativity to menu development.

Responsibilities include supporting the Product Innovation team, managing development projects with vendor partners, leading taste tests and product showings, and planning

Qualifications

• 2 year degree preferred; culinary or food-related degree preferred.
• 3–5 years’ experience in culinary or product development required; QSR experience preferred.
• Ability to think strategically, be detail oriented and respond quickly to business needs.
• Bring creativity to menu development and trend dives for the team.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills; ability to explain difficult concepts and insights in business terms; summarize insights in PowerPoint.
• Ability to collaborate and motivate across operations, supply chain, field and marketing teams.
• Self-starter with the ability to project manage and handle multiple assignments simultaneously and meet deadlines.
• Strong leadership, sales support, project management and training skills.
• Understanding how to take products or programs through a development and testing process.
• Effective problem-solving skills and ability to listen and translate details accurately.
• Innate curiosity and growth mindset

Responsibilities

• Support the Product Innovation team and Director of Culinary in delivering against goals and strategies.
• Work independently on development projects with guidance from supervisor.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including Category Management, Brand Experience, Operations, Procurement, Commercialization, Quality Assurance.
• Interact with vendor partners to develop products from prototypes to commercialization; own development of products.
• Recommend improvements to prototypes and develop product specifications with partners, QA, and other teams.
• Lead product taste tests and new product showings.
• Present recommendations to Culinary Innovation leadership; coordinate with Procurement to develop accurate formulas.
• Plan and execute Product Showcase events for senior leadership, Board, Franchise Community, Marketing, and partners.
• Provide guidance to other product developers; perform other duties as needed

Skills

Culinary development

Product development

Strategic thinking

Communication skills

Presentation skills

Project management

Leadership

Team collaboration

Growth mindset

Education

Culinary degree

Food-related degree

Job description

SONIC Drive-In, part of Inspire Brands, seeks a Culinary Innovation Manager to lead the development of new food and beverage concepts from concept through launch. You will partner with cross-functional teams to deliver products that meet consumer, operations and financial goals while bringing creativity to menu development.

Responsibilities include supporting the Product Innovation team, managing development projects with vendor partners, leading taste tests and product showings, and planning