Senior Culinary Innovation & Customer Solutions Lead

Dessert Holdings; Saint Paul (MN); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Dessert Holdings seeks a Sr. Manager, Customer Innovation & Culinary to partner with Sales, Marketing and Product Development teams, delivering culinary solutions that drive growth across retail and foodservice.

The role develops new concepts, conducts product demonstrations, and translates consumer trends into commercially viable products. The Culinary Chef works with customers to identify opportunities and support strategic growth initiatives.

Qualifications

• Professional culinary training from an accredited program is required.
• Experience in food manufacturing, ingredient solutions, foodservice, or CPG environments is essential.
• Excellent presentation skills and ability to interact with executive leadership and customers.

Responsibilities

• Develop innovative concepts, applications, and recipes aligned with customer needs.
• Partner with Sales to support meetings, innovation sessions, and reviews as the culinary SME.
• Evaluate trends to identify opportunities and translate insights into products.
• Conduct culinary demonstrations and ideation workshops for current and prospective customers.
• Provide application expertise to enhance product portfolios and support strategic growth.
• Promote innovation capabilities at customer visits, trade shows, and events.
• Translate marketplace insights into new product concepts delivering customer value.
• Analyze competitive products and support innovation strategies.
• Support product optimization related to flavor, texture, functionality, cost, and manufacturability.
• Champion efficient product development processes and documentation.

Skills

Culinary expertise

Executive communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Travel up to 70% (NA)

Education

Bachelor's degree in Culinary Arts

Bachelor's degree in Food Science

Bachelor's degree in Hospitality Management

Job description

Dessert Holdings seeks a Sr. Manager, Customer Innovation & Culinary to partner with Sales, Marketing and Product Development teams, delivering culinary solutions that drive growth across retail and foodservice.

The role develops new concepts, conducts product demonstrations, and translates consumer trends into commercially viable products. The Culinary Chef works with customers to identify opportunities and support strategic growth initiatives.