Culinary Chef

Summary
Under the supervision of the Culinary Manager and in support of Haliburton’s sales division, the Corporate Chef’s primary role is to work with key food service account culinary/menu innovation executives on product and menu concept initiatives. The Corporate Chef’s position combines food and menu research, hands-on cooking and product development with live customer cooking presentations and demonstrations. Haliburton Corporate Chef’s must be naturally passionate about food, culinary arts and the food service industry.

Essential Duties & Job Responsibilities

• Works primarily with assigned food service chain accounts across all menu categories.
• Gains and can demonstrate knowledge of customer operations, menus, initiatives, goals and objectives.
• Develops solid working relationships with customer contacts through rapport building, earning trust and being the customer’s “go to” culinary contact.
• Develops a track record for eliciting positive customer responses including scheduling presentations, inclusion in work sessions, requests for products and invites to other activities relating to customer initiatives.
• Works on a variety of projects including menu concept development, product development, customer work sessions and other company and customer related projects as needed.
• Becomes a subject matter expert relative to Haliburton’s processing and product capabilities.
• Takes the lead on assigned culinary presentations ensuring seamless execution through adequate advance planning, organization, thorough communication, practice and appropriate time management practices.
• Conducts compelling and engaging presentations with confidence in group or private settings.
• Proactively generates new product and menu concepts for assigned accounts and in support of other team member accounts as determined by the Director of Culinary.
• Collaborates and works with other team members and cross-functional teams in a productive, professional and thoughtful way.
• Cooks with a high degree of execution particularly while under pressure and during customer presentations.
• Generates new innovative product gold standards and finished products.
• On a more limited basis may work with specific retail and/or industrial accounts.
• Responsible for food prep as needed based on a dynamic flow of projects initiated by customers, Haliburton marketing and special events.
• Is willing to attend and support trade shows and special events as needed.
• Adheres to and models good manufacturing practices (GMPS) at all times.
• Maintains clean and organized workspace and practices “clean as you go” standard at all times.
• Cooks, preps and grocery shops as needed to support individual and/or team presentations.
• Prepares ingredients for and assists or performs complete menu and product cuttings.
• Performs culinary product application tests as needed.
• Utilizes approved forms and follows approved development processes and protocol.
• Maintains Haliburton departmental appearance, behavior and attitude standards at all times.
• Contributes to an atmosphere of mutual trust, teamwork and honesty.
• Is food savvy and naturally passionate about food, culinary innovation and the restaurant industry in general.
• All other duties as assigned and needed.

Minimum Qualification Requirements

Education & Experience

• Associate’s degree in culinary arts required
• Bachelor’s degree in relevant field strongly preferred
• 3 or more years related experience in food industry required

Cooking & Oher skills

• Strong culinary skills
• Basic understanding of food science and technical application
• Thorough working understanding of commercial restaurant cooking equipment.

Communication, Interpersonal and Professional Skill

• Computer savvy, including proficiency with Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Outlook
• Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communications skills, including the ability to lead effective, dynamic and engaging meetings and presentations and to create clear and concise reports as needed.

Other Information & Requirements

FLSA Status: Exempt
Travel Requirements : Ability to travel on occasion as required for purposes such as vendor visits, etc.
Driving Requirements: Valid driver’s license and clean driving record as needed for occasional business travel.
Physical Demands/work environment
Ability to sit for extended periods of time at a computer workstation; use hands and motor skills on a frequent basis for functions such as keyboard data entry input; clear vision to read and interpret documents, reports, and information on a computer screen, etc. Ability to stand and walk for long periods of time and occasionally required to climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl. Ability to work in a fast-paced manufacturing environment and withstand strong odors from the foods being processed.
Pre-Employment
Applicants must successfully pass a pre-employment background check and drug screen as a condition of any offer of employment to ensure compliance with Drug Free Workplace policies

Haliburton proudly supports diversity in the workplace and is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to sex, race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, pregnancy, leave status, disability, veteran status, genetic information and/or any other characteristic or status protected by national, federal, state or local law.