sous chef - Bakery

Key Responsibilities

New Product Development

• Develop and refine bakery and dessert products across categories, including but not limited to:
• Bread & Buns (soft buns, burger buns, specialty buns)
• Sourdough (various hydration levels, fermentation profiles)
• Desserts: muffins, brownies, jar desserts, celebration cakes
• Viennoiserie: croissants, puff pastries, danish breads
• Translate product briefs into scalable recipes while maintaining taste, texture, and visual appeal
• Innovate based on customer briefs, market trends, and internal menu/portfolio requirements

Scale-Up & Commercialization

• Lead successful scale-up of products from R&D trials to industrial production lines
• Work closely with production teams to adapt recipes to large-scale bakery machinery
• Resolve issues related to process consistency, yield, and operational feasibility

Costing & Commercial Viability

• Translate target selling price into optimized formulations through portioning, ingredient selection, and yield improvement
• Work with procurement and packaging teams to control ingredient and packaging costs
• Ensure recipes meet margin expectations without compromising quality

Quality, Shelf Life & Packaging

• Possess working knowledge of:
• Shelf life determination
• Storage conditions (ambient / chilled / frozen)
• Basic quality parameters such as moisture, texture, appearance, and organoleptic stability
• Collaborate with Quality Assurance to ensure compliance with food safety and internal standards
• Support selection of appropriate packaging formats with an understanding of packaging functionality and costing

Customer Interaction & Culinary Engagement

• Engage directly with customer culinary and R&D teams for:
• Product showcases
• Tasting sessions and cuttings
• Understanding and translating NPD briefs
• Knowledge of various regeneration processes from Frozen.
• Modify products based on customer feedback and commercial requirements
• Represent the companys culinary and technical capabilities during customer visits and presentations

Key Skills & Competencies

• Strong technical understanding of industrial bakery processes
• Hands-on expertise in yeast-raised doughs, laminated doughs, muffin and brownie batters, and dessert applications
• Ability to balance taste, cost, scalability, and shelf life
• Customer-facing skills with confidence in product presentations and discussions
• Commercial mindset with strong recipe costing and yield calculations
• Collaborative approach to work with production, QA, procurement, and sales teams

Education & Professional Background

• Formal education in Bakery, Pastry Arts, Culinary Arts preferred

Exposure to industrial bakery operations is mandatory