Position Summary
The Person in this role serves as a shared resource supporting R&D and Retail Sales in the development and commercialization of food products and solutions for commercial customers, primarily national and multi-unit restaurant and foodservice customers, including coffeehouse concepts.
This position serves as a key link between customers, Sales, and R&D, translating customer needs, culinary concepts, and market opportunities into viable product development projects. The Product Development Manager participates in customer meetings, product presentations, trials, and tastings, while partnering closely with R&D to move products from concept through commercialization.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
- Serve as the primary product development liaison between R&D, Sales, and commercial customers.
- Participate in customer meetings to understand product needs, culinary concepts, operational requirements, and opportunities for innovation.
- Develop, formulate, and test products hands-on "at the bench" in response to customer requests, specifications, concepts, and business opportunities.
- Translate customer requirements into product concepts, formulations, prototypes, specifications, and development plans.
- Work directly with R&D and culinary teams to create, test, taste, refine, and optimize products from initial concept through customer approval.
- Develop prototypes and samples, conduct sensory evaluations, make formulation adjustments, and prepare products for customer review and feedback.
- Coordinate and participate in plant trials, scale-up activities, and production testing to ensure products perform consistently beyond the bench.
- Identify opportunities to improve existing products through ingredient changes, formulation adjustments, process improvements, cost optimization, and enhanced product performance.
- Support Sales with customer presentations, product demonstrations, tastings, prototypes, new business opportunities, and pricing initiatives.
- Collaborate with Quality, Regulatory, Operations, Supply Chain, and other cross-functional teams to ensure products meet customer specifications, food safety requirements, quality standards, and manufacturing capabilities.
- Evaluate product feasibility, including ingredients, formulation, cost, yield, packaging, processing requirements, equipment capabilities, and scalability.
- Manage multiple product development projects while maintaining timelines, customer requirements, documentation, and commercialization milestones.
- Monitor restaurant, foodservice, culinary, and consumer trends to identify new product concepts, ingredients, applications, and innovation opportunities.
- Support the transition of products from bench development to pilot/plant trials and full-scale commercialization, helping ensure successful execution at each stage.
- Maintain accurate product formulations, specifications, samples, development records, project documentation, and customer requirements.
- Assist with troubleshooting and resolving product, formulation, quality, and customer issues through hands-on testing and cross-functional collaboration.
- Travel regularly to customer locations, product trials, meetings, culinary events, and industry events as needed.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Culinary Arts, Food Technology, Business, Marketing, Hospitality, or related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- 10 years of experience in food product development, culinary development, food manufacturing, foodservice, or a related field.
- Experience developing or supporting food products for commercial customers.
- Knowledge of food ingredients, product development, manufacturing processes, specifications, and commercialization.
- Experience working directly with customers and translating customer needs into product requirements.
- Understanding of restaurant operations and foodservice trends.
- Strong project management, analytical, communication, presentation, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to collaborate effectively across R&D, Sales, Quality, Operations, and Supply Chain.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office.
- Ability and willingness to travel regularly.
Preferred Qualifications
- Culinary degree or professional culinary training.
- Experience with national restaurant chains, QSRs, fast-casual, casual dining, coffeehouse concepts, or other large foodservice customers.
- Experience taking products from concept through commercialization and full-scale production.
- Experience with food manufacturing, co-manufacturing, foodservice, or restaurant operations.
- Knowledge of food cost modeling, sensory evaluation, consumer testing, and product optimization.
- Familiarity with HACCP, GMPs, SQF, FSMA, and other food safety systems.
- Experience presenting products or concepts to customers or executive-level audiences.
- Established relationships within the restaurant or foodservice industry.
Core Competencies
- Food & Product Development
- R&D & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Customer & Commercial Acumen
- Restaurant & Foodservice Knowledge
- Project Management
- Innovation & Problem-Solving
- Communication & Presentation
- Commercialization & Execution
Physical & Environmental Requirements
- Work in both office and food manufacturing environments.
- Comply with applicable PPE, GMP, sanitation, food safety, and safety requirements when entering production areas.
- Regular travel to customer locations, meetings, trials, and industry events.
- Ability to perform essential job functions with or without reasonable accommodation.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
Sterling Foods is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and an EEOC-compliant facility. Sterling Foods is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.