The Food and Innovations Student is responsible for supporting the Food and Innovations Manager who creates new innovative product concepts incorporating new and/or existing ingredients and packaging to deliver a product that serves customers’ needs and is operationally executable.
Closing date: 08 July 2024
Location: Johannesburg
Minimum Requirements
Education (Formal Qualification Required)
- In progress to achieve a Degree in Food Science or Technology Diploma or Food & Beverage Operations
- Legal Requirements (e.g. Driver’s License, etc.)
- Driver’s License
- Travel – local
Knowledge
- Knowledge of food microbiology (Basic)
- Knowledge of food processing (Basic)
- Knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies (Basic)
- Knowledge of regulatory food legislation (Basic)
- Experience in Food Photography for food shoots (Basic)
- Understanding a student may not have all the above experiences
Duties and Responsibilities
Concept Development
- Develop concept plans as aligned with the Brand Plan
- Based on concept development strategies, investigate food trends, innovations, and consumer needs to identify any unmet food needs
- Build concepts and review through research funnels to identify the top concepts that get approved for taste research
- Conduct quantitative concept research
- Product Development, Research and Costing
- Develop product prototypes through technical investigation into raw ingredients and interactions
- Conduct qualitative taste and sensory research analysis with the current target market to identify the most preferred product
- Follow Nando’s stage gate process taking the product from ideation to launch
- Apply SA legislation relating to food safety
- Develop and sign off specifications with Suppliers, including ingredients, packaging, equipment, and small wares
- Compile allergen booklet, and regularly update food nutritional & allergen info for all meal items
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Collaborate with Operations to establish the feasibility of product execution and additional requirements that may be needed
- Collaborate with Supply Chain to source required ingredients and packaging within cost parameters
- Work on product enhancements or changes to existing products
- Work with Learning and Development to create product training approaches
- Trial Preparation, validations, and Monitoring
- Support Brand experience at photoshoots to create point-of-sale photography
- Check standard operating procedures to establish a match between the recipe and methodology developed
- Monitor trial roll-out through observations to establish that defined product protocols are being applied
- Confirm full product packing process is in place and ready for launch
