Job Description
POSITION SUMMARY:
Responsible for leading innovation and driving business growth through culinary excellence. This role bridges culinary creativity with commercial strategy, playing a key role in ideation, product development, customer engagement, and sales enablement by performing the following duties.
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Actively works to execute on the VP of Cortina Innovations culinary vision.
- Creates strong relationships with suppliers by learning about their products and helping to foster product knowledge and productive partnerships between the Cortina sales team and our suppliers.
- Drives new product ideas from concept to commercialization. Leads culinary brainstorming sessions and prototype development across categories.
- Partners closely with sales teams to deliver compelling product narratives and solutions that meet client needs. Assists in customer presentations and demos.
- Represents the brand at industry trade shows and culinary events, showcasing innovation, and elevating brand presence.
- Leverages extensive industry connections to generate new leads and identify emerging opportunities across food service, retail, and manufacturing.
- Collaborates with R&D, operations, and procurement to bring innovations to market efficiently and cost-effectively.
- Trains internal teams including sales and customer service on new products, key ingredients, trends, and culinary applications.
- Works hand-in-hand with the marketing team to create digital assets, recipes, content, and culinary-driven campaigns that highlight product strengths.
REQUIRED EDUCATION, SKILLS & EXPERIENCE:
- Degree in Culinary Arts
- 10+ years in a culinary leadership or innovation role, preferably within CPG, food service, or manufacturing
- Strong understanding of commercialization processes and the product lifecycle
- Proven ability to connect culinary creativity with market trends and customer needs
- Knowledge of operations in foodservice kitchens and industrial plant settings
- Experience working with cross-functional teams: sales, R&D, operations, and marketing
- Excellent communication and presentation skills
- Strong industry network and presence within the culinary community
- Must be able to travel up to 35% of the time
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