NPD Assistant

We have been creating and supplying quality beverage and dessert focussed products to the food service industry for over 25 years. We pride ourselves in being experts and innovators in flavour, providing best in class products and service across the business.

IBC is a family run business, and part of the Delightful Food Group. Our passion for quality and innovation, and commitment to excellence, has made us a trusted partner to many businesses across the UK and you will find our products across the UK and internationally, from multi-site coffee shops to retail cafes.

We are now seeking an NPD Assistant to join our growing Head Office team.

The NPD Assistant will report to the Technical Manager and will assist in the development of innovative products and the improvement of existing products where necessary.

They will design innovative products to meet market trends and customer expectations. They will work within a cross-functional team and will have a close relationship with the Technical & Operation Departments and the relevant Account Managers.

Our NPD possibilities are endless, and could range from dry powder blends, to liquid syrups/ sauces and more!

We pride ourselves on being adaptable in terms of what we can offer to our customers

Key responsibilities:

Continuously develop and introduce new and improved products to meet strategic objectives of the business and expectations of customers.

Interpret customer briefs ensuring innovative and technologically sound product designs are generated in line with customer expectations, operational constraints and commercial needs of the business.

• Assist with Market research to investigate and identify customer needs, upcoming trends and gaps in the marketplace with the aim of being one step ahead of competitors to take advantage of potential business opportunities.
• Make up samples by following recipes to the detail as appropriate.
• Recipe development and reformulation to achieve an end product that meets customer expectations and that is financially and technically feasible.
• Assist with New product costings including determination of costs for any new ingredients.
• Working with new and current suppliers to source new, high quality and cost effective ingredients and assist Technical in the approval of new suppliers / ingredients by gathering all necessary data including product specifications, quality certification, HACCP and traceability documents, allergen information and costs.
• Attend and conduct kitchen trials and pre-production factory trials to determine new product feasibility and reproducibility at full scale production and to resolve issues pre-launch.
• Arrange Microbiology/Shelf-Life testing (when required) of new products to ensure they are safe for human consumption and to determine Use By dates for consumers.
• Arrange Nutritional testing (when required) of new products to ensure that the nutritional composition of a new product fulfils any nutritional claims.
• Compile usage instruction development for all new products to ensure that a food to safe to consume and of a high quality for consumers when assembled.
• Co-ordinate new product transfer from NPD to Production ownership, to include product assembly, production mixes, QAS standards, training and assessment of products following launch to include re-training where required.
• Assist the Technical Dept. as and when required including ensuring allergen information and risk assessment information is maintained and up-to-date on an ongoing basis.
• Keep up-to-date with food safety legislation and food industry guidelines and communicate the need for change to relevant departments as required.
• Work within a tight time scale and to specific development requirements.
• Visiting customers to support sample preparations as/ when required.
• Respond to customer requests as and when require.
• Actively promote a healthy, clean, safe, secure and productive working environment.