Gadsby\'s New Product Development Specialist

About the role: We’re proud to offer nearly 200 products in our Love Local range which includes tasty treats from our very own Gadsbys Bakery in Southwell. Gadsbys has been kneading, mixing and baking for over 50 years! From bread rolls to Bakewell tarts, all our delicious products are made with passion and pride. Our hardworking team work closely together to ensure that our quality products taste amazing, are made with skill and delivered fresh for our regular customers. As our New Product Development Specialist, you’ll be joining a team at the heart of the bakery by leading on the development of new and exciting products to add to our existing range. You’ll also communicate with the bakery team to improve on current recipes and processes to ensure our product range delivers the highest quality standards and remains relevant to our customer base.

This is a new role which will feature as part of a multi-skilled team covering a range of activities. You will be responsible for:

• Collaborating with both Bakery and Society teams to identify opportunities for new bakery products that align with market trends and customer preferences.
• Creating and refining bakery product concepts, considering flavour profiles, ingredients, textures, and packaging.
• Developing recipes and formulations for new bakery items, ensuring they meet quality, taste, and nutritional guidelines.
• Overseeing the baking and testing of prototype bakery products, adjusting recipes as needed based on sensory evaluations, shelf-life testing, and quality assessments.
• Conducting trial runs of new products in the kitchen or production environment, making necessary adjustments for scaling up to commercial production.

Please be aware that this role may include operating machinery and working close to very hot bakery ovens, so to apply you must be aged 18 years or over.

About You: To succeed in this role, you’ll need to demonstrate:

• Proven experience in bakery NPD, pastry development, or artisan baking.
• Existing knowledge of the bakery industry is essential.
• Knowledge of food market trends with an ability to research into current trends to make suggestions for new product concepts.
• Knowledge of food safety regulations and labelling requirements for bakery products.
• Proficiency in using relevant software for recipe development, documentation, and project tracking.
• Excellent organisational and time management skills with the ability to prioritise tasks effectively.
• That you can help us achieve our purpose by being inspiring, helpful, and trustworthy!

The bakery team at Gadsby’s are hardworking and efficient, so it’s important to note that this role works in a fast-paced environment which can be demanding at times.

Benefits: In addition to working for a successful co-operative business, we offer our colleagues fantastic benefits, including:

• Up to 30 days annual leave (including bank holidays)
• Pension scheme offering up to 12% employer contributions
• Generous colleague discount rates across our family of businesses
• Annual discretionary colleague bonuses to reward you for your hard work
• Free tea and coffee provisions for all colleagues during rest breaks at work
• Wellbeing initiatives and community engagement opportunities

We are committed to the development of our colleagues and will support you to achieve your career goals. As your confidence grows, you’ll have the opportunity to take on additional responsibilities and further progress your career with us through ongoing training!

About Us: From a single store in 1861 we have grown to be one of the most successful co-operatives in the UK. We’re proud to be able to offer a wide range of services from across our family of businesses. From Food Stores and Pharmacies to Post Offices and Support Services, we’re a growing society made up of over 220 outlets and nearly 3,000 colleagues. We’re owned by our members, the people of Lincolnshire and surrounding counties, and have been for more than 160 years! Communities are at the heart of everything we do and motivate us to deliver more than great customer service. We support them by sharing dividends with our members, investing in new and improved services, raising money for charity through our Community Champion scheme, supporting local schools and so much more!

We work together as a Society and are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is barrier free and as inclusive as possible for everyone. If you need any adjustments, would like us to do anything differently during the interview or would like to get in touch with us about anything else, please contact our Recruitment team on (01522) 533316, or alternatively you can email careers@lincolnshire.coop. We may choose to close our vacancies in the event that we receive a high volume of suitable applications, so we encourage all candidates to apply as soon as possible.