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For Companies At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead food innovation and develop exciting delivery-first brands.
- Company: Join Dish’d, the UK's fastest growing virtual restaurant franchisor.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, bonus potential, and a mix of onsite and remote work.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in a dynamic, data-driven culinary environment.
- Qualifications: 3+ years in culinary innovation or food operations with strong organisational skills.
- Other info: Opportunity to shape the future of food delivery and grow your career.
The predicted salary is between 60000 - 84000 £ per year.
Dish’d is the UK’s fastest growing franchisor of virtual restaurant brands. Operating across more than 70 partner kitchens, we create delivery-first food brands and provide operators with the products, systems and training required to grow incremental revenue through delivery platforms. Everything sits under one roof: development kitchen, manufacturing kitchen, testing kitchen and HQ. We are now hiring a Head of Food to take full ownership of our food innovation pipeline, seasonal refreshes, product quality and menu execution. This role brings discipline, speed and structure to an area that has outgrown its current processes. This is not a creative-only chef role. It is a commercial food innovation position in a scaling, data-led virtual brand company.
THE ROLE
This is a high-impact, hands-on, commercially led culinary leadership role. You will be responsible for:
- Innovating and building multiple delivery-first brands
- Refreshing and upgrading existing menus
- Owning the development kitchen, testing kitchen and liaison with the CPU
- Working closely with data, operations and onboarding teams
- Ensuring every new product is commercially viable, scalable and consistent
- Bringing pace, structure and ownership to the entire food development cycle
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Menu Innovation and Brand Development
- Own the entire process from ideation to development to testing to production readiness to rollout
- Deliver two seasonal menu refreshes per brand each year
- Create one new brand or food category per quarter, understanding not all will scale
- Use market trends, competitor analysis and performance data to guide innovation
- Ensure menus suit non-specialist kitchens and are optimised for delivery reliability
- Food Engineering and Development Kitchen Ownership
- Lead all activity in the development kitchen including recipe testing, costing and consistency
- Convert chef-led dishes into replicable, CPU-friendly, scalable products
- Document all recipes with accurate specs, yields, allergens and costings
- Engineer products to meet margin, preparation and operational constraints
- CPU and Production Collaboration
- Work closely with the Production Kitchen Manager and CPU team
- Ensure manufacturing can execute all products efficiently and consistently
- Coordinate pilot runs of new items and approve production readiness
- Identify opportunities to centralise more components to improve consistency and reduce costs
- Commercial, Costing and Menu Engineering
- Own the commercial viability of every product
- Collaborate with the data team to analyse profitability, speed, errors and menu mix
- Drive cost efficiencies through ingredient standardisation and process improvements
- Recommend delists, menu consolidation, price adjustments and rebuilds where necessary
- Cross-Functional Leadership
- Partner with Marketing on brand positioning and launch plans
- Work with Operations to create simple training materials and rollout processes
- Collaborate with Onboarding to ensure smooth site adoption of new menus
- Provide clear, complete specifications and documentation to all teams
- Governance, Standards and Execution
- Introduce structure into a currently inconsistent development process
- Set clear stage-gates: concept, development, testing, pilot, rollout
- Remove ambiguity by ensuring every spec and process is exact and complete
- Become the subject-matter expert and reduce dependency on the founder
WHAT YOU NEED TO BRING
- Minimum 3 years in Development Chef, Culinary Innovation, NPD or Food Operations roles
- Experience designing menus for delivery or scalable QSR formats
- Strong understanding of commercial kitchens, food manufacturing and workflow
- Ability to balance creativity with discipline, consistency and structure
- Exceptional organisational skills with strong attention to detail
- Commercial and data literacy with comfort using performance metrics and costings
- Ability to collaborate closely with founders
- Comfortable working at pace with multiple concurrent projects
- Clear and concise communication style with no ambiguity
Head of Food Innovation employer: Dish'd
Contact Detail:
Dish'd Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Head of Food Innovation
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to industry contacts on LinkedIn or through mutual connections. A friendly chat can open doors that a CV just can't.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for interviews by researching the company and its products. Show us you know Dish’d inside out, especially how our food innovation pipeline works!
✨Tip Number 3
Practice your pitch! Be ready to explain how your experience aligns with our needs. We want to hear how you can bring structure and speed to our food development cycle.
✨Tip Number 4
Apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, it shows us you're serious about joining the Dish’d team.
We think you need these skills to ace Head of Food Innovation
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Passion for Food Innovation: When writing your application, let your love for food innovation shine through! Share specific examples of how you've driven menu development or improved food processes in previous roles. We want to see your enthusiasm and expertise in action!
Be Data-Driven: Since this role is all about being commercially savvy, make sure to highlight your experience with data analysis. Talk about how you've used performance metrics to guide your culinary decisions. We appreciate candidates who can blend creativity with a solid understanding of the numbers!
Tailor Your Application: Don’t just send a generic CV and cover letter. Tailor your application to reflect the specific requirements of the Head of Food Innovation role. Mention how your skills align with our needs at Dish’d, especially around menu innovation and operational efficiency.
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures it gets into the right hands. Plus, it shows us that you're keen on joining our team at Dish’d!
How to prepare for a job interview at Dish'd
✨Know Your Numbers
Make sure you’re familiar with key performance metrics related to food innovation and delivery. Brush up on your understanding of costings, profitability, and how to analyse data effectively. This will show that you can balance creativity with commercial viability.
✨Showcase Your Process
Prepare to discuss your approach to menu innovation and development. Be ready to walk through your past experiences in creating scalable products, from ideation to rollout. Highlight how you’ve introduced structure into previous roles and the impact it had on the team.
✨Collaborate Like a Pro
This role requires cross-functional leadership, so be prepared to talk about how you’ve successfully partnered with teams like marketing, operations, and production in the past. Share specific examples of how your collaboration led to successful outcomes.
✨Stay Ahead of Trends
Research current market trends and competitor offerings in the virtual restaurant space. Be ready to discuss how you would leverage this knowledge to drive innovation at Dish’d. Showing that you’re proactive about industry insights will set you apart.
