Culinary Assurance & Implementation Chef

The Culinary Assurance & Implementation Chef is responsible for ensuring that our products are executed consistently, safely, and accurately at all stages of manufacturing. This role partners closely with Operations, Quality, and the R&D team to protect flavor integrity, ensure compliance, and drive consistent results across internal manufacturing sites and co-manufacturers.

As a trusted resource, this role upholds the quality and standards of our products at Kevin’s Natural Foods, ensuring we deliver the best possible products to our consumers.

What You’ll Do:

• Ensure consistent flavor, texture, appearance, portioning, and finish across internal manufacturing sites and co-manufacturers.
• Partner with Operations to translate approved culinary requirements into repeatable, scalable manufacturing processes.
• Support first production runs, line startups, and process changes for existing products.
• Validate that production execution aligns with documented SOPs and culinary intent.
• Conduct routine sensory evaluations and in-line checks to verify adherence to established standards.
• Serve as the escalation point for culinary-related quality deviations and corrective actions.
• Provide data-driven feedback to Operations on execution trends, risks, and opportunities.
• Maintain and own culinary SOPs, preparation guidelines, build sheets, and sensory standards.
• Act as a culinary resource for manufacturing teams to reinforce standards and best practices.
• Train Operations, QA, R&D, and Production teams on critical culinary control points and quality drivers.
• Partner closely with Quality and Food Safety to ensure compliance with HACCP, GMP, and regulatory requirements.
• Ensure culinary processes align with sanitation, allergen control, labeling accuracy, and food handling requirements.
• Support accurate product specifications and allergen controls in partnership with QA.
• Contribute to internal and external audits as a culinary subject matter expert.
• Support investigations related to consumer complaints, quality holds, or deviations from standards.
• Identify opportunities to improve consistency, repeatability, and execution efficiency without altering approved product intent.
• Travel to manufacturing facilities and co-manufacturers as needed to support execution consistency.
• Other duties as assigned and necessary.

What You’ll Need:

• Passion for delivering safe, quality and delicious food to the consumer.
• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Nutrition, Biology, or a related field; or applied experience.
• 4+ years of relevant experience in food manufacturing or CPG.
• Proven experience partnering with FSQA and Operations teams.
• Familiarity with SOP development, audits, and production documentation.
• Strong understanding of HACCP, GMPs, and food safety requirements
• Working knowledge of FDA, USDA/FSIS, FSMA, labeling regulations, and food safety standards.
• Strong documentation, organization, and communication skills.
• Willingness to travel to manufacturing facilities as needed.

Healthy, Diverse Teams Breed Innovation:

Kevin’s Natural Foods is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We deeply believe that diverse backgrounds and experiences make better teams, and we seek to attract talent from all walks of life. The team at Kevin’s is smart, humble, and passionate and we value a work environment that fosters personal development and opportunities to move within our small, but quickly growing organization.

More About Kevin’s Natural Foods:

Kevin's Natural Foods is a line of refrigerated and frozen meals, sides, soups, and sauces on a mission to empower even the busiest people to eat clean without sacrificing flavor. Co-founded by Kevin McCray who battled an auto-immune disorder for years, Kevin's Natural Foods was born from his desire to make clean eating seamlessly fit into any lifestyle. Shockingly delicious and made with clean ingredients, Kevin’s products are ready in minutes and always free from gluten, soy, and refined sugar.

In 2023, Kevin’s Natural Foods joined the Mars Food & Nutrition family, allowing us to expand our reach, accelerate innovation, and bring our mission to even more households while staying true to the quality and integrity that define our brand. A true market disruptor, Kevin's is the first clean refrigerated entrée brand working to prove every day that proper nutrition can be as delicious as it is healthy.

Salary Range: $85,000.00 - $115,000.00 annually + benefits + bonus

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