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About the Role
The Research & Development Manager is a hands-on culinary developer and team lead responsible for day-to-day development, testing, and commercialization across Orbital Kitchens' 20+ brands. This role delivers products that meet taste, margin, and consistency targets, with a growth path to Director of R&D.
Responsibilities
- Lead hands-on development of menu items, recipes, ingredients, and processes from concept through approval.
- Conduct recipe testing, food costing, yield and shelf-life testing, stabilization, large-batch validation, and tastings.
- Manage concurrent R&D projects with clear priorities, timelines, testing requirements, and success criteria.
- Track project progress, identify risks, and contribute to pipeline priority shaping.
- Pitch new products and menu improvements based on food trends, competitor analysis, sales data, and customer feedback.
- Lead, train, and develop the R&D kitchen team, setting daily priorities and fostering a culture of creativity and documentation.
- Develop repeatable, production-ready products for high-volume, multi-brand operations.
- Test products in production conditions and resolve operational issues related to labor, equipment, storage, workflow, and food safety.
- Create accurate product costing and collaborate with cross-functional teams to achieve cost, yield, waste, and margin targets.
- Write comprehensive recipes, specifications, yields, build sheets, and SOPs for approved products.
- Execute product launches with Operations, Production, Training, and Marketing, including kitchen training and post-launch support.
- Monitor product and launch KPIs and use performance data to drive product and process improvements.
Requirements
- 3+ years in culinary R&D, product development, or senior culinary roles, with experience taking products from concept to launch.
- Experience leading small teams or projects.
- Strong culinary foundation and working knowledge of food science, recipe development, scaling, shelf life, yields, and food costing.
- High-volume, multi-unit, commissary, or manufacturing experience is strongly preferred.
- Business acumen to balance culinary quality with feasibility, cost, and margin.
- Strong project-management, documentation, and communication skills.
- Working knowledge of food safety, sanitation, QA, and HACCP.
- Experience writing or supporting SOPs.
Skills
- Culinary R&D
- Product Development
- Team Leadership
- Project Management
- Food Costing
- Recipe Development
- Scaling
- Shelf Life Testing
- Yield Testing
- Documentation
- Communication
- Food Safety
- Sanitation
- Quality Assurance
- HACCP
- SOP Writing
Experience Level
- 3+ years
- Senior
Education Level
- Culinary or food science education
- ServSafe certification
- PCQI certification (plus)
- SQF certification (plus)