Kroger Co.
Corporate Brands Culinary Innovation - Interactive Position Description
Innovation and Strategy Leader with 12 years’ experience developing products, services, brands & businesses that drive sustainable top-line growth.
Cross-industry clients include Nestle, Campbell’s, Clorox, Taco Bell, Outback Steakhouse, Noodles & Co., Youngs Fish, Samsung, Johnson& Johnson, Philips, Toys R Us, Citi Bank, 3M, Gillette, Prudential, AARP, Fifth Third Bank, Bosch, Puma and iRobot.
Interactive Position Description
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Position Summary
Identify, create and deliver break-through Corporate Brands (CB) product and packaging innovations. Deploy ideation strategies, process and tactics ideation that lead to product development. Consult across all corporate teams in new item development to ensure we are on trend with flavor profiles, ingredients, and global, regional and local trends.
Develop actionable, relevant culinary trend insights to facilitate product innovation for all categories and support recipe development for Corporate Brands products. Identify, develop and maintain outside resources to deliver best-in-class results. Demonstrate the company's core values of respect, honesty, integrity, diversity, inclusion and safety.
Essential Job Functions
Identify new opportunity spaces for food processing, product, packaging and platform development.
Leverage market data and consumer research to create solutions for unrecognized consumer needs, translating them into concepts, projects and distinctive products.
Deploy tools for ideation activities that lead to product innovation.
Develop or enhance innovative product formulations with appropriate teams.
Move projects into and through the ideation and product development processes.
Conduct rapid proto-cepting to bring concepts to life.
Build relationships with key stakeholders in a broad range of functions, levels and organizations.
Assist in new product communication across departments to optimize product assortment and placement.
Conduct retail store visits to evaluate store execution and overall category effectiveness.
Provide guidance on vendor selection, product segmentation, and sales planning.
Shape food knowledge across department through food, cultural and ethnic, category and product trends.
Deliver and maintain consistent product quality within brand promise by being an active voice/participant in the sensory phase of product development, approving reformulations, packaging, sourcing, and specification changes.
Follow established programs, policies and practices to produce safe quality foods that meet regulatory and company requirements.
Support the development, implementation, maintenance, and ongoing improvement of the SQF 2000 Systems.
Accountable to the Kroger Manufacturing Food Safety and Quality Principles.
Must be able to perform the essential functions of this position with or without reasonable accommodation.
Minimum Position Qualifications & Education
Bachelor's degree in culinary arts, food development or related field or comparable work experience
Leadership and collaboration skills
Excellent communication skills
Highly motivated and self-directed
Strong business analytical skills including sales, volume and profit forecasts
Ability to manage more complex innovation focus areas with very little supervision (pay level 11)
Desired Previous Job Experience
Culinology, food science, industrial engineering background
Master's degree
4+ years in retail, consumer packaged goods, or innovation industry
Involvement with incubation and execution of entrepreneurial ventures
Brand, category management, manufacturing, operations or procurement experience
Orchestration of commercialization plans for new product development pipelines
Professional culinary knowledge or experience
Experience commercializing new food technologies