What are the responsibilities and job description for the Product Development & Customer Experience Specialist position at Country Fresh?
The Product Development & Customer Experience Specialist is a hands-on culinary role within the Product Development team, supporting the creation, commercialization, and customer presentation of value-added proteins and meals. This position partners closely with Product Development, Operations, Quality, and Sales to help bring new Ready-to-Heat and Ready-to-Cook products from concept through launch. In addition to development and plant commercialization work, this role leads customer-facing cooking presentations and tastings, bringing products to life and clearly demonstrating quality, functionality, and real-world application. The ideal candidate blends strong culinary expertise with product development experience and is comfortable both in the test kitchen and in front of customers.
Department: Product Development
We are seeking a Product Development & Customer Experience Specialist to be an integral member of our Product Development team, supporting the creation, commercialization, and customer-facing presentation of value-added proteins and meals. We are looking for a culinary professional who comes with experience in both the Ready-to-Heat & Ready-to-Cook value added meat categories. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys working cross-functionally in product development and also excels at bringing products to life through customer cooking presentations and tastings.
You will be part of the Product Development team and will partner closely with Operations, Quality, and Sales to help translate concepts into scalable, market-ready products. In parallel, you will partner with our sales team and represent our products in customer meetings by preparing and presenting food in a way that clearly demonstrates quality, functionality, and real-world application.
This role includes U.S. travel based on customer needs.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
Product Development & Commercialization
• Support Product Development in ideation, bench work, and iterative product testing.
• Assist in scaling products from concept through commercialization, ensuring culinary intent is maintained.
• Create specs and product outlines to ensure that the products can be commercialized and produced in all plants consistently. Ensure that products developed are supported by appropriate marketing materials and catalogues.
• Participate in internal cuttings, plant trials, and commercialization runs.
• Collaborate with Operations and Quality to ensure products meet performance, cost, and food safety requirements.
• Have an in depth understanding of the trends and opportunities in the market and provide culinary input on flavor profiles, preparation methods, and product applications.
Customer Cooking & Presentations
• Prepare and cook products for customer meetings, line reviews, and innovation sessions.
• Execute live or semi-live cooking demonstrations to showcase product performance and versatility.
• Partner with Sales to support customer presentations with strong culinary execution and storytelling.
• Tailor cooking methods, recipes, and applications to specific customer needs and channels.
• Act as a culinary resource during customer discussions, telling the story behind the concept and answering preparation and usage questions.
Culinary & Market Insight
• Translate market and flavor trends into actionable product development ideas.
• Support competitive benchmarking and customer-focused tastings.
• Help maintain culinary documentation, demo recipes, and inspiration materials.
WHAT YOU’LL BRING
• 3–5 years of experience in culinary product development, R&D, or customer-facing culinary roles.
• Culinary Arts degree or Certified Chef preferred.
• Experience working in food manufacturing and Ready-to-Heat & Ready to Cook value-added proteins/meals strongly preferred.
• Ability to work collaboratively within a Product Development team.
• Confidence preparing and presenting food for customers.
• Strong communication skills and attention to detail along with ability to create marketing materials and catalogues.
• Willingness to travel for customer meetings and presentations.
Salary : $3 - $5