TL Product Management - Shop Chef-Navi Mumbai

Job Description

Role: TL Product Management - Shop Chef

Function: Food and Beverage Product Development

Reporting to: AGM - F&B

Location: Navi Mumbai

CTC: Upto 17 LPA

Experience & Qualifications

Experience

• 7–10 years of progressive experience in commercial culinary structures, with a minimum of 3–5 years in corporate food product development (NPD).


• Strong track record in centralized commissary kitchens, high-volume QSR environments, or leading food-retail chains.


• Demonstrated success scaling food concepts across 100+ multi-site operations.

Qualifications

Culinary Arts Credentials

• Degree/Diploma in Hotel Management, Food Technology, or Hospitality Management from a premier institution.


• Practiced experience as a Pastry Chef or Lead in Bakery and Confectionery business.

Critical Competencies

• Food Science Knowledge: Formal certification or deep operational expertise in FSMS, HACCP, and regional regulations (e.g., FSSAI, ISO).


• Project Management Skills: Proficiency in cross-functional communication, commercial budget modeling, and culinary R&D tools.

Role Purpose

We are seeking an innovative culinary leader to step into the role of TL Product Management – Shop Chef. This is a strategic, end-to-end product development role focused on designing, scaling, and commercializing food products for the Jio-bp café network across India. You will lead the innovation lifecycle—from concept ideation to field rollout—ensuring alignment with local consumer preferences (e.g., regional quick-bites, specialized bakery lines, and combo pairings), while meeting strict commercial margins, scalability, and standardization benchmarks.

This is not an outlet-level or operational chef role. It is a centralized, corporate R&D and product leadership position—similar to a Head of NPD—focused on building repeatable, scalable food systems, not managing daily kitchen operations.

Key Responsibilities

The TL Product Management – Shop Chef drives product innovation, standardization, and commercialization for the F&B portfolio across bp and Reliance Jio-bp’s 500+ fuel forecourt and convenience cafés. This role partners closely with R&D, Procurement, Operations, Marketing, and Supply Chain to translate market insights into profitable, scalable food offerings.

1. New Product Development (NPD) & Innovation

• Concept-to-Portfolio Ownership: Lead the full NPD cycle—from consumer insight research and concept testing to final product sign-off and commercial launch.


• Menu Engineering: Develop and iterate bakery items, hot grab-and-go snacks, savory items, and beverage pairings aligned with brand positioning and regional tastes.


• Trend Intelligence: Monitor global and local food trends to embed health-conscious, plant-based, and seasonal offerings into the roadmap.


• Prototype Leadership: Conduct and oversee recipe development, sensory evaluation, and shelf-life trials in the corporate test kitchen.

2. Standardization & Scalability

• Scalable Recipe Design: Create robust, SOP-driven recipes suitable for mass production in commissaries and quick assembly at forecourt cafés.


• Equipment-Agnostic Formulation: Adapt recipes to work seamlessly across standardized café equipment (e.g., convection ovens, turbo-chefs, espresso systems).


• Consistency Governance: Define quality benchmarks and implement field audits to ensure uniform taste, texture, and presentation across geographies.

3. Food Costing & Commercial Feasibility

• Margin-First Recipe Design: Engineer recipes within pre-defined food cost targets (e.g., ≤30% for hot items) to ensure profitability.


• Waste & Yield Optimization: Conduct portioning studies, raw-to-cooked yield testing, and shelf-life validation under real-world display conditions.


• Commercial Validation: Partner with Finance to model P&L impact, contribution margin, and break-even volume for each new item.

4. Supply Chain & Vendor Management

• Ingredient Sourcing Strategy: Collaborate with Procurement to identify scalable, cost-efficient suppliers (e.g., industrial bakeries, dairy processors, dry-goods vendors).


• Risk Mitigation: Proactively test alternative ingredients and formulations to safeguard against supply disruptions.


• Quality Gatekeeping: Define and enforce incoming ingredient specifications aligned with global food safety and consistency standards.

5. Training, Deployment & Field Support

• Train-the-Trainer Enablement: Develop and deliver masterclasses for Regional Ops Managers and Field Trainers to ensure flawless execution.


• Pilot Rollout Leadership: On-site support during initial store-level launches to troubleshoot process gaps and refine SOPs.


• Content Development: Create visual aids—video demos, checklists, display guides—to accelerate adoption and reduce training time.

6. Compliance, Packaging & Food Safety

• Shelf-Life Engineering: Partner with Packaging Engineers to design modified-atmosphere packaging (MAP) and shelf-stable formats.


• HACCP Integration: Embed food safety controls directly into recipe workflows—not as an afterthought.


• Label Compliance: Ensure all packaged items meet FSSAI, FICCI, and internal truth-in-menu requirements (allergens, calories, nutritional claims).

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