Food Technologist Jobs

In 1946, World War II Navy veteran John Kinder started his own butcher shop in a small storefront in San Pablo, California. Over the next seven decades, John built a reputation for commitment to quality, family service, and amazing flavors. At the age of 90, he was still showing up first and helping customers find quality ingredients to make clean, delicious meals for family and friends. At Kinder’s, we carry on Grandpa John’s legacy by offering the best tasting seasonings, rubs, marinades, and sauces in the market. We are growing fast and have recently become a top brand in the attractive seasonings segment. Our products are available at national retailers including Costco, Albertsons/Safeway, Kroger, Sam’s Club and Walmart.

The combination of our attractive category positioning across multiple “flavoring” segments, a strong heritage brand, and investment in an end-to-end brand refresh has driven Kinder’s hyper-growth— over 500% in three years! Still, this is only the beginning.

We are excited to bring on passionate talent across the organization to further drive the Kinder’s mission: to provide unique, quality products to the Kinder’s consumer that create special meals and human connection. We believe our role is to be “Obsessed with Quality” so that consumers can rely on us to provide great flavor solutions and reclaim time from the kitchen to invest back into quality of life and relationships.

WHY KINDER'S

Kinder’s strives to be a diverse workforce that reflects, at all job levels, the people we serve. We offer a competitive salary, bonus eligibility, medical/vision/dental insurance, and a company 401(k), mobile stipend, along with a casual, fun atmosphere, weekly events, lunches, and lots of opportunities for tastes of our new recipes.

Position Summary:

The Food Technologist provides technical support for all food product development activities for sauces and/or seasoning/rub projects from concept through commercialization.Emphasis on bench-top formulation, quality management processes, and documentation including managing project trackers.

Key Responsibilities:

• Create finished product specifications and maintain formula/raw material databases.
• Interface product formulations with nutritional guidelines and cost constraints.
• Leverage vendor capabilities and co-packers to expand formulation possibilities, new ingredients, product technologies and to increase speed to market.
• With guidance, design and execute product development innovation, renovation, cost optimization and quality initiatives.Follow-through on product refinements based on PD, Marketing, and Customer feedback.
• In conjunction with Culinary Team, manage internal cuttings including coordinating sensory panels, tabulating results, and providing guidance on product development.
• Design and conduct shelf-life stability testing for new products.
• Support food safety and quality processes by:
• Develop regulatory information related to label compliance including nutritionals, ingredients, and product claims such as organic, Non-GMO, gluten-free.
• Provide support at contract manufacturers for new product launches including plant trials and start of production.Confirm specifications are met for product, package, and process.Coordinate logistics for plant trial unique raw materials and sample delivery/acquisition.

-Participation in auditing raw materials and contract manufacturers

-Evaluating first production samples

-Providing input on food safety policies, standards, and procedures for product, packaging, and process changes.

Requirements:

• BS Degree in Food Science, Chemical Engineering, or a similar discipline with 1-3 years food industry experience.
• Some understanding of food safety and microbiology.
• Excellent time management skills, sense of urgency, and desire to complete all assignments on a timely basis.
• Must be able to travel 20% of time.
• Some knowledge of sensory evaluation procedures
• Knowledge of food manufacturing, formulation and ingredient functionality for sauces.
• Some knowledge of food labeling regulations
• Some knowledge of packaging technology to evaluate adequacy of packaging.