Assistant Development Chef

About the role

This is a hands‑on opportunity for a chef who wants to move from a traditional kitchen into food innovation and new product development. You will work side‑by‑side with a Development Chef and a collaborative NPD team, turning ideas into real food products while staying active in the kitchen each day.

Key responsibilities

• Support the Development Chef and culinary team with new product ideas, briefs and timelines.
• Prepare high‑quality food samples for tastings, internal reviews, customer presentations and manufacturer evaluations.
• Assist in developing and refining food concepts to meet quality standards and client expectations.
• Run kitchen trials, set up and clean up development sessions, and ensure the kitchen is organised and safe.
• Manage stock control, rotation, ordering, labelling and packaging of ingredients.
• Collaborate with NPD, technical and wider business teams throughout the product development cycle.
• Document stage‑gate progress and support administrative tasks related to development.

Required profile

• Solid kitchen experience with a passion for ingredients, trends and tasting.
• Enthusiastic about learning the full product development process from concept to launch.
• Team‑player who enjoys a collaborative, fast‑paced environment.
• Detail‑oriented and able to keep the development kitchen clean and organised.

Required skills

• Food preparation and sample creation.
• Kitchen trial execution and hygiene standards.
• Stock management and product labelling.
• Basic understanding of product development and NPD processes.

What we offer

• Competitive base salary of £35,000 per year.
• Full‑time, predominantly site‑based role in Surrey.
• Opportunity to develop expertise in food innovation and product launch.