Assistant Chef - Westville at RCL Foods

Job Description
At RCL FOODS we see and do things differently, we think bigger, work smarter and as a team collectively work towards achieving our ambition, to Grow What Matters!

RCL FOODS is on the hunt for an Assistant Chef, who has a passion for creating culinary art to join the Growth Division. The role will report into the Head Chef and will be based in Westville.

The purpose of the role is to research culinary trend/insights that generate ideation. This entails develops to product concept (innovation) that will be presented to specific Marketing Brand teams. Culinary support to the Head Chef, assisting with insights, recipe development, food preparation and cooking as well as administration (building presentations/typing recipes, costing etc, where necessary) including:

• Innovation and support to NDP team when required.
• Management of the daily operations of the RCL test kitchens (The Chef’s Hat and The Melting Pot) and maintain them as a centre of innovation excellence in our business Marketing and Executive.

Minimum Requirements

• Minimum 3 years relevant experience/exposure in a similar environment e.g. restaurant/food service kitchens.

Knowledge:

• Kitchen management principles and practices.
• Food preparation and presentation methodologies.
• Administrative processes.
• Taste session experience preferable – triangular testing/consumer preference and questionnaires.
• Qualitative research and understanding of product.

Skills:

• Strong organisational and time management skills with ability to cope in pressured situations, “think on feet” and solve problems independently.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (verbal and written).
• Ability to interpret and question briefs and to analyse and interpret data.
• Computer literacy – must be proficient in PowerPoint (e.g. capturing and presentation of results), Word, Excel and Microsoft Outlook.

Duties & Responsibilities

Culinary Insight Generation:

• Build an “Always On” database on culinary trends (flavour, product, trending on social media ingredients/equipment, food service trends and influencer/trending chefs). This will be done by desktop research, menu analysis, keeping a close eye on industry and social media trends as well as regular out of office trade immersions.
• Focus is on local, however incorporating African and global trends and how to adapt international to local market.

Product Research:

• Co-ordinate and facilitate Taste Panel by Brand/Category and focus group session to robustly test ideas, concepts, products and innovation showcase. This involves end to end management from set up, preparation, cooking and running sessions to finalising and presenting results with Key take outs and recommendations:
• Cook-ups, taste sessions and product demos.
• Recipe development across the Brands as required.
• Assist with customer cook-ups (inter provincial) as required by the business.
• Assist with photoshoots and video creation (social media).
• All food preparation and presentation thereof.

Customer & Internal Training:

• Provide training to the business, partners, customers on product knowledge, application, cost in use, relevance on menus etc.
• Presentations and demonstrations.
• Presentation in front of a camera, to be used in training videos.
• Build presentations to present to the marketing & customer stakeholders on projects on a quarterly basis or as required.
• Presentations and demonstrations internally (RCL Foods) and externally at Trade Shows, seminars, training schools etc.

Kitchen Control:

• Co-ordination of facility.
• Support innovation work and ad hoc e.g. KFC, Spur Group, Pedros etc.
• Help co-ordinate/ prepare food for networking and Exec events/functions.
• Phone customers/book diary times/facilitate chefs diary/follow up with customer/welcome/register/catering.
• Make hand samples/scratch recipes for sampling when required.
• Assist with set up, welcome and catering for external invited guest.
• Work closely with head chef with diary bookings for trainings/ meetings/demonstrations/functions and facilitate catering and smooth running of each event.

Administration of Kitchen:

• Run the 2 kitchen facilities and maintain and build their reputation as a centre of innovation.
• Excellence – a collaborative, efficient workspace that becomes the heartbeat of our H/O building.
• Ensure the hygiene of the kitchen is maintain to highest standards.
• Storeroom and fridges are neatly packed, and temperatures are controlled and recorded.
• Ensure the cleaning materials are ordered and that the correct chemical is being used for its intended purpose. Training of the kitchen cleaner to understand the dosage and usage of the chemicals.
• Maintain the good upkeep of equipment, kitchen smalls and overall cleanliness of the kitchen, daily.
• Maintain and safeguard all kitchen records and feedback reports including kitchen budget and credit card reconciliations.