Director, New Product Development

Director, New Product Development (Food)

Richelieu Foods, Inc., a leading supplier of high-quality food products to the private label and food service industries, is seeking an experienced Director, New Product Development (Food) to assume accountability for the Company’s development and commercialization of new / improved products. This position leads product ideation, product development, and product performance research to ensure products are on trend and help grow the business. The position will be responsible for managing the Company’s overall portfolio of new products through a talented innovation team with a dual reporting relationship to Richelieu Foods’ EVP Sales and our NPD Managing Director - Europe.

Responsibilities

• Maintain a keen understanding of market and consumer trends to develop a robust pipeline of innovation concepts (flavors, toppings, sauces, etc.).
• Lead the Company’s new product ideation process by working closely with Richelieu customers and partners to translate ideas into new products.
• Balance both innovation and profitability on all innovation initiatives to ensure profitability meets expectations for the business unit and customer.
• Organize and direct our product development organization to ensure that innovative new products are delivered on time and meet or exceed our customers’ expectations. This includes responsibility for all sampling requests for customers.
• Initiate tools and processes for documenting and maintaining new product formulas and product processes including ingredient and packaging specifications.
• Ensure effective communication between our NPD, Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Sales teams.
• Oversee all test kitchens to ensure facilities are utilized as an effective tool for experimenting with new flavors and ideas, the development of new products, and the refinement of existing products.
• Foster strong vendor relationships and collaborate effectively with procurement teams to ensure timely and cost-effective sourcing of new ingredients and suppliers, taking the lead on development and approval of product specifications.
• Collaborate with manufacturing on developing processes for new products.
• Utilize competitive scraping tools and methodologies to gather and analyze data on competitor products, pricing strategies, and market positioning.
• Develop competitive value and weighting frameworks to assess strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning relative to competitors.
• Identify opportunities for SKU rationalization and quantify potential savings through streamlined product offerings.
• Direct the development and approve product/process specifications for manufacturing.
• Ensure compliance with all regulatory requirements and adherence to food safety and GMP's requirements.
• Analyze all ingredients/recipes to ensure compliance with all menu-labeling standards.
• Prioritize projects based on scale, feasibility, and growth potential.
• Understand procurement, manufacturing, commercialization processes and costs with the purpose of managing within a budget and delivering an expected return on investment for all new product projects.
• Proactively evaluate options to reduce cost of existing products through collaboration with our Procurement, Manufacturing and Finance teams.
• Coordinate staff activities to ensure work is properly budgeted, scheduled, and completed to meet deadlines.
• Establish group and individual accountabilities across the product development organization.
• Consult with European counterparts to apply key learnings across European and US produced products.
  
  

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Strong culinary background with specific focus on pizza development
• Understands manufacturing processes
• Experience in the development and commercialization of pizza products
• Demonstrated leadership capabilities and interpersonal skills with ability to guide and motivate staff and effectively collaborate with internal business groups, customers and external technical personnel.
• Ability to build, transform and lead a successful team and provide clear direction and instruction
• Strong leadership skills, independent thinking, planning, problem solving and decision-making skills
• Experience in strategic planning as well as tactical execution
• Laser focus on execution (end- to-end) applying relentless rigor and process management
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to deliver defined objectives on time, with budget commitment and on target
  
  

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science or related field
• Advanced degree in related field or Master’s Degree in Business (MBA) a plus.
• Minimum of eight (8) years of Product Development experience in the food or beverage industry with the last 5 years serving in a leadership/management capacity
• Experience with commercialization of packaged food products from lab development to full scale production
  
  

We offer a great opportunity with a comprehensive salary and benefits package including medical, dental, life insurance, short-term disability, 401K with company match, and vacation.

Founded in 1862, Richelieu Foods, Inc. is a private brand and contract packing food company with a rich history. Widely known in the food and supermarket industry for its superior array of private brand products, Richelieu’s principal business segment is retail frozen and deli pizza. Richelieu Foods provides the highest quality products and services with competitive pricing for our Retail, Corporate Brands, and Contract Packing customers. Richelieu Foods is headquartered in Wheeling, Illinois, and operates three manufacturing facilities located in IL, OH, and WI.

Richelieu Foods, Inc.is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.