R & D Chef - Continental Cuisine

Company Description Dil Foods, through its Dil Brands portfolio, creates and operates virtual food brands designed to serve India’s everyday meal needs. The company partners with small and medium-sized restaurants, helping them improve asset and resource utilization by leveraging these virtual brands. This model enables partner kitchens to increase order volume and revenue without significant new investment. Dil Foods focuses on consistent quality, scalable operations, and data-driven menu development to meet evolving customer preferences. Team members join an environment that values innovation in food, technology, and operations.

We are seeking an experienced, innovative, process-driven and hands-on R&D Chef specializing in Continental Cuisine to join our culinary team.The ideal candidate should be a graduate in Hotel Management with strong expertise in Continental and Western cuisines and a passion for food innovation, product development and process standardization.The role requires a chef who can combine culinary creativity with a structured R&D approach to develop commercially viable, scalable and consistent products suitable for centralized food production. The candidate will be responsible for developing products that retain their taste, texture and quality after blast freezing, storage and regeneration at the restaurant partner level.Key ResponsibilitiesLead research and development initiatives for Continental cuisine, including the development of new recipes, menu items, sauces, gravies, marinades, accompaniments and food products.Develop products within the target food cost and product specifications provided by the Brand Curation team while maintaining required taste and quality standards.Develop and innovate across Continental/Western cuisine categories including Italian, Mediterranean, European and other international food concepts, depending on business requirements.Collaborate closely with Brand Curation, Culinary, Production, Quality, Supply Chain and Marketing teams to understand consumer trends, market requirements and new product opportunities.Design and conduct structured product trials and experiments to refine recipes and ensure consistency in taste, texture, appearance, yield and overall product quality.Develop recipes that can be successfully scaled from kitchen trials to bulk/industrial production without compromising the desired product characteristics.Create and document standardized recipes, SOPs, cooking processes, portion specifications, yields and process parameters to ensure consistency across batches.Develop products suitable for blast freezing and frozen/chilled storage, ensuring that taste, texture, colour and overall quality are maintained after regeneration.Participate in shelf-life studies and product evaluation at different storage intervals in collaboration with the Quality team.Design recipes and products keeping the restaurant partner/end user in mind, ensuring products can be easily regenerated and served with minimum culinary intervention and minimal scope for error.Develop clear regeneration and serving procedures covering thawing, heating, cooking, finishing, plating and portioning wherever applicable.Source, evaluate and recommend ingredients based on quality, functionality, availability, consistency and cost.Understand the functionality of key Continental cuisine ingredients such as cheese, dairy products, herbs, sauces, emulsions, pasta, grains, vegetables, proteins, oils and seasonings while developing scalable recipes.Work closely with Production teams during commercial trials, recipe handover and scale-up to ensure smooth transition from R&D to regular manufacturing.Troubleshoot product and process-related challenges during commercial production and recommend corrective improvements.Conduct sensory evaluations and gather structured feedback from internal stakeholders and consumers to continuously improve products.Stay updated on food trends, emerging ingredients, food technologies, cooking techniques and evolving consumer preferences within Continental and international cuisines.Continuously explore opportunities for product innovation, cost optimization, process simplification and quality improvement.RequirementsBachelor’s Degree/Diploma in Hotel Management or Culinary Arts from a recognized institution.5+ years of relevant culinary experience, with significant exposure to Continental cuisine and preferably experience in R&D, food manufacturing, QSR, cloud kitchens, central kitchens or large-scale food production.Strong and comprehensive knowledge of Continental and Western cuisines, particularly Italian, Mediterranean and European cuisines.Strong understanding of classical and contemporary Continental cooking techniques, sauces, stocks, soups, pasta, proteins, vegetables, accompaniments and flavour combinations.Demonstrated experience in recipe development, product innovation and menu development.Strong understanding of flavour profiles, ingredient functionality, food chemistry and the impact of freezing, storage and regeneration on food quality.Experience in developing recipes suitable for centralized production, blast freezing and subsequent regeneration will be highly preferred.Ability to translate a chef-created recipe into a standardized and scalable manufacturing process.Good understanding of food costing, yield management, portion control and ingredient optimization.Strong documentation skills with experience creating standard recipes, SOPs, process sheets and product specifications.Ability to manage multiple R&D projects and product trials simultaneously in a fast-paced and evolving environment.Strong communication and collaboration skills with the ability to work effectively with Culinary, Production, Quality, Supply Chain, Brand and Marketing teams.Creative culinary thinking combined with a structured, process-oriented and commercially focused approach to product development.Ideal Candidate ProfileWe are looking for someone who is not just a Continental Chef, but a culinary product developer — someone who can take an idea from concept → kitchen trial → costing → standardization → freezing/shelf-life evaluation → commercial production → restaurant-level regeneration while maintaining consistency, quality and commercial viability.