JOB DESCRIPTIONPosition

South Indian R&D; Chef / Manager - Culinary Innovation & Product Development

Qualification & Experience

- Diploma/Degree in Hotel Management or Food Production from IHM or a reputed Hotel Management Institute - mandatory.
- 5-10 years of overall culinary experience.
- Minimum 3 years of hands-on experience in Culinary R&D;, Product Development, Menu Development, or Culinary Innovation.
- Experience in a Restaurant, QSR, Central Kitchen, Food Manufacturing, FMCG Food Company, or Hospitality industry is preferred.

Key Responsibilities1. Culinary R&D; & Product Development

- Lead South Indian cuisine R&D; and new product development from concept through commercial launch.
- Develop authentic, innovative, market-relevant South Indian recipes suitable for modern restaurant and QSR formats.
- Conduct kitchen trials, product prototyping, benchmarking, recipe refinement, and validation.
- Convert traditional recipes into commercially viable, scalable, consistent, and operationally feasible products.
- Demonstrate strong hands-on culinary skills and actively participate in kitchen trials.

1. Regional South Indian Cuisine Expertise

Possess strong knowledge of regional and sub-regional cuisines across:

- Tamil Nadu
- Kerala
- Karnataka
- Andhra Pradesh
- Telangana

Strong understanding of sub-regional cuisines, including:

- Chettinad
- Kongunadu
- Malabar
- Thalassery
- Mangalorean
- Udupi
- Coorg
- Rayalaseema
- Telangana

Understand regional spice profiles, masalas, ingredients, cooking techniques, traditional preparation methods, and their adaptation to up-to-date commercial formats.

1. Recipe Standardisation & Commercialisation

- Develop and maintain Standard Recipe Cards (SRCs), SOPs, and process specifications .
- Define recipe grammage, yield, portion size, cooking time,



temperature, and process parameters.
- Conduct small-batch, bulk, and scale-up trials for commercial production.
- Ensure consistency, authenticity, taste, texture, appearance, and operational feasibility.
- Optimise recipes for commercial scalability and multi-unit operations.
- Develop products based on available equipment, production processes, and operational capabilities.

- Sensory Evaluation & Benchmarking

- Conduct sensory evaluations and product benchmarking.
- Perform competitive product analysis and market benchmarking.
- Evaluate products on:

- Taste
- Texture
- Aroma
- Appearance
- Authenticity
- Consistency
- Commercial feasibility
- Refine products based on sensory feedback and consumer/market requirements.

1. Costing, Yield & Portion Control

- Calculate and optimise food cost, recipe cost, yield, portion size, and wastage.
- Ensure recipes meet defined commercial cost targets without compromising quality and authenticity.
- Monitor yield and process efficiency during trials and scale-up.

- Vendor & Ingredient Development

- Identify and evaluate regional ingredients, spices, masalas, and potential vendors.
- Conduct vendor trials and support ingredient/product standardisation.
- Work closely with Procurement and SCM teams for sourcing and product development.
- Provide technical inputs for ingredient specifications and commercial trials.

- Cross-Functional Collaboration

Work closely with:





- SCM & Procurement
- Quality Assurance
- Operations
- Marketing
- Vendors
- Central Kitchen
- Manufacturing Teams
- Culinary Teams

Provide technical and culinary inputs for centralised production, manufacturing, and outlet-level implementation.

1. Product Implementation & Training

- Support product implementation during pilot and post-launch stages.
- Troubleshoot product and process issues after launch.
- Conduct product training and knowledge transfer for Operations and Culinary teams.
- Conduct outlet visits to ensure adherence to approved recipes, specifications, and processes.

- Market & Culinary Research

- Research regional food trends and emerging South Indian culinary opportunities.
- Identify current dishes, ingredients, formats, and consumer trends.
- Undertake market visits and regional food research for benchmarking and innovation.
- Explore opportunities to adapt traditional South Indian cuisine to contemporary restaurant, QSR, central kitchen, RTE, frozen, and other commercial formats.

- Documentation & Reporting

- Maintain complete documentation of:

- Product trials
- Recipes
- SRCs
- SOPs
- Ingredient specifications
- Costing
- Yield
- Sensory evaluations
- Benchmarking
- Trial feedback
- Final approvals
- Maintain accurate records throughout the product development and commercialisation cycle.
- Strong passion and deep expertise in South Indian cuisine .
- Excellent understanding of the culinary diversity of South India rather than expertise limited to one regional cuisine.
- Proven Culinary R&D; / Product Development experience.
- Strong R&D; mindset with the ability to research, create, test, refine, standardise, and commercialise products.
- Strong understa

📌 South Indian R&d Chef / Manager (Gurugram)
🏢 Devyani International
📍 Gurugram