What does a Junior Development Chef do?

As a Junior Development Chef, my day to day is to make samples of pork pies, sausage rolls and savoury moments, I help with all customer sample requests for savoury pastry, I can help from any blue-sky development to different projects, e.g. different ingredients being used, I help with taste panels of products,

How did you end up in this job?

I ended up in this job with having a background in cheffing for 10-12 years and gaining experience in the hospitality industry, I later moved into a small manufacturing role and completed a degree in food science and nutrition, which gave me a higher skill of being able to have a further understanding of food manufacturing and with a combination of my working knowledge and education I was able to be a good candidate for my role now.

What’s the best thing about your job?

The best thing about my job is seeing a product come from the starting process of being a concept or just a thought of flavours going together, or even a trend, to then seeing the product on the shelf and knowing how that all began (its sometimes really cool to see the product on the shelf that it can bring a little smile to my face)  

How long have you been doing your job?

1 Year 2 Months

If you could give your 16 year old self some career advice, what would it be?

I would tell myself to have more confidence and believe in myself, I’m more capable than I know sometimes, Networking is always helpful, investing time in helping people will always come back to you when you need it most.