Senior Manager, New Product Development at Food Concepts Plc

Job Purpose

• The Senior Manager, New Product Development at Food Concepts Plc will be responsible for leading the creation and execution of innovative new products within our organization and coordinating all stages of product development for the Food Concepts Food portfolio, from concept stage to market-ready.
• The job holder will work cross-functionally to align product design with customer needs and business goals, ensuring that each phase of development meets quality, cost, and timeline objectives.
• He/she will assess the industry landscape, review existing products, evaluate the performance of our products, and assess opportunities for improvement.

Core Responsibilities and Key Result Areas
Product Development & Modification:

• Bring new product concepts to life, developing products that are scalable for launch into all our restaurants across the country.
• Identify opportunities for optimisation and development within our existing product range, ensuring that our products always deliver great experiences for our customers.
• Applies scientific principles in research, development, production technology, quality control, packaging, processing, and utilization of foods.
• Ensure products meet quality, safety, and regulatory requirements throughout the development process.
• Conducts basic research, plus new product research and development of foods.
• Studies methods to improve the quality of foods, like flavour, colour, texture, nutritional value, convenience, or physical, chemical, and microbiological composition of foods.
• Tests new products in the test kitchen as well as develops specific processing methods in laboratory pilot plant, and confers with process engineers, flavour experts, and packaging marketing specialists to resolve problems.
• Specialize in new product development, matching and quality.
• Oversee in-house R&D activities, including formulation, prototyping, testing, and optimization of new products.
• Prepare presentations and tasting sheets for submissions.

Market Analysis and Consumer Insights:

• Managing stakeholder communication, providing regular updates on product progress and milestones
• Monitoring product performance post-launch and incorporating feedback into future development.
• Continuously analyzing competitive offerings and market dynamics to inform product innovation and updates.
• Continuously improve FC’s food range, look for improvements’ basis of competition benchmarking, consumer feedback, review, and rating.
• Interpret consumer insights and feedback to inform product design, features, and positioning.
• Stay abreast of industry trends, emerging technologies, and regulatory changes impacting product development

Project management:

• Manage the end-to-end new product development process, including project timelines, milestones, and budgets.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including R&D, marketing, operations, and regulatory, to ensure alignment and progress.
• Project management from brief to restaurant launch, collaborating with a full cross-functional team in the process with opportunities to present your projects to management and franchisees.
• Identify potential risks and develop mitigation plans to keep projects on track.
• Manage projects and develop products according to customer briefs and requirements within the timeline commitment.
• Support marketing in promoting the product by doing recipe demos (online/offline), help with recipe video shoots, photoshoots, packaging, etc

Regulatory compliance:

• Responsible for ensuring that all products and new raw materials comply with regulatory requirements and that all documentation and certification are kept up to date.
• Ensure all products comply with technical, regulatory and cost criteria set out by the customer, the law, and internal procedures
• Prepare reports for Management review as set out by the Management Report procedure in ISO

Key Performance Indicators

• Achievement of Company Sales, EBITDA, GP, PAT targets
• Achievement of the Marketing Department’s budget/targets/objectives
• Achievement of Individual Personal Development Plans

Job Specifications
Educational Requirements:

• A good first degree in Food Science or a related field
•  Possession of a postgraduate degree in Marketing/Business Administration or an equivalent degree is an added advantage

Professional Requirements:

• Any related professional qualification is required.

Experience Requirements:

• Minimum of 5-7 years in product development within the QSR industry, with at least 2 years in a leadership role experience; Proven experience in product development, preferably within the food or consumer goods industry is a plus.

Knowledge Requirements:

• Must have solid written and oral communication, and organization skills
• Capacity to manage multiple projects under tight deadlines, completing them efficiently and on time
• Requires a self-motivated and highly collaborative individual
• Capability of designing, implementing, and analysing primary research
• Ability to work with minimal supervision, managing multiple partners (countries) that requires different levels of support
• Strong project management and Microsoft Office computer skills
• Strong knowledge of the QSR industry market trends, consumer preferences, and regulatory requirements.
• Proven ability to lead and manage a diverse team, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence.
• Exceptional project management, communication, and negotiation skills
• Ability to think strategically, drive results, and make data-driven decisions
• Experience in expanding product lines and managing relationships with other brands and suppliers.