Sous Chef

Dinoxo · Bangalore, India

JOB DESCRIPTION :

Founding Chef

Product R&D, Central Production & Operations

A hands-on culinary leadership role for a new-age modern mithai and dessert brand.

We are building a modern mithai and dessert brand that brings together traditional Indian flavours, contemporary formats, premium presentation, gifting and scalable retail production. The selected chef will help shape the product identity at the founding stage and then build the systems required to produce it consistently at scale.

• This is not only a kitchen execution role; it combines product development, production leadership and brand custodianship.
• Thechef must balancecreativity with food cost, shelf life, operational simplicity and repeatable production.
• The role will evolve from R&D and launch preparation into ownership of central production and multi-outlet consistency.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES :

Product Research& Development

• Develop modern mithai, Indian desserts, chocolate-based products, cookies, gifting formats and seasonal collections.
• Reinterpret familiar Indian flavours into premium, contemporary and visually distinctive products.
• Run structured trials and refine products for taste, texture, appearance, shelf life, packaging and customer acceptance.
• Build products suitable for retail display,takeaway, delivery, giftingand bulk production.

Menu & Portfolio Development

• Create the launch menu and define the core, seasonal and limited-edition portfolio.
• Develop signature products that can become identifiable with the brand.
• Maintain the right balance between innovation, familiarity and commercial viability.
• Rationalise ingredients and recipes to reduce unnecessary complexity and inventory.

Recipe Standardisation

• Prepare detailed recipe cards with ingredient specifications, batch sizes,yields, portions and methods.
• Define SOPs for preparation, cooking, cooling, storage,finishing, display, packaging and dispatch.
• Create quality-reference standards so products can be reproducedconsistently by trained teams.
• Document process controls and critical checkpoints for every approved product.

Commercial & Scalable Production

• Convert trial recipes into commercially scalable batch-production recipes.
• Design efficient production workflows for a central kitchen or production facility.
• Recommend equipment, machinery, layout, manpower and shift structures.
• Improve efficiency without compromising craftsmanship, freshness or product quality

Costing & Profitability

• Prepare accurate product costing, yield calculations and target margin analysis.
• Ensure products meet agreed food-costand gross-margin benchmarks.
• Reduce wastage through batch planning, cross-utilisation and production controls.
• Work with procurement to evaluate ingredient quality, vendor reliability and pricing.

Quality, ShelfLife & Food Safety

• Set measurable standards for taste,texture, appearance, weight,freshness and packaging.
• Establish batch-wise quality checks, traceability and production records.
• Leadshelf-life, packaging, storageand transportation trials.
• Ensure compliance with hygiene, food safety, labellingand storage requirements.

Central Production & Operations

• Own daily production planning, manpower deployment, finishing, packaging and dispatch after launch.
• Ensure timelyproduct availability acrossstores, delivery channelsand gifting orders.
• Control inventory, stock rotation, wastage and production variance.
• Coordinate with outlet teams on correct storage, display, handlingand serving.

Team Building & Training

• Recruit and train halwais,pastry chefs, commischefs and production staff.
• Create structured training modules for recipes, quality,hygiene and production processes.
• Build a capable second line so the brand is not dependent on one individual.
• Conduct regulartastings, audits and refresher training.

Innovation & Seasonal Calendar

• Develop collections for Diwali,Raksha Bandhan, Holi,weddings and corporate gifting.
• Maintain an active annual product-development calendar.
• Testnew ingredients, techniques, formats and production methods.
• Improve existingproducts using sales data, operational feedback and customerresponse.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

The ideal candidate combines strong Indian mithai knowledge with organised product development and production experience.

• 6-12years of experience in Indian mithai,premium desserts, pastry,bakery or organised food production.
• Strong practical understanding of traditional Indian sweets and dessert-making techniques.
• Proven exposure to productR&D, recipe standardisation and commercial production.
• Ability to independently take a productfrom concept and trial to costing, SOP and launch.
• Understanding of food cost, yields, wastage,shelf life and production planning.
• Experience managing, training and developing kitchen or production teams.
• Strong attention to flavour, texture,presentation, consistency and documentation.
• Comfort working hands-on in an entrepreneurial, early-stage brand environment.