Fresh Market by Premier Culinary Consultant: Our Culinary Consultant serves as a senior culinary advisor
and strategic leader for Fresh Market by Premier. While our Market Chef oversees day-to-day kitchen
execution, the Culinary Consultant operates at a higher level — providing vision, structure, innovation, and
refinement to our entire fresh food program.
At Fresh Market, this means ownership and operations leadership will look to you for product insight, menu
architecture, scalability, and culinary direction. You will evaluate, strengthen, and evolve our chef-prepared
workplace meal offerings while implementing the systems, documentation, and training necessary to
achieve excellence in safety, cost controls, consistency, innovation, and long-term brand growth.
Summary of Duties & Responsibilities:
Our Department Managers are dynamic individuals that fill many roles: Manager, Leader, Trainer, Mentor.
Following is an overview of general job duties and responsibilities:
GENERAL OBJECTIVES
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Fully understand Fresh Market by Premier’s brand, vision, mission statement, and workplace meal positioning — and apply those concepts to culinary development and product strategy.
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Evaluate and elevate our Fresh Market food program to ensure it remains differentiated from standard vending and mass-produced alternatives.
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Develop, refine, and standardize cohesive menu systems including salads, sandwiches, wraps, heat & serve entrées, grab-and-go offerings, seasonal rotations, and “Better for You” items.
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Work with the Culinary Director and Market Chef to develop, cost, engineer, and redesign menu items with full yield analysis and margin awareness.
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Create and implement standardized recipe documentation including:
- Accurate yields and portion controls
- Ingredient specifications
- Equipment requirements
- Production flow integration
- Packaging and labeling standards
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Evaluate prep sheets, production sheets, forecasting tools, and inventory systems to improve efficiency, reduce waste, and strengthen execution consistency.
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Provide leadership guidance and mentorship to culinary managers and production teams to ensure training standards and culinary systems are properly executed.
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Anticipate, identify, and correct systemic issues related to product consistency, cost variance, workflow inefficiencies, inventory controls, and staffing structure.
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Collaborate with Packaging Manager, Inventory Specialist, and Operations leadership to align
product development with:
- Commissary production capacity
- Cold chain standards
- Delivery logistics
- Market footprint limitations
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Participate in culinary and strategic meetings to evaluate menu performance, guest feedback, waste trends, cost trends, and R&D initiatives.
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Evaluate vendor relationships, ingredient sourcing, and equipment utilization to ensure quality optimization and margin discipline.
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Provide insight into evolving food trends relevant to industrial and commercial workforce populations and recommend adjustments that align with our concept.
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Support major menu resets, product launches, and new client deployments.
Work Hours:
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Consulting Engagement – 12–24 Hours Per Week
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Expanded hours (up to 40 per week) during major R&D initiatives, menu resets, or deployment phases
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Deliverables-based performance review structure
Education, Experience, and Licensing Requirements:
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Must have proficient skills in: Culinary Strategy, Menu Engineering, Cost Control, Production Planning, Team Leadership, Verbal Communication, and Systems Documentation.
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Have knowledge of culinary / food and beverage service generally involving 8+ years culinary experience in high-volume or multi-unit environments.
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Experience developing scalable fresh food programs preferred.
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Maintain NRA Serv-Safe Manager’s Certification.
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Possess strong basic math skills and the ability to analyze food cost, margin, and production efficiency metrics.
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Possess the highest standards for personal appearance, professionalism, and leadership conduct.
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Working knowledge of HACCP, cold chain compliance, and food safety systems
Qualifications and Skills:
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Visionary culinary mindset balanced with operational discipline
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Deep understanding of production kitchens, commissary systems, and multi-unit scalability
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Strong command of recipe costing, menu engineering, yield analysis, labor efficiency, and waste reduction
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Ability to translate culinary creativity into repeatable systems and documented procedures
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Strong leadership presence with mentoring capability
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People management insight and ability to elevate internal kitchen leadership
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Ability to effectively communicate with culinary team, management, and ADMIN
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Efficient and complete planning and multi-tasking
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Self-motivated with high energy level and strong executive presence
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Excellent problem-solving and conflict management abilities; solution oriented
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Superior attention to detail and organizational skills
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Ability to work well in a dynamic, fast-changing growth environment
