R&D Culinary Internship

About us.

TCE is the USA’s leading food & beverage innovation consultancy. We work with, or have worked with, 25% of the top 200 restaurant brands in the USA. And sometimes we create and operate our own, like Starbird.

At TCE you’ll find classically trained chefs working alongside designers, branding experts and food anthropologists. We fuse culinary excellence with human-centered design, to fuel the future of how we eat and drink.

Our method is four-fold:

1. Lead with empathy. Follow through with know-how. 

2. Ask questions. Collaborate. Make ideas happen. 

3. Discover inspiration that empowers action.

4. See and solve problems from every angle.  

Join us. 

We are committed to creating a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace. Our goals and commitments are shaped and strengthened by our team. There is more work to be done. Join us, and help us build a future where all voices are heard and everyone can feel they belong.

About you.

The ideal candidate loves to cook, to learn about food, is inquisitive, and can find a clear path through ambiguous situations. You are fulfilled by being part of a team dedicated to solving problems and developing new capabilities. You have a solid foundation of cooking skills and making food taste delicious, as well as the ability to learn and use a variety of software applications like Excel, Word, G Suite, and Keynote. You reach for the most illuminating questions, research the most useful answers, and ask for help. You are detail oriented, can closely follow directions and can capture processes meticulously.  You enjoy working on a project until it is right, you are open to feedback and can give and receive constructive criticism.

About the role.

The Culinary Internship is a paid, full time role (Monday-Friday). Due to the hands-on nature of our work, we require daily, in-person attendance at TCE headquarters in San Francisco, CA.

Culinary Interns develop their skills by assisting chefs develop food for our varied base of clients. You will learn the ins and outs of operations across a wide spectrum of food service establishments from large chain brands to ambitious family businesses.  You will support the Culinary Team in all TCE operations as well as grow your knowledge base by asking questions, participating in client meetings and working with strategy and management partners to deliver superior work. 

Core skills.

Food Execution: Cook delicious dishes and meals in a thoughtful, clean and organized manner.

Openness: Every day will bring a new task and/or changes to a previous task, you will welcome these changes with openness and excitement. You must be comfortable asking questions, we are not the experts- our clients are.

Communication: Demonstrated excellent written and verbal skills, you must be knowledgeable and able to discuss food and ingredients. 

Team Oriented Problem-solving: We are looking for proactive, collaborative and creative thinkers, ready to lead and to follow in the rapid ebb and flow of consultancy life.

Flexibility and Adaptability: Projects change and morph over time, you must be able to adapt & switch gears with grace and a calm demeanor.

Time management: Each project has a set deliverable date, the Culinary Team must meet those deadlines and deliver client facing materials on time.

• Responsibilities.

Work quickly, cleanly, and in an organized fashion.

Assist Research & Development Chefs with all aspects of client projects including food prep and recipe development.

Use established TCE templates & software to develop error free client facing materials such as: recipes, sourcing guides, training manuals & operating materials.

Develop error free accurately costed recipes that take into account broadliner  markups, case/pack sizes and weight-to-volume yield conversions.

Research ingredients, vendors, equipment, and packaging as well as restaurant and culinary concepts.

Participate in creative ideation sessions, research and development of new food products.

Participate in and take ownership of all aspects of R&D kitchen life including: cleaning, organizing, receiving, shipping, general errand running, office work, and family meal.

Requirements.

● 3+ years of work experience or Culinary/Vocational school, or a combination of these two.

● Comfortable asking questions of others.

● Strong critical thinking and verbal communication.

● Strong writing skills and ability to produce project documentation.

● Solid organizational skills, including attention to detail and multitasking

● Experience using MS/Apple/Gsuite toolset (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and equivalents).

● Ability to work well with large and diverse teams.

● Ability to travel to client sites when required.