Rochester Institute of Technology
Menu Innovation and Training Chef
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, United States
Are you a creative chef who loves to teach, experiment, and bring bold culinary ideas to life? This exciting role works closely with our Corporate Executive Chef to lead recipe development and culinary training across RIT Dining.
You'll guide collaborative recipe testing with chefs from all dining units, turning imaginative concepts into precise, scalable recipes for everything from intimate meals to large-scale productions. You'll manage recipe input into our Menu Management System, ensuring every detail-from ingredient quantities to cooking instructions-is accurate, clear, and aligned with RIT Dining's standards.
Beyond the kitchen, you'll design and deliver engaging training programs that cover knife safety, culinary techniques, global cuisines, and live cooking demos. You'll also support allergen awareness training in partnership with our Registered Dietitian, helping create a safe and inclusive dining experience for all.
The work hours for this position are Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:30 p.m.
Job Responsibilities
Culinary Support: Provide excellent service in a friendly, sincere, and courteous manner. Work closely with the manager to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. Collaborate closely with the unit leadership team and others throughout the recipe process, from testing to finalizing in the Menu Management System. Coordinate and execute all tastings, recipe revamps, and further testing to ensure they meet the desired standards. Facilitate input, testing, and customer feedback on recipes and menus, acting as a liaison with unit chefs to provide culinary research and development solutions and improvements for unit operations. Maintain extensive knowledge of 'The Big Nine' allergens, food sensitivities, and dietary restrictions when testing and creating allergen meal recipes. Plan and execute basic and advanced culinary training for all levels of culinary staff within RIT Dining. Assist with menu development focusing on food safety, knife skills, and culinary techniques. Stay current with culinary trends and incorporate them into menu offerings. Research ingredients, flavors, and cooking techniques to continuously enhance the dining experience. Database & Nutrition Support: Enter all unit recipes into the menu management system and continue to work on accuracy of standards and naming conventions both in recipe names and portion sizes. Assist Corporate Executive Chef and Registered Dietitian in ensuring that ingredient, nutrition, allergen, and trait information is accurate for all items in the menu management system. Build and maintain rapport with management and culinary staff in each dining unit to ensure the recipe testing and submission process is efficient as possible. Enter initial recipes that units submitted into the menu management system. Assist and work closely with Registered Dietitian and corporate executive chef in developing menus for allergen meals. Assist Registered Dietitian with allergen audits and recipe audits. Required Qualifications
Experience Required: Minimum 5 years in a high-volume culinary environment such as a restaurant, country club, or institutional setting. Hands-on experience with menu development, food safety, culinary training, and computerized menu management systems. Key Skills & Competencies: Menu Planning & Innovation: Ability to create diverse, balanced menus for various dietary needs and special events. Food Safety Expertise: Deep understanding of hygiene standards and food safety regulations. Training & Leadership: Skilled in training beginner to intermediate culinary staff, mentoring, and fostering team collaboration. Culinary Techniques: Proficient in a wide range of cooking methods and current culinary trends. Allergen Awareness: Strong knowledge of allergens and dietary restrictions, with experience in safe recipe development. Sustainability Practices: Commitment to reducing food waste and supporting institutional sustainability goals. Communication & Adaptability: Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work with diverse groups, and adapt to changing environments. Administrative & Technical Skills: Comfortable with food service applications, recipe systems, and learning new technologies. Compliance: Familiarity with New York State and Monroe County health codes and institutional policies. Serve Safe and Allertrain or ability to obtain within 6 months of employment. Certified allergen trainer or ability to obtain within 6 months of employment. Department/College Description
About RIT Dining: RIT Dining supports all meal plans on campus locations. We are looking for a high-energy team member that enjoys working in a busy environment serving customers. RIT provides equal opportunity to all qualified individuals and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, age, marital status, sex, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, veteran status, or disability in its hiring, admissions, educational programs, and activities.
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Culinary Support: Provide excellent service in a friendly, sincere, and courteous manner. Work closely with the manager to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. Collaborate closely with the unit leadership team and others throughout the recipe process, from testing to finalizing in the Menu Management System. Coordinate and execute all tastings, recipe revamps, and further testing to ensure they meet the desired standards. Facilitate input, testing, and customer feedback on recipes and menus, acting as a liaison with unit chefs to provide culinary research and development solutions and improvements for unit operations. Maintain extensive knowledge of 'The Big Nine' allergens, food sensitivities, and dietary restrictions when testing and creating allergen meal recipes. Plan and execute basic and advanced culinary training for all levels of culinary staff within RIT Dining. Assist with menu development focusing on food safety, knife skills, and culinary techniques. Stay current with culinary trends and incorporate them into menu offerings. Research ingredients, flavors, and cooking techniques to continuously enhance the dining experience. Database & Nutrition Support: Enter all unit recipes into the menu management system and continue to work on accuracy of standards and naming conventions both in recipe names and portion sizes. Assist Corporate Executive Chef and Registered Dietitian in ensuring that ingredient, nutrition, allergen, and trait information is accurate for all items in the menu management system. Build and maintain rapport with management and culinary staff in each dining unit to ensure the recipe testing and submission process is efficient as possible. Enter initial recipes that units submitted into the menu management system. Assist and work closely with Registered Dietitian and corporate executive chef in developing menus for allergen meals. Assist Registered Dietitian with allergen audits and recipe audits. Required Qualifications
Experience Required: Minimum 5 years in a high-volume culinary environment such as a restaurant, country club, or institutional setting. Hands-on experience with menu development, food safety, culinary training, and computerized menu management systems. Key Skills & Competencies: Menu Planning & Innovation: Ability to create diverse, balanced menus for various dietary needs and special events. Food Safety Expertise: Deep understanding of hygiene standards and food safety regulations. Training & Leadership: Skilled in training beginner to intermediate culinary staff, mentoring, and fostering team collaboration. Culinary Techniques: Proficient in a wide range of cooking methods and current culinary trends. Allergen Awareness: Strong knowledge of allergens and dietary restrictions, with experience in safe recipe development. Sustainability Practices: Commitment to reducing food waste and supporting institutional sustainability goals. Communication & Adaptability: Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work with diverse groups, and adapt to changing environments. Administrative & Technical Skills: Comfortable with food service applications, recipe systems, and learning new technologies. Compliance: Familiarity with New York State and Monroe County health codes and institutional policies. Serve Safe and Allertrain or ability to obtain within 6 months of employment. Certified allergen trainer or ability to obtain within 6 months of employment. Department/College Description
About RIT Dining: RIT Dining supports all meal plans on campus locations. We are looking for a high-energy team member that enjoys working in a busy environment serving customers. RIT provides equal opportunity to all qualified individuals and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, age, marital status, sex, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, veteran status, or disability in its hiring, admissions, educational programs, and activities.
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