OHG Brands is a leading global franchising company that develops and grows fast casual, quick-service, and casual dining concepts around the world — a portfolio of 12 brands, including Round Table Pizza®, Fatburger, Marble Slab Creamery, Johnny Rockets, Fazoli’s, Great American Cookies, Buffalo’s Cafe & Express, Hurricane Grill & Wings, Native Grill & Wings, Pretzelmaker, and Ponderosa and Bonanza Steakhouses, spanning more than 1,700 units worldwide.???  

The R&D Chef – Pastry/Bakery is a culinary professional with strong bakery, pastry, ice cream and beverage expertise who manages internal and external culinary initiatives for OHG Brands, including product development and menu innovation for Great American Cookies, Marble Slab Creamery & Pretzelmaker. Drawing on a foundation in both culinary arts and baking science, frozen dessert production and beverage development, this role develops baked goods, ice cream and frozen desserts, beverages and complementary menu items that can be executed consistently across a multi-unit franchise system. The R&D Chef collaborates closely with Marketing, Supply Chain, Quality Assurance, Operations, and Training teams. To drive sales and improve profitability, the R&D Chef partners with the Innovation team to develop culinary strategies, source ingredients, create and document recipes, engineer costs, and present new products. 

In addition to new menu item development, the R&D Chef – Pastry/Bakery serves as a culinary, bakery, ice cream, and beverage resource to the Operations team and field-level area supervisors, supporting them with baking processes, dough and batter handling, ice cream production and handling, beverage preparation, product quality, and troubleshooting in the restaurants.

PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

Product Development 50% 

The R&D Chef will manage all steps of the product development process including: 

• Inspiration – Using culinary, baking, ice cream, and beverage industry trends, trade shows, primary and secondary research, and competitive analysis to determine which “big ideas” OHG Brands concepts should pursue for its menu. 

• Ideation – Work with our partners, suppliers, franchisee stakeholders and internal teams to produce menu concepts, including cookies, pretzels, baked desserts; ice cream flavors, mix-ins, toppings, ice cream cakes and other frozen treats; and beverages such as shakes, frozen drinks, lemonades and specialty drink items to present to the teams.

• Validation – Utilize survey tools, focus groups, or other data collection methods to determine if menu items produced in the ideation step are appropriate for OHG Brands.

• Formulation – Support the operational team in writing recipes and formulations for food, bakery, ice cream and beverage items including quantities, ice cream base and flavor formulations, mixing, baking, freezing & blending procedures, portion sizes and yields. Food and beverage cost targets, shelf life, frozen storage and temperature requirements, equipment capabilities and operational constraints must be considered in this step. 

Commercialization 20%

• Collaborate with the Great American Cookie Factory to scale up recipes to ensure they can be produced at scale in the manufacturing plant

• Partner with Supply Chain team, co-manufacturers, and dairy processors to ensuring consistent quality across scratch, par-baked and frozen dough formats, ice cream bases, flavorings, inclusions, as well as beverage bases, syrups and mixes.

Test Kitchen Management 15% 

• The R&D Chef takes ownership of all activities involving the OHG Brands test kitchen, including but not limited to ordering product, cleaning & sanitation, inventory, and the maintenance of culinary, bakery, ice cream and beverage equipment such as ovens, mixers, proofers, batch freezers, and dipping cabinets.

Other Activities 15% 

• Represent the brand on TV and other PR appearances as necessary. 

• May be called to act as a food or beverage stylist for video/photo/social media shoots. 

• Attend culinary, bakery, ice cream, beverage and foodservice events and conferences.

• Strong Culinary and Bakery/Pastry Education (culinary degree or equivalent certification) or comparable hands-on experience in both full-service and limited-service restaurant concepts, including bakery or bakery-café, ice cream or dessert operations. 

• Strong technical understanding of baking science, including ingredient functionality, fermentation, dough handling and formulation, as well as frozen dessert fundamentals such as ice cream overrun, with the ability to scale recipes from test kitchen to restaurant-level production.

• Experience developing ice cream, frozen desserts, and beverages for a restaurant or quick-service brand, such as ice cream flavors, mix-ins, ice cream cakes, shakes, smoothies, specialty drinks, including formulation, costing and execution at scale.

• Experience adapting bakery, ice cream, beverage and culinary items for consistent execution across multiple locations, including par-baked, frozen and scratch-made production methods.

• Understand restaurant financials including food and labor costs, recipe costing, yield management, and the operational impact of bakery, ice cream and beverage production on the kitchen workflow and speed of service.

• Knowledge of food safety, shelf life, temperature control, and allergen management as they apply to both culinary, bakery, dairy, and beverage products. 

• Understand consumer research and culinary/bakery, ice cream and beverage trend analysis to support strategy development, including both quantitative and qualitative research methods. 

• Experience effectively guiding and managing external resource partners, such as suppliers and co-manufacturers, dairy processors and beverage vendors to accomplish assigned responsibilities. 

• Experience in working in a cross-functional environment where on-going communication and information sharing are vital to achieving success. 

• Strong written and verbal skills and ability to interface effectively with all levels of the organization and franchise owners. 

• Ability to influence decision-making using consumer and business insight to drive rational, data-informed recommendations.

This position will be based out of our Atlanta, GA corporate headquarters.