International Culinary Manager

Texas Chicken 

Employee Job Description 

Job Title:         International Culinary Manager 

Reports To:     Director, International Culinary 

Department:    International Marketing 

Location:         RSC (R&D)

Job Summary: 

The International Culinary Manager is responsible for overseeing all day-to-day test kitchen operations for the Church’s Texas Chicken / Texas Chicken International research and development team. The International Culinary Manager plays a pivotal role partnering with cross-functional teams in marketing, quality assurance, operations, and supply chain to support new product development, testing and commercialization of menu items, and evaluating operational procedures. This role combines culinary acumen with disciplined project management to ensure that new product and menu innovation aligns with operational feasibility, profitability targets, and brand culinary identity across global markets. This individuals work will be based in the restaurant support center test kitchen with focus on the development of new products, evaluating existing products, and making menu and new product recommendations for consumer testing and menu launch. The International Culinary Manager will assist in organizing Central Location Tests, product showings, ideation sessions, and other culinary activities, and will travel as required for the role.

Key Duties/Responsibilities:

Brand-Led Menu Development Pipeline of Bold Texas Flavor

• Collaborate with internal teams to develop, plan, test, and launch innovative and brand centric new menus and LTO’s
• New product ideation – develop and perform multiple ideation sessions each year to generate new product concepts with suppliers, franchisees and field and restaurant support center stakeholders
• Deliver new menu item presentations and tasting sessions for new product ideas from concept through launch phases
• Work with marketing managers to plan and launch yearly marketing calendars
• Organize and execute product concept tests and field based central location tests to receive consumer input and feedback for new product development
• Conduct in person global tasting sessions for new product ideation and development with franchisee teams and local team members.
• Conduct in person global product development and innovation sessions on new flavors, ingredients or products with vendors and ingredient suppliers.
• Coordinate regular reviews and/or showings of new product pipeline with key stakeholders
• Collaborate with internal and franchisee marketing teams to use consumer feedback for LTO and Marketing Calendar planning
• Finalize concept recipes/ingredients with internal and franchisee Marketing, Supply Chain, Ops Teams, and Leadership teams
• Coordinate ops testing process to ensure food products meet operations requirements.
• Recommend and develop packaging options for all new products consistent with global standards
• Participate in and contribute to global marketing and supply chain menu and calendar planning meetings as required

This role is responsible for four primary areas:

Brand-Led Menu Development Pipeline of Bold Texas Flavor

Manage brand culinary strategy initiatives by identifying menu and new product opportunities. Subject matter expert on emerging culinary and flavor trends, and source of education for internal and franchisee teams for bringing these trends and innovations to the menu while managing an effective product development and approval process. Follow a stage gate progression process of ideation, recipe formulation, consumer testing and validation, commercialization, and launch of new limited time offers (LTO’s). Collaborate with internal and franchisee marketing teams to plan, promote, and launch new menu items on yearly marketing calendars. Identify ways to differentiate Church’s Texas Chicken / Texas Chicken menu items from competitors. Develop menu items aimed at raising consumer interest and trial, and generating increased traffic, revenue and profit growth for our brand and international franchisees.

Global Menu and Product Calendar Tracking

Maintain up-to-date database of country-by-country LTO launches. Provide communication to internal and franchisee supply chain and operations teams of required new ingredients and production specifications. Communicate with quality assurance teams as needed for providing approvals to franchisees for localized ingredients and menu substitutions.

Maintain Brand Culinary Identity in Menu Design, Food Styling, Key Visual Creation and Presentation

Collaborate with int