Project Lead - RnD - Pizza

Job description

About Curefoods & the Brand Curefoods operates a portfolio of cloud kitchen and food-delivery brands across categories, including the pizza vertical under Olio. This role will work closely with brand, operations, and supply chain teams to keep the pizza menu innovative, cost-efficient, and consistent across a multi-city kitchen network. Role Summary The R&D Chef – Pizza owns end-to-end product development for the pizza category - from ideation and recipe development through costing, testing, standardization, and multi-city rollout. This is a hands-on culinary role paired with strong project management and cross-functional collaboration, suited to someone equally comfortable in a test kitchen and in a costing spreadsheet. Key Responsibilities Product Development • Develop new pizza recipes bases, sauces, toppings, crusts - aligned with each category's positioning and target customer • Create limited-time offers (LTOs), regional/seasonal specials, and category extensions (sides, dips, desserts) that complement the core pizza menu • Prototype and refine recipes through multiple iterations based on taste panels, cost, and operational feasibility • Explore emerging formats such as alternative/gluten-free crusts, plant-based toppings, and health-forward variants Standardization, Scale-Up & Training • Convert winning recipes into detailed SOPs - exact portioning, prep sequence, cook times, and equipment settings • Validate recipes across different oven types and kitchen formats to ensure consistency at scale • Run pilot launches in select cities before full network rollout, incorporating field feedback into final SOPs • Train kitchen teams and city culinary leads during rollout to ensure adherence to standards Costing & Margins • Own recipe costing (COGS) for every new product, balancing food cost against target margins • Partner with supply chain/vendors to source ingredients that hit quality and cost targets, including alternate sourcing during price volatility • Re-engineer existing recipes periodically to protect margins without compromising taste or perceived quality Trend Tracking & Innovation Pipeline • Track category and competitor trends - crust styles, flavor profiles - and translate them into innovation briefs • Maintain a rolling innovation pipeline with clear timelines from concept to launch • Benchmark against domestic and international pizza brands to spot white space Cross-Functional Collaboration • Work with marketing on naming, positioning, photography, and launch timing for new products • Coordinate with operations to ensure kitchen readiness (equipment, staffing, prep capacity) ahead of launches • Align with the delivery-platform team on menu listing, pricing, and combo construction • Provide culinary input on customer feedback and ratings to identify products needing revision Requirements • Hands-on pizza-making expertise - dough fermentation, hydration ratios, and familiarity with multiple oven types (deck, conveyor, stone) • Strong grasp of food costing, portion control, and margin management • Proven experience scaling recipes for multi-city or multi-outlet kitchen operations • Comfort working with data - costing sheets, sales reports, and feedback trackers, primarily in Excel • Bachelor's degree or diploma in Culinary Arts, Hotel Management, or related field preferred • Willingness to travel to kitchens across the country for pilots, training, and quality checks • Experience with Italian and artisanal pizza styles (Neapolitan, Roman, Detroit-style, etc.) • Understanding of nutrition labeling and food safety/regulatory requirements (FSSAI)