Global Culinary Lead, Plant-Based & Coffee Occasion, Foodservice

Are you a true coffee nerd who loves exploring new brewing methods, flavor profiles, and innovative plant-based combinations? Do you want to set the direction for our Coffee & Plant-Based category and bring our exciting projects to life? And are you passionate about coffee culture and eager to share your expertise with colleagues and customers alike, this is the perfect opportunity for you as our new Global Culinary Lead for Plant-Based & Coffee Occasion in Foodservice.

We are looking for a passionate Global Culinary Lead who will help us shape our Coffee and Plant-Based agenda by identifying customer pains and finding solutions within our product offering and creating sharp value propositions to grow our portfolio in the future.

How you will make an impact

As our new Global Culinary Lead you will seek to engage, excite and enthuse our Arla Pro team and our customers, demonstrating high level of expertise and passion for the QSR (Quick Service & Restaurants) and FSR Channels. You will also drive and support our NPD teams to develop and deliver bespoke recipes for our organized chains customers, and have direct dialogue with these customers to identify the right solutions for their specific needs.

Furthermore, you will be an integrated part of the whole Category and Innovation team on Coffee Occasion & Plant-Based. You will primarily - but not exclusively - provide technical & application expertise, culinary inspiration and channel insights.

You will contribute to shaping our Coffee and Plant-Based assortment and pipeline by defining how current and new products are to meet customer needs from a culinary perspective. Furthermore, you will be testing and assessing how our current products and prototypes under development deliver to those requirements.

You will be engaging and collaborating with our customers to observe their needs and capture their pains and gains, thus it’s important that you’re able to build strong customer relationships. Finally, you will also be working closely with our local markets, supporting with trainings and local market requests.

As Global Culinary Lead Plant-Based & Coffee Occasion, you will:

• Own the culinary agenda for Plant-Based and Coffee Occasion – identifying customer needs and opportunities together with category and innovation team, while also supporting on customer visits.

• Apply your culinary skills and spend time in our kitchen, testing ingredients and applications, for evaluations and experimenting, providing relevant suggestions and actions accordingly

• Support our innovation projects through ideation, testing and co-creation workshops - scoping and defining development opportunities based on compelling trends, insights and end-user needs
• Work closely with new product development, production and supply chain colleagues to investigate possibilities for our products development and performance

• Build strong insights for training & marketing material, as well as organize internal and external product training and assets for launch such as training videos, photo shoots etc.
• Be a pillar of product quality, functionality and performance for products within the existing portfolio and in new projects
• Participate in Coffee Festivals and other trade fairs across our core markets

Apart from your team, you will be part of our Global Arla Pro Culinary Community and have a wide variety of stakeholders across the whole value chain of Arla. You should expect at least 20-25 days of travel per year.

What will make you successful

We are looking for a passionate Global Culinary Lead with an ability to create relevant commercial opportunities for our customers as well as a proven track record in a commercial role within the food industry. The ideal candidate thrives at the intersection of culinary expertise and business acumen, bridging the gap between craftsmanship and commercial objectives. We imagine that you have an education and experience within the culinary field, or closely linked to food.

This is a pivotal role, where you will be the voice of the customer and as such, engaging with customers should be one of your key drivers. You should strive in actively participating in customer meetings where you’ll apply your expertise by inspiring with our solutions. You also have a good ability to structure data and test with scientific method assumptions or hypothesis, digesting complex observations into simple and actionable insights.

Moreover, we imagine that you:

• Are a certified Barista that have deep knowledge of coffee
• Have a true passion for coffee (and coffee drinks).
• Are creative and innovative and knows how to translate this into developing recipes for the coffee house menus
• It’s an advantage if you have experience working in a more customer-facing role and within the FMCG environment
• Possess excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to influence key stakeholders, both internally and externally
• Have the ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment.
• Are fluent in English on a professional level both in writing and verbally

What do we offer?

Becoming a part of Arla Pro, you will join a professional and fun team with big ambitions. If you want to help shaping the Foodservice industry and put your stamp on an area which is highly prioritized, join a team where we enjoy bouncing ideas around and inspiring each other to push our work forward and to unlock the growth potential for our customers.

We aim for this role to be based in the Arla Innovation Center in Aarhus, but we are open to consider a flexible location within our 6 EU markets. If not based in Denmark, you have the flexibility to travel 4-8 days per month to Denmark or other European markets and otherwise work from home or utilize one of our European offices

Application and contact

Please apply as soon as possible as we process applications on an ongoing basis. If you have any specific questions about the role that are important before sending your application, please call Head of Cateogy and Innovation Plant-Based & Coffee Occasion, Claus Nørgaard, on +45 9131 6804.

We are soon off on summer leave therefore please note that that due to summer holidays, the recruitment process may take longer than usual. Therefore, please anticipate a delay in our response. Thank you for your patience and continued interest in our organisation.