Menu Innovation & Development Manager - #2082859

Salary: Up to £50,000 + Hybrid Working + Excellent Benefits

Are you passionate about creating food experiences that customers love?

We're recruiting for an experienced Menu Innovation & Development Manager to join a nationally recognised hospitality and retail business with a large multi-site restaurant operation across the UK.

This is an exciting opportunity to take ownership of menu strategy, product development and innovation, shaping a food offer that delights customers while delivering commercial success. You'll play a pivotal role in developing seasonal menus, identifying emerging food trends and ensuring every menu launch is operationally achievable across a diverse estate.

If you're equally comfortable creating inspiring food concepts, analysing margin performance and collaborating with operational teams, this could be the perfect next step in your career.

Menu Innovation & Development Manager - The Opportunity

Reporting into senior leadership, you'll lead the end-to-end menu development process, taking concepts from idea through to successful launch.

You'll work closely with operations, supply chain, finance and food safety teams to ensure menus are innovative, commercially viable and consistently executed across multiple locations.

Key responsibilities include:

• Developing seasonal menus and food concepts that drive customer engagement and revenue growth.
• Leading the menu development process from concept creation through to implementation.
• Monitoring food and beverage trends, customer preferences and competitor activity to keep the offer fresh and relevant.
• Creating scalable recipes and preparation methods that deliver consistency across a multi-site operation.
• Managing menu costings and margin performance, identifying opportunities to improve profitability.
• Working with suppliers to source innovative products, manage substitutions and optimise costs.
• Ensuring recipe specifications, allergen information and menu data are accurately maintained within menu management systems.
• Supporting successful menu launches through training materials, operational guides and stakeholder engagement.
• Building strong relationships across operational, commercial and support teams to drive alignment and execution.
• Coaching and influencing key stakeholders to continuously improve food quality, standards and customer experience.

Menu Innovation & Development Manager - About You

We're looking for a commercially aware food professional who combines creativity with strong operational understanding.

You'll ideally have:

• Experience in food development, menu innovation or product development within hospitality, foodservice or retail.
• Strong culinary knowledge with the ability to develop recipes that are both appealing and operationally practical.
• Experience managing multi-site menu launches and food development projects.
• Excellent commercial awareness with a strong understanding of food costing, margins and profitability.
• Knowledge of food safety, allergen management and compliance requirements.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Experience working cross-functionally with operations, finance, procurement and supply chain teams.
• Excellent communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• A passion for food trends, customer experience and continuous improvement.

Menu Innovation & Development Manager - What's on Offer

• Salary up to £50,000.
• Hybrid working model.
• Generous annual leave allowance.
• Enhanced pension scheme.
• Employee discounts across food, retail and hospitality offerings.
• Ongoing professional development and funded learning opportunities.
• Health and wellbeing support programmes.
• Access to company events and colleague engagement initiatives.
• The opportunity to shape the future direction of a nationally recognised food operation.

If you're ready to combine creativity, commercial thinking and operational excellence to deliver an outstanding customer food experience, we'd love to hear from you.