
A newly established and rapidly expanding QSR and Cloud Kitchen group in the UAE is developing multiple innovative food concepts designed for scale across the GCC. With ambitions to become one of the region’s leading food brands, they are building a culinary team that can transform concepts into commercially successful, consistent, and scalable products.
To support this growth, Black Pearl has been exclusively retained to recruit a passionate and highly skilled Culinary Lead / Product Development Chef.
The Culinary Lead will be responsible for menu innovation, recipe creation, product development, and culinary standardization across multiple QSR concepts. This role combines creativity with operational execution—requiring strong technical culinary knowledge, R&D capabilities, and the ability to convert recipes into scalable central kitchen or outsourced manufacturing formats.
You will play a key role in shaping the brand’s culinary identity, ensuring every product meets quality, cost, consistency, and scalability standards.
Key Responsibilities
1. Menu Innovation & Concept Development
Research and create new menu items aligned with brand positioning and regional trends.
Develop recipes across multiple cuisines (Indian, Asian, Fast-Casual, Sandwiches, Rolls, or Fusion).
Conduct benchmarking across Dubai’s competitive QSR and cloud-kitchen landscape.
2. Recipe Engineering & Standardization
Create detailed recipe specifications including ingredient lists, methods, yields, timings, and plating/packaging.
Ensure consistency across locations by converting complex recipes into simple, repeatable SOPs.
Standardize portion sizes and ensure cost-effective recipe structures.
3. Sensory Testing & Quality Assurance
Lead tasting panels and analyze sensory feedback for product refinement.
Maintain strict quality, taste, texture, and presentation standards across all kitchens.
Work with QA to develop and enforce food quality parameters.
4. Supply Chain Collaboration
Evaluate and approve raw materials, ingredients, and packaging options.
Work closely with procurement to ensure consistency, cost targets, and supplier compliance.
Assist in selecting and training vendors or co-packers for outsourced production.
5. Production & Central Kitchen Integration
Scale recipes from development to batch production in central kitchen environments.
Build SOPs for food preparation, cooking, assembly, storage, and dispatch.
Conduct periodic kitchen audits to monitor adherence to culinary and hygiene standards.
6. Product Commercialization
Design products suitable for frozen, retort, preservative-based, emulsified, or hot-fill processes.
Work with operations and supply chain teams to ensure products meet shelf-life and production constraints.
5–10 years of experience as an R&D Chef, Culinary Lead, Innovation Chef, Head Chef, or similar.
Strong background in QSR, cloud kitchens, fast-casual brands, or large-scale production kitchens.
Ability to balance creativity with cost control and operational feasibility.
Experience with commercial manufacturing technologies (retort, frozen, preservative-based products, hot-fill).
Strong documentation skills and the ability to train diverse culinary teams.
Familiarity with UAE food safety standards (HACCP, Municipality guidelines) preferred.
LinkedIn
/
Facebook
/
Twitter
/
Instagram
Disclaimer: Black Pearl will never ask for money or any form to charge our candidates just to process or consider their application for any of our available vacancies. If you happen to receive such request from any members of our staff or other individuals claiming to be part of Black Pearl, please do call our office at +9712 622 55 03 or drop us a message on our website.

Struggling to attract qualified candidates, retain top talent, or align your workforce with business goals?
Black Pearl is a recruitment and human resources consultancy that provides tailored talent acquisition, HR advisory, and workforce planning solutions for companies across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the wider GCC.
We partner with organizations to address key challenges like high turnover, skills gaps, employee engagement, and organizational restructuring. Whether you're looking for executive search services, Emiratization support, onboarding strategies, or outsourced HR solutions—we can help.
Our team brings deep expertise across healthcare recruitment, engineering and construction hiring, tech and digital talent sourcing, and hospitality staffing. We also support clients with employer branding, compensation benchmarking, and HR compliance advisory.
Ready to transform your people strategy? Let’s talk.
📞 +971 58 125 7276
📩 bibin@blackpearlconsult.com
🌐 www.blackpearlconsult.com
talent acquisition | executive search | workforce planning | HR consultancy UAE | recruitment agency in GCC | Emiratization support | outsourced HR services | employee engagement strategies | compensation benchmarking | onboarding and retention | staffing solutions | healthcare recruitment | engineering hiring | hospitality talent sourcing | tech recruitment | team building