Research chef Anne Albertine works at Taco Bell’s corporate headquarters in Irvine, California. The recipes she and her team develop eventually reach the company’s more than 6,500 restaurants.
''My team and I make restaurant quality food that can be mass produced, so the culinary quality — the freshness, taste, and texture — has to hold up. As chefs, we can make food that tastes good and has visual appeal. We can weave flavors together,'' Albertine says, as reported by Occupational Outlook Quarterly.
Research chefs get new ideas for menu items from studying customer surveys, reading culinary magazines, watching trends in fine restaurants, traveling abroad to explore new tastes, and browsing cookbooks for established recipes that can be creatively altered. The customer surveys tend to be fairly general, with those surveyed often requesting larger portions, lower prices, or a particular flavor, like sweet or spicy. Research chefs often make up to 100 recipes before one lands on a menu.
''With a set of food qualities in mind, research chefs start experimenting with ingredients. Anne often begins her day with a trip to the grocery store. ‘I pick up fresh ingredients,’ she says, ‘then go play in my test kitchen.’ She might try different styles of chopping, compare grilling an ingredient with frying it, or contrast vacuum-packed ingredients with frozen ones. In one recipe, Anne was striving for the just-right level of spiciness and the best type of cheese to give a toasty flavor. She uses her technical expertise to pick ingredients that will taste good when cooked in bulk, under the real world conditions of a restaurant,'' Occupational Outlook Quarterly reports.
Recipes are tested with a focus group of customers at every stage of development; the group first comments on pictures and written descriptions of the given menu item before tasting samples. The reactions are overseen by marketers and food scientists in sensory labs, and the research chefs observe these responses and modify their recipes as needed.
The development of a menu item is a group effort. Food scientists take the product’s safety into consideration, financial experts look into its profitability, market researchers explore its popularity, and operations and training managers make sure that the item can be made by restaurant crews quickly and properly. Research chefs need excellent communication and rhetoric skills, as they must constantly meet with these other professionals and persuade them to accept a proposed menu item.
Research chefs employed by food manufacturers have somewhat different responsibilities. They may work with food scientists to create prepared and frozen foods and flavor additives and may meet with restaurant chefs to discuss the specifics of a flavor they are developing.
Most research chefs earn a degree in culinary arts from a school accredited by the American Culinary Federation, and they may receive additional education in chemistry and food science. Interning with different types of chefs is a valuable part of the learning process and allows aspiring chefs to acquire different methods and gain contacts in the industry.
The Research Chefs Association, which has approximately 2,000 members, offers research chefs certification if they have culinary education, three to five years of experience in culinary arts and research, and a passing score on the certification exam. A bachelor’s degree in food science, research experience, at least eight weeks of accredited culinary education, and a passing score on a written cooking exam will gain you a culinary scientist certification from the association, as well.
Research chefs tend to earn more than other chefs do. Additional benefits include working regular business hours instead of evenings and weekends and developing their recipes in a more relaxed environment than a chef at a fast-paced restaurant would experience.
