Technical Advisor-Chef, Gourmet Thailand

About the role

• This position will leverage their passion, creativity, and product expertise to raise brand awareness and brand equity of the entire product range – Callebaut, Cocoa Barry, Van Houten Professional, Carma, Mona Lisa etc. By leading a diverse range of activities, both physical (co-creation events, product demonstrations, training courses, lessons, etc.) and digital (social media, content creation, KOL engagement, etc.) the Technical Advisor - Chef strongly supports the execution of the sales & marketing strategies of the company. He/She is a creative pioneer and passionate chocolatier with strong leadership skills and commercial acumen.

Key responsibilities include

• Work daily in our pilot plant & application lab with our entire product range (choc, compound, deco, powder, etc.) to create mouth-watering, innovative chocolate creations (Bakery, Pastry, Confectionary, Ice-cream, beverages, etc.) to inspire our customers in Thailand.
• Travel across the country individually or along with sales & marketing to visit end-users for technical support & product application inspiration sessions.
• Collaborate with sales & marketing to inspire clients by creating & proposing innovative product applications which leverage our brands to drive sales:
  • Research the latest trends and translate these into inspiring product applications to share with our customers
  • Organize co-creation/inspiration sessions based on customer briefings to co-develop sellable products using our ingredients
  • Conduct product demonstrations either at our academy or on customer premises to inspire & educate on product applications with our brands
• Collaborate with sales & marketing to raise brand awareness via digital & trade marketing activities:
  • Create & record content (recipes, images, videos, etc.) for BC & customer SoMe & other marketing channels
  • Support organizing exhibitions, trade fairs & contests to promote our brands
  • Conduct training courses at our Academy or on customer premises to educate customers on using our brands
• Provide technical support, troubleshooting & training in response to customer inquiries
• Travel across South-East Asia when needed to support other countries who require technical-chef related activities
• Manage the Chocolate Ambassador network in the country as their main point of contact along with the sales & marketing managers
• Be a part of the Barry Callebaut Global Chef network. Participate in the annual Chef Seminars, World Chocolate Masters & other Chef community events as the representative for Thailand.
• Be one of the main representatives for South-East Asia for discussing and establishing the chef strategy with the Head Chef in APAC.
• Promote & grow sales of Gourmet brands, primarily Van Houten Professional, with existing customers (distributors, cash&carry outlets…)
• Grow regional reach by finding & developing new local/regional distributors across Thailand.
• Supported by marketing, define & implement quarterly merchandising plan targeting resellers and their customers:
  • Sales incentives
  • Demonstrations/tasting/sampling sessions
  • Sales tools
  • Social Media
• Provide product training to distributors’ sales force regularly: for new products, success stories, value selling, etc.
• Together with the Customer Service team in Thailand, follow up on orders, shipments and payments with assigned customers.

About you

• Confectionery school diploma – trained as a professional bakery pastry chef AND/OR chocolatier
• >3 years of experience in production or development as a pastry chef or chocolatier in the field of bakery, pastry, food service, or FMCG
• IT skills such as MS applications (Word, Excel, PPT) and Google Apps
• Business level English (must have)
• Knowledge of the characteristics and application methods of each company's product line of chocolate & compound ingredients (including decorations, fillings & pastes)
• Experience as a product planner and developer of bakery, pastry, ice cream, drink, and gift confectionery products for domestic consumers at a confectionery manufacturer, confectionery ingredient manufacturer, etc.
• Experience in product presentations and demonstrations to internal and external parties
• Experience in digital marketing (content development, image/video editing, translation of foreign language content, collaboration with influencers, etc.) is a plus
• Able to conduct analysis based on trends and research and apply the insights to product planning and development; able to lead product planning and development tasks and propose recipes and applications
• Have a creative sensibility and be able to make proposals that are not bound by precedent; conduct classes and other activities on their own, and be able to demonstrate and explain using rules of thumb without manuals; always have high-quality standards in their work and be able to express the policy as our development chef.
• Self-motivated, solution-oriented, entrepreneurial, great communication & interpersonal skills, team player, independent, ambitious for career growth, ready to travel, hands-on
• Flexibility to respond flexibly to customer needs and changing circumstances; a positive attitude that always brings motivation to the team; Attitude to focus on results while implementing the PDCA cycle
• Growth orientation in new business development and inexperienced areas; an attitude of building good relationships with various internal and external stakeholders and actively collaborating with them