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HR & Marketing Intern

Posted by:Jeff Greenberg | Posted on: October 18th, 2021 | 0 Comments

How does the role fit? The Kitchen Coop is looking for a dynamic, enthusiastic person to be part of our team. TKC’s Intern will have the opportunity to learn, and various opportunities to contribute, depending on the specific interests of the individual.  Primary opportunities exist helping the Operations department with HR support AND the Service Department with Client & Supplier connectivity, and or both! The Intern will learn important skills in both HR & Marketing: screening & hiring prospective employees, shepherding new employees through onboarding and training, advancing conversations with clients and prospects.  As a part-time member of a small team, the Intern will be exposed to many aspects of the natural Food Industry. TKC would be a great launching point for anyone interested in the world of food start-up and product development. Essential Job Duties: Communications
  • Responding to service inquiries and talking with food brand owners and product or project managers
  • Executing company correspondence and communications with Clients, Prospects, and Staff: emails, appointments, notices, bulletins, appointments, etc.
  • Posting web content, and updating social media and other outlets on behalf of the company and perhaps its Brand partners.
HR
  • Talking with employees to improve employee engagement and enjoyment
  • Helping our team recruit additional employees
  • Onboarding new employees and facilitating employee training and enrichment programs.
  • Assisting with event coordination including managing all the logistics for client visits, employee meetings, trainings, etc.
  Skill/Ability:
  • Ability to talk plainly and relate to others shall be paramount.
  • Spanish fluency would be a huge plus and candidates who are bilingual shall be preferred.
  • Good written and verbal communication skills
  • Willingness to find answers, and then ask questions of others
  • Ability to communicate professionally and kindly with a diverse group of people.
  Job Qualifications: Education: High school diploma or above.  Bachelor’s degree or candidacy preferred. Experience:  As this is an internship to gain experience, any work experience shall be considered as part of the evaluation. Hours: There is flexibility for the Intern to work an hour or two a few days each week and perhaps half a day every or every other week for an average of 10-15 hours weekly. Compensation: This is a paid internship.  If you are interested in this position, please submit a cover letter including schedule availability through the linked online form.

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Maintenance Technician

Posted by:Jeff Greenberg | Posted on: June 23rd, 2021 | 0 Comments

The Maintenance Technician is responsible for the keeping our facilities and equipment running properly. The primary function is maintaining the equipment both proactively and reactively so TKC can execute its manufacturing in a timely and efficient manner.

Responsibilities
  • Executing preventative and reactive maintenance on electronically controlled production and packaging equipment that may be air, gas or electric powered
  • Training manufacturing associates on the equipment, how to setup, run, adjust, clean, and troubleshoot including setting up new machines, writing SOP’s for use, sanitation, and troubleshooting
  • Evaluating new and used equipment for line expansions
Equipment with which you’d get to have fun: Mixers, Food Processors, Pumps, Piston fillers, Steam-jacketed Kettles, Flow-wrapper, Band Sealer, CIJ Printers, Mills, Coolers, Depositors, etc. Essential Qualifications:
  • Represent The Kitchen Coop with a positive, professional, team approach
    • Disciplined, organized and reliable.
    • Others feel more safe working with you around because you have thought through the risks and implemented poka-yoke & safeguards.
    • Your word and actions are always in alignment.
  • 3 or more years working with electronically controlled manufacturing equipment
    • Knowledge of electrical, electronics, pneumatics, hydraulics, and design diagrams
    • Very able to operate, understand, and communicate knowledge of machinery
    • Strong reading, mathematical, and communications skills
Desired Qualifications:
  • Experience with GMP’s, HACCP and food or drug facility sanitation
  • Welding & Soldering experience
  • Comfortable with computers and web-based project & order mgmt systems
  • Experience with operating industrial and materials handling equipment, including a forklift.
Compensation: Hourly compensation of $18-26, plus potential for overtime.  Bonuses for machine and line uptime results of 5-20% more. To Apply: Please submit a cover letter and resume for our team to consider via email. Please include a brief list of the types of equipment with which you have experience, hours of availability, and current compensation requirements.          

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Food Manufacturing Associate

Posted by:Jeff Greenberg | Posted on: June 21st, 2021 | 0 Comments

This multifaceted role in our food production and packaging operations works with our food manufacturers to transform ingredients and packaging into delicious products.  Food Manufacturing Associates work with different food products on different days.   We need some awesome workers to come help us grow our food manufacturing company as we take on some new and exciting product lines. Do you have food production experience? Are you responsible, fast and fun? Our FMA’s are on the frontline making baked goods, snacks and nut butters. With a varied client base and new companies joining often, our FMA’s work on a variety of products. It isn’t the same work day in, day out, so FMA’s have to have a willingness to learn and adapt. Our FMA’s are trained and then trusted to operate scales, mixers, kettles, ovens, fillers, sealers, and packaging equipment. FMA's are eligible for paid time off, healthcare reimbursement, and bonuses after a 60 day probationary period. As FMA’s master additional equipment they can earn additional income by becoming Technicians or Manufacturing Leads. We are currently hiring for positions available for days (6am - 4:30pm). Please indicate your availability in your application. REQUIRED SKILLS o Basic arithmetic skills to scale recipes o Fast, clean and safe production worker. Good with your hands. o Ability to follow written standard operating procedures, recipes, and production instructions. o Capacity to learn quickly, and willingness to be flexible when changes are needed o Attention to detail, and interest in being thorough o Personal accountability to your responsibilities and to your fellow associates. DESIRED SKILLS o Food Preparation experience o Manufacturing or assembly experience o Formal Education in the Culinary Art LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR FMA'S o Training in food and occupational safety o Work in structured and supportive environment o Develop technical culinary skills and food science understanding o Work with various types of food processing and packaging equipment o Make different kinds of delicious foods! And HAVE FUN while you do it! Compensation: Competitive wage in the range of $14.50-16/hour plus benefits. Promotions to senior associate or lead create the potential for wages in the range up to $20/hour. To Apply: If you are interested in this position, please complete TKC's Employment Inquiry form, to provide us some background information on your experience and interests.

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Defining Characteristics of a Successful Food Business: The Kitchen Coop sits down with serial entrepreneur Tom Spier

Posted by: | Posted on: October 29th, 2014 | 0 Comments

SpierCapital Management Boulder is home some of the most successful natural food businesses in the world.  It’s also home to many food and beverage startups whose founders are always eager to hear from those who have been successful in the industry. With that in mind, Jeanne Eisenhaure of The Kitchen Coop recently sat down with Tom Spier, the former CEO of Evol Foods.  Prior to Evol Tom was COO of the very successful granola company, Bear Naked.  He is now with  Spier Capital Management.   JE: What would you identify as the single most important factor for  success in any food business? TS: It’s rarely just one factor.  Rather, it’s a delicate balance between “Brand, Product, People, and Luck.” You won’t have these factors ideally lined up, but it is important to keep checking on each of them and working on your weak areas. JE:  Taking Brand first - what do you think best characterizes Evol’s “Brand” boosting work and how did that help success? We think Evol was smart in the early days to avoid pursuing the traditional fast-food market.  Instead, they went after events focused on the active lifestyle market they felt a part of - such the 10Ks runners and cycling event.  That really helped them stand out and be appreciated by that crowd. With Bear Naked, they made sure their granola stood out on shelves with a standup zipper pouch (now ubiquitous in the grocery isles). Consumers want brands that connect your personal ethos with theirs. The brand becomes a personal connecting point if it’s strong enough. JE: How Does Product Come Into this? TS: Your product is the foundation for your entire business. Develop your product with eyes wide open to actual consumer feedback. Listen to your consumer as you are starting up your business. If you cannot get to the shelf – stop. Know that as you develop your product and business it will take more time and money than you could possibly imagine at the outset. JE:  The People part. A lot of small business leaders are heard to say the hardest part of their job is building and managing their team. What advice have you got for them? TS: Try to keep everyone “under the umbrella “and find ways to make it work – especially if the team member is passionate. And try hard to play to peoples’ strengths, notice if someone has a hard time with complex software but is great with people and post them accordingly. Finally, take the time to over communicate as much as possible. When you’re building any business it takes a lot of work to get all the pieces acting together. Be patient and work hard on your team. JE: What do you look for when investing in a food business? TS Again, I look for the 3 qualities I’ve been talking about. Brand, Product and People, but I also pay significant attention to a businesses capital structure. Both Bear Naked and Evol pursued a fairly fast growth curve investing significant capital from the team, friends and family, and outside investors. JE: Is it possible to bootstrap a Company? It’s certainly possible – look at Stacy Madison of Stacy’s Pita Chips.  But I’ll admit, this hasn’t been my personal approach. I tend to look out for a company that has both a competitive advantage and is a well-funded.  

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The Fundamentals of Food Product Development

Posted by: | Posted on: May 8th, 2013 | 0 Comments

When a consumer purchases a packaged food item, they probably don’t give a lot of thought to how it was produced, let alone the process by which it came to market. On the other hand, the manufacturer has given a lot of thought to this process — having made significant investments in the product concept, formulation, packaging, manufacturing process, and marketing strategies to hopefully support a successful product launch. Just how does a new food product come to market? The complex and dynamic process of new food product development begins with multi-disciplinary teams of food scientists and technologists, raw material suppliers, nutritionists, sensory analysts, analytical chemists, microbiologists, packaging specialists, food engineers, and marketing experts. Each discipline offers a level of expertise to assure the best odds of success for the new product in the market place. Product development takes place in stages where creativity and the principles of food science are applied - the physical, chemical, and microbiological composition of food, food quality, food safety, and food processing.  A food scientist specializing in food product development is a key team member in each phase. An approach to new product development commonly used in industry has been developed by The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT): 5 Stages of Food Product Development
  1. Decide what the new product will be.  Brainstorm ideas to build and refine the product concept. Address requirements to take the product to market and viability of the concept.
  2. Discover the target consumer and product niche.  Identify competition, consumer needs, and ways to make the product unique by performing a competitive product review. Develop and conduct screening market surveys with the target market to determine if they will actually purchase the product.  Conduct formal focus groups to determine how the product might be perceived by target consumers.
  3. Define which ingredients will be in it. Establish key attributes such as taste, texture, color and source ingredients accordingly. Consider shelf life requirements. Take into account packaging materials and how the product will be labeled.
  4. Develop everything about it.  Develop and evaluate a prototype by comparing it to competitive products or an existing gold standard. Evaluate ingredient functionality to determine if the technical realities of the product meet the marketing goals. Include sensory testing to assist in achieving the target product. Address regulatory issues associated with food labeling and the manufacturing process. Continue with product refinement, costing, manufacturing considerations and final selection of packaging materials.
  5. Deploy.  Finalize the formula, product name, graphic design, and marketing strategy. Consider available distribution channels, shelf price, and profit goals.
To learn more about food product development and how food science impacts the foods you eat every day, visit The Institute of Food Technologists at www.ift.org. Kathy Lewis, MS RD is a food scientist and registered dietitian with 20 years combined experience in food product development and regulatory compliance.  Ms. Lewis can be reached at kathylewis012@gmail.com or 303-513-5737.

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