Product Developer – Value Engineering & Continuous Improvement

Overview:

apetito is a global leader in the supply of meal solutions for hospitals, care homes and meals on wheels agencies across Canada, Germany, the UK, France, and the Netherlands. We are also the parent company of Heart to Home Meals (HTHM), North America’s premier private home meal delivery service for seniors.

The Role:

We are looking for a commercially minded Product Developer to join our Product Development Team, with a primary focus on Value Engineering across the apetito and Heart to Home Meals product range.

Reporting to the Product Development Manager, the successful candidate will work to optimize existing products and support new product development by identifying opportunities to improve cost, quality, nutrition, functionality, and operational efficiency. The role will play an important part in ensuring our products deliver the best possible value to both our customer and the business.

Working closely with other members of Product Development, Category Management, Procurement, Operations, Quality Assurance and other key stakeholders, the Product Developer will investigate and implement opportunities to reduce cost while maintaining or improving the customer experience.

The role will involve evaluating recipes, raw materials, and operation processes to identify opportunities for improvement. This may include ingredient substitutions, recipe optimization, supplier changes, yield improvements, and process efficiencies.

There will also be opportunities to lead and support innovation across all our business units,



including Healthcare, Meals on Wheels, and Heart to Home Meals. However, the primary focus will be on delivering measurable value and continuous improvements.

Key Responsibilities:

Value Engineering & Cost Optimization

- Lead and support value engineering projects across the existing product portfolio, identifying opportunities to reduce cost while maintaining or improving product quality, nutrition and customer appeal.
- Analyse recipes, ingredient specifications, yields, portion sizes and manufacturing processes to identify cost-saving opportunities.
- Evaluate alternative ingredients, suppliers, and specifications to determine the best balance of cost, quality, functionality and availability.
- Partner with Procurement and suppliers to identify cost-effective ingredients and alternative sourcing opportunities.
- Identify ingredients to rationalize across the range where appropriate.
- Conduct kitchen bench samples and product evaluations to validate proposed changes.

Product & Continuous Improvement

- Improve existing products through recipe optimization, ingredient changes, process improvements and specification changes.
- Ensure cost reductions do not negatively impact taste,



texture, appearance, nutritional value, portion size or overall customer experience
- Investigate product quality issues and identify opportunities for corrective action and continuous improvement.
- Use sensory evaluation and product testing to validate changes before implementation.
- Support initiatives to improve manufacturing efficiency, reduce waste, and optimize product yields.
- Maintain clear documentation of trials, changes, costs and project outcomes.
- Manage multiple projects and priorities while ensuring timelines and objectives are achieved.
- Support the broader Product Development team as required.

Qualifications:

Essential

- Post-secondary education qualification (or equivalent) in food related subject and / or demonstrable track record within food product development
- Experience of working within food product development, food manufacturing or a related commercial food environment.
- Experience managing projects and delivering measurable outcomes.
- Solid analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills.
- Innovative, organised, adaptable and conscientious, with good communication and team working skills.

Desirable

- Experience within frozen food manufacturing
- Excellent culinary skills
- Good presentation and stakeholder management skills

Pay: $50,000.00-$65,000.00 per year

Benefits

- Dental care
- On-site parking
- Paid time off

Experience:
- Food industry: 1 year (required)
- Culinary: 1 year (required)

Work Location: In person

📌 Product Developer – Value Engineering & Continuous Improvement (Orléans)
🏢 apetito | Wiltshire Farm Foods]
📍 Orléans