Product Developer Café 365

Location: Cape Town

Purpose of the Job

To drive product innovation and development across Bakery, Café 365, Convenience Shop (Private Label), Coffee, and Perishable and ensures that new product launches are commercially viable, operationally executable, aligned with market trends, and exceed customer expectations in quality, value, and relevance. 

What you'll have done before:

Baseline:

• NQF Level 7 (Degree in Consumer Science or Culinary).
•  5 years experience in food and beverage product development, category management or FMCG innovation.

Advantageous: 

• Qualification in Business, Marketing, Food Science.
• Forecourt, convenience retail, bakery, QSR or private label experience 

What you'll be doing:

NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PLAN 

• Identify, analyze, and interpret lifestyle, retail, and food trends at local and global level to establish a pipeline of innovative, consumer-relevant products. 
• Conduct competitor and pricing benchmarking to inform development and ensure Engen’s product ranges are competitive.
• Translate category briefs into executable product concepts and manage development from idea to launch, adhering to strict timelines.
• Ensure compliance with food regulations, including ingredient declarations, allergen management, and accurate specification sheets. 

STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT 

• Integrate and drive teamwork and cross functional integration to optimize outputs.
• Build and maintain collaborative relationships with Category Managers, Heads, suppliers, and dealers. 
• Act as the central contact point across multiple stakeholders to ensure clarity, alignment, and timely delivery of projects. 
• Present concepts, insights, and recommendations confidently and persuasively to both internal and external audiences. 

PACKAGING DEVELOPMENT & EXECUTION 

• Manage packaging briefs and development to ensure fit-for-purpose, cost-effective, and consumer-friendly solutions. 
• Ensure packaging communicates value, key selling points, and aligns with Engen brand standards. 
• Partner with suppliers to innovate in both packaging and product to deliver differentiated forecourt solutions 

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES 

• Adopt a customer facing way of working and gain understanding of various customer segments through research and customer focus groups to ensure a product development plan that drives innovation & customer satisfaction in different segments and customer tiers.
• Set and continuously improve the quality standards of the product ranges within a product tier, through local and international benchmarking. 
• Continuously monitor and improve the quality, speed, and effectiveness of the product development process.
• Benchmark against best practice locally and internationally to drive standards and category competitiveness.
• Identify process gaps and implement agile solutions to deliver products faster without compromising quality 

CUSTOMER AND MARKET INSIGHTS 

• Ensure and interpret customer knowledge & understanding of lifestyle, needs, price perception, value perception and satisfaction through analyzing data, customer research & market trends, industry networking, and filter this through to a product strategy that results in category growth and that profit targets are met. 
• Lead market scans, trend monitoring, and consumer insights to identify product opportunities. 
• Ensure combination of market insights, category knowledge, and process management to deliver products with speed, accuracy, and impact, directly contributing to category growth and profitability. 
• Translate data into actionable recommendations that support category strategy and customer satisfaction.
• Ensure that new product ranges meet customer needs across different segments, price points and occasions (breakfast, lunch, afternoon, dinner). 

Working Conditions:

Ability to travel (when required)