Fell Into Food Podcast
Jan 1, 2024
JEFF FELL:
Working as a corporate chef… all right, we’ve got it. So you’re now at Unilever, right? You’ve worked your way up to Senior Corporate Chef. What is it like? I think a lot of people don’t know this side of the business, especially the non-commercial side. Everyone knows the restaurant world, what they see on TV, etc. But the non-commercial or manufacturer side? People don’t get a good glimpse into that world.
When I went to culinary school, no one talked about it. It was, “Hey, do you want to work at the Four Seasons? A cruise ship? A yacht? High-end catering?” And that all seems cool, but then I ended up in hotels and casinos and learned real quick that you get your butt kicked. I wasn’t sure it was for me, so luckily I found the education side.
But now you’re at Unilever, and to me it’s one of the prize jobs in the industry. What is it like? What do you do, and how does it differ from the typical everyday chef who’s in the grind at their facility?
CHEF ALVARO:
Yeah, so basically what we get to do is provide solutions. We create these convenience products to help alleviate some of the stress in the back of the house. You have a lot of chefs who love to do everything from scratch, but unfortunately, there’s just no more time. And the staff many restaurateurs are hiring may not have the experience or the skill set.
So being able to provide unique convenience products to help alleviate all of that is phenomenal.
I don’t personally develop the products, but we get to develop recipes. We build menus that show how to utilize the product and how it’s going to make life easier for the end user, the operator.
Every day for me is a little different. Some days I’m working with distributors, doing DSR meetings, teaching their sales force how to sell our products. How do our products benefit their customers? What’s the return on using them?
Other days, I’m traveling to work a convention. Recently we were in Napa Valley where we did the World of Flavors event. A lot of food manufacturers get together, we put on a show. We are literally cooking for five days and presenting all this food to customers of all sorts: schools, hospitals, upscale hospitality groups, hotels… really anyone in the industry.
It’s neat. You’ve got mixologists, chefs, demos happening, think of the NRA Show but smaller, with really good food. It’s not just fried stuff where you’re walking around feeling like you’re about to tip over.
That’s really what I get to do. I get to innovate, create recipes and menus that benefit a customer. Maybe their pain points are thickening soups or making sauces properly. That’s something we’ve noticed recently at colleges and universities: sauces break, or they get lumpy. How do we fix that? We introduce a product and show them how to prepare it, how stable it is, how it will hold in a steam table or go into an oven.
It’s a really neat job. And you’re right, I feel like I hit the jackpot. I feel like I won a big prize. I’m going into my tenth year, and it’s amazing to be here.
Watch the full podcast here.
