Sr Food Scientist

Senior Food Scientist/Technologist – Kenny's Candy and Confections - Perham, MN Our Coolest Benefit - Profit Sharing!

In our most recent fiscal year, KLN Family Brands contributed over $6.2 million into our employee profit sharing pool!!!

Our Story

KLN Family Brands is a third generation family-owned business that started in 1964 with its corporate headquarters located in Perham, MN, in the heart of MN lakes country. Together, our companies manufacture a diverse and expansive range of high-quality human and pet food products.

At KLN Family Brands, our vision is that “We are a proud people-first company. We are successful because of trust-based relationships and first-rate products for our families and friends. We better the world by caring for others. We challenge. We grow. We inspire.”

Some companies have to “fudge the story” or add a “spin” to shine a positive light on themselves. That’s not who we are at KLN Family Brands, and that’s not what we do. We tell the story of our brand – our people, the quality and safety of our products, our bold innovation, our tradition and trust, and the way we treat our community & beyond. We do it in a genuine way because we genuinely believe we’re a pretty amazing company.

What We Are Looking For

We’re now hiring aSenior Food Scientist/Technologistto support our Perham, MN Kenny's Candy and Confection Facility. The objective of this position is to create new product formulations, assist in the R&D process, help create and monitor a consistent high-quality product and maintain or develop new customer and supplier relationships.

Essential Responsibilities

• Prepare for and represent Kenny’s Candy & Confections with customers, trade organizations, and trade meetings and conventions including:
• Work with customers to meet their needs regarding flavor, nutritional, and label claims.
• Develop new products that follow regulatory and market trends.
• Maintain relationships with suppliers and utilize their insight to develop new products and troubleshoot existing issues.
• Maintain relationships with industry associations and regulatory trends.
• Prepare all necessary reports as required by customers
• Develop and maintain formulation strategies for existing and new product development including
• Understanding the synergy between/among functional ingredients.
• Understand processing parameters and effects on ingredients.
• Understand scale up process from benchtop to production.
• Utilize consistent formulation calculations/tools.
• Support and complete benchtop samples including
• Support analytical equipment and data collection tools.
• Providing and updating R&D laboratory tools, utensils, supplies, etc
• Work with purchasing department/suppliers to ensure necessary materials/ingredients are in house for benchtop samples
• Request necessary paperwork, logistical information and pricing to determine applicability of material for project needs.
• Organize and retain benchtop and trial samples for further review and shelf life analysis
• Coordinate, manage, monitor, and document plant trials
• Understand the transfer of formulas from benchtop to line trial
• Provide paperwork & instructions to production team to run production line trials
• Collect data, samples, and attend to detail during production line trials and first production runs
• Organize and file collected data for future reference
• Work on current formulations to make any changes as directed by management teams
• Support nutritional and labeling strategy and proof labeling information
• Determine appropriate nutritional database and maintain administrative relationship.
• Work side by side & when necessary provide assistance as needed to other Food Techs and R&D Application Specialist.
• Create first draft tentative nutritional labels when necessary
• Maintain proofing standards according to the FDA’s Code of Federal Regulations. Proof and review nutritional panels for packaging
• Communicate with other department and other R&D team members to work strategically through projects
• Prepare all necessary reports required by department heads
• Communicate with sales team on project timelines and updates
• Utilize change process management project tools to update projects & manage timelines.
  

Additional Responsibilities

• Assist Food Technologist & R&D Application Specialist on projects as time allows
• Continue additional ingredient education and model current processing systems
• Assist in sourcing and trialing new ingredients as needed
• Set up and operate equipment needed for sample production
• Use ingredients knowledge, processing experience, and project goals to define processing specifications in conjunction with the quality department
• Assist with product issues (processing, formulation, quality, etc.) with the understanding of scientific principles to prove root cause and provide processing or formulation solutions
  
  

Qualifications

• 5 yrs experience in new product development and formulations in Food Science with Confectionary experience
• A BS degree, or higher, in Food Science
• Understanding multi-ingredient functionality
• Experience in new product development and formulations
• Self-Motivated
• Excellent computer skills
• Excellent communication and organizational skills
• Ability to work well with others