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Food Test Kitchen – A Specialized Service Of The Food IndustryThe food test kitchen business is a very specialized business within the food service industry that is responsible for developing new recipes and improving existing recipes as well as cooking techniques. Food service industry test kitchens also recommend cookware and kitchen equipment such as kitchen appliances that they think are the best for any kitchen job, and they may also rate ingredients that are used in preparing various recipes. Additionally, these test kitchens also develop recipes for restaurants and grocery stores in a very scientific process, so eating tasty food is more than just pulling out a recipe and putting it together.
Some of the most well known test kitchens actually do food testing for their own television shows, cookbooks and magazines that the general public can benefit from. The foods that are taste tested in these kitchens go through a rigorous process until the recipe is as perfect as it can be before it is released to the public either through television, books, magazines, cookbooks, restaurants and your neighborhood grocery store.
Foods are tested multiple times not just once by multiple testers, using a variety of techniques, with a variety of tools and on various types of cooking ranges, and they record how long it takes to prepare a particular recipe.
Some of the positions within this very specialized business include:
• Research Chef – the individual who takes foods that may be found in a restaurant and recreates them into meals that can be purchased by individuals from a supermarket for home consumption.
• Recipe Developer also called a Test cook in some kitchens or simply a tester – this individual creates and tests recipes which may also be included in cookbooks and magazines. These individuals may also shop for ingredients at the supermarket.
• Assistant Test Cook – the individual that may assist the recipe developer or test cook in recipe research, recipe development, and provides support in the kitchen doing prep work.
There is also the possibility of securing an internship or fellowship with a test kitchen. Other roles in the test kitchen include laboratory technicians, and process managers.
In order to qualify for these types of food test kitchen positions the individual is generally expected to possess a degree from an accredited culinary arts training program and depending on the position 2-5 years of experience in food preparation such as experience in a restaurant.
For a short video on how test kitchens work click on the link to foodnetwork.com
For some great information on starting a cooking business a great reference is:
• Restaurant and More by Entrepreneur Magazine
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