My food & drink job: Jasmine Johnson, process technologist, Charlie Bigham’s

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jasmine

Name: Jasmine Johnson

Job title: Process technologist

Age: 27

Company & location: Charlie Bigham’s, London

Education: BSc Nutrition Honours at St Mary’s University, Twickenham

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? Easy – a bakery owner! I dreamed of a spot filled with sweet smells and trays of warm, golden bakes. I even started writing my own recipe book when I was 11 and still add to it. It’s a little dog-eared now, but it’s full of nostalgia (and very buttery pages).

Why did you decide to go for a career in food & drink? I’ve always loved food and recipe development. I’ve spent countless hours experimenting with recipes, tweaking flavours, cooking and baking up a storm – my kitchen’s my happy place.

“That hands-on, curious approach naturally pulled me towards food and drink as a career”

Explain your job to us in a sentence (or two): As a process technologist, I take our chefs’ brilliantly developed recipes and scale them up so they can be turned into dishes you can enjoy at home, keeping taste and quality as the number one priority. My job is to make sure that every forkful feels like it was lovingly handmade in your own kitchen.

What does a typical day look like for you? There’s no such thing as a typical day – and that’s part of the fun! You’ll find me trialling recipes in the production kitchen, checking yields and costs, testing shelf life, and tasting. A lot of tasting. It’s all about getting that dish just right, down to the last spoonful.

charlie bighams

Tell us how you went about applying for your job: Charlie Bigham’s has always stood out to me – they’re the kind of company that really cares about food. When I saw the opportunity pop up on their website, I applied straight away. I’d worked in frozen food before and was keen to move into chilled, where it’s more fast-paced and challenging.

What’s the best part about working for a food & drink company? Seeing something you’ve worked on land on the shelves is such a buzz. Knowing that people are taking your dish home and enjoying it, it doesn’t get much better than that. It’s tangible, delicious proof that all the hard work was worth it.

And what’s the biggest misconception people have about working in food & drink? People don’t always realise how much goes into each dish – it’s a huge collaboration, across many teams, working through challenges and trials, with every detail tested, tweaked and perfected before anything reaches the shelves. We don’t swan about eating all day! (Although the tasting part is real!)

What advice would you give to other young people looking to get into the food & drink industry? Be passionate about food – and quality food! Be endlessly curious. Taste everything. Learn from different cuisines, cooking styles and methods. Show not only a love for food, but also that you respect it, understand how it behaves, and have a desire to make it the best it can possibly be. If you show that passion, people will notice.

What’s your ultimate career dream? To be head of food – leading the charge on exciting innovations, setting the direction for future food trends, and bringing new ideas to life while keeping that Bigham’s quality front and centre. I want to create dishes that are full of flavour and make people feel like someone’s cooked just for them, whether they are comforting favourites or exciting, innovative dishes.