junzi kitchen
Incubated at Yale Entrepreneurial Institute and first opened in 2015, junzi grew out of a hunger for our childhood staples: northern Chinese food made with healthy, seasonal ingredients.
CULINARY INNOVATION
In 2018, I joined team junzi as the culinary innovation and food designer in New York City. I performed internal operations research to pinpoint opportunities for growth and worked with leadership to test new concepts. I wrote the company's first training and quality guides and developed implementation strategies with the culinary director, director of operations and director of training and development. In addition to writing and testing recipes and procedures, I worked cross functionally to lead new product and packaging initiatives and their roll outs across four locations.
FOOD DESIGN
On the creative side, I collaborated with chef Lucas Sin to serve unique menu stories at junzi's seasonal chef's tables and private dining events. I invented new desserts and beverages to enrich the stories we shared through food.
After a year of collaboration, I helped build up a food team of three to operate on its own and moved on to become a culinary trainer at a non-profit training restaurant in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.