A sweet start to a career in food science

Food Science and Technology Pub Date: 2023-06-01 DOI: 10.1002/fsat.3702_13.x

Abstract
Dani Bali, Development Technician at Bowman Ingredients, goes through the journey that took her from studying Baking Technology Management to her current role, highlighting challenges and opportunities faced as a young professional in the area of food science. Working in the food field means having the chance to cover many exciting and formative roles; some will allow us to make a difference, others are dedicated to ensuring safety and quality, and others will have to do with the understanding of us as consumers. When it comes to me and my career as a young professional, as I look back, I had a rather traditional start: I began at London South Bank University, studying BSc (Hons) in Baking Technology Management. I have always enjoyed baking and was keen to learn about the patisserie and chocolate industry. In pursuit of this, I moved from Dubai, UAE to the UK; this was overwhelming, to say the least. Being an international student has its own set of challenges; I don’t think you can ever be ready for them. I had to get accustomed to the culture, the way of learning, and most importantly, the accent. I genuinely struggled with the accent. This involved constantly requesting people to repeat their sentences. I had to remind myself that I was ignoring the fact that I had just moved abroad and that it was okay not to know some things. It took some getting used to the UK and overcoming that initial culture shock. However, I had far too much to explore and learn about, and I couldn’t let these hurdles stop me. My course offered a good range of modules, from food chemistry to chocolate. Granted, nothing beats going into a lab with a chocolate fountain! The practical exams were always intense. I would often describe them as MasterChef or Great British Bake-Off competitions. However, I loved it; it was an oddly exhilarating yet stressful experience. Our lecturers also encouraged us to participate in various contests. This was good practice as it introduced us to the broader industry, helped us keep up with the competition, and was an excellent place to channel creativity. I vividly recall the cake decorating competition I entered that year. I had never decorated a cake and decided to make a BB-8 from Star Wars. It was the most challenging shape I could have picked, but it was great fun. By entering such competitions, I got to improve my cake decorating skills along with working with different bits of equipment. Despite university and competition experiences, I needed to gain ‘real-world’ practical experience. So, I began to seek internships. I consider myself very fortunate to have secured two internships while completing my bachelor's degree. I am pleased to say I completed these internships at The Ritz and Harrods. They were fantastic experiences; I got to work in the infamous Harrods bakery, making French baguettes and other breads while curious shoppers carefully watched through the glass windows as fresh loaves of bread exited the oven. At The Ritz, I worked in the afternoon tea and service kitchen. The memory of preparing 100s of macarons at the end of the day is etched in my brain. It's a difficult sight to forget, two large steel worktops pushed together and covered in macarons. We operated like a well-oiled machine, one person matching the macaron halves, another placing them correctly on the worktops, another piping the fillings, another placing the halves back together, and so on. It was a brilliant sight, and I am so pleased to have been part of that process. This experience certainly helped me, as my final patisserie exam was afternoon tea! It was a fabulous display of afternoon tea for our last exam, we did bring our lecturer to tears, tears of happiness, I must add. It was a great final exam for my bachelor's degree. I stand by my earlier statement to have been fortunate enough to have had those experiences, as it was honestly a matter of being at the right place and time. Additionally, it was about forming connections, a cliché but very true. By connections, I mean seizing every opportunity to make connections. I attended every career fair my university held, ensuring to talk to relevant companies and asking questions, especially about their role and their day-to-day. It was a matter of conveying my interest, and I do enjoy learning about people and their roles. I still come across roles I have never heard of, and it's fascinating to learn about them. I learned about the Ritz opportunity through the university career fair and the Harrods one through the employability center. While the employability center might not be linked directly to the food industry, they certainly provided me with the guidance I needed to work at Harrods. To date, I am so very grateful for them. Back then, a decent portion of my week would be spent at the employability center, updating my CV, and practicing for interviews. It was great, and I’m grateful to that team for all their help. After my bachelor's degree and internships, I felt lost, and a bit confused about my future. At this point, I had ignored pursuing other potential roles such as chocolatier. I find it funny because this was something my lecturers warned me about; they suggested I keep my options open and not stick to one career route as you never know what will happen, and what if I change my mind? Unfortunately, I thought my 17-year-old self knew better than these experienced professionals. I was terribly wrong and thank those who tried to help me. Although I enjoyed my bakery course, I couldn’t see myself having a career in the bakery industry. I guess it was a bit to do with not mixing hobby and work; if baking became my work, I would no longer enjoy it. While working in the pastry kitchen is great, I couldn’t see myself doing that for longer than a few weeks or months. It was an odd time because I was in denial about it for a while. Accepting that I wanted to move to something else made me feel like I had somehow failed. At the same time, the reality was that I was more informed now. I had acquired more knowledge and experience about a field and was in a better position to decide whether I wanted a career in this field. I can only imagine others in the same position as myself doubting themselves because their career goals have changed. It feels like you’re starting at square one, but you aren’t; you have the experience that your younger self didn’t. Coming to terms with this career change, I still did not know what I wanted to do instead. Coincidentally, I came across an MSc course in Gastronomy in Scotland, and the course description greatly appealed to me. The keywords in the description read ‘holistic understanding of food’, I thought that's exactly what I needed; I wanted to understand more about food and different parts of the food industry. This was probably the best decision I made, as it ended up being a defining moment in my career journey. My time in Scotland was amazing; we had many field trips and even more potluck lunches! The lecturers started a tradition of bringing each year's cohort together. I also joined the IFST Food Innovation and Packaging SIG towards the end of the year. I was delighted to work on various events and engage with the community about all creative innovations and more. After obtaining a rather holistic knowledge of the food industry, I realised that product development is where I’d like to be. Therefore, I call my master's in Scotland a defining moment because learning so much about the food industry helped me decide what to do. I wanted to focus more on product development and be more involved with innovation. This led me to the University of Greenwich and its MSc in Food Innovation program with a year-long industrial placement. This course seemed perfect for me as it would cover the fundamentals of product development and inform me about other crucial aspects such as HACCP, quality assurance, documentation, auditing, and traceability. I also had the chance to explore other interests, such as food microbiology and preservation. My time in Greenwich went by quicker than I anticipated. We were working in a post-lockdown environment, hence, conducting lab work under restricted time was challenging but provided a good sense of the tight industry deadlines under which I’d have to work. Furthermore, due to the tight deadlines, efficiency was key. Snap decisions had to be made on analysing the feasibility of a recipe. As trialing every recipe was certainly not an option. One of my favourite projects to have worked on was the product development module. We had the chance to cover all aspects of the NPD process. Looking at the stage gate model, disruptive innovation, marketing, and benchmarking. The idea of this module was to prepare us for working in the field, so it was all done properly with briefs, lab reports, and marketing reports. We had the opportunity to learn and comprehend, tackling potential challenges such as shortage of raw materials, supplier delays, and non-compliance. I then looked at placement opportunities; connections played a big part here. Being part of the IFST community, I could ask for guidance with my placement search. This led me to my placement at SPG Innovation, a small business, focusing on sustainable nutrition. I developed many essential skills here and understood more about the workings of a small business. With my placement coming to an end, I started seeking job roles relevant to product development. I was working on the R&D side of things during my placement, and while I did enjoy it, I wanted a more creative and innovative role. I was applying to multiple job roles and going for interviews in hopes of securing a development role. I finally did secure a position at Bowman Ingredients. As someone who has applied to her fair share of jobs, completing job applications and filling out cover letters can be tedious. Something that helped me was pacing myself. There would be times when I would apply for multiple jobs in one day. Other times, I would set myself a target, such as making sure I apply for two jobs daily and then increase that gradually. Whatever method I followed, I ensured to give myself breaks as it can be exhausting and disheartening to get rejections or, sometimes, no responses. I’d encourage anyone on the job hunt to experiment and identify their method. I also developed a system to keep track of the roles and companies I have applied to, submission dates, and if I had heard back. This worked for me and helped me; it is a matter of just giving it a go and identifying what works for you. My current role as Development Technician at Bowman Ingredients started at the beginning of this year, and I’m delighted to say I thoroughly enjoy it! I am still learning and enjoy learning about other parts of the industry. I am delighted to have the opportunity to share my innovative side with others. I am keen to see what the future holds for me in this role. Dani Bali, Development Technician at Bowman Ingredients
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