Director of Product Development

Michael Joy

Michael Joy graduated from Johnson and Wales University, Providence, RI, with an A.S. degree in Culinary Arts. For the next 10 years he held several Chef and Pastry Chef positions in national hotel chains rising to Executive Pastry Chef and Executive Chef status at Stouffer Hotels and Hilton Hotels respectively. Michael made the transition out of hotels and restaurants in 1989 to the Corporate Chef position at Grace Culinary Systems, a division of WR Grace. There, for the next 8 years, Michael acquired in-depth R&D skills and extensive knowledge in food manufacturing including cook chill, commercial baking and the then new technology of Sous Vide processing.

Combining Culinary Arts and food manufacturing skills Michael has helped develop food products for such noted companies as McCormick and Co as Corporate Chef/Savory Applications Manager, International Coordinator/TechnoChef™ for Firmenich Inc, and Vice President Culinary Services for The Original Soup Man restaurant chain. In these positions Michael has traveled the globe developing food products for retail and food service, setting up and executing consumer focus groups and training local product development teams He is currently the Director of Product Development at Park 100 Foods based out of Indianapolis, IN where he manages the development of fresh and frozen product development for food service and national restaurant chains.

Chef Michael is a founding member and Past President of the Research Chef Association, a member and former Distinguished Lecturer for the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT). Michael has written several articles as Contributing Editor for Prepared Foods and Food Product Design publications.