Established in 2002, The Culinary Edge (TCE) is the USA’s leading food & beverage innovation consultancy. We work with ambitious brands, and sometimes we launch our own, like Starbird.

At TCE you’ll find classically trained chefs working alongside designers, brand planners, operational experts, and food anthropologists. We fuse culinary excellence, operational expertise, and human-centered design to forge the future of what we eat and drink.

TCE’s work supports all types of brands, from startups to Starbucks. We have an insatiable appetite to learn, create, cook and taste — on any given day, you’ll see our office abuzz with the energy of developing new ideas in our studio and new dishes in our test kitchen.

TCE’s internship program offers creative and curious students a four-month opportunity to work alongside our team of strategists and chefs. At TCE, we like to think of our internships more like apprenticeships. We learn the most when teaching and it is our duty to ensure there is a rich transfer of knowledge and skills. 

The strategy internship is designed to cultivate a deep understanding of scalable food and beverage concepts. Our goal is to prepare interns for a career in food & beverage strategy through exposure to F&B concepting, operations, brand design, menu strategy, and product development. This strategy internship is intended for students and those seeking to understand the ins and outs of the restaurant industry. 

Due to the broad scope of our business, The Culinary Edge requires a wide-ranging skill set and professional demeanor from the strategy intern. Interns are assigned to projects alongside other members of the strategy team, and follow the project through each phase of work, from creative to development and launch. TCE interns contribute to projects at many stages, occasionally managing independent tasks and projects, making them integral members of the Strategy Team. 

Sample Responsibilities of the Strategy Intern

• Support strategy and culinary teams on client projects, including writing, copyediting, deck building, proofing deliverables, imagery collection, and providing consumer research support
• Participate in creative brainstorming sessions
• Research restaurant concepts, industry trends and periodicals, ingredients, plateware, and packaging
• Capture and disseminate notes for creative ideation sessions and meetings
• Assist in the creation of kitchen operations materials for client projects
• Coordinate reception, hospitality, and meals for client meetings, general guest hospitality, and space management
• Shop for ingredients, supplies, and materials

• Design-focused with advanced written and visual presentation skills
• Able to quickly adapt to new technology or programs
• Able to manage a heavy workload, prioritize well and meet deadlines
• Resourceful, flexible, and able to creatively solve problems
• Systems and process-oriented
• Proactive and reliable to fellow team members and managers
• Impeccable attention to detail and minimal errors
• Passionate about food, trends, and hospitality
• Strong sense of agency and accountability 

• Undergraduate or postgraduate student
• Strong working knowledge of both Mac and Microsoft office suites
• Ability to work on-site at our San Francisco test kitchen, located in the SOMA neighborhood

Interns work normal office hours and total approximately 38 hours per week. However, hours are flexible and may differ from week to week. 

4 months (flexible)