Food Science Technician
Phoebe is a Product Development Technician at Weetabix
At Weetabix, I help create new breakfast foods, from tasty bars to new cereal flavours. I work in the trial kitchens, testing new recipes, trying out ideas, and making sure our products are ready to go into the shops.
I also look for new food trends on social media to see what people might want next. What I do helps make sure people have tasty, filling, quality breakfasts that fit around their busy lives.
I love that no two days are the same. I love being busy and hands-on. But mostly, I love the people I work with. I live on my own and my family live far away, so my workmates really have become like a second family to me.
I actually left once to try another job, but I only lasted a day because I missed everyone so much!
Being organised is very important in my job. I use my calendar to plan everything. I need to figure out what jobs are the priority and make sure nothing gets missed, because lots of people are waiting for samples.
I also need to be creative when developing new recipes, and be confident about trying new things. Communication is also important, especially when explaining what we do to other teams. And, of course, I need to be careful with things like measurements and hygiene when working in the development kitchen or our pilot factory.
Our team is made up of a mix of people – some have been here for nearly 40 years, and others like me have been here less than 10 years. Everyone’s got different strengths. The longer serving team members have loads of knowledge and the new starters (like I once was) bring fresh ideas.
I’m quite social, so I like bringing people together. I’ve even started giving tours to other teams so they can understand our work better, it’s made working together much easier and friendlier.
My favourite bit of kit is something called the Co mill. It’s like a giant whisk that spins really fast and breaks up sticky lumps of cooked wheat. It’s quite big and powerful, but easy to use.
When we’re using it in a pilot factory trial, it helps break cooked material down into smaller, standard-sized bits. It’s so satisfying to watch it spin and do its job.
I’ve always loved baking, I used to make friends at school by bringing in cakes! I still bake all the time, especially for people at work on their birthdays. I would love to go on the Great British Bake Off – I apply every year!
I also play netball every week too, and I’m quite musical and can play the flute. Mostly though, I love cooking meals and making people happy with food, though I’m not great at doing the washing up afterwards!
At school, I liked being creative and studied subjects like textiles and music. I didn’t take food tech, even though I loved baking, because I didn’t like how it was taught.
I was very tall from a young age – I’ve been 6 feet 1 inches tall since I was 11 years old – and that made me stand out, not always in a good way. Baking helped me connect with people and I’ve stuck with it ever since.
One of the best things I’ve done is helping other teams understand our work. Lots of people didn’t realise how long food development takes or why, so I started giving them tours and explaining everything to them. Now they’re much more patient and understanding.
I’m proud that I’ve been able to speak up and connect people across the business in a positive way, and that feels like a big achievement.
We don’t just make Weetabix, we make Ready Brek, Weetos, Alpen and more. We even test things like how long a cereal lasts on the shelf by eating it when it’s up to 12 months old – someone has to do it!
Right now, I’m really happy in my role and I enjoy what I do. I like learning new things and taking on challenges, so if there’s something new to learn, I’m open to trying it.
Don’t just follow what others say, think carefully about what you really want and make the decision that’s best for you.
Try new things and give them a proper chance before deciding they’re not for you. I nearly gave up early on, but I’m so glad I stuck with it.
Discover what qualifications you’ll need, how much you can earn, and what the next steps are.
