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Commercial culinary and digital experience leader with a proven record of improving retention, engagement and first-party data value for global food brands. Combines food policy expertise, consumer empathy and operational discipline to turn premium food content, customer journeys and digital platforms into measurable commercial assets. Strengths include customer retention strategy, lifecycle onboarding, premium food content operations, CRM and first-party data integration, and customer experience optimisation—supported by hands-on product leadership across connected culinary ecosystems and multi-market platforms.…Commercial culinary and digital experience leader with a proven record of improving retention, engagement and first-party data value for global food brands. Combines food policy expertise, consumer empathy and operational discipline to turn premium food content, customer journeys and digital platforms into measurable commercial assets. Strengths include customer retention strategy, lifecycle onboarding, premium food content operations, CRM and first-party data integration, and customer experience optimisation—supported by hands-on product leadership across connected culinary ecosystems and multi-market platforms.

Cara Hobday

Content Strategist, Content Producer, Creative Producer, +7

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Commercial culinary and digital experience leader with a proven record of improving retention, engagement and first-party data value for global food brands. Combines food policy expertise, consumer empathy and operational discipline to turn premium food content, customer journeys and digital platforms into measurable commercial assets. Strengths include customer retention strategy, lifecycle onboarding, premium food content operations, CRM and first-party data integration, and customer experience optimisation—supported by hands-on product leadership across connected culinary ecosystems and multi-market platforms.…Commercial culinary and digital experience leader with a proven record of improving retention, engagement and first-party data value for global food brands. Combines food policy expertise, consumer empathy and operational discipline to turn premium food content, customer journeys and digital platforms into measurable commercial assets. Strengths include customer retention strategy, lifecycle onboarding, premium food content operations, CRM and first-party data integration, and customer experience optimisation—supported by hands-on product leadership across connected culinary ecosystems and multi-market platforms.

Available to hire

Commercial culinary and digital experience leader with a proven record of improving retention, engagement and first-party data value for global food brands. Combines food policy expertise, consumer empathy and operational discipline to turn premium food content, customer journeys and digital platforms into measurable commercial assets.

Strengths include customer retention strategy, lifecycle onboarding, premium food content operations, CRM and first-party data integration, and customer experience optimisation—supported by hands-on product leadership across connected culinary ecosystems and multi-market platforms.

Skills

Experience Level

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Intermediate

Intermediate

Work Experience

Consumer Culinary Experience Manager at Kenwood (Havant HQ, Global role)

May 1, 2022 - Present

Led the connected culinary experience for Cooking Chef XL, driving content and UX improvements and systematic performance reviews to generate an estimated £9.3m in incremental retail value. Improved D1 retention from 14.8% to 24% in the first month of registration and sustained ~60% week-one retention for connected appliance users. Removed technical blockers in the first-party data pipeline (from user consent to Salesforce Marketing Cloud) to integrate ~400,000 actionable leads into the customer journey. Acted as Product Manager for Kenwood World and Kenwood & Me apps, directing development of a unified platform and leading migration of content and users from legacy systems.

Food Policy Research Consultant at The Seafarers' Charity / Seven Cherries

January 1, 2021 - January 1, 2021

Conducted primary research into financial precarity for the Fishing Without a Safety Net report. Executed carbon-impact evaluations for catering menus.

Director at UK Women in Fisheries

January 1, 2021 - January 1, 2022

Designed and delivered the initial launch communications strategy to elevate the profile of women in the UK seafood supply chain.

Global Culinary Content Strategist at Thermomix / Cookidoo

October 1, 2018 - March 1, 2022

Designed onboarding content frameworks using behavioural data to convert new registrations into long-term subscribers, contributing to a universal app store rating of 4.8–4.9*. Provided global editorial direction for Cookidoo subscription onboarding experience across 22 languages and 40 markets. Developed and executed a global food safety auditing framework for recipe assets, presenting risk ratings directly to senior leadership. Negotiated a global cookbook publishing deal with a major international publisher and directed creative strategy for a global homeware catalogue for Degrenne ceramics.

Global Recipe Content Development Specialist at Thermomix / Cookidoo

January 1, 2014 - January 1, 2018

Conceived and authored 220 core onboard recipes for the TM6 launch, maintaining editorial quality, food safety and IP standards. Managed rollout of a 70,000+ recipe library across 22 languages. Devised and delivered global creative recipe-writing workshops to ensure structural consistency, safety compliance and editorial quality across international teams.

Recipe and Food Content Creator / Producer at Various Clients (United Kingdom)

January 1, 2000 - January 1, 2015

Created consumer communications and commercial food content for premium retail brands including Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose and Tilda Rice. Produced content for high-profile culinary figures including Jamie Oliver, Heston Blumenthal and Delia Smith. Authored 15 commercial recipe books, managing end-to-end creative and publication workflows.