You Can Get Paid To Taste Chocolate, Seriously

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Talk about a sweet gig. Mondelez International, the Illinois-based company behind sweet treats like Oreo, Chips Ahoy! and Cadbury is on the hunt for a professional chocolate taster. What could be better?

Here’s a snapshot of the key responsibilities for this delicious role, according to the company in its own words.

• Be able to taste chocolate and cocoa beverage products and give objective and honest feedback.
• Work within a team of panelists to share opinions and collaborate to reach an agreement on taste.
• Use a clearly defined vocabulary to describe products and aid in the discrimination between products.
• Be consistent in the results given.
• Know the ethical and legal compliance responsibilities of the position; raise questions and concerns when faced with an ethical or compliance issue; apply integrity in all aspects of professional conduct.
• Chocolate tasters are key in helping Mondelez perfect and launch an entirely new product all over the world.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to succeed in the position, you’ll have “a passion for confectionary and taste buds for detection,” not to mention integrity when it comes to sharing your opinion. An eagerness to explore new inventive products is required, as well as being communicative and having the ability to establish great relationships.

The position is based in Reading, England.

It’s not the first time an opportunity to get paid for tasting chocolate has hit the web. The official food taster Orietta Gianjorio that specializes in chocolate will reportedly compensate you $35,000 to $65,000 a year to taste 6 to 12 different types of chocolate a day.

Is being a professional chocolate taster too good to be true? It may not be all sweetness.

“People’s faces light up when I say I taste chocolate for a living, but it’s not always delicious,” said one professional in the business. “I also have to taste defective chocolate, which might have a bitter or burned flavor. I’m usually in a small room, not allowed to talk, and parked in front of a computer to log information. Sometimes the room has red lighting to disguise the appearance of the chocolate, so I can evaluate it only by taste, not appearance.”

Still, being a chocolate taster sounds pretty good to us.