Associate Director, Sales Foodservice

Due to our rapid growth, our success is directly dependent on attracting and retaining the best possible talent across our teams. To this end, we are posting for a strong Associate Sales Director, Foodservice. This opportunity will require regular travel out of our corporate location in Needham, MA.

OVERVIEW OF ROLE:

The Associate Director, Sales Foodservice will have primary responsibility for generating and maintaining new and existing business for the Foodservice trade channel. The ideal candidate will have a proven history of identifying and activating new business, as well as managing existing customer relationships.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Initiate and direct sales calls at account headquarters; manages customer relationships.
• Develop, implement, monitor, and evaluate business plans for key customers across the country.
• Develop Annual Operating Plan for the Foodservice channel; to include channel strategy, annual “big bets” and go-to market plan.
• Collaborate with ELT group as an advisor on macro strategy for general marketplace and go-forward planning.
• Lead and direct the effort to penetrate & develop key customer contacts and relationships, resulting in successful achievement of the Company's strategic goals & objectives.
• Motivate, coach, and develop Foodservice Sales Team members.
• Manage Foodservice customer marketing manager and identifies business-building opportunities and develop a plan that includes new items & merchandising.
• Negotiate with customers to achieve organization goals.
• Lead the development of a Foodservice sales organization, with focus on colleges, universities, stadiums, movie theaters, QSRs, and other food service channel segments.
• Track and analyze business trends on a daily/weekly/monthly basis including volume achievement, trade spending, market share development and other corporate goals, including margin mix.
• Communicate policies and procedures to Food Brokers and customers.
• Communicate marketplace activities to Chief Customer Officer on a regular basis.
• Actively participate in industry and customer initiatives, including trade and food shows.
• Interact with cross-functional teams in the areas of forecasting, new item program development, trade spending program development, and sales reporting. ·
• Other duties as assigned.

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor’s degree in a business-related field required.
• Minimum 10 years of sales experience in the food industry required.
• Knowledge of and key account contacts in the Foodservice channel preferred.
• Experience in direct sales management and key account management preferred.
• Experience in cold calling, networking, and lead generation, all with the ability to capture and close new business required.
• Experience in the development and on-going management of a direct and/or broker managed sales organization required.
• Experience in the management of Food Brokers required.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The below physical demands are representative of those that must be met by the team member to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

• Able to sit / stand for prolonged periods at a desk and working on a computer.
• Ability to travel frequently, by air and other modes of transportation.
• Must be able to work in a fast-paced work environment where a broad range of tasks may be required

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Reliable, consistent, and punctual attendance is required.
• Up to 75% travel
• Must be able to perform the same duties, assignments, and other tasks when working remotely as they do when working in the Home Market Foods’s office.