Food Sourcing Specialist

Description

Are you passionate about making a difference in the community? Do you have a knack for sourcing and securing food donations from retailers and corporations with a meticulous eye for detail in scheduling and tracking those commodities? As a Food Sourcing Specialist at our Food Bank, you would play a pivotal role in ensuring that no one in our community goes hungry. We're on the lookout for individuals who are not only proactive and driven to develop community partnerships but also have a genuine passion for making a positive impact in people's lives.

Our Mission and Values:

We are passionate about our Mission of Uniting Communities to Alleviate Hunger. You are most likely to find success at United Food Bank if you are:

• Teamwork-oriented, collaborating with others to achieve the best outcomes
• Guided by Integrity to do the right things, always
• Inspired to go above and beyond to deliver Service & Innovation in your role.

Position Summary: 

The Food Sourcing Specialist will coordinate the day-to-day Grocery Rescue operations, including Enabled Agency management and Retail Partner support while prioritizing safety and compliance. This role will collaborate cross-departmentally, communicate with all necessary department contacts, and ensure customer service expectations are consistently exceeded. This role will also ensure there is adequate support and capability through training, development, and ongoing coaching.

Requirements

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Agency Management

• Responsible for monitoring Agency receipt reporting in MealConnect.
• Develop a quarterly visitation schedule for Enabled Agencies.
• Provide procedural training for store pickups.
• Maintain contact list for agencies in AirTable Matrix.
• Communicate and ensure adherence to food safety standards.
• Build partnerships with agencies as needed to support donation growth.
• Model and encourage customer service expectations are consistently exceeded. 
• Responsible for Enabled Agency reporting of neighbors served.
• Responsible for maintaining Pantry Program including working with Transportation to arrange deliveries.

Safety and Compliance

• Have knowledge and ability to initiate, monitor, direct, and train on food safety topics.
• Understand the legal impacts of donations for Retail Partners and agencies. 
• Observe and promote established safety procedures and maintain a clean working environment both at United Food Bank, and agencies.  
• Maintain ServSafe Manager Certification. 

Retail Partner Support

• Manage Retail Partner relationships by working to resolve any issues that arise.
• Plan and schedule store coverage during United Food Bank and Waste Not closures.
• Develop a quarterly visitation schedule for all Retail Partners. 
• Maintain Matrix in AirTable with daily updates. 
• Have knowledge and ability to monitor, initiate, and train good donation standards at the department level with Retail Partners. 
• Model excellent customer service to ensure expectations are consistently exceeded. 
• Provides solutions and exercises independent judgment when encountering issues and empowers others to exercise independent judgment.  
• Collaborate with Waste Not’s Operations Manager to cover routes.
• Collaborate with the Food Drive Manager to support partnerships.

Food Sourcing Growth

• Have the knowledge and ability to contact and build relationships with new donors.
• Have the ability to continuously improve.
• Collaborate with the Operations Team and agencies to ensure usage of all donations.
• Have the knowledge and ability to consider unconventional partnerships and solutions.

Qualifications: 

• Passion for alleviating hunger.
• Bachelor’s Degree or Associate’s degree (A.A.), or equivalent from a two-year college or technical school; and minimum of three to five years of experience in retail supervisor, sales, or a similar leadership role; or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Supervisory and/or managerial experience preferred, but not required
• Ability to collaborate effectively with cross-departmental teams and external partners
• Results-driven mindset with a focus on achieving organizational objectives
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Experience in implementing and managing software and systems
• Proven track record of improving operational efficiency and performance
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to inspire and motivate internal and external
• Proficiency in office software, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook
• Project Management skills including planning, organizing, and coordinating tasks
• Ability to assume responsibility and work independently.
• Detail-oriented with adherence to deadlines
• Must be available on-call for periodic availability on weekends (i.e. 6 am – 12 pm on Saturdays), when needed
• Safe driving record, current vehicle insurance, and ability to use personal and company vehicles.                                                                                                                                              

Competencies:

• Values Focused – emphasizes organizational values in their work activities and inspires co-workers to follow their lead.
• Analytical – synthesizes complex and/or diverse information.
• Problem-solving – makes timely and sound decisions based on logical presumptions that reflect information; prioritizes work tasks, goals, and objectives; considers confidentiality of information before sharing with others.
• Oral Communication – Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations, demonstrates group presentation skills, and conducts meetings. 
• Quality Management – looks for ways to improve and promote quality and demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness.
• Judgment – displays willingness to make decisions, exhibits sound and accurate judgment, and makes timely decisions. From a leadership perspective, consider issues and/or opportunities by rising above the day-to-day activities, the standard or usual way of operating, conflicting personal and organizational goals, and personal relationships and loyalties.
• Planning/Organizing – prioritizes and plans work activities, uses time efficiently, and develops realistic action plans. 
• Safety and Security – actively promotes and personally observes safety and security procedures and uses equipment and materials properly.

Physical demands and work environment:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

• Ability to sit at a computer for 8 hours a day doing repetitive motions on a keyboard
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus
• The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 40 pounds.

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow any other instructions and perform any other related duties as assigned by their supervisor.

In instances of a federal, state, or locally declared emergency, United Food Bank is typically considered an essential service and emergency responder; all of its employees may be called in to perform regular or emergent duties.