Account Manager, Food Service

Since 1963, EarthFresh has been an international leader in the produce industry, with operations in both the U.S.A. and Canada. We proudly specialize in providing the Foodservice and Retail industries with a wide selection of conventional and organic potato varieties ideal for frying, baking, mashing, boiling, and roasting.

We are a team of fantastic people who are joined together by the same belief – that “fresh produce is a way of life”. EarthFresh invites you to be a part of our ever-growing team and share in our success!

OBJECTIVE

Reporting to the Director of Sales, Food Service, the Account Manager, Food Service will manage and grow a portfolio of national foodservice accounts across North America. These include restaurant-group programs supplied through broadline distributors, quick-service restaurant supply programs, as well as National Distributor supply. This role will also own the day-to-day customer relationship, contract pricing and renewals, customer issue resolution, as well as work closely with Procurement, Operations, Logistics and Food Safety to deliver quality product to our Food Service customers.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree/Diploma in business or a relevant field of study preferred

Experience & Skills:

• 5 years’ sales account management experience, produce industry an asset, with potato and root vegetable experience strongly preferred.
• Experience selling to foodservice customers, including restaurant chains, broadline distributors and/or QSR supply co-ops.
• Experience with building and maintaining pricing and quoting workbooks in Excel (cost, freight, margin by ship-to).
• Proficient in MS Office; inventory or ERP software an asset.
• Exceptional customer service and communication skills, verbal and written, and strong presentation skills.
• Strong relationship building and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work across internal teams.
• Detail-oriented, highly organized, ability to multi-task and able to prioritize.
• Strong problem-solving skills.
• Results-driven, self-motivated, and able to work independently within established policies.
• Flexibility in working hours, ability to travel within Canada and the U.S.

PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Account management and growth

• Achieve the sales performance plan for the assigned portfolio (volume, sales and margin).
• Own the day-to-day relationship with customer buyers, distributor planners and DC contacts and build relationships at multiple levels of each account.
• Prospect for and win new business, grow existing accounts through new items, new ship-to locations and program expansion.
• Attend customer meetings, site visits, industry events & tradeshows.

Pricing, contracts and profitability

• Prepare and submit customer quotes, RFP responses and annual contract renewals, working with Procurement to align grower cost, freight and selling price.
• Monitor profitability by customer, item and ship-to. Identify margin leakage (e.g., freight, short-ships, billing errors) and recommend corrective action.
• Work with Accounts Receivable to resolve billing discrepancies, short-pays and billbacks.

Service, quality and issue resolution

• Work with Procurement, Operations and Logistics to make sure orders ship on time, at the right specification and through the most cost-effective route.
• Proactively communicate with customers about order status, delays, substitutions and supply changes.
• Respond quickly to customer quality complaints and rejections and coordinate with Food Safety & Compliance on investigation, customer follow-up, credits and corrective action within the customer's required timelines.
• Support customer compliance requirements such as lot coding, labelling and traceability, in partnership with Food Safety & Compliance.

Market insight and planning

• Give customers accurate, timely market and crop updates in partnership with Procurement.
• Give regular feedback to Procurement on customer demand, forecasts and customer specific specs to support supply planning.
• Prepare sales forecasts, account reviews and presentations for internal sales meetings and customers.

Other duties as required by the Director of Sales, Food Service.

EarthFresh is committed to providing employment in accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). We are committed to providing accommodations for applicants with disabilities throughout the recruitment process.

If you require accommodation at any stage of the application process, please contact the Human Resources Department to work with you to meet your needs.