Category Manager, Hot Foods
About The Position
The Category Manager – Foodservice is responsible for managing and growing assigned Foodservice categories through strong collaboration with Business Units, vendor partners, and cross-functional teams. This role owns category performance across sales, margin, assortment, pricing, and execution, while supporting innovation, promotional planning, and continuous improvement of in-store performance. The Category Manager serves as a key link between strategy and execution, translating category objectives into actionable plans that are simple, scalable, and executable in stores. Also, any additional duties as assigned.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, economics, or related field (or equivalent experience)
- 3–5+ years of experience in category management, merchandising, foodservice, retail, or CPG
- Strong analytical skills with ability to translate data into actionable insights
- Understanding of retail execution and store-level operations
- Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
- Strong communication and collaboration skills
- Willingness to travel up to 40%
Nice To Haves
- Foodservice or Fresh / Prepared Foods category experience
- Experience working with national or regional vendors
- Familiarity with promotional planning, planograms, and in-store execution models
- Exposure to Food Safety, QA, or regulated food environments
Responsibilities
- Own day-to-day management and performance of assigned Foodservice categories
- Analyze category sales, margin, and execution performance to identify opportunities and risks
- Support development and execution of category strategies aligned to Foodservice objectives
- Monitor industry trends and competitive activity to inform recommendations
- Support assortment planning, product transitions, and lifecycle management
- Partner on pricing and promotional planning, including execution of vendor-funded programs including, but not limited to, national vendor rebate management
- Analyze planogram effectiveness and provide recommendations to improve performance
- Manage assigned vendor relationships including item setup, costs, in-stocks, and logistics
- Support negotiations, performance reviews, and issue resolution with vendor partners
- Plan, track, and execute vendor initiatives, incentives, and contests with Operations and BUs
- Partner with Operations, Training, and Field teams to support successful in-store execution
- Participate in field visits to observe execution and collaborate with stores and BU leaders
- Support development of tools, communications, and training materials that drive consistency
- Collaborate with Head of Food, Directors, Marketing, Supply Chain, QA, Finance, and BUs
- Support innovation launches, pilots, and regional tests
- Contribute to team financial targets and annual business planning efforts
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
