Director of Purchasing

Pacific Catch•Walnut Creek, CA

1d•Remote

About The Position

The Director of Purchasing will build and own the purchasing, inventory, and cost-management systems that support our sixteen restaurants. This is a hands-on, systems-minded role responsible for translating culinary specifications into disciplined purchasing practices, accurate costing, reliable inventory controls, and strong vendor performance. Working closely with the Director of Culinary, you will own Restaurant365 data and processes, vendor and item masters, recipes, pricing, theoretical-versus-actual reporting, inventory standards, and vendor relationships, while designing and implementing new systems such as purchase orders and formal receiving. The right person understands that a standard only matters if the field can execute it. Success means creating consistent, practical systems that improve cost control, purchasing discipline, inventory accuracy, and performance across all sixteen restaurants.

Requirements

Five or more years in restaurant purchasing or supply chain, multi-unit
Working knowledge of Restaurant365.
Experience building item masters, recipes and theoretical costing in R365 or a comparable platform
Demonstrated experience implementing purchase order and receiving processes in a restaurant environment
Track record of negotiating and consolidating vendor programs
Ability to travel regularly to California

Nice To Haves

Full-service restaurant experience preferred.
Seafood experience is useful and not required

Responsibilities

Own the vendor master and item master in R365. Additions, deactivations, naming conventions, units of measure, and ongoing accuracy across all sixteen restaurants.
Map invoices to items and general ledger accounts so that costing is accurate at the item level.
Build and maintain recipes in R365 from specifications provided by the Director of Culinary. Own yields, conversions, units of measure, and the build itself.
Develop, implement, and maintain theoretical versus actual usage reporting, including ownership of the resulting exception review and follow-up.
Design and implement the transition to purchase orders and formal receiving processes as neither exists today. Own the design, the configuration, the standards and the training materials. Area Directors, the Director of Culinary and the Training department own the rollout and enforcement in the field.
Own order guides and item availability by restaurant.
Maintain the approved vendor list and approved product list for all restaurant purchasing: food and beverage, chemicals, paper and packaging, smallwares, and restaurant service contracts.
Full authority to consolidate, renegotiate and change vendors where it makes the business better.
Negotiate and hold pricing agreements, bid schedules, rebates and deviation programs.
Manage the primary distributor relationship, including order guides, item availability and service standards.
Run vendor scorecards covering fill rate, price accuracy, delivery performance and product quality, on a defined cadence.
Resolve vendor issues and credits, and make certain credits are received.
Publish a current price file on a defined cadence so restaurants and culinary know what items cost.
Track market movement in volatile categories, particularly seafood and produce, and flag it before it appears in a P&L.
Cost new menu items and limited time offers with the Director of Culinary before they reach a menu.
Lead the period cost review with Area Directors and the Director of Culinary. Accountable for aligning cost of goods across restaurants and narrowing the performance gap between our best- and worst-performing locations.
Write the standards every restaurant manager works to: counting, receiving, storing, invoicing and transfers.
Own count sheets, par levels and the inventory calendar.
Move the company from monthly counts to twice per period.
Audit count accuracy and work variances with Area Directors and the Director of Culinary.
Own waste and spoilage tracking and reporting.
Uphold our sustainable sourcing standards and maintain clear documentation to substantiate our claims.
When sourcing standards and cost come into conflict, surface the tradeoff directly—never compromise a commitment we make to our guests.
Own product specifications and the substitution approval process.
Maintain vendor food safety documentation, recall procedures and product traceability.
Vendor setup, item files and order guides for new restaurants.
Smallwares and opening order management.