Manager Corporate Chef

Nestle Operational Services Worldwide SA•Solon, OH

3d•$160,000 - $170,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Nestlé Professional Solutions at Nestlé USA leverages its position as the world's largest food and beverage company to deliver trusted brands, innovative solutions, and industry expertise to foodservice operators across restaurants, lodging, healthcare, education, and workplace dining. The Culinary team plays a critical role in translating Nestlé Professional's portfolio strategy into marketplace execution. As the organization's culinary experts, they amplify product knowledge and operational expertise across Sales and Marketing, transforming products into relevant, operator-focused solutions that solve real business challenges. Through customer engagement, field insights, training, and commercialization support, the team helps shape go-to-market strategies, influence customer decisions, and drive sustainable growth. As the Manager, Culinary Strategy – Field Sales, you will lead a team of field-based Corporate Chefs responsible for customer engagement, operator activation, and culinary sales support across the United States. This role requires a strategic and forward-thinking leader who can assess evolving business needs, identify gaps and opportunities, and develop scalable solutions that enhance how the team supports both customers and the sales organization. This individual is responsible for developing and executing field culinary strategies, driving consistency across customer engagements, and ensuring culinary resources are aligned to the highest-value business opportunities. This role will establish best practices, enhance team capabilities, and create scalable processes that improve activation effectiveness, customer experience, and business results. As a player-coach, you will balance team leadership with active participation in strategic customer engagements, partnering closely with Sales, Marketing, and Commercial Leadership teams to position Nestlé Professional Solutions as a trusted culinary and business partner while shaping the future direction of field culinary support.

Requirements

Strategic, results-oriented leader with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to identify opportunities, address gaps, and develop actionable business strategies.
Proven ability to lead change, optimize processes, and implement scalable ways of working that improve organizational effectiveness and commercial impact.
Experience leading, coaching, and developing high-performing teams while fostering accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Executive presence with exceptional communication and influencing skills, capable of building alignment across leadership, sales, marketing, and cross-functional teams.
Strong business and commercial acumen with the ability to connect culinary expertise, customer needs, and portfolio strategy to measurable business outcomes.
Deep understanding of consultative selling, customer engagement, and culinary field sales within foodservice or food manufacturing environments.
Broad culinary and operational expertise with the ability to translate portfolio capabilities into scalable, customer-focused solutions.
Bachelor's degree in Culinary Arts, Food Science, Hospitality Management, Business, or a related field preferred.
6+ years of restaurant, foodservice, or culinary sales experience required.
4+ years of experience in a culinary selling role with a food manufacturer, distributor, broker, or comparable organization.
4+ years of people leadership experience leading and developing teams in a corporate setting.
Deep knowledge of foodservice channel, industry trends, customer strategies, and competitive landscape.
Knowledge of broker networks preferred.
Knowledge of food safety regulations and sanitation standards.
Ability to travel up to 60%.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of field-based Corporate Chefs, fostering accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Oversee training, onboarding, and enablement programs to strengthen product expertise, consultative selling, and customer engagement capabilities.
Establish and manage performance metrics, quality standards, and team goals aligned to annual business objectives and KPIs.
Conduct regular coaching, mentoring, and field engagement to strengthen culinary selling, operator engagement, and commercial effectiveness.
Drive talent development through coaching, succession planning, and individualized growth opportunities.
Partner with Culinary Strategy Leadership, Regional Field Sales Leadership, and Broker Partners as you lead the Culinary Field Sales Team.
Develop and execute field culinary strategies that support growth initiatives, customer priorities, and business objectives.
Lead strategic customer engagements, activations, business reviews, and top-to-top culinary opportunities that drive measurable business results.
Maintain an individual project pipeline based on geographic region and overall company targets.
Optimize field resource allocation and deployment strategies to maximize impact, efficiency, and return on culinary investment.
Implement and maintain standardized tools, processes, and best practices that ensure consistent, scalable execution across all regions.
Through market assessment and broker knowledge, create programs on the field level based on product or channel-relevant needs.