REGIONAL MERCHANT

Wild Fork Foods

About The Position

Drive sales and margin growth for Wild Fork Canada by building a locally relevant, profitable assortment and vendor ecosystem. On-the-ground support to close key product gaps via sourcing, development, and production coordination. Local presence to accelerate vendor engagement, sampling, and quality control. Real-time competitive analysis with weekly reporting to enable rapid response to market shifts. Role Summary The Merchant, Canada Region owns the Canadian product portfolio end-to-end across all categories. This role sets category strategy, leads vendor selection and negotiations, shapes pricing and promotional plans, and steers the innovation pipeline to meet Canadian consumer needs. The Merchant partners closely with Production Operations, Supply Chain, Logistics, Marketing, Finance/IT, and store teams, ensuring specification accuracy, on-shelf availability, and compelling merchandising that delivers results in a fast-paced environment. Key Outcomes & Success Measures Sales Growth: Deliver comp and total sales growth for Wild Fork Canada in line with (or above) annual plan. Margin Growth: Improve gross margin dollars and rate through cost, price, and mix (including private label penetration). Inventory Productivity: Increase turns/GMROI; reduce out-of-stocks and aged inventory. Pricing Competitiveness: Maintain targeted price index versus key competitors while protecting margin. Innovation Performance: Launch pipeline on time; achieve 90-day velocity targets and SKU productivity thresholds. Vendor Performance: Achieve cost savings, rebates/funding, and OTIF targets; strengthen strategic partnerships. Customer Outcomes: Improve product satisfaction/return rates and support store NPS related to product experience.

Requirements

5+ years in Category Management/Merchandising in Food Retail or Foodservice (grocery preferred).
Proven track record in pricing strategy, cost modeling, vendor negotiation, and category P&L ownership.
Strong analytics in Excel/Google Sheets/Smartsheet; familiarity with BI/visualization tools preferred.
Experience with space planning/planogram tools and item lifecycle management (specs, labels, packaging).
Working knowledge of Canadian retail market dynamics and food regulatory environment.
Strategic Thinking & Decision Quality: Makes sound, data-informed tradeoffs that balance growth and margin.
Collaboration & Influence: Builds trust across functions and vendors; navigates boundaries to deliver outcomes.
Drive for Results: Bias to action; sets clear targets; course-corrects with urgency in a dynamic environment.
Customer Obsession: Anticipates Canadian consumer needs; turns insights into winning assortments and experiences.
Entrepreneurial Agility: Comfortable with start-up pace; iterates quickly through tests and learning sprints.
Communication & Negotiation: Clear, persuasive communicator; secures value through principled negotiations.
Integrity & Values: Acts consistently with Wild Fork values and ethics; champions the company’s best interest.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, walk, and sit.

Nice To Haves

Lean/Continuous Improvement exposure; Lean Six Sigma training/Black Belt is an asset.

Responsibilities

Assortment Strategy: Define portfolio architecture (core, seasonal, innovation, local relevance); set role of brands/tiers and private label to drive sales and margin.
Vendor Strategy & Negotiation: Build a robust Canadian/US/international vendor base; negotiate cost, terms, vendor-funded promotions/rebates, and service levels aligned to margin goals.
Pricing & Promotion: Establish competitive pricing strategy and guardrails; manage price index targets; optimize promotional calendars for sales lift and ROI.
Category Plans: Create annual and quarterly category plans with targets for sales, margin, and productivity; track performance and course-correct.
Innovation & Commercialization: Prioritize pipeline through stage gates; run tests/learning sprints; partner with Production/QA to deliver spec-accurate launches that meet velocity and margin thresholds.
Insights & Analytics: Use market scans, competitive reviews, and shopper data to inform category, pricing, and promotion decisions; translate insights into action.
Item Lifecycle Management: Own SKU setup, product specifications, labels, and packaging inventory for accuracy and availability.
Cost & Spec Integrity: Maintain up-to-date costs; manage cost changes; ensure strict spec adherence with internal production and 3rd-party processors.
Demand & Inventory: Provide forecasts and inputs to planning; support allocation, replenishment, and OOS reduction actions across 4 (and growing) Canadian stores.
Space & Merchandising: Support space planning and planograms; ensure assortments are merchandised for conversion and basket growth.
Regulatory & Quality: Partner with QA/Regulatory to meet Canadian food/labeling requirements and internal standards.
Performance Reporting: Maintain category dashboards (weekly/monthly) covering sales, margin, price index, promo ROI, inventory health, and vendor OTIF.
Marketing: Align on brand and promotional plans, storytelling, and content that drive traffic and conversion in Canada.
Operations/Stores: Gather field feedback; support planogram execution and promotional readiness; address product issues quickly.
Supply Chain & Logistics: Coordinate to protect availability, freshness, fill rates, and costs (including inbound, DC, and store-level execution).
Production/QA: Co-own spec accuracy, packaging readiness, and change control to safeguard quality and margin.
Finance & IT: Align on pricing, item master integrity, P&L views, reporting automation, and performance governance.