Food Service Sales Manager - East/Central

Rip Van is a food innovation company. We exist to improve people’s lives by inventing better convenient foods. We are committed to improving the nutrition, taste, and design of our products by launching product improvements in two-year cycles, as well as launching new innovation over time.

Rip Van snacks are available in over 20,000 locations nationwide. This includes Foodbuy, Google, SSP America, DOT Foods, Disney and Canteen plus a growing list of regional and national account wins! The company has made both the Inc & Forbes 30 under 30 lists, won numerous business awards and has been featured in publications such as TechCrunch, Entrepreneur, Bon Appétit, and The New York Times.

Role Overview: Food Service Sales Manager: Central/East

The Food Service Sales Manager role will consist of maintaining our current food service business as well as actively seeking out and developing new business opportunities. You will be expected to

maintain strong relationships with our broker and distributor partners, as well as our end users, to

execute plans that deliver objectives of growth, profit, optimal product mix, pricing and promotions. To be successful in this role, you’ll need to be strategic, proactive, creative, and have a strong understanding of how the Foodservice ecosystem operates. There will be emphasis on managing major broadline distributors, GPOs, and their operators. You are an excellent planner, well organized, and a highly skilled communicator who is willing to dive in and do what is needed to achieve our goals. You have 4+ years of relevant experience, yet you remain a continuous learner and improver. You’ll be joining a rockstar team of core team members who value making quick and informed decisions, achieving and celebrating wins, and executing with a ‘can do’ attitude!

What you will do:

• Display effective trade budget and financial management
• Teamwork Tenacity Excellence Mindset
• Attend trade shows
• Achieve net sales targets by expanding distribution through existing and new accounts
• Results Driven Relationship Builder/Storyteller Independence/Self-Motivation
• Manage broker relationships for foodservice business. Ensure broker’s accountability for HQ call and operator-level penetration.
• Occasionally conduct product demonstrations
• Leverage your professional network to secure key meetings within your targeted channels to support business growth
• Track and report call progressions. Build a sales funnel and execute on ‘lowest hanging fruit’ opportunities to most effectively meet KPIs
• Be responsible for a sales forecast. Leverage relationships with brokers and customers to drive forecast accuracy in collaboration with Finance and Operation teams.
• Conduct broker, distributor and GPO training sessions via phone, webinars and on site/in-market visits
• Build effective partnerships with brokers and customers
• Utilize internal data and analytics provided to to prepare and present client presentations
• Core Attributes to Succeed
• Work cross functionally within Rip Van, to ensure the success of your accounts and your channel of business

Job Requirements:

• Sophistication in time & expense reporting
• Comfortable preparing for and exhibiting at trade shows
• At least 4 years' experience in food service/culinary sales, focused on the non-ingredient channels, with a track record of success and increased responsibility
• Experience working with brokers and industry buyers
• Flexibility with travel, including overnight stays, up to 50%
• Ability to work remotely and meet deadlines
• Experience working with and launching regional and national Food Service broadliners
• Bachelor's Degree or relevant work experience
• Strong capability to analyze data, work with spreadsheets and create presentations. We use Google Suite, so familiarity with Sheets and Slides is a plus.
• Excellent communication, and negotiation skills
• Must be self-motivated, curious and comfortable with ambiguity typical of a young and growing company
• High sense of urgency and responsiveness, with ability to prioritize and thrive while multitasking

Physical Requirements

• Requires full range of body motion including walking, standing, stooping, bending, and lifting, manual and finger dexterity and eye-hand coordination
• Occasional lifting and carrying items weighing up to 40 pounds
• May require irregular work hours and travel
• May require sitting, standing and walking for extensive periods of time.
• Occasional high stress situations may occur in dealing with customers