Food Service Marketing Manager

Our client is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world. They are a globally trusted producer of high-quality, great-tasting, and nutritious foods for over 150 years. While they are co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh, their brands are truly global, with products produced and marketed in over 40 countries. These beloved products include condiments and sauces, cheese and dairy, meals, meats, refreshment beverages, coffee, infant and nutrition products, and numerous other grocery products in a portfolio of more than 200 legacy and emerging brands.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with country Foodservice commercial team on a full understanding of product category sell-out performance by key countries, by sub-channel, and by strategic channel – root-cause analysis on performance drivers, identify core vs non-core SKUs, actively participate in routines with country commercial team to discuss key enablers to drive growth.
• Develop and implement foodservice marketing plans with precise communication to our target audience which are professional chefs, fostering strong & effective communication of brand-customer proposition.
• Identify in-store off-take opportunities in our strategic channels QSR, FSR, Hotels and create programs that will drive consumer off-take, especially front-of-house & back-of-house solutions.
• Foodservice insights & trends for co-creation/menu ideation sales pitches. 
• Support the development of business plans by giving visibility on macro-overview of product category sizing and market share by country.
• Monitoring market trends, competitor activities, sales strategies, and pricing policies, and regularly report findings to management and other relevant departments, offering appropriate recommendations.
• Collaborate with Commercial Chef on: Identifying product differentiation vs key competitors of core SKUs. 
• Building selling kits to enable commercial team in their selling conversations. 
• Specifying product features advantages & benefits, unique selling point / reason to-believe.
• Develop positioning for foodservice trade proposition for use in media and sales tools.
• Responsible for managing and executing digital quantitative testing for front-running concepts as part of the vetting process.
• Manage annual marketing budget. Obtain cost estimates, manage project budgets, and lead creation and execution of approved projects.
• Lead cross functional project teams. Set clear logical project objectives, plans, and timelines. 
• Communicate progress and outcomes to project stakeholders.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree or higher, with approximately 7 years of experience in Marketing and/or Product Management within food or fast-moving consumer goods industry. 
• Extensive knowledge of Western-style fast food, casual dining, bakery shops, five-star hotels, and industrial catering channels, with a proven track record of developing end users for Western-style restaurant chain clients. 
• Demonstrated experience in team management. 
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills. 
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, along with effective communication, coordination, and organizational skills. 
• Keen numerical acumen, market awareness, with a strong drive to achieve targets. 
• Ability to thrive under pressure. 
• Excellent presentation and logical thinking capabilities. 
• Growth mindset