National Account Manager - Foodservice

Company profile

Karro Food Group are a major UK food business, employing c. 3,000 people across 7 sites UK-wide, and generating over £600m+ of turnover every year. Karro is a leading producer of bacon, gammon, fresh pork, frozen sausage, ham and cooked meats – we manage the entire production process “from field to fork”. We supply our high quality meat products to retail, foodservice and manufacturing customers across the UK, as well as export customers around the world. Core to our beliefs as a business is continuous innovation; adapting our products and services to ensure we are an industry leading, forward thinking and flexible business.

Job Profile 

Based at our frozen meat processing plant in Hull this role is to manage and actively develop and grow the frozen sausage categories within our foodservice customer base, of which Karro are a major supplier.

This post-holder will provide key support to the site director and group commercial director, taking responsibility for the delivery of commercial activities within specified accounts and for accurate and professional day to day account management. The role has accountability for managing existing business with specified customers, whilst also gathering and presenting information about opportunities to achieve sales growth within existing product boundaries.

Key responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain exceptionally strong customer relationships, creating customer intimacy and sustaining a customer focused approach
• Liaising on a frequent basis through daily phone calls and minimum twice weekly meetings with the commercial buyers, supply teams, marketing, support and technical teams within the customer base, to be a key point of contact for the day to day management of the accounts to meet and exceed expectations
• Supporting the identification and driving of opportunities, developing the designated retailer accounts by focusing on constant innovation, sales initiation and product development to maximise revenue growth and margin performance
• Based on full understanding of marketing data, clearly understand the customers position and market information, to support tenders for additional business within the existing product range
• Ensure detailed understanding of product performance within the retailer – internally and externally – including key sales drivers, key waste issues, and poor margin performing lines
• Ability to utilise customer supplied data or similar retailer system, to support and influence decision making with the customer and working closely with category analyst on specific data analysis requirements
• Develop strong working relationship with the category marketing team, to share and understand market data which supports existing business and present this to the customer, to support continued business and growth opportunities
• Work with the customer accounts on planning and agreement of promotions, including negotiation of promotional support through cost price reductions
• Working closely with the sales and new product development teams, in supporting the delivery of new products as growth opportunities are identified
• Preparation of tender proposal using all gathered information, presenting the proposal to the group commercial director to finalise alongside a negotiation plan and agree sign off with the board
• Work closely with the account site director for the specified customer, regarding account management, growth opportunities and category strategy, plus communication with other retailer account managers to be aware of key activity within the categories managed
• Work closely with site technical managers to ensure that all existing business products meet key technical KPI’s, understand quality and specifications issues, and enable quick resolution of any customer issues with existing product quality
• Role success is measured by achievement of agreed profit margins, delivery and sales results in line with the agreed budget
• Take responsibility for delivering key KPI’s – volume, value, gross intake margin, waste
• Accurate sales forecasting, alongside management of below the line and customer expenditure budgets to ensure acceptable/agreed profitability levels are maintained

Essential experience:

• FMCG food manufacturing commercial sales experience
• Experience of working with multiple retailers and / or food service accounts
• Prior experience of working within a commercial sales team
• Excellent communication and team working skills
• Strong negotiation skills base
• Strong customer relations skills base
• Natural decision-maker, able to exercise judgement and take responsibility for the consequences of actions and decisions
• Determined and resilient, with the drive to complete tasks
• Ability to accept and learn from constructive criticism
• Excellent analytical and numeric skills together with the ability to identify and interpret market trends

Preferred experience:

• Prior experience of working within meat sector
• Has a passion for better food and is able to shape a culture of customer focus and product passion

At Karro we are dedicated to rewarding and enriching the careers of the people who work for us. If you are hardworking, willing to get involved and respond well to a challenging and fast-moving environment, then you will find Karro to be a well-matched employer who will support you at every turn and reward your dedication with support, development and long-term career prospects.