Commercial Director / Business Development Lead
Summary
A newly created commercial role overseeing the launch and growth of a brand-new contract catering division for a growing, entrepreneurial catering business. This position is ideal for an experienced contract catering professional who excels in tendering, procurement‑led sales, and building new revenue streams within a hands‑on, founder‑led environment.
Our Client
Our client is a founder‑led, London‑based corporate catering business, delivering fresh, seasonal breakfasts, lunches, event catering, and workplace food solutions to a wide range of businesses across the city. The business has seen rapid growth in its event catering division and continues to expand year on year. With strong product‑market fit, loyal clients, and a commercially minded leadership team, the organisation is now preparing to build and scale a contract catering channel for the first time.
The Role
This role will take full ownership of establishing the contract catering function - from pipeline creation to tender submission, pitch delivery, and contract onboarding. The successful candidate will work closely with the leadership team to build a scalable and repeatable process for winning recurring, long‑term contracts. This is a rare opportunity to take an established, successful business into its next phase of growth and build a division from the ground up.
Main Duties
Key areas of responsibility include:
* Leading the development of a new contract catering channel and delivering revenue growth.
* Managing the full tendering lifecycle - from initial qualification to proposal creation, pricing, and pitch delivery.
* Engaging closely with procurement teams, consultants, facilities leads, and project managers.
* Building and maintaining a robust CRM pipeline.
* Developing product bundles and commercial propositions with the kitchen and operations teams.
* Managing and deepening ongoing client relationships once contracts are won.
* Helping set the long‑term commercial direction as the business scales.
The Successful Candidate
The ideal candidate will demonstrate:
* 4+ years’ experience in contract catering, or a similar environment.
* A strong track record of winning contract catering tenders and managing procurement‑led processes.
* Experience dealing with consultants, facilities teams, and multi‑stakeholder corporate clients.
* Strong commercial acumen, excellent numeracy, and high‑quality written communication skills.
* Competence with CRM systems (e.g. Pipedrive) and Excel/Sheets.
* A hands‑on approach - comfortable building a pipeline, writing bids, and delivering pitches personally.
* Strong people and relationship‑management skills.
* An entrepreneurial mindset and appetite to join a high‑growth, founder‑led business.
What’s on Offer?
* Competitive salary with uncapped commission
* A high‑trust, collaborative, and values‑driven culture
* The autonomy to build and shape a new division from scratch