About Creed:
Creed is a family business, established in 1972, which is ambitious with it's growth within the industry. We deliver a great range of multi-temperature food products, including our butchery and fresh ranges to caterers across the country from our offices in Cheltenham, Ilkeston & High Wycombe. It's a great place to be and we are proud of our role in supporting our local community. We are dedicated to creating a great place to work, with great people and this year we have been listed as a top 50 company to work for by Best Companies, across all three of our depots, having achieved a “two star” status. We are also the number one food and drinks sector (Q2) company to work for. Our people are committed to our values, choose their attitude and focus on the needs of the customer. They work hard and are committed to providing a great service but want to have some fun and development along the way. Our employees often get involved in charity events, attend the company conversations, put forward their ideas for improvement and contribute in the team briefings. Our core business values are being: Commercial, Proud, Friendly and Nurturing.
Scope:
* Creed, Total, & West Country Foodservice are National Foodservice Companies worth a combined c. £300 Million + with ambitious growth plans.
* Accountability for delivering across our c. 480 suppliers and c. 4800 SKU’s.
* Line Management responsibility for a team of c. 5 people and overall accountability for a team of c. 10.
* Responsibility and accountability for departmental budget, Company KPI and Service Level achievement.
Role details:
* Deliver the Buying & Category strategy for the Kitwave Foodservice Division to delight our customers and drive business profitability. Including collaboration with the operational teams to achieve excellent service levels and reduce cost and complexity.
* Full accountability for the Buying Function across the Kitwave Foodservice Division including Creed, Total and West Country Foodservice.
* Responsible for delivering the business margin target as agreed in the annual budgets, including approval on cost prices, supplier terms, optimal sale prices and for the delivery of improved and sustainable commercial performance through process and system improvements and integration.
* Management and development of the Buying team.
Some of the required experience and qualifications include:
* Experience working as a Director of Buying with direct oversight of management team with accountability and responsibility for Buying strategy development & delivery gained within a large multi-site wholesale of manufacturing based organisation.
* Thrive in fast-paced environments, effectively managing complex business challenges and juggling multiple high-impact priorities.
* Excellent project management skills and experience delivering multi-site alignment projects, and preparing and managing action plans and budgets effectively including cost management.
* Experience planning, executing and reviewing change initiatives and driving a continuous improvement culture.
* Skilled negotiator with formal training (e.g., GAP Negotiation), focused on achieving strategic outcomes beyond relationship-based approaches.
* Strong leadership and management expertise, gained through structured development programs within leading FMCG organisations and/or CIPS qualifications.
* Proficient in analysing Market Trends, Customer Preferences & competitor activities to create multi-temperature Category strategies.
* Experience in SKU rationalisation, category management, supplier negotiations, and margin management.
* Experience and knowledge of implementing & managing Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) & Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to drive financial governance of margin.
* Demonstrable experience in developing in collaboration with the Marketing function strong supplier marketing plans to drive customer conversion for sustainable long-term growth.
* Understanding and experience working in a c. £400m+ matrix-based organisation
If you think you have what it takes, please click 'Apply Now' below to send your CV for consideration.
We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age, as outlined in our equal opportunities policy.