Associate Category Manager CHEF'STORE

ARE YOU A CURRENT US FOODS EMPLOYEE PLEASE APPLY DIRECTLY THROUGH OUR INTERNAL WORKDAY CAREER SITE

Join Our Community of Food People!

CHEFSTORE is your destination for the best in restaurant shopping serving both professional chefs and home chefs alike. Get great food at wholesale prices: fresh produce meat dairy and more in the variety and volume you need. Its a fresh take on shopping for restaurant equipment and supplies with easy access and a superior customer experience in our clutter-free stores. No memberships. Public welcome. CHEFSTORE means savings on everything you need.

When you join the CHEFSTORE team youll notice that you keep encountering the same smiling faces. Many of our employees have been with us for 20 years or more. We value employees who care about the relationships they build with our customers know the ins and outs of our stores are ready to offer cost-saving tips and help customers find exactly what theyre looking for.

The Associate Category Manager - CHEFSTORE partners closely with the Category Manager to own the overall performance and strategic direction of assigned categories including assortment pricing promotions planograms and vendor relationships to deliver sales margin and financial plan objectives. This role partners with the Category Manager to develop and execute merchandising strategies that align with CHEFSTORE goals while meeting local market and customer needs.

The Associate Category Manager works with the Category Manager to lead category strategy through data-driven decision making vendor collaboration and cross-functional partnership with Operations Finance Pricing Inventory and Space Planning. This role continuously evaluates category performance market trends and customer insights to optimize assortment pricing integrity promotional effectiveness and in-store execution.

Hybrid: 2 days remote (Monday and Friday) 3 days onsite (Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday) in either Rosemont IL or West Linn Or.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Work closely with Category Manager to develop the end-to-end category strategy for assigned categories including assortment pricing promotion planogram placement and vendor management to deliver the annual financial plan.

• Drive the strategic direction of assigned categories by focusing on product selection promotion planning pricing strategy and in-store presentation.

• Partner with Category manager to lead the category review process to develop communicate and implement category strategies aligned with CHEFSTORE objectives.

• Utilize internal and external market data competitive intelligence and customer insights to anticipate trends and future customer needs.

• Define assortment strategies and execute tactics to capture sales margin and profit targets while ensuring the optimal product mix for each CHEFSTORE location.

• Collaborate with Category Manager in partnership with Pricing team to review analytics and optimize pricing decisions.

• Create promotional strategies and calendars that support category objectives and financial targets.

• Evaluate promotional effectiveness and implement improvements to drive year-over-year volume and profitability growth performance.

• Collaborate with Inventory Analysts to align inventory levels with promotional and assortment strategies.

• Build and maintain strong vendor relationships that drive both short- and long-term growth.

• Collaborate with Category Manager to negotiate product costs net landed cost vendor funding markdown support and returns to optimize category profitability.

• Deliver profitable sales by actively managing category mix vendor costs pricing promotions and assortment.

• Work closely with Finance to develop annual financial plans forecasts and ongoing performance reviews.

• Monitor daily and weekly category performance to ensure margin and sales targets are met.

• Conduct action-oriented analysis to identify underperforming SKUs growth opportunities and continuous improvement initiatives.

• Partner with Space Planning to develop approve and maintain planograms store layouts and adjacency plans.

• Regularly visit CHEFSTORE locations and competitive stores to assess assortments pricing merchandising execution and store presentation.

• Collaborate with Store Operations to ensure effective execution and the right local product mix.

• Mentor train and develop cross-functional partners as needed.

• Lead or participate in special projects as assigned.

SUPERVISION:

• N/A

RELATIONSHIPS

• Internal: The incumbent is required to interact with all employees at all levels of responsibility throughout the company and must be adept at working cross-functionally with multiple departments including Category Management Replenishment Marketing Pricing etc.

• External: The incumbent is required to interact with customers vendors and other serviceproviders.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Primarily work indoors in a climate-controlled office environment. Operate Office equipment including computer and phone.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• 3 years of experience in retail foodservice wholesale or merchandising-related roles

• Knowledge of merchandising principles pricing and product lifecycle management.

• Computer skills required: Proficient in Microsoft Office - Word Excel PowerPoint Outlook Office 365 and Teams.

• Ability to travel: 10%.

Certifications/Training

• N/A

Licenses

• N/A

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in buying category management inventory planning or business analysis strongly.

• Prior Experience with Dynamics and RELEX Planogram Optimization is a plus.

• Category management/merchandising experience.

• Prior experience with Microsoft Access a plus.

• Understanding of food retail or foodservice customers and category dynamics.

• Knowledge of core merchandising drivers: pricing promotion assortment and space.

• Strong analytical planning and organizational skills.

• Effective communication and negotiation skills.

• Demonstrated negotiation skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with vendors and internal partners to support pricing promotions and margin objectives.

• High level of initiative curiosity and passion for retail and food.

• Must have solid quantitative and analytical skills and the ability to work in a team setting.

• Demonstrate a high degree of motivation the ability to prioritize and self-direct strong business acumen and sound interpersonal skills.

• Strong verbal written and presentation skills.

Education

• Bachelors degree in business or a related field or equivalent experience required.

PHYSICAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Must be able to perform the following physical activities for described length of time.

This role will also receive an annual incentive plan bonus up to 10% of base salary.

Benefits for this role may include health insurance pre-tax spending accounts retirement benefits paid time off short-term and long-term disability employee stock purchase plan and life insurance. To review available benefits please click here: depends on relevant experience and/or education specific skills function geographic location and other factors as applicable by law (for example: state minimum wage thresholds). The expected base rate for this role is between

$65000 - $100000

***EOE Race/Color/Religion/Sex/SexualOrientation/Gender Identity/National Origin/Age/Genetic Information/Protected Veteran/Disability Status***