Director of Sales - Food Service

**PRIMARY FOCUS**   The Director of Sales – Food Service is responsible for the strategic leadership, execution, and overall accountability of all foodservice sales activities, with accountability for shaping its continued development and long\-term success. This role will take a forward‑looking, proactive approach to identifying opportunities within the foodservice channel and aligning commercial strategies with evolving customer needs while strengthening and expanding existing customer relationships. Working closely with Marketing, Agriculture, Operations, Quality, and Supply Chain, this role will ensure that foodservice initiatives are thoughtfully developed, operationally aligned, and well‑positioned for sustainable performance. As a senior representative of the organization, the Director of Foodservice will provide professional leadership and direction to customers, distributors, and appointed brokers/consultants, while reinforcing the company’s reputation as a valued and trusted partner.   **KEY RESPONSIBILITIES** The responsibilities for this position include, but not limited to, the following.   **Strategic \& Commercial Leadership** • Develop, review, and manage the annual foodservice sales plan and budget, ensuring alignment with broader commercial and organizational objectives. • Assess market trends, customer dynamics, and channel developments to inform foodservice priorities and plans. • Monitor performance against plan and adjust strategies as needed to support disciplined execution and sustainable results. • Maintain accountability for foodservice revenue, margin, and volume performance.   **Foodservice Account Development \& Management**   • Identify and pursue select new foodservice accounts aligned with the company’s capabilities, portfolio, and strategic focus. • Develop foodservice business through direct customer engagement and effective use of appointed brokers and consultants to deliver approved sales plan objectives, including new products, menu expansion, promotions, pricing, and contracts. • Develop and execute customer‑specific account strategies aligned with company objectives, performance expectations, and timelines. • Maintain senior‑level relationships with key customers, distributors, and partners, serving as a trusted point of escalation and collaboration. • Grow existing accounts through program development, portfolio expansion, and collaborative planning with customers and internal teams. • Partner with distributors and brokers to ensure alignment, consistent execution, and service excellence. • Monitor account performance and profitability, proactively managing risks and identifying improvement opportunities.   **Broker \& Channel Engagement**   • Provide leadership, direction, and clear performance expectations to appointed brokers and consultants, ensuring accountability against agreed‑upon objectives. • Ensure brokers and consultants are fully aligned with foodservice sales priorities, customer strategies, brand standards, and execution expectations across the channel. • Actively engage with distributors, operators, and key channel partners to strengthen relationships, improve visibility, and support effective market execution. • Partner closely with brokers to identify opportunities, address gaps, and improve marketplace execution across distributors and operators. • Support broker and channel effectiveness through ongoing communication, joint planning, regular performance review, and coordinated customer and distributor engagement.   **Marketing Partnership**   • Partner closely with the Marketing team to identify and evaluate foodservice opportunities, contributing to the development of new product concepts, formats, packaging, and programs that reflect marketplace trends and customer needs. • Provide foodservice market intelligence and customer insight to inform innovation prioritization, portfolio decisions, and long‑term category strategy. • Collaborate cross‑functionally to translate customer requirements into viable foodservice solutions that align with operational, supply, and quality capabilities. • Support product launches and commercialization efforts within the foodservice channel, ensuring clear internal and external communication, customer readiness, and effective execution. • Assist in the development of channel‑specific messaging, selling tools, and customer presentations to support successful adoption and sustained performance post‑launch.   **Cross‑Functional Collaboration** • Work closely with Agriculture, Supply Chain, Operations, and Leadership to align foodservice sales strategies with supply availability, production planning, logistics, and profitability considerations. • Partner cross‑functionally to evaluate customer programs and commitments, ensuring they are feasible, timely, and aligned with internal capacity, costs, and service standards. • Lead cross‑functional efforts for key customers and initiatives, ensuring alignment, proactive problem‑solving, and timely decision‑making that protects service levels and strengthens customer relationships. • Act as the primary liaison between foodservice customers and internal teams, proactively addressing service, quality, supply, or execution challenges to maintain strong customer confidence and satisfaction. • Balance customer needs with operational constraints, advocating for practical solutions that support both service excellence and sustainable business performance.   **Leadership \& Management** • Champion Company Values: Act as a visible and vocal advocate for the organization’s purpose, values and strategic mission. Ensure these principles are consistently reflected in decision\-making, leadership behaviors, and business practices across the region. • Culture Stewardship: Foster a culture rooted in the company’s core values. Lead by example to create an environment where employees feel empowered, engaged, and aligned with the company’s purpose. • Collaboration: Partner cross‑functionally to integrate market insights, customer data, and performance metrics into foodservice strategy, customer planning, and execution. • Communication: Clearly communicate foodservice strategy, priorities, and ways of working to internal partners and external stakeholders, ensuring shared expectations and a consistent focus on delivering high‑quality, insight‑led outcomes. • Change Leadership: Lead transformational initiatives with clarity and confidence. Inspire teams through change by communicating a vision, addressing challenges proactively, and celebrating progress. • Budgeting \& Resource Allocation: Responsible for all budgets and ROI for Foodservice. Allocate resources effectively to ensure that sales targets and objectives are met within budget and on time. Approve departmental and/or employee expenses as required. • Ethical Governance: Uphold the highest standards of corporate governance, compliance, and ethical conduct. Promote transparency, trust, and accountability at all levels of the organization.   **DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE** • 10\+ years of progressive sales and marketing experience within the foodservice industry, with at least 7 years in a leadership or management role. • Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Agriculture, or a related field (MBA preferred). • Proven track record of developing and growing national and regional foodservice accounts. • Deep experience working with national and regional multi‑unit restaurant groups. • Extensive knowledge of national and regional foodservice distribution, including produce‑focused distributors and broadline operators. • Demonstrated success managing complex distributor networks and working effectively with brokers, consultants, and third‑party sales partners. • Strong understanding of foodservice supply chains, operator dynamics, and distributor models.   **KEY COMPETENCIES – Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA)**   **Knowledge:** • Deep understanding of the foodservice channel, including established relationships with key customers, distributors, brokers/consultants, and end users across national and regional segments. • Comprehensive knowledge of foodservice market dynamics, including customer decision drivers, distribution models, operator economics, and go‑to‑market strategies. • Solid understanding of financial and operational metrics relevant to foodservice, including pricing structures, margins, trade spend, profitability, forecasting, and volume management. • Working knowledge of supply chain, production planning, and service considerations impacting customer programs and commitments. **Skills:** • Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to influence, negotiate, and present effectively to executive leadership, customers, distributors, and external partners. • Strong leadership and coaching skills that foster collaboration, accountability, and high performance across internal teams and external partners. • Strong analytical and business planning skills, including the ability to interpret sales data, financial results, and market insights to inform decisions. **Abilities:** • Strong financial acumen, including the ability to develop, manage, and optimize budgets, pricing strategies, and customer profitability. • Sound decision\-making and problem\-solving skills, with the ability to take ownership of complex business situations. **WORKING CONDITIONS:** • This is a full\-time, senior leadership position based in either Canada or the US with the requirement of regular travel to company facilities, customer sites, industry events, and SLT meetings in Canada and the US. Estimated travel: 50\-60%. Valid driver’s license and passport are a requirement of this role. • The position involves regular interaction with cross\-functional teams, senior leadership, and external stakeholders across multiple time zones and locations. • Occasional extended hours, including evenings and weekends, may be required to support business priorities, especially during peak operational periods or strategic planning cycles.