National Account Manager - Convenience Channel Center Store

Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Vernon Hills, Illinois, Prairie City Bakery is a leading provider of premium, fully baked, thaw\-and\-sell bakery solutions serving the convenience store, foodservice, grocery, and alternative retail channels nationwide. Our award\-winning portfolio includes individually wrapped and foodservice\-ready products designed to drive both quality and profitable growth for our customers. Acquired by McKee Foods in 2019, Prairie City Bakery combines the entrepreneurial agility of a growth\-focused organization with the resources and stability of a world\-class food manufacturer. We are known not only for our products, but for our merchandising expertise, operational excellence, and commitment to long\-term customer partnerships. At Prairie City Bakery, individual performance matters. We value initiative, accountability, and collaboration, and we offer meaningful opportunities for career growth within a dynamic and results\-driven environment. **Highlights:** * **ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE:** Ideal for sales professionals seeking a non\-corporate environment where initiative, ownership, and creative thinking are valued. * **GROWTH:** This role is open due to an internal promotion within the sales leadership team, reflecting Prairie City Bakery’s commitment to developing and advancing talent. * **HIGH\-GROWTH COMPANY:** Prairie City Bakery has been recognized on the **Inc. 500 list of fastest\-growing companies** , with continued expansion across the convenience channel. * **AUTONOMY:** Manage your own schedule while working with national convenience accounts and traveling to key customers, trade shows, and distributor partners. * **COMPENSATION:** Competitive base salary plus performance bonus aligned with account growth and customer expansion. * **INDUSTRY RECOGNITION:** Prairie City Bakery products have earned multiple **“Best New Product” awards** from Convenience Store News, Automatic Merchandiser, and Convenience Store Decisions. **What You Will Do:** *National Account Leadership* * Own and grow assigned Top 100 C\-Store Center Store accounts. * Develop and execute annual joint business plans aligned with company revenue and margin targets. * Lead national pricing negotiations, promotional strategy, RFP responses, contract renewals, and category reviews. * Expand distribution, improve velocity, and strengthen category presence across assigned accounts. * Maintain senior\-level relationships with category managers and corporate decision\-makers. *Strategic \& Financial Ownership* * Lead development of annual account plans, including revenue targets, pricing strategy, promotional planning, and trade investment management. * Deliver annual net sales, gross margin, and distribution objectives. * Prepare and present comprehensive business reviews, providing performance insights, strategic recommendations, and long\-term growth plans. * Analyze sales data, trends, and performance metrics to identify opportunities and communicate actionable recommendations to internal and external stakeholders. * Manage trade spending within approved budgets and deliver measurable ROI. * Contribute to forecasting accuracy and demand planning in collaboration with Operations and Finance. *Distributor \& Broker Alignment* * Establish, align, and monitor annual broker objectives and budgets; communicate performance results and drive accountability against key metrics. * Lead alignment across brokers, broadline distributors, and redistributors to ensure consistent execution of national programs. * Partner with distributors and wholesale teams to manage distribution expansion, inventory planning, and execution of new product launches and limited\-time offerings. * Ensure seamless commercialization and market rollouts across multiple regions. *Cross\-Functional Collaboration* * Partner cross\-functionally with Marketing, Finance, and Demand Planning to improve forecast accuracy, in\-stock performance, and mitigation of service risks. * Support new item setup, commercialization, and category growth initiatives. * Provide proactive communication and strategic insight to internal stakeholders. * Contribute market intelligence and customer feedback to support innovation and portfolio development. *Technology \& Data Utilization* * Drive adoption and effective use of CRM systems and sales analytics platforms to enhance efficiency, performance tracking, and decision\-making. * Maintain accurate forecasting, pipeline reporting, and account profitability dashboards. * Utilize internal and syndicated data (e.g., Nielsen, IRI) to develop insight\-based selling strategies. * Translate data insights into compelling selling stories and joint business planning recommendations. *Scope \& Complexity* * Manages highest\-complexity national accounts. * Responsible for strategically important revenue streams. * Operate independently with minimal day\-to\-day direction. * Influence cross\-functional decision\-making. * Represent Prairie City Bakery at senior customer levels. **What you will need:** * 10\+ years of progressive CPG sales experience; convenience retail experience strongly preferred. * Proven success managing national chain accounts and complex distributor systems. * Demonstrated ability to deliver sustained revenue and margin growth. * Strong financial acumen, including pricing strategy, trade management, and profitability analysis. * Advanced negotiation and executive\-level presentation skills. * Demonstrated intermediate to advanced proficiency in CRM systems, Microsoft Excel (including pivot tables and data analysis), PowerPoint, and Word. * Bachelor’s degree required. * Ability to travel approximately 30–50%.