Business Manager - Chilled Foods Category Team

Ko wai mātou – About us   

Kia ora.  We’re Foodies.  You know New World, PAK’nSAVE, Gilmours and Four Square right? That’s us!

With 320+ stores and over 24,000 Foodies across Te Ika-a-Maui, our North Island Co-op has the privilege of helping New Zealanders get more out of life.  

Our Merchandise team works with supplier partners and store teams on category ranging, buying, pricing and promotions so we can get the right products on the right shelves at the right time for our customers!

Te Tūranga – About the role   

We’re looking for a Business Manager to lead our chilled foods category team.   This role has a a focus on dairy commodities, and as a result this is a strategically significant portfolio, with a degree of complexity, pricing volatility, and market sensitivity.

You’ll lead and continue to develop two Category Managers, manage critical supplier partnerships, and drive commercial, customer and category performance across our banners.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives in an ever-evolving environment, can learn fast, and is energised by complexity and high-impact decision making.

Key focus areas include:

• Owning commercial performance across sales, market share, trading margin and competitor pricing.
• Leading the development and execution of category strategies and Plans on a Page.
• Navigating the unique dynamics of dairy commodities — including GDT and Farmgate milk pricing.
• Managing and influencing supplier relationships, where trust and strong networks matter.
• Leading supplier negotiations and Joint Business Planning.
• Providing confident leadership, coaching and development to two Category Managers.
• Driving price & promotion effectiveness and delivering customer focused category outcomes.
• Partnering with banner teams, supply chain, marketing and internal stakeholders to deliver strategic change.

He kōrero mōu – About you

You’ll bring strong commercial acumen, leadership capability and the confidence to own a highly visible, high-impact category.

You’ll also have:

• Proven experience in FMCG, Grocery, B2B or relevant commercial environments.
• Experience in or exposure to dairy commodities is a strong advantage, but not essential — the ability to learn quickly is.
• A strategic mindset and the ability to operate in ambiguity.
• Excellent relationship-building skills — especially important in the nuanced dairy trade.
• Strong negotiation experience and comfort working with senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated leadership experience and a passion for coaching and developing others.
• A collaborative, confident working style with excellent communication skills.

 Ngā painga - What we offer   

We’re committed to providing awesome experiences for our people, including offering a range of benefits

• Free carparking - we’ve got over 1,000 carparks including EV plugs
• Southern Cross Healthcare Package
• Onsite café with subsidised meals, mini mart, 5% discount at our retail stores
• Flexible working options, a day off on your birthday, lots of fun on site activities
• Inhouse learning and development programmes and courses, flu vaccinations, and social network groups (we call them Tribes).

Experience awesome. Achieve awesome. Be awesomely you.

We’re proud to have a focus on Diversity & Inclusion here at Foodies and welcome courageous behaviour, encourage togetherness, inspire our people to be their best selves in our Foodies whānau.

We encourage you to apply with all your awesomeness and welcome your diverse background, including any disability, additional health and mental health needs, and/or neurodiversity.

If you require accessibility support to ensure you can fairly access our recruitment process, please reach out to  [email protected].  Accessibility support could include interview location, sign language interpreter, assistive technology.