Category Growth & New Business Development Manager

Client Overview

Our client is a well-established, privately held organization with a diverse portfolio of businesses and a strong presence in the foodservice industry. Their business is built around long-term partnerships, providing products, services, and solutions that help customers improve profitability and compete effectively in a dynamic market.

Position Purpose

This role serves to support our client’s business development objectives and enhance strategic alignment with their growth priorities and opportunities. The Category Growth & New Business Development Manager partners directly with their sales and procurement teams to identify, pursue, and onboard new customers and execute on opportunities driving tonnage and sales growth through their programs. This position leans into a category-management mindset: market aware, highly accountable, fast-moving, and results focused. The role combines an external customer-facing focus with internal operational discipline to ensure opportunities are won, launched cleanly, and scaled profitably. This position will be located onsite at our client’s Winter Garden, Florida location, with travel to other locations as needed.

Key Responsibilites

1. New Business Development Support

• Partner directly with their sales and procurement teams to identify, qualify, and support new customer business opportunities as well as account penetration opportunities with existing customers.
• Build clear, compelling value propositions that convert prospects by highlighting supplier capabilities, their service model, and program structure.
• Prepare customer-facing presentations, pricing summaries, launch plans, and financial impact analysis for new business opportunities.
• Support prospect meetings, follow-up, timelines, and internal coordination required to move opportunities from lead to launch.
• Help new customers onboard by aligning suppliers, operational workflows, and communication expectations.

2. Category Leadership and Growth Ownership

• Operate with a category manager mindset across their protein programs, with a focus on volume growth and mix improvement.
• Identify and execute member conversion opportunities that shift business into their programs and preferred supplier partners.
• Evaluate market conditions, pricing dynamics, supply position, and competitor activity to help keep their business relevant and commercially competitive.
• Recommend strategies that improve category performance by product, supplier, customer, and channel.
  Own growth targets tied to tonnage, sales, and contribution.

3. Member and Supplier Engagement

• Build strong working relationships with their leadership, procurement and sales teams, supplier partners, internal associates, and support teams.
• Function as a trusted advisor by helping identify sourcing opportunities, conversion targets, supply solutions, and program utilization gaps across their distribution network.
• Partner with suppliers on program competitiveness, new item opportunities, promotional support, onboarding readiness, and issue resolution.
• Support supplier negotiations and commercial alignment that improve supplier performance.

4. Commercial Operations and Execution

• Ensure successful execution from sale through order, invoice, and payment by coordinating across their internal teams, suppliers, customers, and accounting.
• Support purchase order creation, pricing accuracy, order entry, and invoicing.
• Identify, investigate, and resolve invoice discrepancies, short pays, claims, and service issues with urgency.
• Help standardize workflows across their distribution network to improve accuracy, speed, and scalability of their growth.

5. Analytics, Reviews, and Performance Management

• Build and maintain pipeline tracking for new business opportunities, conversions, and growth initiatives.
• Prepare and deliver recurring business reviews focused on tonnage, mix, supplier performance, and conversion progress.
• Use reporting and analysis to prioritize the highest-impact growth opportunities and identify underperforming areas that need action.
• Translate data into clear recommendations that drive measurable commercial results.

6. Market Intelligence and Communication

• Stay close to protein markets and communicate relevant market movement, pricing shifts, and supply changes that affect their strategy and selling decisions.
• Support internal sales training and onboarding of new sales team members.
• Support development of member-facing and customer sales materials, including offer sheets, program recaps, growth updates, and sales communication.
• Maintain effective communication flow across their teams, suppliers, and stakeholders to keep opportunities moving.

Success Profile

• Commercially driven: Thinks first in terms of volume, mix, and share growth.
• Operator mindset: Moves quickly, solves problems, and owns outcomes from start to finish.
• Category fluent: Understands protein market dynamics and turns that knowledge into action.
• Highly accountable: Manages details without losing sight of bigger commercial goals.
• Relationship builder: Earns confidence with customers, suppliers, members, and internal teams.
• Analytical and practical: Uses data to guide decisions and prioritizes what matters most.

Key Metrics

• New business opportunities supported and successfully onboarded
• Tonnage and sales growth across supplier programs
• Supplier and member participation in strategic programs
• Order, invoice, and issue-resolution accuracy and speed
• Conversion of non-program business into their programs

Qualification

• 10 years of experience in foodservice distribution, retail distribution, protein procurement, category management, program management, or related commercial roles.
• Strong understanding of protein markets, supplier dynamics, and distributor economics preferred.
• Proven ability to drive growth through business development, conversion activity, pricing strategy, and member engagement.
• Experience working across sales, purchasing, operations, and accounting functions preferred.
• Effective communication, presentation, organizational, and project-management skills.
• Analytical, results-oriented, self-starter with strong follow-through and urgency.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, including Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Word, and Teams. Power BI experience is a plus.
• Travel required as needed for conferences, distribution center visits, customer visits, supplier meetings, and industry events.
• Must be able to occasionally lift materials/products related to events and meetings, up to and including 25 pounds.