The Business Development Manager is responsible for identifying, developing, and closing significant new business with national and large regional restaurant and convenience-store chains.
We are seeking an experienced business development "hunter" who is driven, tenacious, resourceful, and hungry to win. This individual must also be deeply strategic, thoughtful, and planful, doing the homework to understand target customers, map decision-makers, develop pursuit strategies, and advance complex opportunities through commercialization.
The ideal candidate is maniacally curious about customers and the Foodservice industry, stays immersed in relevant news and trends, and turns insights and relationships into meaningful selling opportunities. They "light up" at industry events, love to work the room, and build relationships with purpose.
Ideal candidate resides in the U.S. East Coast and close to a major airport.
***This is a new-business hunting role, not an account-management role***
Duties and Responsibilities- Aggressively pursue a strategic target list of national and large regional restaurant and convenience-store chains
- Create opportunities and relationships from the ground up, engaging C-suite executives, key decision-makers, influencers, and functional stakeholders throughout target organizations
- Maintain a robust, qualified pipeline and manage multiple complex opportunities from prospecting through commercialization
- Develop account-specific pursuit strategies based on deep research, stakeholder mapping, competitive positioning, and clear next steps
- Demonstrate tenacious follow-through and a "find a way" mindset, remaining persistent through setbacks, obstacles, and lengthy sales cycles
- Stay deeply immersed in customer, segment, and industry intelligence, including consumer and menu trends, growth plans, leadership changes, competitive activity, M&A, and other developments that could create opportunities
- Understand what customers are trying to accomplish, avoid, fix, pursue, or solve, translating those needs into compelling CHG product and menu solutions
- Develop strong knowledge of CHG's portfolio and prioritize profitable, strategically aligned opportunities
- Collaborate/partner cross-functionally to develop and commercialize winning solutions
- Actively engage at customer and industry events, "working the room" to build relationships, uncover intelligence, and create meaningful selling opportunities
- Lead customer presentations, ideations, pricing proposals, supply agreements, and other activities required to advance and close new business
- Maintain accurate and timely CRM records, forecasts, and opportunity plans
Minimum Job Requirements- Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Food Science, Culinary Arts, or related field
- Minimum of five years of successful Business Development experience, with extensive experience specifically "hunting," prospecting, developing, and closing net-new business
- Experience working in larger multi-layered, cross-functional companies/organizations preferred
- Demonstrated success creating opportunities from the ground up, opening doors with new prospects, navigating complex sales cycles, and converting targeted prospects into meaningful revenue
- Candidates whose experience is primarily managing an existing book of business will not be the ideal fit
- Experience selling to national and large regional restaurant, convenience store, or other multi-unit foodservice chains strongly preferred
- Demonstrated success engaging, presenting to, building credibility with, and influencing C-suite and senior executives while developing relationships across their organizations
- Food-manufacturing experience and understanding of plant operations preferred
- Starting this job with strong established customer contacts across many large restaurant and convenience store chains a major plus
- CRM experience, such as Salesforce, preferred
- Strategic selling training or certification, such as Miller Heiman, Challenger, or Action Selling, is also a plus
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities- Driven, tenacious, resourceful, and highly self-motivated, with a true hunter mentality and constant hunger to create and win new business
- Strategic thinker who knows how to "play chess," anticipate obstacles, map influence, and stay several steps ahead
- Maniacally curious and research-driven, with a passion for understanding customers, competitors, segments, and the broader foodservice industry
- Strong executive presence and business savvy, with the confidence and credibility to influence C-suite customers while working effectively with functional teams at all levels
- Natural relationship creator who is energized by networking and turning connections into opportunities
- Strong commercial and financial acumen with excellent communication, presentation, negotiation, organizational, and influencing skills
- Strong teammate and colleague who shares information, supports others, collaborates cross-functionally, and is committed to helping the team and broader company succeed
- Positive, competitive, accountable, and solutions-oriented with a "find a way" mentality
Supervisory ResponsibilitiesWorking Conditions and Physical Effort- Office or remote home-office environment
- Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds occasionally
- Approximately 25% travel, including customer visits, prospect meetings, industry events, product presentations, and facility visits
At C.H. Guenther, we value transparency in compensation. By providing the salary range for this role, we aim to promote fairness and help candidates make informed choices about their career. The salary range for this role is:
$112,500.00 - $180,000.00 USD
Actual compensation may vary based on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as geographic location.
C.H. Guenther & Son will never offer or pay a wage or salary that is not compliant with applicable local, state, or federal pay laws, including minimum salary thresholds.We also offer a variety of benefits, including health and disability insurance, retirement savings options, flexible spending accounts, employee assistance programs, educational assistance, parental leave, paid time off, and company-paid holidays.
For additional information about our company, go to www.chg.com.
