Relevant degree in Business, Marketing, Foodservice, or equivalent experience.
Demonstrated category management or buying experience in convenience retail or beverage foodservice, with a preference for dispensed beverage experience.
Strong commercial and analytical skills in assortment, pricing, promotions, forecasting, and supplier negotiations.
Working knowledge of coffee, fountain, and frozen beverage systems, including ingredient yield and food safety.
Ability to translate insights into actionable category plans and influence cross-functional teams.
Responsibilities
Own annual category plans, sales and profit budgets, and forecasts; prioritize based on customer insights and market benchmarks.
Set assortment, pricing, promotions, and merchandising strategies to enhance value and drive profitable growth.
Define beverage ranges and assess customer demand and value before rollout.
Lead supplier reviews and negotiate commercial terms, ensuring accurate documentation for financial teams.
Manage program economics, partnering with Operations and Supply Chain for consistency and availability.
Define requirements for beverage equipment and evaluate investment returns with Finance and Facilities.
Collaborate on product briefs and launches, ensuring alignment on business cases and commercial results.
Deliver activation requirements for Operations and Marketing, confirming all necessary elements before launch.
Conduct category and post-promotion reviews to improve offerings and coordinate corrective actions.
Benefits
Opportunity to lead and shape beverage category strategy.
Engagement with cross-functional teams and suppliers for collaborative growth.
Access to professional development and training resources.
Dynamic work environment with a mix of office and field activities.
Potential for travel to supplier meetings and trials.
Full Job Description
Position Summary
The Foodservice Category Manager - Beverages will own the commercial performance and strategy for dispensed beverages and ice, driving customer traffic, repeat purchases, and profitable sales. Lead category decisions across assortment, pricing, suppliers, and equipment while ensuring operational excellence, product quality, and ease of execution.
Key Responsibilities
Own annual category plans, sales and profit budgets, forecasts and corrective actions; use customer missions, dayparts, store segmentation and market benchmarks to set priorities.
Set assortment, pricing, promotions and merchandising strategy; use sales mix, customer insights and item economics to improve value, availability and profitable basket growth.
Set beverage ranges, flavor rotations, cup sizes, refill offers and food bundles by store and daypart; assess incremental demand, customer value and cannibalization before rollout.
Lead supplier business reviews and negotiate commercial terms within delegated authority, partnering with Procurement; document costs, rebates and promotional funding for Price Book and Supplier Income teams to administer.
Manage program economics including ingredient yield, dilution, cups, lids, condiments and waste; partner with Operations on portion and recipe consistency and with Supply Chain on product and consumable availability.
Define commercial requirements for coffee, fountain, frozen beverage and ice equipment; evaluate investment returns with Finance and Facilities and track availability, throughput and downtime with Operations.
Partner with the Innovation and Private Label Development Manager on product briefs, pilots and launch decisions; own category business cases, assortment adoption and commercial results while that role owns product development and specifications.
Deliver clear activation requirements for Operations, Marketing and Price Book; confirm supply, equipment capacity, pricing, signage, training inputs and approved quality standards before launch.
Lead category and post-promotion reviews using cups or units sold, margin, repeat purchase, food attachment and availability; improve the offer and coordinate corrective actions, including seasonal ice supply and supplier service.
Qualifications
Relevant degree in Business, Marketing, Foodservice or a related field, or equivalent experience.
Demonstrated category management or buying experience in convenience retail, beverage foodservice or another multi-site retail business; dispensed beverage experience preferred.
Strong commercial and analytical capability in assortment, pricing, promotions, forecasting, supplier negotiations and category profitability.
Working knowledge of coffee, fountain and frozen beverage systems, ingredient yield, consumables, equipment economics and food safety, supported by specialist teams.
Ability to turn insights into executable category plans and influence Operations, suppliers and cross-functional partners.
Work environment and physical requirements
Office-based role with store visits, supplier meetings and trials. Travel and any physical requirements to be confirmed by Human Resources.
