Culinary Specialist

FreshPoint Oahu, Ltd. (FreshPoint Hawaii, LLC); Ventura (CA); On-site; USD 88,000 - 133,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Incentive Plan

Job summary

Sysco Ventura, Inc. in Ventura County is seeking a professional sales specialist to grow new business in culinary categories and achieve annual goals. The role emphasizes direct selling, catman-driven insights, and representing Sysco at culinary events to showcase innovative solutions.

The position may supervise kitchen assistants or interns, requiring strong relationships, data-driven decision making, and the ability to prioritize time and targets within a team-selling environment.

Qualifications

• High School Diploma or GED plus 3+ years executive chef experience.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent culinary degree preferred.
• 3+ years of foodservice sales experience.
• Proficiency in culinary operations and food trends.

Responsibilities

• Develop targeted culinary strategies to achieve regional goals.
• Coordinate with Director of Business Resources to identify opportunities.
• Collaborate with sales partners to address customer needs and close sales.
• Track activities using Salesforce CRM to drive opportunities.
• Coordinate kitchen events, shows, and related activities.
• Build relationships with customers, chefs, and sales teams.

Skills

Culinary expertise

Food cost awareness

Sales and negotiation

Communication skills

Education

High School Diploma or GED

Bachelor's degree or equivalent culinary degree

3+ years executive chef experience

3+ years of foodservice sales experience

Job description

Company: US0101 Sysco Ventura, Inc.

Sales Territory: US-CA-Ventura

Zip Code: 93030

Travel Percentage: Up to 50%

Compensation Range: $88,300.00 - $132,500.00

The compensation range provided is in compliance with state specific laws. Factors that may be used to determine your actual rate of pay include your specific skills, years of experience and other factors.

You may be eligible to participate in the Company's Incentive Plan.

BENEFITS INFORMATION:

For information on Sysco's Benefits, please visit https://SyscoBenefits.com

POSITION SUMMARY:

This is a professional sales position responsible for growing new business with the expectation of achieving assigned business goals while enhancing the customer experience. This will be accomplished through maintaining industry and category specific certification status and direct selling of categories to customers through internal and external business reviews. The culinary specialist is a key role in the team based selling model and as such will be an ambassador for Sysco brand, innovation and Category Management (CatMan) products and will leverage all opportunities to close the sale with customers. This individual will represent Sysco at culinary events and in appropriate organizations in the industry. This position may also be responsible for supervising kitchen assistant(s) or culinary interns. Specialists will prioritize time, targets, and team selling efforts based on market insights and data analytics.

As noted in Sysco's Leadership Framework; On-target performance includes exhibiting the following framework components; Core Qualities, Shaping the Future, and Delivering Business Results.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develop and execute targeted culinary strategies to achieve individual and region annual business goals, delivering profitable sales growth and penetration across categories, specialty segments, and Sysco brand
• Coordinate with Director of Business Resources, leveraging data to identify top opportunities for business reviews
• Collaborate with sales team partners to clearly identify customer challenges, needs, or opportunities and deliver creative and productive solutions to help grow customer business and drive case growth
• Track activities and results, collaborate on opportunities, and champion the team selling process through use of Salesforce (Sysco's CRM tool)
• Leverage sampling in a solutions-oriented manner to close sales
• Be informed of market conditions and trends, product innovations, and competitors' products, prices, and sales; share information with customers as part of value-added services provided
• Facilitate internal/external food shows, catering and event planning activities
• Coordinate kitchen logistics in support of internal/external culinary events
• Develop and maintain relationships with customers, chefs and sales teams through cooperative participation in local events, culinary competitions, culinary schools and other relevant opportunities
• Advise sales team on product specifications. Serve as an expert on Cutting Edge Solutions/innovation items, Sysco Brand and CatMan products
• Assist with employee training by working with sales to facilitate training sessions and complete demonstrations
• Manage all operations of the test kitchen/culinary center including sanitation, product rotation, laundry service and the organization and upkeep of equipment, displays and the general appearance of the culinary facility.
• Manage test kitchen food and supply costs within budgetary parameters
• Comply with all local and state food safety and health code regulations
• Accompany and respond to regulatory agency kitchen/culinary center inspections
• Provide work direction to additional culinary staff, third party vendors, sanitation staff as necessary

QUALIFICATIONS

Education/Experience:

• Minimum : High School Diploma or GED and 3+ years executive chef experience in the foodservice industry
• Preferred : Bachelor's degree or equivalent culinary degree, 3+ years of foodservice sales experience

Knowledge & Skills:

• Proficiency in culinary, restaurant operations, and food trends required (Internal Certification & External Certification may be required)
• Ability to express information in terms of profit and loss, food cost and expense ratio
• Strong financial acumen and ability to properly plan and execute business plans
• Track record of success in the area of consultative selling and networking
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills and ability to work with and influence a variety of key stakeholders
• Experience building trust with prospective customers and securing new business
• Proactive and self-directed, with the ability to structure a weekly schedule to be successful
• Demonstrated ability to deliver against deadlines and produce high-quality results (accuracy, thoroughness in the deliverables they are producing)
• Excellent organizational and project management skills, including the ability to execute multiple initiatives at the same time
• Strong business and restaurant ope