Distributor Development Manager (Food Service)

Sauer Brands, Inc.

Pennsylvania

On-site

USD 110,000 - 160,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

401K

Medical/Dental/Vision

Vacation & Holidays

Parental Leave

Flexible Spending Accounts

Life Insurance

Disability Insurance

Job summary

Sauer Brands, Inc. is seeking a Distribution Development Manager to own SBI’s distribution strategy across foodservice, distributor, and operator channels in the Eastern U.S. You will collaborate with internal teams and key distributors, including PFG, to grow revenue, margin, and portfolio penetration.

You will lead planning, trade programs, and distributor education, developing scalable programs and ensuring timely execution across partners. Travel up to 50% is expected.

Qualifications

BS/BA degree required or equivalent.
Demonstrated ability to lead distribution initiatives across multiple channels.
Strong analytical and forecasting skills with data-driven decision making.

Responsibilities

Develop and own SBI’s annual distribution strategy and business plan across distributor channels.
Achieve revenue, gross margin, EBITDA, and distribution objectives.
Lead distributor relationships including PFG and other key partners.
Drive planning, trade programs, and program execution to maximize SBI portfolio performance.
Develop relationships across distributor leadership, category teams, culinary teams, and field sales.
Provide distributor insights and market analytics to support growth.

Skills

Leadership

Relationship building

Data analysis

Forecasting

Strategic thinking

Communication

Teamwork

Time management

Education

BS/BA degree

Tools

CRM

BI tools

Job description

Job Summary:

The Distribution Development Manager is responsible for developing and owning SBI’s companywide distribution strategy across foodservice, distributor, and operator channels. This role proactively manages distribution growth, revenue, portfolio, and trade investment effectiveness across distributor partners. The position serves as the primary relationship and business contact for PFG while also leading distribution strategy across the broader company distributor network.

The Manager reports to the VP, Away from Home Sales and works collaboratively with the AFH Regional Sales Team, AFH National Account Team, Business Units, Sales Planning & Analysis, Customer Service, and other cross‑functional partners. This role partners with internal teams to develop scalable distribution programs, increase velocity of SBI branded products, expand manufactured portfolio opportunities, and strengthen distributor execution across the company.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Develop and own SBI’s annual distribution strategy and business plan to deliver expected results across distributor partners, with PFG as the primary account relationship.
Achieve total revenue, gross margin, EBITDA, distribution, and portfolio penetration objectives across assigned distributor channels.
Develop sales, distribution, and marketing strategies to support branded and private label business development across distributor partners.
Achieve branded sales and distribution objectives through effective personal and team selling and execution of company portfolio management programs.
Achieve distributor development objectives, including but not limited to:
- Distributor engagement/NPS score
- Depth and breadth of portfolio
- Distribution Objectives
- SBI Program Acceptance and Excellent Execution
- Sales Terms and Conditions Compliance (AR, Order lead times, MOQs, etc.) Etc.
Sales forecast development, timely communication, and accuracy (within 30% MAPE)
Manage assigned trade programs and associated funding to deliver strong distributor and operator performance, and excellent execution of SBI programs.
Develop and leverage relationships at all levels of key distributor partners, including PFG Corporate and Regional Divisions, operating companies, and management teams.
- Develop strong horizontal and vertical relationships across distributor leadership teams, category teams, culinary teams, operating companies, and field sales organizations.
- Create relationships between key distributor decision makers and SBI stakeholders to support growth, execution, and issue resolution.
Leverage internal and external analytical resources to provide distributor partners with actionable category insights, identifying opportunities to improve their business and expand the SBI portfolio.
Utilize BU resources for consumer, brand, product and category insights, and Sales Analysis and Planning resources for channel, account and market insights that help to differentiate SBI as a supplier to PFG.
Develop planning and tracking tools to assist PFG sales personnel maximize effectiveness and success of SBI programs and overall business.
In conjunction with the SBI teams, execute distributor product education, sales meetings, product cuttings, and other activities within the distributorship that promote SBI brands. Integrate Corporate departments as appropriate to increase effectiveness.
Deliver short- & long-term solutions through best practice thought leadership.
Routinely collect and report to BU and AFH management any competitive activity in the condiment and spice categories to include new competitors, new products, new packages, pricing changes, discontinued items, etc.
Work closely with SBI Customer Service to ensure timely deliveries and effective communication around exceptions.
Work as an escalation path with Credit and Collections for past due accounts.

Performance Standards (the criteria that will be used to evaluate performance):

Business Key Performance Indicators
- Total Revenues, Gross Margins, EBITDA
  - Brand Revenues & Gross Margins
  - PL Revenues and Gross Margins
  - Cost to Serve Performance-shipping, 3PL costs, other deductions, etc.
- Brand Distribution/Penetration-Distributor
  - Sales Execution vs Portfolio Priorities
- Number of distributor buying locations, including PFG buying locations, and growth
- Brand Distribution per PFG House
- Brand SKUs per buying distributor location
- Brand Distribution/Penetration-Operator
  - Number of Operator distribution points, and growth
- Percentage of distributor‑served accounts buying SBI brands
- # Of SKUs per brand buying account
- # Of Menu applications
- Sales & Marketing Program Execution
  - Effectiveness of trade support spending
- Distributor Business Management
  - Forecast Accuracy-MAPE
  - AR Terms compliance
  - Order Lead Times
  - MOQs
  - Other
- Distributor engagement with SBI, with primary accountability for PFG relationship health
  - Net Promoter Scores (NPS)
  - Overall Program participation rate
- What you do and how you act
  - Leadership and contribution to overall success of SBI
  - Personal Effectiveness-meeting timelines and productivity requirements (quantity and quality of work)
  - Personal interaction, communication, and teamwork with internal and external parties, consistent with our values
What We Are Looking For:
- Performance History
  - Documented history of making improvements in assigned work area/responsibilities
  - Demonstrated progression in size and scope of responsibilities
  - Stellar references based on contributions and performance
- Demonstrated proficiency in the following Areas
  - Ability to present information, internally and externally, in a succinct manner to drive to decision making.
  - Skilled at building relationships with key stakeholders, including customers, brokers, and internal cross functional teams.
  - Utilize data to analyze situation and make decisions.
  - Understanding of forecasting models and tools
  - Ability to work and thrive under time constraints and prioritize responsibilities.
  - Demonstrated strategic thought leadership
  - Team oriented, collaborative, diplomatic, and flexible
  - Drive to compete and win every day!
- Education & Experience
  - BS/BA degree in business or related technical discipline
  - 8-10 years of Foodservice/AFH, distributor management, sales strategy, or channel development experience desired; experience working with PFG or comparable national/regional distributors strongly preferred.
- Other
  - Location- Eastern U.S.
  - Travel Required 50%
  - Some overnight travel required.
What Is In It For You?

Our company acknowledges talented people are attracted to companies that provide competitive pay, comprehensive benefits packages and outstanding advancement opportunities. For this reason, we offer a Comprehensive Benefits Plan that includes the following:
- 401K
- Medical/Dental/Vision Coverage
- Vacation, Sick Days and Holidays
- Parental Leave
- Flexible Spending AccountsTuition Reimbursement
- Employee and Dependent Life Insurance
- Voluntary Disability Insurance
- Other Voluntary Insurance Options
Sauer Brands, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.