Retail Category Manager, Bakery

The Fresh Market Inc.; Fisher Park (NC); On-site; USD 75,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Team member discount up to 30%

Health, dental & vision insurance

401K contribution and match

Personal time off and additional time‑

Job summary

The Fresh Market is seeking a Retail Category Manager, Bakery to drive the development, execution, and financial performance of an assigned category from our Store Support Center. You will set product assortment, pricing, promotions, and merchandising standards to meet department goals.

You will lead cross-functional collaboration with marketing, stores, and vendors, monitor trends, evaluate new items, and ensure quality across all category initiatives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 4–7+ years of Category Management or related experience.
• Deep knowledge of the grocery business and systems/processes.
• Experience understanding consumer demand in fast-paced retail/grocery.
• Ability to develop/maintain strong working relationships with peers and cross-functional teams.
• Demonstrate strong analytical, negotiating, and problem-solving skills.
• Willing and able to travel for trade shows and store trips.
• Flexible and adaptive to changing priorities.
• Organize and prioritize workload to meet deadlines.
• Proficient with MS Office applications.
• Project management skills.

Responsibilities

• Set product assortment for your category based on brand standards and item performance.
• Develop pricing strategy to achieve department financial goals.
• Define the promotional strategy based on the role of your category.
• Determine merchandising minimums, by SKU, for your category.
• Optimize sales to space through the category review process.
• Define monthly shrink targets by category.
• Evaluate new item performance.
• Maintain schematic integrity with consistent review and updates.
• Review fixture plans for new store openings.
• Define and collaborate with cross-functional partners on marketing strategy to support category programs.
• Monitor trends in new products, consumer behavior, market share, and competition, to inform decisions and initiate and enable innovation.
• Finds and evaluates new vendors and approves new items/vendors for buys.
• Ensure quality standards are upheld.

Skills

Category management

Merchandising

Pricing strategy

Analytics

Cross-functional collaboration

Travel willingness

MS Office

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

Tools

Nielsen/IRI

MicroStrategy

Job description

The Fresh Market & You:

Our mission is to make everyday eating extraordinary for our guests. We create a warm, welcoming, memorable experience with exceptional, personal service. We're looking for a new team member who strives for excellence and brings positive energy, commitment, and a can-do attitude to work every day. We value teamwork and celebrate our successes as a team and will value your contribution!

Added Benefits for choosing The Fresh Market Team:

• Team Member discount up to 30%
• Health, Dental, & Vision insurance available for individual, spouse, partner, and family.
• 401K contribution and match for part-time and full-time team members

• Personal time off and additional time off purchase plans are available
• AND much more!

About the Position:

The Fresh Market currently has an opening for a Retail Category Manager, Bakery in our Store Support Center (099). The Retail Category Manager will support the department in the creation, development, execution, and financial performance of an assigned category.

What You'll Do:

• Set product assortment for your category based on brand standards and item performance.
• Develop pricing strategy to achieve department financial goals.
• Define the promotional strategy based on the role of your category.
• Determine merchandising minimums, by SKU, for your category.
• Optimize sales to space through the category review process.
• Define monthly shrink targets by category.
• Evaluate new item performance.
• Maintain schematic integrity with consistent review and updates.
• Review fixture plans for new store openings.
• Define and collaborate with cross-functional partners on marketing strategy to support category programs.
• Monitor trends in new products, consumer behavior, market share, and competition, to inform decisions and initiate and enable innovation.
• Finds and evaluates new vendors and approves new items/vendors for buys.
• Ensure quality standards are upheld.

Qualifications:

At a minimum, you will need:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• 4-7+ years of Category Management or related experience.
• Deep knowledge and understanding of the grocery business and systems/processes.
• Experience in understanding consumer demand in the fast-paced retail/grocery environment.
• Ability to develop/maintain strong working relationships with peers and cross-functional teams.
• Possesses strong merchandising, product, and marketing skills.
• Demonstrate strong analytical, negotiating, and problem-solving skills.
• Willing and able to travel for trade shows and store trips.
• Flexible and adaptive to changing priorities.
• Able to organize and prioritize workload to meet deadlines.
• Demonstrated skills with MS Office applications.
• Project management skills.

Preferred qualifications:

• Demonstrated experience utilizing Nielsen and/or IRI.
• Experience with MicroStrategy.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS: Consistent with applicable laws, TFM will make reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants and team members, unless doing so would result in an undue hardship to TFM. This guiding principle applies to all aspects of employment, including hiring and job assignment, compensation, discipline, termination, and access to benefits and training.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer:

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard race, color, creed, religion, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy and related medical conditions, national origin, genetic information, uniformed service, veteran status, disability, or any other basis prohibited by federal or state law.

The statements in this job description are provided to describe the general nature and level of work expected in this role. While these statements include the essential functions of the job, they are not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required. As we work as a team, there may be times team members are needed to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities based on business needs.

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