National Account Manager

Speedibake is a division of Associated British Foods (ABF), a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group with sales of £20.1 billion and 138,000 employees in 56 countries

At Speedibake we’re incredibly passionate about making delicious own-label baked goods. From our bakery in Bradford, we supply to a customer base across all channels; retail, foodservice wholesalers, contract catering, and export.

Overview Of Role

Location: Speedibake Bradford/ Hybrid

The Foodservice National Account Manager is responsible for developing and managing strategic relationships with national foodservice operators, distributors, buying groups and National End user accounts to drive profitable sales growth. This role focuses on expanding market share, identifying new business opportunities, executing strategic account plans and collaborating cross-functionally to deliver exceptional customer experiences.

The ideal candidate combines strong sales expertise, foodservice knowledge, strategic thinking, and relationship-building skills to grow national accounts while achieving revenue and profitability objectives exceeding our budget expectation.

Key Accountabilities

Strategy

Work closely with and assist the Foodservice Controller to determine customer and product strategies which ensure long term sales and profit growth.

Stakeholder Engagement

Build and Maintain relationships with key customer stakeholders and ensure that a strong and mutually beneficial relationship exists across all contact points including buying, sales, Category, NPD, Logistics and Technical functions.

Executing the Plan

• Achieve sales and margin targets for customers within direct control through effective business planning, commercial negotiation and the coordination of all available resources, including negotiating pricing, contracts, and annual agreements.
• Report progress against key business objectives to the Foodservice Controller on a weekly basis; specifically, sales performance versus forecast and budget, NPD and New Business development projects and promotional plans.
• Conduct regular business reviews and identify growth opportunities.
• Liaise with Planning to ensure sales forecasts, both base and event, are accurate and to ensure that customer service issues are dealt with in a timely and professional manner.
  
  

Business Development

• Identify and secure new national chain and multi-unit foodservice customers.
• Expand distribution through national and regional foodservice distributors.
• Develop sales strategies to increase product penetration and category growth.
• Collaborate with culinary teams to present menu and product solutions.
  
  

Other

• Ability to travel to attend Tradeshows and visit customers, occasional overnight stays
• Carry out any other reasonable duties that will be required from time to time
  
  

The Right Person

Essential

• At least 2 years experience of managing a major National Wholesaler, eg Brakes or Bidfood
• Previous experience in managing Branded and own label products within Wholesale and Foodservice End User
• Excellent communication skills
• Customer- focused mindset
• Strong analytical and negotiation skills
• Ability to influence and create impact
  
  

Desirable

• Knowledge of the UK bakery industry
• Education to degree level or equivalent
  
  

Critical Behaviours

• To always adhere to the Company Safety First requirements.
• Takes accountability, sets high standards & takes personal responsibility for performance.
• Results orientated
• Customer Centric Approach
• Business Acumen
• Ability to build Strong Relationships
• Independent and self -motivated attitude
• Adaptable & Strategic Planning
• Resilient and acts with integrity
• Adheres to Speedibake values every day