Senior Manager, Food & Beverage Category Management

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Formulate and implement long-term category strategies for food, beverage, hospitality products, and associated services within Legends' venue portfolio.

• Oversee expenditure analysis, market evaluations, and total cost of ownership assessments.

• Create and execute supplier rationalization strategies.

• Develop category roadmaps, benchmarks, KPIs, and analytical dashboards.

• Collaborate with culinary leadership and operations for menu design and product enhancement.

• Direct strategic sourcing initiatives and negotiate intricate, long-term master agreements.

• Create contract templates, pricing structures, service level agreements (SLAs), and terms and conditions.

• Manage contract renewals, amendments, pricing reviews, and supplier performance assessments.

• Forge strategic alliances with distributors, suppliers, and manufacturers of hospitality products.

• Conduct quarterly business reviews, product evaluations, menu tastings, and supplier exhibitions.

• Establish supplier scorecards and address escalated supplier concerns.

• Promote the use of national contracts throughout a decentralized venue network.

• Create business cases and ROI analyses for unified procurement initiatives.

• Facilitate venue roadshows, webinars, and training programs.

• Monitor rebate accruals, verify supplier payments, and resolve discrepancies.

• Advise venue General Managers, executive chefs, and F&B directors on supplier selection and cost efficiency.

• Ensure adherence to procurement policies, contracting authority, ethical sourcing standards, and regulations.

• Maintain category documentation and assist with audits.

⛳️ Requirements

• A Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain Management, Hospitality Management, Culinary Arts, or a related field is required.

• An MBA or relevant advanced degree is preferred.

• Over 8 years of progressive experience in procurement or category management, including at least 5 years focused on food, beverage, and/or hospitality categories.

• At least 3 years of experience in a leadership role or as a senior individual contributor managing complex, multi-stakeholder procurement programs.

• Demonstrated success in achieving measurable cost reductions, process enhancements, and supplier performance improvements.

• Extensive knowledge of food and beverage supply chains.

• Strong comprehension of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage categories.

• Familiarity with hospitality goods and services sectors.

• Understanding of foodservice equipment categories.

• Experience collaborating with nationally recognized suppliers in the hospitality, restaurant, sports venue, entertainment, travel, or leisure sectors.

• Knowledge of back-of-house (BOH) and front-of-house (FOH) operations is valued; a culinary or F&B operations background is a significant advantage.

• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite; advanced Excel skills are strongly preferred.

• Solid business acumen, including understanding P&L dynamics, margin structures, rebate programs, and cost allocation models.

• Ability to confidently present to C-suite executives, supplier leaders, and cross-functional leadership teams.

• Familiarity with spend analytics platforms, eProcurement tools, contract lifecycle management (CLM) systems, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

• Preferred experience in sports, entertainment, hospitality, restaurants, hotels, convention centers, or similar settings.

• Knowledge of sustainability, local sourcing, and ethical procurement practices is preferred.

• Familiarity with menu engineering, recipe costing, and bill of materials (BOM) structures is preferred.

• Experience managing national or multi-site procurement programs for organizations with annual spending over $100 million is preferred.

• Willingness to travel domestically up to 25% to venue locations, supplier sites, and industry events.

🏝️ Benefits

• Flexible remote work arrangement.

• Up to 25% domestic travel opportunities.

• Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.

• An inclusive workplace that encourages employees to be authentic, make an impact, and advance their careers.