Senior Sales Manager, Foodservice Calbee America is seeking a highly entrepreneurial and strategic Senior Sales Manager, Foodservice, to lead the development, execution, and acceleration of the company's national Foodservice channel strategy. This role will be responsible for building a scalable go-to-market model that expands Calbee's reach across Away-From-Home snacking occasions and supports a long-term channel ambition of over $30MM in annual revenue by 2030.Representing Calbee America's unique full portfolio of snacks, this leader will position the company as a differentiated Foodservice partner across both Better For You and indulgent Asian snacking platforms. The role requires a commercially sharp, relationship-oriented sales leader who can develop customers, distributors, redistributors, and broker partners while creating profitable growth across multiple Foodservice sub-segments.
Key Responsibilities: National Channel Leadership:
- Develop the long-range Foodservice growth strategy and translate it into annual sales objectives, account plans, and measurable execution priorities.
- Identify whitespace opportunities across Foodservice sub-segments and recommend prioritization by revenue potential, portfolio fit, distributor readiness, and operational complexity.
- Lead strategic selling efforts with national operators, regional customers, distributor partners, redistributors, buying groups, and contract management companies.
- Champion portfolio expansion across all brands, pack formats, price points, and snacking occasions that fit Foodservice customer needs.
- Partner with executive leadership to report progress against revenue, distribution, broker productivity, customer acquisition, margin, and strategic channel milestones.
- Distributor, Redistributor & Operator Development:
- Develop productive relationships with traditional Foodservice distributors, redistributors, broadline distributors, specialty distributors, cash-and-carry operators, and relevant buying organizations.
- Build distributor pull-through programs that convert end-user demand into sustained, profitable volume.
- Negotiate customer programs, pricing structures, promotional plans, and agreements that support profitable growth and protect long-term brand value.
- Design, build, and manage a national Foodservice broker representation structure to provide market coverage across priority geographies and customer segments.
- Recruit, onboard, train, and hold broker partners accountable to customer development plans, product education, sales targets, sampling priorities, lead generation, and execution standards.
- Equip broker and distributor sales teams with clear selling stories, product training, customer-ready materials, and segment-specific value propositions for Calbee's Better For You and Asian snack portfolios.
- Business Planning, Forecasting & Performance Management:
- Own Foodservice sales planning, forecasts, customer pipelines, revenue projections, and trade investment recommendations.
- Analyze customer performance, portfolio mix, distribution progress, margin impact, and market trends to guide channel decisions.
- Conduct regular business reviews with internal stakeholders, brokers, distributors, and strategic customers.
- Partner cross-functionally with Finance, Supply Chain, Marketing, Innovation, Customer Service, and Operations to support account onboarding, forecasting, commercialization, and customer service excellence.
- Translate customer and segment insights into product, pack, channel, and go-to-market recommendations.
- Priority Foodservice Segments:
Education:
K-12 Schools Targets: Districts/Public, Private/Charter Schools, nutrition programs, co-ops, athletics/concessions.
Education:
College & University Targets: Campus and related retail grab-go markets, vending.
Traditional Foodservice & Independent Restaurants Targets: Broadline, redistributor and specialty channels; independents, regional groups, delis.
Deli, Dining & Prepared Foods Targets: Independent Deli, prepared foods, grab-and-go meals, food halls, specialty markets.
Business & Industry Campus Targets: Corporate dining, technology/fin/manufacturing, other campuses and sites, micro-markets, workplace cafés.
Travel & Entertainment Targets: High-traffic impulse premium destination grab-and-go and premium Airport, arena, museum.
QSR & Fast Casual Dining Targets: QSR chains, fast casual, coffee, beverage-led concepts, emerging restaurant groups.
Resort, Hotel & Leisure Targets: Premium hotels, resorts, casinos, conference centers, clubs, gift shops, lounges, markets, boxed.
Healthcare Targets: wellness-focused retail, hospitals, health systems, cafeterias, retail, vending.
Qualifications:
Bachelor's degree in business, Marketing, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.7-10+ years of successful Foodservice, Away-From-Home, distributor, broker, or CPG sales experience; Relevant snack food sales experience preferred.
Demonstrated ability to build a channel growth strategy and convert it into actionable customer, distributor, and broker plans.
Experience managing Foodservice brokers, agencies, redistributors, broadline distributors, specialty distributors, national operators, or regional Foodservice customers.
Strong negotiation, forecasting, financial acumen, presentation, and cross-functional leadership skills.
Ability to work effectively in a remote environment with national travel and a high degree of self-direction.
Foodservice end-user Customer distribution experience and existing relationships within Education, Business & Industry, Healthcare, Hospitality, QSR, Travel, Entertainment, and related sub-segments preferred.
Familiarity with syndicated and distributor data, broker management, reporting/scorecarding, customer development management, and creation of segment-specific sales and presentation materials.
Employment experience scaling within the Foodservice channel for a branded CPG Food or Beverage company.
Strong strategic planning, execution, forecasting, and relationship management skills.
Excellent communication skills; able to thrive in a cross-functional and multicultural environment.
Results-driven, self-starter with high energy, urgency, and a passion for delivering exceptional outcomes.
Experience in the snacks category is a plus.
Proficiency with syndicated data tools (Spins, IRI, Nielsen, etc.) is preferred.
Ability to work effectively in a home-office environment with frequent travel (up to 40%) across assigned regions.
Ability to work flexible hours to accommodate customer schedules, sales calls, meetings, and business deadlines.
Location Requirement: While this is a remote position, the individual must be located within reasonable proximity to a major international airport to support frequent business travel. Preferred locations include Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, or Boston.
Calbee North America is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to a policy of non-discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, age, sex, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, citizenship, ancestry, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or familial status or any other legally protected status.
