Director of Foodservice Sales & Marketing

At Avocados From Mexico, we nurture hearts to live life deliciously. We are curious-minded and have a relentless
passion for disruption that delivers results. The Director of Sales & Marketing, Foodservice is responsible for leading the strategic development and execution of AFM’s Foodservice agenda to drive brand equity and long-term demand. This role is responsible for developing and cultivating new and existing business and will develop the strategies to drive the promotional programs that will accelerate short term demand by partnering with operators, restaurants, universities, hotels, concessions, contract feeders and distributors to market avocados in the United States. The Director of Sales & Marketing, Foodservice will manage all Foodservice trade marketing, events, and promotions for Avocados From Mexico. The role is responsible for the management and strategic development of AFM’s culinary program including its proprietary Foodservice concept, all culinary innovation and oversight of the “AvoLab” culinary center. The individual in the role will direct and lead a team of marketing, sales and culinary staff to successfully support the company's goals and strategies.

• Owns the planning and the development of the foodservice sales and marketing strategy and leads execution across every channel.
• Aggressively researches and identifies new business development opportunities, creates fact based selling presentations resulting in solutions that meet the customers needs/priorities.
• Develops strong relationships with top account decision makers and can lead and guide teams through negotiations and outcomes.
• Sets and oversees the tracking, measurement, and evaluation of all major activity in plan, to continually improve Foodservice impact effectiveness and ROI and oversees the delivery of all post-mortem reports.
• Leads company sell-in program in operators and other channels with promotional solutions to accelerate avocado sales and reinforce AFM’s messaging.
• Formulates and develops the strategy, and sets the objectives for all advertising and media campaigns.
• Leads AFM’s concession strategy and negotiates all contracts with partners.
• Develops a toolkit of promotional tools and manages foodservice LTO program to develop customized promotional solutions for key clients across the U.S. using a segmentation strategy approach to identify and develop key accounts for AFM.
• The individual will defines foodservice dollars allocations to accomplish maximum effectiveness of those dollars to guarantee that the company goals are met in the most cost-efficient ways.
• Leads the strategy of the company’s foodservice regional and national events.
• Oversees the development and management of AFM’s culinary innovation and promotional program to create new and exciting ways to use avocados in the different foodservice channels.
• Owns AFM’s proprietary foodservice concepts including their marketing strategy, menu development and operational management through key partners.
• Oversees AFM Culinary Center in Dallas and all the different programs associated with it, including AFM’s Avocado University.
• Develops and ensures implementation of the short and long-term comprehensive Foodservice insights plan in collaboration with the Insights and Analytics team by leveraging our insight’s management tools and AFM primary research.
• Collaborates with the Insights & Analytics team on all Foodservice related concept testing and works on development of customer review presentations.
• Oversees and manages foodservice and culinary agencies to develop volume-driven programs and ensure Avocados From Mexico brand is represented appropriately in all marketing campaigns.
• Meets regularly with key customers to sell-in promotional programs, educate them on the benefits/quality of Avocados From Mexico and ensure all necessary documentation/agreements are in place.
• Oversees and coaches the Foodservice Sales, Marketing and Culinary team.

Team

• Forms strong working relationships within team; ability to work in cross-functional team environment
• Follows established procedures for marketing and sales processes.
• Brings problems to the attention of the Sr Vice President, Commercial Strategy & Execution
• Supports leadership with special projects on as needed basis.
• Attends leadership meetings, shares information and gathers feedback to improve Foodservice department.
• Cultivates long-term relationships with agencies.
• Identifies and promotes continuous innovative thinking in Foodservice to continuously drive new ideas and technologies to create efficiency in the company

• Deep understanding of Foodservice landscape and process through the operator’s lens.
• Entrepreneurial spirt with the spirit to grow segments and develop new business. Has demonstrated success in growing existing accounts and expanding market penetration in foodservice comm and non-comm channels.
• Extensive experience managing culinary programs, setting the strategic agenda for developing an innovation pipeline as well as driving short term demand for customers through culinary innovation.
• Creative agency management experience is a plus with expertise developing and executing Foodservice campaigns.
• Can manage and develop teams and lead performance evaluations.
• Strong strategic thinker equipped to question and challenge the status quo.

• Results driven leader who is collaborative, highly self-motivated and works with a sense of urgency.
• Exhibits tenacity meeting goals and determining solutions to meet business challenges.
• Effective communication with the ability to impact and motivate external and internal stakeholders.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) a plus.
• May travel up to 45%.

• Undergraduate degree required; MBA preferred.
• CPG food and beverage preferred with 7-10+ years' experience in Foodservice. Prior experience in produce is a plus but not required.
• Prior experience managing culinary innovation and the development of culinary programs is required in addition to experience in a marketing and/or trade marketing capacity.