Out of Home Controller

What is THIS™?

THIS™ is a high-growth, VC-backed emerging leader in producing plant-based food. Meat-alternatives, to be exact. In fact, if we’re being reallllly exact – our products are at the leading-edge of the plant-based sector in terms of taste, texture and appearance. Here’s our insta, for a quick stalk - www.instagram.com/this.uk

It’s worth mentioning that since our launch in June 2019, the company has experienced extremely significant growth in revenue. Last year, in 2023, THIS™ topped Alantra’s annual Fast 50 list, a ranking of the country’s fastest-growing food and drink companies on two-year sales growth. We have strong aspirations to continue this growth trajectory as we aim to be the number 1 plant-based brand in the UK and beyond and we believe we have the team and investment to achieve this.

Why are we doing THIS™?

We’re Andy and Pete - co-founders of THIS™. Our last job entailed selling tonnes (literally tonnes) of meat. Then we felt bad. Also, we felt like meat-alternatives weren't really for people who love the taste of meat. We felt like they were for people who like sandals and socks. So we've basically ended up making THIS™ for ourselves, but we'd love other meat-lovers to nom nom it too. THIS™ is a game-changer.

At our core, we believe:

• Stereotypes around plant-based food need to be bulldozed
• Guilt-trips don’t make people hungry
• Plant-based food should mean zero compromise - this is how we can recruit more meat reducers to the category

What’s with this role?

This is an exciting opportunity for a senior role in the commercial team. The role will play an integral part at THIS™, helping to establish, grow and nurture this strategically important channel and help us on our journey to being leaders of the meat-free market. Out of Home is a vast and growing market for plant-based options, with a wide variety of customers from independents to national restaurant and QSR chains. This role will lead the Out of Home function at THIS™, building our strategy to succeed, leading new business acquisition and supporting the team to manage our key customer relationships

What will you be getting up to?

• Responsible for building and shaping the long-term strategy for success in the Out of Home channel, identifying the right product, price and customer strategies to transform THIS™ into the clear leaders in Out of Home
• Be the owner of the relationship with strategically important partners in QSR, High Street and Foodservice
• Lead and manage the Out of Home team, coaching the two commercial managers to support delivery against objectives and work together on their personal development plan
• Develop our relationships with our big wholesale and foodservice partners, cooperate and engage with senior stakeholders and expanding our contact matrix
• This channel is a big growth bet for THIS™ - identify and engage new potential customers and channels for our market-leading products, opening up new distribution for THIS™ across Foodservice, QSR and Travel locations
• Working collaboratively with the category manager to build informative, succinct and clear selling presentations that will give us a real point of difference compared to all of our competitors
• Being an enthusiastic and passionate advocate for THIS™ and the plant-based category to our customers, helping share and drive the company's vision
• The management and tracking of our Out of Home P&L, monthly reporting of revenue, spend and margin vs. budget
• Regular sales forecasting, tracking and reporting to help us deliver the budget, flagging opportunities and risks along the way
• Effective evaluation and measurement of our customer marketing and promotional spend to ensure we are deploying trade spend as effectively as possible
• Develop, negotiate and execute exceptional customer JBPs that deliver against company targets, goals, and objectives
• Collaborate cross-functionally as the lead for the channel with Marketing, Ops and Finance to deliver market-leading activation plans and great availability

What are we looking for?

• An experienced and driven leader, who together with the Commercial Director will drive the Out Of Home function to the next level and transform the channel
• Someone with at least 7+ years commercial experience in the food and drink industry (with leadership in OOH/High street essential)
• A proven track record of leading a commercial function, developing talent and delivering consistent sales growth
• Strategic - The ability to synthesise industry knowledge and data trends to form a coherent long-term strategy for success, identifying barriers and building plans to overcome them
• Team management - experience of developing and supporting a high-performing team, coaching to success, nurturing and motivating team and driving ownership and accountability amongst reports
• Planning and prioritisation - this is a vast and varied channel. It’s critical to have the ability to identify key targets and prioritise personal and team time accordingly
• Someone with drive, energy and determination. We’re growing and that means we need people who are iron-willed and will demonstrate their true entrepreneurial spirit day in, day out
• Strong commercial skill set - demonstration of relationship building, negotiation, winning new business, building compelling selling stories, understanding industry and channel dynamics
• An analytical mindset - someone who can proactively measure performance and trade spend to identify trends and optimise performance
• Interpersonal skills and the natural ability to influence colleagues and key external stakeholders.

Alignment with our company values:

• You’ve Got THIS™: You’re A HUSTLER with proactivity, a tenacious character and a positive attitude. This person will need to get sh*t done in a major way and knock through what will seem like brick walls. We are leading the category in terms of product, and for us to stay there you will need to have a relentlessness that isn’t in everybody.
• Love The Details: You strive for high standards and go above and beyond for the customer experience - it’s the little things that make people fall in love with our brand over and over again.
• Be Your True S(h)elf: Honesty and integrity is key, you should have a conviction in your work to improve your patch of the world for yourself and for others and you’re invested in a feedback culture to support that.
• Be Kind Loads: We’re colleagues but also mates (unless we're playing table tennis) so you’re a team player who looks out for others and treats everyone with the same respect and kindness - pots and pots of it.

Other stuff

As a fast-growing business, everyone who joins us needs to be ready to roll up their sleeves and carry out tasks away from their core focus because - they just need to get done. That could be helping to prepare samples for a customer meeting, trying new products and giving tasting notes, packing cold bags into boxes or a lot of other random stuff that comes up. They're not always the most glamorous jobs, but from the founders down, the whole team gets involved!

From our side

• A competitive salary that fairly recognises your experience and potential.
• We are offering share options in our company to everyone who joins us.
• 25 days paid holiday plus bank-holidays – we care about our team’s wellbeing, so we make sure you have time to fully switch off, rest, and recharge.
• Flexible working hours – We're not a 9-5. Our focus is on your ability to deliver for the business, not your ability to keep strict working hours.
• Private healthcare
• Life assurance
• Mental health support - the company pays for Spill, a mental health wellness provider that gives everyone access to mental health resources, and qualified therapists for unlimited therapy sessions.
• Access to our Freebie Freezer so you can eat as much of THIS™ as you fancy.

The chance to have a meaningful impact

As a relatively small, albeit growing, team you'll be exposed to, and have the chance to contribute towards, challenges and projects at all levels and in all areas of the business. A good idea is a good idea, regardless of the experience or seniority of who came up with it.

We'd love to hear from you, so feel free to apply with your CV and cover letter and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!

Department

Sales

Locations

THIS Office

Remote status

Hybrid Remote

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