Category Analyst, Food

About the role

This position is responsible for supporting multiple Procurement categories across our 7 restaurant brands. The analyst is primarily responsible for driving product setup processes, analyzing the business, and collaborating with suppliers to implement supply chain solutions that improve pricing, item specification, logistics, inventory, and distribution. In addition, the Category Analyst will work collaboratively with Category Management and internal stakeholders to source select category products, facilitate RFPs, collaborate on product innovation and specification recommendations, build and improve category reporting, track supplier quality and savings, manage supplier relationships, maintain pricing contracts, data, and Legal agreements.

Responsibilities

• Pricing & Contract Management
  • Lead the monthly pricing and contract update process, including requesting updates from suppliers, reviewing data, working to fix errors, and providing a summary of cost change impacts
  • Ensure all agreements are fully executed and loaded into Focus Brands contract management systems
  • Work collaboratively with Category Manager and Legal to draft/execute agreements
  • Maintain and improve data accuracy in pricing systems
  • Coordinate accurate data entry and maintenance into GoTo Foods supply chain systems including suppliers, new prices, new price effective dates, product attributes, etc.
  • Ensure continued data integrity maintenance for all GoTo Foods systems
  • Maintain information tracking tools for supplier contacts, conference, & item fees
  • Work with suppliers and cross-functional team to optimize line-of-supply and freight costs within the distribution network
  • Support GoTo Foods distribution transition initiatives
• Category Analysis & Reporting
  • Develop process improvements, dashboards, analytical methods, and reporting tools that provide clear business value for, and insights into, the identified category
  • Identify and recommend cost savings and value opportunities
  • Proactively identify improvement opportunities and create innovative win-win customer and supplier strategies that are regularly shared with Procurement leadership
  • Utilize existing reporting functions to gather cost/spend information, and summarize for impactful decision making
  • Maintain and improve data accuracy of product specifications, plant audits, and other QA requirements
  • Coordinate accurate data entry and maintenance of detailed item specifications, active production facilities, etc.
  • Manage and monitor supplier inventory and production, coordinate response to supply issues, and engage supplier and cross-functional team on solutions
  • Monitor value creation across the supply chain network
  • Track and report on key supplier KPI metrics
• New Product Development & Innovation
  • Work directly with the Category Manager to launch new products and innovations with our suppliers, as well as Brand Marketing and Operations teams
  • Manage new item information collection, pricing, contract management & approval for new item setup within internal and external systems
  • Manage and track commercialization projects through the onboarding process
  • Identify, recommend, and commercialize product solutions that contribute to company-wide sustainability, cost-savings, and/or value creation goals
• Strategic Sourcing & Vendor Management
  • Interact with suppliers and internal groups to collect data and improve our understanding of the identified category
  • Lead communications to suppliers for pricing renewals, procurement/transition updates, forecasts, and other widespread GoTo Foods initiatives
  • Communicate & help resolve supply security escalations, collaborating with internal teams to avoid product outages
  • Analyze supplier reporting to help make category decisions, allocate inventory, etc.
  • Provide recommendations on how to optimize our supplier partnerships/SKUs across all 7 brands
  • Assist Category Manager in planning and executing activities related to sourcing
  • Coordinate, develop, and conduct research and analysis of strategic sourcing activities
  • Perform cost and scenario analysis and benchmarking to ensure that Focus Brands has an excellent understanding of the supply market
  • Work directly with the Category Manager to administrate and analyze Requests for Information & Proposal (RFIs and RFPs), aiding in the negotiation of new business awards and contracts with vendors

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Supply Chain Management, Accounting or related field
• 1–2 years of experience in procurement/sourcing, foodservice, packaging, supply chain, or equivalent industry (logistics, planning, food & beverage, etc.)
• Experience with vendor management, sales, and/or customer service
• Strong skillset with data analysis and critical thinking
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel (modeling, goal seek, VLOOKUP, INDEX(MATCH), pivot tables, formulas, graphing)
• Demonstrated ability to work under pressure in an undefined, ever-changing environment

Skills

• Demonstrated ability to navigate through the strategic sourcing process
• Knowledge of Supply Chain/Category Management/Foodservice Pricing
• Additional experience in strategic sourcing, purchasing, consulting, cost accounting, or finance
• Understanding of purchasing, accounts payable, work management and financial systems applications including a strong understanding of financial information, budgets, and program performance
• Process-oriented and experienced with project management; PMP certification a plus
• Advanced proficiency with Excel, including data analysis, dashboards, and critical thinking (pivot tables, VLOOKUP, formulas, graphing, modeling, INDEX(MATCH), goal seek)
• Proven proficiency with PowerPoint, Outlook, Word, ArrowStream, Jira, and/or other foodservice contract management technology
• Experience with large data sets to yield information that supports business needs/questions; experience with pulling & formatting data from large ERP systems a plus
• Strong critical thinking skills; ability to exercise judgment, manage complexity and ambiguity
• Ability to create reporting and dashboard tools via Microsoft Excel, Power BI, Tableau, or other visualization software
• Independently motivated and autonomous
• Ability to work cross-functionally in a collaborative manner
• Strong written and verbal communication skills