Head of Retail and Industrial Sales

Soules Foods is a thriving family-owned food company that has made a positive difference for its customers and consumers for nearly 50 years. Our purpose and promise of Great Food, Made Simple® drives us. Based in Tyler, Texas, the company is a leading national producer of ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook chicken and beef products and is the number one producer of chicken and beef fajitas in the USA. We proudly serve a broad portfolio of great-tasting, high-quality products sold throughout the US via retail, food service distributors, and restaurants, including prominent customers such as Walmart, Costco, Sam’s Club, HEB, PFG, and US Foods.

Established in 1975, Soules Foods is now in its second generation of family leadership. The organization has expanded dramatically over the past decade, achieving annual sales of approximately $1 billion. The company employs over 2,000 individuals and operates three manufacturing facilities in Gainesville, Georgia; Valley, Alabama; and Tyler, Texas.

About the role

The Head of Retail Sales holds comprehensive responsibility for all commercial retail activity at Soules Foods, representing approximately $500 million of the company’s business. Reporting to the President and serving as a member of the senior leadership team, this executive leads a retail sales organization of eight, with direct reports covering Costco, Walmart/Sam’s Club, regional accounts, ingredient accounts, and new business development on large-format accounts.

The primary charge of this role is to drive the company’s ambitious strategic growth plans in partnership with the President, setting the overall strategy for the retail sales organization. This leader owns the development of a compelling vision for the function, including targets and objectives for sales, profit, volume, and product mix, with fluency in pricing, customer-level performance, and market share.

This executive will establish senior-level customer contacts to better understand and address customer objectives while leveraging Soules Foods’ expertise in quality, service reliability, insights, and innovation. Success requires close partnership with functional peers to ensure customer satisfaction at every touchpoint.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the President to set the overall strategy for the retail sales organization and create a compelling vision that the entire team understands and can act on.
• Own targets and objectives for sales, profit, volume, and product mix, including accountability for pricing, customer-level performance, and market share.
• Evolve the sales organization from relationship selling to consultative selling, helping customers improve their business outcomes through greater utilization of Soules Foods capabilities.
• Review processes and protocols to transform the sales organization from a farmer to a hunter mentality.
• Strengthen customer relationship coverage, establishing more senior relationships in key accounts and reducing overdependence on any one individual.
• Function with a general management mindset, working closely with supply chain and finance leadership to drive revenue, profitability, efficiency, market share, and cash flow.
• Work closely on pricing decisions to improve revenue management and pricing protocols that are adhered to and understood by the entire organization.
• Anticipate the operational, supply, staffing, margin, and capacity implications of new items, package changes, promotions, and volume shifts.
• Drive collaboration and the sharing of best practices across retail sales to identify new opportunities with existing customers and acquire new customers.
• Lead, develop, and retain a high-performing retail sales team of eight, including leads for Costco, Walmart/Sam’s Club, regional accounts, ingredient accounts, and new business.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, or a related field.
• Minimum of twenty (20) years of progressive commercial or sales experience in the food industry.
• Proven track record of building high-performance teams, delivering profitable growth, and establishing strong customer partnerships.
• Experience managing a customer team for a major retailer such as Walmart, Costco, or Kroger.
• Demonstrated experience in category management and insights.
• Proven success as a change agent capable of evolving a sales organization’s culture and selling practices without damaging the foundation of the business.
• General management mindset, with the ability to marshal the organization’s functional expertise to close sales and build broader, deeper customer relationships.
• Strong financial acumen, including the ability to understand the P&L and manage margin.
• Ability to think strategically and create a compelling vision for a sales organization while remaining willing to dive deep into the details.
• Demonstrated ability to gather and interpret data from the field and customers, identify trends and opportunities, and develop creative solutions for the executive team.
• Superb communication skills that enable effective engagement with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, and the ability to serve as a spokesperson for Soules Foods.
• Motivator who inspires people to achieve and celebrate success, with a passion for people and a record of building high-performing teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Executive experience in protein, refrigerated, frozen, or prepared foods.
• Substantial training and development within a blue-chip consumer foods company known for the sophistication of its sales processes and the quality of its customer relationships.
• Experience in a smaller, entrepreneurial company, including the ability to make decisions without perfect information and operate effectively in a lean environment.
• Experience working with manufacturing, with an understanding of the complexity of the sales and operations relationship and the ability to anticipate the impact of decisions on plant operations.
• Equivalent combinations of education, experience, and demonstrated leadership may be considered.

This role is remote, ideally located in the DFW area, and involves frequent travel. The position reports to the President and oversees a team of 5 direct reports (8 total).