Food Buyer

Babylonstoren has an exciting opportunity for a Food Buyer to join our dynamic team. This successful candidate will assist in expanding our food product offering. You must have experience in both fresh and long-life foods, supplier management, and food procurement. To be successful in this position, you must be innovative, solution-oriented, have leadership qualities to work comfortably in a cross-functional team, and take ownership of your tasks and responsibilities. The role suits a highly motivated and passionate individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment, and who can easily adapt to changing market and organisational requirements.

Requirements

• Relevant commercial degree or diploma.
• At least 5-8 years’ fresh food retail buying experience.
• Proven experience in a procurement management role, with demonstrable results in complex buying within a fresh food manufacturing environment (essential).
• Exceptional problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Good planning and project management skills.
• Strong financial skills as it relates to buying, particularly cost make-up, cost controlling, profit management and financial reporting.
• Strong negotiation and financial management skills.
• Knowledge of logistics/warehousing and delivery systems and procedures, end-to-end supply chain processes, and key influencing factors.
• Ability to work in a team environment.
• Must be able to work under pressure.
• Entrepreneurial ability to initiate and coordinate innovative and viable product ranges for our customer target.
• Pro-active and innovative mindset.
• Strong orientation towards the customer and retail positioning.
• Sound business acumen and emotional resilience.
• Excellent command of Afrikaans and English, with good verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent computer skills in all facets of its use as buying tool.

Responsibilities

• Establish and implement a category strategy, in line with the food strategy, to meet targets and grow the customer base.
• Identify, analyse and interpret lifestyle, industry, retail and food trends to establish a category strategy and annual operational plan.
• Play a leading and coordinating role within the product development and food technology teams to source, produce and buy food products in support of our food strategy.
• Perform end-to-end commercial activities relevant to procurement of food products.
• Identify, evaluate and manage suppliers through building and maintaining strong, sustainable supplier relationships with both new and existing suppliers, drawing experience from the industry to optimise supply and profitability.
• Manage supplier and farm-supply production profit to achieve all KPIs.
• Establish a supplier strategy that is long-term mutually beneficial and that supports and enables the delivery of the category and food strategy.
• Act as an interface between suppliers and other relevant departments to manage purchasing processes.
• Prepare and review proposals, contracts and supplier agreements for retail and legal correctness, trading term compliance, price and acceptability of items to specifications, competitiveness with market and market position.
• Drive category profit targets in line with Babylonstoren’s brand values.
• Manage stock buying and losses in line with targets and category strategies.

Please send CV and salary expectation to [email protected].