Principal Team Leader, Non Protein Food Sourcing

Overview

This procurement professional will have full responsibility for ensuring continuity of supply for 10+ operationally critical skus, across both procurement and distribution, in Chick-fil-A Restaurants while leading and managing a team focused on fresh bread. With a network spend responsibility of over $200M, the Principal Team Leader, Non Protein Food Sourcing will work with suppliers and internal stakeholders to build and sustain the product pipeline for a +$30 Billion Restaurant Chain with over 3,000 Restaurants. This role will include managing and expanding a supplier network of over 20 partners, building robust capacity and contingency plans, and designing & executing the future distribution model for bread to continue to fuel Restaurant sales and growth. The Principal Team Leader, Non Protein Food Sourcing will be responsible for negotiating pricing models for core items that ensure market leading cost of goods for Chick-fil-A Operators. They will create and own commodity risk management strategies of responsible categories to ensure chainwide savings by leveraging the collective buying power of the Chick-fil-A network. Effective relationship management capability is required to influence external suppliers and internal stakeholders of products within category responsibilities while leading a high performing procurement team.

 

Our Flexible Future model offers a healthy mix of working in person and virtually, strengthening key elements of the Chick-fil-A culture by fostering collaboration and community.

Responsibilities

Sourcing & Supply Continuity

• Develop scalable category sourcing strategy to ensure continuity of supply for all +3,000 Chick-fil-A Restaurants. This strategy will include the future distribution model of our fresh bread network
• Category responsibilities include $200M of spend of fresh and frozen buns, tortillas, wraps, English muffins, biscuit mix, flour and saltines
• Build and maintain robust capacity and contingency plans to ensure supply availability with Chick-fil-A’s aggressive growth curve year over year
• Identify and select new suppliers to increase product availability for key items to Chick-fil-A sales
• Conduct supplier facility visits to monitor and address any capacity or efficiency constraints that could impact product availability and/or cost
• Build relationships and influence key internal stakeholders, e.g., Culinary and Menu, Supply Chain Operations, Supplier Quality & Safety, Distribution to prioritize work to ensure continuity of supply
• Lead a high performing team focused on fresh bread by establishing a vision, performance management and coaching, etc.

Stewardship

• Partner with Commodity Risk Management Lead to develop a strong commodity risk management strategy to ensure industry leading market pricing on key Chick-fil-A items
• Negotiate competitive market pricing with suppliers to secure favorable cost of goods for Chick-fil-A Operators
• Partner with Chick-fil-A Menu Pricing Team to ensure alignment on potential Operator profitability impacts coming down the pipeline
• Conduct formal pricing discussions with suppliers on a consistent cadence and perform RFPs where applicable

Supplier Relationship Management

• Cultivate productive and effective partnerships with suppliers to ensure customer prioritization of supply availability
• Ensure supplier certification of new suppliers which includes conducting assessments of supplier financial health, capacity capabilities to service Chick-fil-A volumes, optimal plant locations for network, product price competitiveness, brand alignment, etc.
• Set clear partnership expectations including cost, customer service, prioritizations, etc. and hold suppliers accountable to high expectations
• Develop key performance indicators to ensure partnership alignment on supplier performance
• Serve as the supplier relationship manager for the Chick-fil-A organization
• Lead and finalize Master Vendor Agreement negotiations on behalf of Chick-fil-A which ensures a fair operating business framework for the partnership

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Supply Chain, Finance, Business or other related fields
• At least 8 years of relevant work experience: procurement, foodservice, etc.
• Demonstrates strong ethical, moral and professional standards that align with Chick-fil-A values
• Strategic growth mindset with the ability to cast vision and create alignment
• Leader with a high sense of responsibility coupled with ability to motivate team towards a common goal
• Ability to identify the business’s top priorities to effectively manage workload
• Flexible and adaptable to a dynamic, f