Careers - Kevin's Natural Foods

What You’ll Do:

• Design and implement a Strategic Sales Plan outlining a methodical approach for calling on prospective accounts.
• Develops, builds, and nurtures customer relationships with a focus on driving revenue growth for Kevin's Natural Foods and expanding ACV, average items, and promotions.
• Travel to prospective customers to lead cuttings and sales presentations.
• Hold regular status calls and face-to-face planning meetings with existing accounts to foster long term relationships and drive organic growth.
• Participate in the planning and monitoring of promotional activity supporting Kevin’s Natural Foods programs.
• Manages active trade, forecasting, and replenishment budgets to ensure efficient allocation of resources and alignment with sales and inventory goals.
• Engage company resources in Marketing and Product Development effectively to meet sales objectives.
• Keep a pulse on emerging trends, new products, and competition status.
• Determine and codify sales targets based on the market opportunity and the company’s business objectives.
• Assists in creating fully integrated trade plans with defined business objectives.
• Influences demand planning processes to enhance forecasting accuracy.
• Supports the development of a fully integrated sales plan for customers.
• Attend trade shows and relevant customer meetings.
• Support the Director in managing the external broker network.
• Collaborates cross-functionally with marketing, supply chain, demand planning, finance, and category teams.
• Work closely with brokers and distributors.
• Other duties as assigned or necessary.

Required Competencies/Skillset:

• Ability to influence without authority.
• Strong financial acumen.
• Ability to work cross-functionally.
• Advanced negotiation skills.
• Ability to develop comprehensive sales plans designed to achieve and exceed sales targets.
• Deep knowledge of category and customers.
• Understanding of the category and retailer space.
• Negotiate positive outcomes on behalf of Kevin’s Natural Foods.
• Direct experience with distributors i.e. KeHe, UNFI
• Experience managing KeHe natural chains, regional chains, and independents.

What You’ll Need:

• BS degree in business administration or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience as a successful sales representative or sales manager, consistently meeting or exceeding targets.
• Resourceful and driven with a proven track record of performance in a work environment with a high level of autonomy.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate, present, and influence credibly and effectively at all levels of the organization.
• Proven ability to drive the sales process from plan to close.
• Strong business sense and industry expertise.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office.
• Ability to work with and understand syndicated data.
• Ability to travel up to 40%.

Healthy, Diverse Teams Breed Innovation:

Kevin’s Natural Foods is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We deeply believe that diverse backgrounds and experiences make better teams, and we seek to attract talent from all walks of life. The team at Kevin’s is smart, humble, and passionate and we value a work environment that fosters personal development and opportunities to move within our small, but quickly growing organization.

More About Kevin’s Natural Foods:

Kevin’s Natural Foods is a line of healthy entrées, sides, soups, and sauces, on a mission to make clean eating delicious and accessible. Kevin’s allows health-conscious home cooks to whip up delicious meals in five minutes or less.

With restaurant-quality ingredients and recipes, Kevin’s products are readily available on the shelves at leading grocery retailers nationwide including Costco, Whole Foods, Albertsons, HEB and Publix. All Kevin’s products contain no refined sugar, artificial ingredients, grains, or soy, and are made with antibiotic-free and hormone-free meat. A true market disruptor, Kevin’s Natural Foods is the first clean refrigerated entrée brand. For more information, please visit www.kevinsnaturalfoods.com.

The pay range for this position is $75,000-$125,000 USD.

Kevin's Natural Foods uses E-verify to confirm employment eligibility. For more information, please see the links below:

https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/IER_RightToWorkPoster%20Eng_Es.pdf

https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/EVerifyParticipationPoster.pdf

This role is hybrid (2-3 days per week in the office). We are prioritizing local candidates but are also open to candidates willing to relocate to the area.

We are seeking a creative and strategic Innovation Manager to join our Marketing team. This role is integral to driving our company’s growth by leading the development of the innovation pipeline, creating both new product concepts and building on our current platforms, while collaborating closely with the marketing, sales and R&D teams. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in CPG and/or Food, and a passion for innovation.

What You’ll Do:

• Manage the development and implementation of innovation strategies that feed into long-range and annual plans for assigned categories, aligning with overall enterprise goals.
• Lead the development and execution of product and packaging innovation initiatives, including concept development, category and competitive assessments, feasibility, product and packaging exploration, consumer and sensory validation, size of prize assessment, customer sell-in, and tracking of in-market performance.
• Identify growth opportunities by leveraging syndicated research, trend data, primary market research, and competitive intelligence.
• Develop meaningful consumer concepts and positioning for innovation ideas that add value in the category and effectively communicate product benefits to consumers.
• Collaborate with finance partners to develop Innovation product P&Ls and pricing strategies that meet brand objectives.
• Act as the project lead and a liaison with other cross-functional partners to ensure that the innovation initiatives progress toward launch and receive the necessary resources and support.
• Work collaboratively with consumer insights, R&D, and culinary teams to identify and build exploration areas, build research and development plans, and solve business challenges.
• Partner closely with sales and marketing teams to understand and integrate customer strategies into the innovation pipeline.
• Other duties as assigned and necessary.

What You’ll Need:

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, or a related field; MBA preferred.
• 5+ years of product innovation or marketing, preferably in the CPG and/or Food industry.
• Strong analytical & research skills with the ability to interpret data to make recommendations and informed decisions.
• Ability to translate consumer and market insights into brand and innovation strategies.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across teams.
• Naturally curious about new products and new consumer behaviors
• Passion for health and wellness and a deep understanding of consumer behavior in this space.

Healthy, Diverse Teams Breed Innovation:

Kevin’s Natural Foods is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We deeply believe that diverse backgrounds and experiences make better teams, and we seek to attract talent from all walks of life. The team at Kevin’s is smart, humble, and passionate and we value a work environment that fosters personal development and opportunities to move within our small, but quickly growing organization.

More About Kevin’s Natural Foods:

Kevin’s Natural Foods is a line of healthy entrées, sides, and sauces, on a mission to make clean eating delicious and accessible. Kevin’s guilt-free, sous-vide entrées and sides, and signature certified paleo, keto, and gluten-free sauces allow health-conscious home cooks to whip up delicious meals in five minutes or less.

With restaurant-quality ingredients and recipes, Kevin’s products are readily available on the shelves at leading grocery retailers nationwide including Costco, Whole Foods, Albertsons, HEB and Publix. All Kevin’s products contain no refined sugar, artificial ingredients, grains, or soy, and are made with antibiotic- and hormone-free meat. A true market disruptor, Kevin’s Natural Foods is the first clean refrigerated entrée brand. For more information, please visit www.kevinsnaturalfoods.com.

Kevin’s Natural Foods was acquired by Mars, Inc. in July 2023. Kevin’s Natural Foods joins the Mars Food & Nutrition segment, complementing its portfolio of leading food brands and recent product innovations. Kevin’s will play a key role in Mars Food & Nutrition’s ongoing journey to enable delicious, healthier eating to be part of consumers’ daily lives, while Mars will help Kevin’s to continue to grow, innovate, and bring its portfolio of products to more people.

Salary Range: $70,000-$160,000 USD + Bonus

Kevin's Natural Foods uses E-verify to confirm employment eligibility. For more information, please see the links below:

https://www.everify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/IER_RightToWorkPoster%20Eng_Es.pdf

https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/EVerifyParticipationPoster.pdf