Senior Purchasing Manager - Food and Beverage

Summary

Plan, organize, direct, and control all facets of procurement for assigned categories by maintaining a keen awareness of market trends, and knowledge of business and purchasing practices. To manage the product life cycle through sourcing, price negotiation, contract negotiation, and product distribution while enhancing and maintaining Red Robin’s quality standards. Evaluates vendor quotes and services to determine most desirable suppliers. Has a working understanding of restaurant operations. Work as a liaison with R&D, Marketing, Food & Beverage, and other relevant departments assuring common goals are achieved. Relies on extensive experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals. 

Skills/Requirements Purchasing/Distribution

• Manage supply chain strategy and act as a subject matter expert for specific assigned categories.  The following is an annual breakdown of those categories in dollars:


• Negotiate and manage all contracts and pricing agreements for assigned categories while always maintaining a competitive landscape to enhance food quality and safety
  
  
  
  • Bacon - $5.5 million annual purchases
  
  
  • Meat, Egg, Spices, Sauces - $5 million annual purchases
  
  
  • Prime Rib - $6 million annual purchases
  
  
  • Chicken - $28 million annual purchases
  
  
  • Seafood - $8.5 million annual purchases
  
  
  • Steak Fries - $31 million annual purchases
  
  
  • Appetizers - $9.5 million annual purchases
  
  
  • Dairy - $4 million annual purchases
  
  
  • Desserts - $3 million annual purchases
  
  
  • Tortillas - $3 million annual purchases
  
  
  
  


• Commodities - Monitor market fluctuations and trends. Develop risk management program by monitoring futures markets to determine and recommend key buying points to help maintain costs and achieve budgets of commodity items. Update the team on commodity information to create a stronger team awareness of potential opportunities. Create relationships with outside commodity sources (ARA) to gain additional expertise and promote better decisions.


• Support - In addition to primary buying responsibilities, work as a secondary expert for the Sr Director of Purchasing and Sr Purchasing manager‘s areas of responsibility


• The Law - Work with legal to understand what laws may affect Red Robin to insure that we are always in legal compliance


• Trends - Observe market trends and analyze new technologies to determine if these are a good fit for Red Robin by increasing quality, decreasing costs, or helping the environment


• New Markets - Establish/set up regional category vendors in new markets


• Technology - Establish and utilize new technology for cost center and Inventory management utilizing key tools such as Arrowstream, OneLink, MenuLink, etc


• Audits - Supplier and distributor pricing audits as needed to verify pricing accuracy. Work with distribution to correct and reimburse any price discrepancies


• Seminars - Compile and monitor industry data to stay informed of price and market trends


• Expert – Provide advisory function to provide information on products, pricing, market conditions, and supply chain threats and make recommendations to the VP of Purchasing


• Review - Continually review vendor programs for revisions, and  recommend vendor replacements as needed, while maintaining alternative sources of supply for all assigned categories. Utilize tools such as Arrowstream to help monitor and maintain product compliance


• Cost Management - Manage cost and price changes, including data verification, by continually creating a competitive landscape with aggressive bid process. Re-negotiate current agreements when the market condition allow for such changes


• Vendor Selection - Create and issue RFP’s as appropriate and analyze responses to ensure a consistent vendor selection process that meets or exceeds company standards of cost, quality and service. Maintain professional relationships with vendors to enhance our pricing potential. Continually meet with present companies and potential vendors to stay current on industry and market information.


• Company Integration - Work cross functionally with other departments to ensure the wide range of purchasing needs are met company wide. Coordinate with F&B and QA for all final cuttings on any and all products to hit the RRGB system.


• Supervision - Develop, train and coach Purchasing Coordinator in all aspects of responsibility


• Freight - Manage freight initiatives with distributors to maximize freight opportunities.

Goal and Objectives – Establish and complete all company goals and objectives. Meet and exceed the company “cost of goods” initiatives.