Job Description

Vice President of Merchandising and Category Management

Department: Analytic Support 105604

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Sterling Heights

Reporting To: Brian Anderson

Description

A Taste of Who We Are:

Backed by a tireless commitment to high quality, innovative culinary offerings and unparalleled client and guest services, Continental consistently ranks among the top contract dining and refreshment providers in the nation according to Food Management Magazine, the industry’s source for food service news and trends.

Our Mission

Delight our guest. Every meal. Every day.

Our Core Values

Exceptional – We recruit and retain phenomenal people who consistently go the extra mile to deliver results that lead the industry.

Hospitality – We are tirelessly committed to providing the highest quality food, beverages, and service by anticipating our guests' needs so they can count on memorable experiences every time.

Collaboration – We prioritize working together with a shared vision and effective & transparent communication, we unite as one team to achieve remarkable experiences.

Responsibility – we hold ourselves accountable to be there for our team and clients, to deliver what we say we will, when we say we will and check in on progress along the way.

Innovation – We are forward-thinkers always looking for new processes, technologies, and techniques to increase efficiencies and scalability to improve our services.

The Experience You’ll Create

The Vice President of Merchandising and Category Management is the enterprise leader responsible for building and executing the merchandising, category, assortment, and pricing strategies that drive same store sales, protect gross margin, and strengthen the guest experience across Refreshment Services Group channels. This role owns the operating model that connects category strategy to field execution, ensuring the right products are offered, placed, priced, promoted, replenished, and measured consistently across regions and lines of business.

This leader will establish category-specific margin and performance targets, create clear decision rights, and lead disciplined performance rhythms with Finance, Procurement, Operations, Sales, and Marketing. The role requires a commercially minded operator who can translate market, cost, customer, and item-level performance insights into timely decisions that improve revenue, product mix, front-end margin, waste, rebate value, and long-term profitability.

Primary Accountabilities

1. Enterprise Merchandising Strategy

• Develop and lead the enterprise merchandising strategy across vending, markets, office coffee, and adjacent RSG channels
• Create a consistent approach to assortment, menu architecture, product placement, planograms, resets, seasonal programs, and local market relevance.
• Balance consumer demand, client needs, operational practicality, vendor programs, and financial performance when setting the product strategy.
• Build an annual merchandising and promotional calendar that supports traffic, basket growth, product discovery, loyalty engagement, and same store sales.
• Develop and evaluate promotion and loyalty strategies that drive repeat engagement, customer retention, larger basket size, and profitable same store sales growth.
• Ensure merchandising standards are translated into clear field processes, tools, training, and measures of compliance.

1. Category Management & Assortment Ownership

• Own category strategy, architecture, and performance standards, including category roles, product mix, SKU productivity, space allocation, and lifecycle decisions.
• Lead category managers in developing item-level and category-level plans based on sales velocity, margin, cost trends, waste, stockouts, customer preferences, and market dynamics.
• Establish disciplined processes for new item introduction, product rationalization, substitutions, discontinuations, and regional exceptions.
• Expand formal category management practices beyond core categories and ensure category-specific targets are maintained across the full assortment.
• Partner with Procurement to align vendor selection, costs, terms, rebates, growth programs, and innovation with category and guest strategies.

1. Pricing & Gross Margin Protection

• Own the enterprise pricing strategy and governance model, category price architecture, price tiers, market basket alignment, and promotional pricing.
• Establish category-specific front-end gross margin targets and ensure pricing, assortment, mix, and cost actions are sufficient to deliver divisional financial commitments.
• Move the organization from reactive, supplier-cost-driven price changes to a proactive, recurring pricing and margin review process.
• Lead timely decisions on price gaps, margin erosion, mix shifts, cost changes, and regional or line-of-business exceptions.
• Partner with Finance and Procurement to evaluate vendor cost changes, rebates, accruals, and purchasing programs so category economics are transparent and margin leakage is not concealed.
• Influence waste and spoilage performance through assortment, shelf-life strategy, forecast and replenishment settings, order guides, and product lifecycle decisions.
• Provide pricing and category input into acquisition diligence, integration planning, and future-state pricing alignment.

1. Performance Management & Business Rhythm

• Establish weekly, period, and quarterly category and gross margin performance rhythms with clear inputs, decisions, owners, and follow-through.
• Define and monitor a practical scorecard spanning sales, same store sales, front-end gross margin, price and cost movement, mix, item productivity, waste, shrink visibility, rebates, stockouts, fill rate, and merchandising compliance.
• Use performance insights to identify root causes, prioritize corrective actions, and hold the organization accountable for execution.
• Create executive-ready reporting that clearly communicates performance, risks, opportunities, expected financial impact, and decisions required.
• Champion data quality, common definitions, and consistent reporting so leaders can trust category and margin information.

1. Cross-Functional Leadership & Execution

• Lead a closely integrated operating model across Merchandising, Category Management, Procurement, Finance, Operations, Sales, Marketing, and technology partners.
• Clarify enterprise, regional, and field decision rights while enabling appropriate local flexibility based on customer and market needs.
• Partner with Operations to ensure pricing, resets, planograms, ordering parameters, and assortment changes are implemented accurately and sustained.
• Represent merchandising, category, pricing, and margin strategy in executive forums, annual planning, budgeting, and strategic initiatives.
• Lead change management for new standards, systems, reporting, and ways of working, with a strong focus on adoption and measurable business outcomes.

1. Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing merchandising and category management organization with clear roles, goals, decision rights, and accountability.
• Set expectations for commercial judgment, analytical rigor, field partnership, speed of decision-making, and execution discipline.
• Develop succession plans and scalable capabilities in category strategy, pricing, assortment planning, merchandising execution, and performance management.
• Create a culture that is guest-focused, financially accountable, collaborative, curious, and committed to continuous improvement.

Ingredients for Thriving

• Progressive executive leadership experience in merchandising, category management, pricing, retail, foodservice, convenience, consumer products, or a related multi-site operating environment.
• Demonstrated success building category strategies and converting them into measurable sales, margin, mix, and customer outcomes.
• Deep understanding of pricing architecture, category economics, cost and margin drivers, assortment optimization, vendor programs, and promotional effectiveness.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives across Operations, Finance, Procurement, Sales, Marketing, and technology or analytics teams.
• Ability to lead a distributed team and influence field execution across multiple regions, business units, or channels.
• Strong financial and analytical acumen, including the ability to interpret item, category, regional, and enterprise performance and make sound commercial decisions.
• Experience establishing governance, operating rhythms, scorecards, and accountability for complex enterprise initiatives.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, merchandising, marketing, finance, supply chain, analytics, or a related discipline; advanced degree is a plus.

Leadership Profile

• Commercially strategic and operationally practical; connects enterprise strategy to field execution.
• Decisive and accountable; moves quickly when performance indicates a need for action.
• Guest- and client-centered while maintaining disciplined stewardship of margin and profitability.
• Highly collaborative, with the credibility to align executives, functional leaders, regional operators, and field teams.
• Data-informed, not data-dependent; combines analytics, market insight, and sound judgment.
• Clear communicator who can simplify complex issues, articulate tradeoffs, and secure decisions.
• Builder of talent, process, and organizational capability in a changing environment.

Savor the Benefits

We offer a range of benefits for eligibles team members, including:

• Health Coverage – Medical, Dental and Vision
• Voluntary Life/AD&D, Short-Term and Long-Term Disability, Critical Illness, Parental Leave
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid Time Off
• Wellness Programs
• Referral bonus
• Additional Perks

To see a summary of current benefits, please visit https://www.continentalserves.com/work-at-continental/#benefits.

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