At True Food Kitchen, we are purveyors of nourishment for the wellness-aware. We believe that living well isn’t just about eating the right food, but about sharing it with the right people. At our restaurants, guests are presented with the opportunity to enjoy meals without compromise. Working at True Food Kitchen is unlike anything else you’ve experienced before. Since our menu is a journey into a new way of eating, those who prepare, present and serve the food are key to telling our story. Our family of chefs, managers, cooks, servers, bartenders, hosts, dishwashers and more are the key ingredients to our growth and success. Join our growing team and we’ll show you how passionate we are about making your career goals come TRUE.

The Director of Purchasing leads the effective, efficient, and timely selection, procurement, distribution and monitoring of all food, beverage, and restaurant supply products. This position oversees, manages, and directs sourcing, contracting, cost controls and inventory management for all products. Responsible for managing relationships with all external suppliers and distributors, ensuring compliance with service, quality, and price specifications. The Director of Purchasing has primary responsibility for overall food, beverage, and restaurant supply costs, along with the implementation and ongoing management of inventory and cost management systems to fully achieve financial and operational benefits.

Principal Accountabilities:

Sourcing

• Develops and manages strategic sourcing strategy and procurement activities, including optimal pricing and supplier negotiations across all product categories
• Facilitates ongoing communication between Company and third-party consultants and suppliers regarding brand objectives, ingredient integrity, supply chain food safety and all operational matters
• Leads product selection process including managing samples/approvals and product optimization through frequent collaboration with culinary leadership
• Partners with culinary team on the identification, sourcing, development, testing and roll-out of profitable and cost-effective new menu items and ingredients
• Assesses, manages, and mitigates food-related risks through routine oversight of proper supply chain channels
• Identifies multiple sources for high-risk, single-sourced products
• Creates and oversees a quality assurance program to ensures specifications for quality, portions and sanitation are established and met
• Executes opening orders, vendor setup and smallwares coordination for new store openings

Cost Control

• Primary responsibility for managing overall food, beverage, and restaurant supply costs, along with ongoing oversight of inventory/cost management systems to ensure targets are met or exceeded
• Establishes strategies, monitors effectiveness, and provides direction on restaurant-level purchasing & inventory management optimization
• Develops, monitors, reports, and tracks key metrics related to product costs, inventory levels and savings initiatives
• Analyzes and addresses store-level cost trends/outliers regarding product usage, waste and pricing
• Identifies factors contributing to theoretical vs. actual food & beverage cost variances and directs resolution through ongoing analysis, reporting and training
• Performs food and beverage cost and menu optimization analysis; recommends product enhancements
• Forecasts commodity price trends and provides communication to leadership team
• Monitors contract compliance including pricing, product rebates and available marketing funds
• Measures & Targets:
• Meets company targets across all food, beverage, and restaurant supply expense categories
• Develops national strategy, guidelines & standards for food, beverage, and restaurant supply products
• Negotiates optimal pricing for goods and services
• Reduces variance between actual and theoretical costs across the brand
• Analyzes and identifies cost optimization opportunities through strategic sourcing initiatives

• 10+ years of national supply chain experience, including progressive purchasing oversight responsibilities at high-volume, high-growth, multi-unit restaurant concepts.
• Demonstrated experience in strategic sourcing and procurement, including excellent negotiation skills and strong knowledge of commodity markets
• Experience having primary oversight of inventory & cost management and optimization
• Proven ability to lead quantitative and qualitative analyses supporting critical decisions on vendor selection and product specifications
• Expertise in successfully managing major supply agreements including systematic quality and compliance monitoring
• Strong understanding of financial metrics with established track record of driving cost improvement through supply chain initiatives
• Ability to collaborate cross-functionally (culinary, operations, finance, IT, marketing) to design and implement operating improvements
• Ability to combine strategic vision with tactical detail to enable execution
• Highly organized and detail oriented with the ability to set priorities and meet deadlines
• Strong interpersonal and motivational skills with ability to generate respect and trust from senior team, restaurants, and external constituencies
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills to all levels of employees; ability to present complex, detailed information in a simple, summarized format

Travel Requirements:

• Up to 25%

• Competitive Pay
• Clean Covid-19 safe office environment with ability to work remote occasionally
• Medical, Dental, Vision and Life Insurance
• 401k Plan with Company Match
• 5 Day Work Week
• Paid Time Off
• Dining Account
• Relocation Assistance
• Professional Career Development and Growth Opportunities
• Fun Work Vibe