Overview

Client Development Manager for the South West region. If you are a passionate self-starter who is driven to make a real difference to people and feel a sense of purpose and pride in your work, you may be the perfect team member to join our mission at apetito UK.

apetito has seen significant growth within the Education sector, through a clear focus of providing exceptional quality meals to students in Academies, Independent Schools, and Special Schools. Our proposition is genuinely revolutionising school catering with the highest quality food, which is the safest in the market and coupled with the broadest range, offering something for everyone. We help schools overcome cost and recruitment barriers through our UK-first pre-prepared system, allowing schools to save money and reallocate funds to improve learning.

To our customers, the Client Development Manager (CDM) will be the face of apetito and is crucial to the success of apetito partnerships.

This role is suited to a real self-starter; after a thorough induction you will be responsible for managing your own diary and ensuring you allocate your time wisely, ensuring customer service levels and relationships are sustained as well as delivering on growth opportunities across your customer base of c.40-50 customers. You will need to prioritise your time based on customer needs as well as revenue and growth opportunities within your estate.

You need to be happy working independently to achieve your objectives whilst also being a team player who contributes a team environment to deliver shared objectives. Although this is a remote role, you will frequently work with other colleagues from within the team, a cohesive team culture is really important to us.

4 days per week will be spent in the field with customers with 1 day working from home.

Your territory will cover the South West so you''ll need to be located to be in easy reach of your customers. Frequent travel to Jersey (multiple nights a week, circa every 6 weeks) will be required as well as domestic overnight stays.

Due to the nature of this role an Enhanced DBS will be required. apetito is the UK’s leading food supplier to the health and social care sectors serving more than 1,300 care homes, health care and education settings.

Our meals are expertly crafted by our dieticians and chefs, and then frozen to lock in the goodness. Wiltshire Farm Foods, our sister company, is the UK’s largest ready meal supplier cooking and delivering over 330 different delicious frozen ready meals across the UK.

Responsibilities

• Meeting sales targets
• Growing business with existing customers
• Maintaining relationships with customers to ensure their continued satisfaction
• Being a genuine partner to your customers
• Launching new customers
• Training staff
• Improving the dining experience for pupils
• Sharing our expertise in food and nutrition
• Helping the nursery/school manage its food budget
• Working on business development opportunities
• Contributing to a positive team environment
• Working effectively alone and in a team

Essential skills & Experience

• Highly organised approach to time management
• Good commercial and analytical acumen
• Able to identify operational issues quickly and plan an effective solution
• A consultative approach to influence people and outcomes
• First rate communication, both written and verbal
• Confidence in leading of meetings and presenting information
• Adaptable to relate and engage with staff at all levels including C-suite
• Proven background in training
• Experience in Catering industry
• Experience of the Education sector

Desirable

• Experience of food/nutritional standards
• Good Networking experience
• Degree qualification
• Food Hygiene training
• Nutritional training (Dietician, Nutritionist, SALT etc.)
• Field based account management experience

Personal Qualities

• Able to demonstrate gravitas and credibility with senior level stakeholders
• Resilient, tenacious and determined - persistent in pursuit of achievement
• Strong influencing, negotiating, listening and communicating skills
• Strong team working skills at all levels within an organisation, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and excellence in delivery
• Must display a passion for this role and the business that we operate

Due to geography of this role and the nature of working with customers in school and nursery settings, flexibility with working hours will be needed.

Travel to customers across the region and to national events, including overnight stays, will be a regular requirement - typically 1 night per week.

A company car is provided to facilitate this and a clean (or virtually clean) driving licence is essential.

As this role involves working in settings with children it is exempt from The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and requires an Enhanced DBS.

Benefits

• Competitive salary - accredited Living Wage employer
• Company car
• 25 days holiday per year, plus bank holidays
• Option to purchase up to 5 additional days holiday per year
• Generous annual bonus scheme
• Pension scheme - employer matched contributions up to 5%
• Life assurance scheme worth 2x annual salary
• Free turkey or voucher at Christmas
• apetito perks scheme including salary sacrifice options and retail discounts

We are a family-owned business with a commitment to making a real difference, delivering outstanding meals and focusing on ethical and sustainable produce. We are proud to support British food and farming and work towards Net Zero by 2040. We are an accredited Living Wage employer and promote inclusion and opportunity for all.

Job details

• Seniority level: Entry level
• Employment type: Full-time
• Job function: Business Development and Sales
• Industries: Food and Beverage Manufacturing