Buyer – Earth & Wheat – Position now fulfilled

Part of the privately owned leading global bakery business, Signature Flatbreads, Earth & Wheat is a surplus FoodTech project, set up by James Eid in March 2021 as part of his mission to eliminate food waste at the point of production and help to end western food poverty. Around 16 per cent of all food waste is disposed of at this stage before it even reaches the supermarket shelves.

Eid, a fourth-generation baker, started rescuing and redistributing ‘wonky bread’ – which was overproduced, odd or misshapen – from our family bakery, Signature Flatbreads UK Ltd. This includes items such as Tortilla, crumpets and pittas, that would have otherwise been rejected due to strict shop standards. Breads are packaged and shipped out fresh to subscribed customers within 24 hours.

In the past 12 months we have introduced a ‘wonky veg’ box, which is the first in the UK to be available for delivery nationwide, as well as a new ‘wonky broken biscuits’ box – its first non-subscription offering.

Now 18 months on, Earth & Wheat has substantially re-invested in the business including in their “Direct-to-consumer” website, www.earthandwheat.com to make it even easier for existing customers, known as ‘wonky warriors’, to manage their subscriptions and orders online. We are actively looking for new partners to join our mission.

To support our future growth plans, we are seeking an ambitious Buyer who is passionate for our cause to join the team.

Role

We are seeking an ambitious, tenacious, and highly motivated Buyer that shares our passion to reduce food waste. Your role will be to increase subscriptions and drive online Direct-to-consumer sales by identifying and developing strong relationships with new and existing suppliers. You will work closely with our brand and technical manager to onboard new suppliers, launching new products on time and on budget onto the earth & wheat marketplace. achieve a competitive position without compromising profitability. Reporting into the Managing Director you can expect a great degree of autonomy to thrive within your role.

Key Accountabilities:

• Finding, developing, and managing both branded & private label suppliers
• Negotiating sustainable, market leading commercial positions.
• Develop and execute a customer-focused category plan in line with the Earth & Wheats brand strategy.
• Identify and negotiate cost savings through brilliant supplier relationship management and understanding of the end-to-end supply chain
• Analyse financial, market and customer data to identify opportunities to deliver a market-leading product range
• Deliver business targets on sales, profit, value, and range.
• Brief new concepts to suppliers and manage the development cycle through to the end of production.
• Work in conjunction with the Product Technologist and the suppliers to agree acceptable product quality levels and QC specifications. Liaise with factories on any QC issues and their resolutions.
• Build strong long-term partnerships with suppliers.

Requirements, skills, and experience:

• 2/3 years minimum Buying experience within a food environment
• Experience in critical path or project management is essential.
• Experience managing cost models.
• Commercial buying experience.
• Analysis reporting experience.
• Excellent oral and written English.
• Excellent numeracy skills.
• Strong negotiation skills.
• Data analysis skills
• Good understanding of Microsoft Office, particularly Excel.
• Passionate about sustainability, reducing carbon footprint, food waste and food poverty.
• Highly self-motivated and able to work on own initiative.
• Must be a natural problem solver.
• Able to keep a cool head under pressure.
• Methodical, organised, and accurate with excellent attention to detail.
• Tenacity and drive are key.

Location

This is a hybrid role with an expectancy that you will be at our head office in Dunstable 3 days per week.

What do we offer?

• Highly competitive basic salary
• 10% bonus
• Pension scheme
• Opportunities for progression
• A secure role in a financially stable company with a first-class reputation
• A collegial working atmosphere with short decision-making channels and scope for own ideas
• Training programs
• Retailer discounts platform
• Well-being centre

Should you have experience as outline above, please apply below or contact with our retained consultant Aidan at FMCG Selection on aidan@fmcgselection.co.uk Please note all applications will be forwarded to FMCG Selection