We’re looking for a Buying Manager to join our business looking after our Cafes. The Buying Manager will be responsible for buying our “front of house” ranges within the Cafe. This includes our full chilled range of drinks, snacks and sandwiches, our full ambient cake range, all hot drinks, the full impulse range and any counter top listed products. The Buying Manager will assist the Senior Buying Manager in planning, sourcing, selecting and negotiating a commercial and competitively priced product range across all channels, whilst maximising sales and margin for the department. The Buying Manger will also be responsible for negotiating and growing our branded media income.

Our commercial teams decide what we sell and at what price. We source great products for our customers and negotiate deals with suppliers. And we look for the best local produce, tracking down products around the world to meet constantly changing tastes. Own brands. Value brands. Global brands. We take great pride in them all.

You’ll help to deliver exceptional, customer-led ranges which drive sales and margin across a specific category. You will build on the capability of our Buying team by engaging with different teams across the business to translate customer buying insights into competitive customer propositions, ensuring quality and value.

Some of your responsibilities will include:

Developing and delivering the category plan for a high spend, complex area

Driving sales and profit through acting on our customer insight to deliver the right range and customer proposition

Minimising waste and yield loss through buying better and developing an understanding of in store process

Delivery of supplier income targets through building innovative brand and product campaigns and leading effective negotiations

Working closely with the Cafe operations team to ensure that all commercial plans are operationally achievable and maximise colleague efficiency

Delivery of margin targets through negotiation and robust supplier plans

Delivering our supplier promises (12 point charter) through continuously improving Supplier relationships and engagement with detailed supplier knowledge and regular supplier visits

Using your market understanding of the category, including competitor insight to develop compelling category strategies

Actively support and promote the high performance culture of the Buying team, including the support of personal and professional growth to encourage colleagues to be the best they can be

Helping to deliver a great customer experience – helping them to buy

Operating in full compliance with the Grocery Suppliers Code of Practice (GSCOP)