Commercial Manager

Commercial Manager – Butchery & Meat Sales

Location: Newtownabbey

Salary, Benefits, Company Car, Bonus

Who are we? At Henderson Group, we are proud to be one of Northern Ireland’s leading organisations. Employing more than 5,500 colleagues across the UK and Ireland, the group encompasses Henderson Wholesale, Henderson Retail, Henderson Food service & Henderson Technology. Henderson Wholesale is a leading wholesaler in Northern Ireland, supplying goods to over 450 stores across various brands including SPAR, EUROSPAR and VIVO.

We source from local farmers, growers and producers and are proud to contribute to our local economy and environment. We achieved Gold accreditation against the Investors in People standard framework in 2023 in recognition of people management excellence and our commitment to investment in people.

A look into the role… This key role sits within our Henderson Wholesale Fresh Foods Trading/Category Management team. The role will be focused on developing butchery concessions in our independent and company-owned retail estate, including range development, central controlled models and driving bulk meat sales across the group. The successful candidate will work in partnership with retailers and butchers to add value to their business by ensuring that consumer needs are anticipated and exceeded, and that exceptional standards of service, availability and product quality is provided.

This role will be very well suited to a candidate who is results driven, commercially adept and can build successful relationships with customers and other key stakeholders to deliver commercial success.

• Build and Manage business relationships with Butchers in concessions across the SPAR/EUROSPAR/VIVO/VIVOXTRA estate (both independent retailers and company-owned stores), understanding their needs and adding value to the business.
• Advise/coach retailers/butchers to build sales in the department.
• Advise/coach retailers/butchers to manage costs and maximise profitability in the department.
• Advise/coach retailers/butchers on the maintenance of exceptional standards of butchery, food hygiene, food safety, legislative and labelling compliance, and merchandising.
• Target opportunities to drive Bulk Meat sales to the concessions across the entire Henderson Group estate and support the roll out of any new projects within the business.
• Complete key market research on range and commercials and clearly communicate insights, contributing to commercial plans.
• Identify trends in the butchery market and make recommendations for development of new and existing product ranges for central controlled outlets.
• Propose and manage Promotional / Seasonal product selection and New Product launches.
• Collaborate with the trading/category management team to develop and implement innovative business development plans/activity/objectives for concession butchery across the group.

• Good working knowledge of the Butchery function within a supermarket environment, including food safety & hygiene requirements.
• Strong commercial and financial awareness to drive sales and profitability.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to build positive working relationships, coaching others to succeed.
• Strong influencing skills with the ability to sell concepts and ideas to all levels within the business and externally to our retail partners.
• Proficient IT skills, including Microsoft Office 365 Suite (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams, SharePoint).
• Full and valid driving licence and preparedness to travel daily between stores.

• A “can-do” approach to business development and a strong desire to succeed.
• A good eye for detail and ability to identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Ability to work independently and on own initiative.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.

• Experience in the development of Butchery counters and prepack meat solutions.
• A good understanding of the Protein supply base across the Island of Ireland.
• A strong track record of innovation in butchery.

As part of this role, it will be important…