Catering Sales Controller - Midlands and East

At Booker, we take pride in being the UK’s largest food and drink wholesaler, providing high-quality products to caterers, restaurants, pubs, and other foodservice businesses. We believe in creating a diverse and inclusive environment that fosters a sense of belonging, ensuring that our employees feel connected, valued, and motivated. As we continue to grow, we are looking for a Catering Sales Controller to join our team and help drive the success of our catering sales.

In this pivotal role, you will champion best practices, influence key decision-makers, and ensure the catering sales plan is executed flawlessly across your region. Your ability to develop and lead teams, as well as your key focus on maximising sales and profit, will be key to driving the results we’re aiming for. In return, there’s the potential to earn additional fixed payments for hitting growth targets – find out more at the interview!

Why Choose Booker?

• UK’s Largest Food and Drink Wholesaler: We’re the biggest and fastest-growing supplier to the independent catering market.
• Leading Catering Butcher: We’re home to over 20% of the UK’s master butchers, offering expert advice to help our customers enhance their menus and boost profitability.
• Award-Winning Own Label Brands: Our brands are renowned for their quality and value.
• Experienced Team: Manage your own region within a network of over 100 Catering Sales Managers who excel in building strong customer relationships and driving sales.
• Comprehensive Delivery Services: We offer delivery, click & collect, and in-person shopping experiences across our nationwide branch network, with a multi-temp offering to meet all customer needs.
• A Place To Get On: We’re committed to your development, offering a variety of upskilling opportunities, mentorship, and professional growth to help you reach your full potential.
• Every Voice Matters: We foster an inclusive and collaborative environment where all ideas are welcomed, and your contributions are valued.

Responsibilities

• Driving sales – exceeding sales & profit targets for the region through clear strategic planning.
• Lead and Develop Teams: Inspire, lead, and coach the Catering sales team, ensuring clear development plans are in place, and teams consistently exceed their sales and profit objectives.
• Achieve Key Objectives: Drive sales and deliver on sales and profit budgets, aiming for top-tier on other key customer and colleague satisfaction experience.
• Champion Growth Opportunities: Lead best practice initiatives across your regional Branches, driving both the customer experience and identifying opportunities to maximise growth.
• Influence Senior Stakeholders: Collaborate with internal teams & leaders to ensure seamless execution of the Catering Sales Plan, aligning all functions towards growth and profit targets.
• Customer-Focused Results: Act as a key player in customer listening groups to develop insights and use this feedback to enhance the customer experience, ensuring we stay ahead of competitors and meet customer needs.
• Understand your Top customers in your region and foster a collaborative partnership.
• Maximise Resources for Profit: Utilise all available resources and capacity effectively to maximise sales and profitability within your region.
• Sponsorship of Talent: Take ownership of talent development and succession planning to ensure a high-performing team now and in the future.
• Build a Results-Driven Culture: Foster a culture that recognises performance and behaviours that lead to growth, making Booker a great place to build your career.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership experience in managing and developing teams, with a focus on delivering results, ideally within the food/catering sector (we’re open to other sectors too!).
• Experience in implementing and executing strategies that maximise sales, drive profitability, and ensure customer satisfaction.
• A commercially focused mindset, with the ability to turn insights into profitable actions.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels.
• A passion for growth, and the ability to coach your team to exceed their objectives and contribute to a high-performance culture.

Excited? We look forward to receiving your application!

Booker is the UK’s leading food & drink wholesaler. We are privileged to serve independent retailers, caterers and small businesses, from locations across the country. We operate over 190 cash and carry branches, eight distribution centres, five Best Food Logistics sites, as well as six support centre locations across the UK.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) at Booker means that whoever you are and whatever your background, we always want you to feel represented and that you can be yourself at work. In short, we’re a place where Everyone’s Welcome.

We know life looks a little different for each of us. That’s why at Booker and Best, we always welcome conversations about flexible working. Some people are at the start of their careers, some want the freedom to do the things they love. Others are going through life‑changing moments like becoming a carer, nearing retirement, adapting to parenthood, or something else. So, talk to us throughout your application about how we may be able to support you.

We’re proud that Booker is a Disability Confident Committed employer and we’re committed to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. For further information on the accessibility support you can expect, please contact recruitment@bookergroup.com

Please note: We can only accept candidates over the age of 18 if the role requires working before 6:15 am or after 9:45 pm or involves working in areas such as the warehouse, beers, wines & spirits, and driving roles. On the occasions where we have high volumes of applicants, some roles may close earlier than the advertised end date in order for us to manage all of the applicants appropriately. We will only be able to offer individual feedback to those candidates who attend an interview.