Brand Ambassador in Kempston Hardwick

Location: Bedfordshire / Buckinghamshire area

Hours: Monday to Friday 8:30am – 5pm with some flexibility due to the nature of the business

Salary: £27,000 - £30,000

Kick-start your career in sales with this exciting entry-level opportunity to join a fast-moving, forward-thinking company as a Brand Ambassador.

Purpose: As part of a regional team in a set geographical area, work strategically to improve and maintain brand and retail standards, and nourish relationships with our retailer partners to drive engagement and grow sales. Physically set up new Concessions and add Incremental Freezer space, includes installing POS & merchandising stock, to expand COOK's reach.

New & Incremental Launches:

• Responsible for physical launches in region and occasional outside of region launches.
• Pre-launch phone calls to retailers to advise of ETA and check in.
• Attend site and install cladding, point of sale/signage, wall artwork and merchandise food in the freezers.
• Ensure all point of sale/signage is installed as per order.
• Ensure all food is delivered as per order.
• Complete and submit credit request for staff samples, any damaged or missing food.
• Train new customers using Operations manual.
• Ensure all snagging issues are logged and resolved in a timely manner.
• Take photographic record of each launch and log launch details on CRM system.
• Complete fortnightly launch report with details from launches.
• Occasional van hire and driving required to collect and re-locate POS.

Retail & Brand Standards, Retailer Relationships and Engagement:

• Responsible for what COOK looks like in the regional area – brand and retail standards - and on the ground retailer engagement.
• Adhere to current retail and brand guidelines and strive to standardise the appearance of our concessions wherever COOK is sold.
• Work with the regional team on 'focus accounts'.
• Manage a small territory of 'national accounts'.
• Respond to Concession Manager or National Team requests to visit stores in region and take action as necessary.
• Auditing existing customers and addressing brand/retail standard concerns.
• Remerchandising food, repairing or installing POS. Identifying where repairs or replacements are needed and organising this through our ticketing system.
• Educating the store on best practice for ordering patterns, defrosting, merchandising and maintaining the COOK concession - includes training to use online ordering portal.
• Running through the concessions operations manual with store teams and training staff on COOK, including doing staff tasting sessions to drive engagement and relationship.
• Placing orders for retailers in store (with permission) or creating draft orders.
• Communication to retailers to be actioned in a timely manner after visits.

Admin:

• Aim to use part of Fridays to tackle admin, while Concessions Managers are WFH.
• On non-launching days plan own diary by working with regional team to establish where visits and attention are required.
• Use CRM System to log visits, send emails and track and plan workload.
• Use ticketing system and keep on top of emails and other admin.
• Ad hoc internal project work to help improve the concessions channel.

Other information:

• Overnight stays are required for the launches that are far afield.
• A suitable space to work from home (with video calls etc.) is essential.
• You will be required to have a clean driving license and car that is in good working order and suitable for the job.
• Mileage is paid at 0.45p per mile, unlimited.
• You will be provided with a phone and a laptop.

Good to Have:

• Ability to use own initiative to problem solve, think outside the box and the mindset to get stuck in to get the job done.
• Excellent proven organisation and prioritisation skills.
• Strong proven communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to stay calm under pressure and stay in control of a situation.
• Experience of working remotely and autonomously, or being able to self-motivate and take initiative.
• Experience of working in a branded environment.
• Proven ability to work well within a team and a flexible 'can do' attitude.
• Experience of physical launch or brand work such as visual merchandising or stock handling.

Excellent Benefits:

• Paid leave on your birthdays, moving house, becoming a grandparent or your child starts school for the first time.
• Staff profit share.
• Wellbeing program.
• 30% staff discount.
• Access to CookieJar Smart Spending discounts and free food perks.
• Team meals, events & away days.
• Be part of a B-Corp-certified business that values sustainability, people, and the community.
• Life Insurance.
• Free Lunch in the office.

What Cook is About: We're a proudly independent, family-owned B Corp, which basically means we care. A lot. About our food. About our people. And about doing the right thing—even when it's not the easy thing. Our vision for COOK has always been that we are a place where EVERYONE is welcome. We want everyone to feel like they belong at COOK. We all have different roles, different abilities and different personalities. By collaborating we can do remarkable things. Whatever your story, if you would like to grow with COOK please apply.