Fresh and Deli Buyer

Our Head Office department is in the heart of Piccadilly and occupies the 5th & 6th floor of our beautiful flagship store. This central London location offers so much to explore including restaurants, bars, cultural sites, shopping and more, and only a short walk from the Green Park Tube Station and plenty of bus stops.

The Buyer for Fresh & Deli is accountable for the overall development and delivery of our Fresh food offer, achieving the highest quality across all channels and management of the buying for their relevant department/category. The role is key to the delivery of the department/category sales and profit forecast. The candidate will demonstrate strong product development and sourcing expertise, industry knowledge, with an ability to identify and create market/product trends and realise new opportunities. The ideal candidate will have an appreciation of fine food, with an excellent palate and knowledge of Fresh Food, alongside an understanding of what is important in food development and selection. They should have a network within the supply base and be respected in their area of expertise.

Key Accountabilities

• Accountable for the delivery of the business’ strategic vision across all channels.
• Drive sales, profit and growth, through analysis of sales and stock performance (supported by merchandising).
• Delivers the Fresh Food buying strategy for their product group working closely with the Merchandising team and other stakeholders.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the customer profile and be able to anticipate customer needs and expectations in a multichannel environment.
• Demonstrate an authentic and passionate understanding of Food groups, products and the competition within the market.
• Input to sales and stock planning and forecasting cycle.
• Define and agree pricing strategies with multiple suppliers.
• Collaborates with the chefs to develop food offer, building strong relationships.
• Ability to input into negotiation of complex business terms and agreements with suppliers and other third party service providers.
• Delivery of new product development in line with the Fortnum own label strategy.
• Source new brands and products in line with Fortnum’s strategy and commitment to quality.
• Ensure all suppliers meet the Fortnum & Mason compliance standards.
• Undertakes the delivery of seasonal product calendars to capitalise on key events / holidays throughout year.
• Creates, maintains and manages the departmental range plan, each season, ensuring it is undertaken effectively across Retail, Online, Wholesale and Satellite Stores.
• An effective people manager with the ability to train, develop and retain team members.
• Demonstrate an authentic and passionate understanding of the brand and brand values.

Required Skills and Experience

• The candidate must have experience in food buying, ideally in fresh food.
• Awareness of how to create an impact in store.
• Ideally the candidate will come from a luxury multichannel Food Retailer.
• They should have an ability to manage time and workload with often-competing priorities and varying demands of the business.
• Ability to create and manage range planning across a multichannel business.
• Exceptionally high level of verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to influence and negotiate, effectively, with all team members at all levels including Senior Management & Board Members.
• Ability to effectively relationship manage the supplier base.
• Be able to influence and manage multiple internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to work under pressure, be able to prioritise and manage own and direct team’s workload to meet deadlines and manage expectations.
• Self-motivated, and a proactive attitude to work.
• Robust experience of the CRM systems and processes and reporting mechanisms to enable a function that is growing and maturing at speed.
• Digitally savvy.
• An ability to challenge, build credibility with a wide range of audiences and work with integrity/confidentiality at all times.

Why Work For Us

• A generous store and restaurant discount of up to 40%.
• 25 days holidays (excluded bank holidays) and an extra day off for your birthday.
• A fantastic subsidised staff restaurant which uses Fortnum’s ingredients.
• A range of opportunities to develop and grow personally and professionally.

We are committed to developing your career and nurturing your talent, regardless of age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation. We respect and embrace each other's differences, to create a truly inclusive environment. In the last year alone, our people have been recognised and celebrated, winning awards for their outstanding contributions to Retail, Technology, Global Hospitality & Tourism, Visual Merchandising & Display, Customer Service and Local Community Awards.