Procurement Manager in London

We are the leading Asian-inspired quick-service retail and grocery brand with over 80 beautiful restaurants and a growing wholesale business across Europe and beyond. Our renowned delicious food made fresh in every restaurant, every day, has made itsu the choice for healthy eating. In addition to our restaurants, itsu [grocery] offers a range of high-quality Asian-inspired foods available online and in supermarkets. We are excited to be one of the leading brands in this specific group and have ambitious plans for continued growth both domestically and globally. With its best-in-class food, latest technology, innovation, and talented workforce, itsu is the future of fast food.

Skill and Responsibility Overview:

• Strategic Procurement Leadership: Develop and implement category strategies for food, beverage, and non-food items to drive business growth and manage risk across UK and international markets.
• Stakeholder Management: Build and maintain strong relationships with supply partners and internal teams, ensuring alignment on goals and operational needs.
• Market Awareness: Stay updated on market trends and commodity information to inform procurement decisions and enhance product offerings.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work collaboratively across departments to support the company’s growth strategy and drive continuous improvement in supply chain performance.

Core Responsibilities:

• Active role in creating and delivering strategy that allows itsu to beat its business and sustainability targets with supply and distribution partners.
• Accountable for the Procurement and Supply Chain of selected categories across the UK & International markets through creation and timely implementation of Category Strategies.
• Categories may include brand defining core such as Proteins and Rice as well as supporting the PST team with additional category and distribution management.
• You will report to the Head of Procurement & Supply Chain and as a key member of the team you will strive to deliver the business’s growth strategy and the goals in support of the development of best-in-class performance and facilities.
• You will achieve continuous improvement and competitive advantage across all supply partners.
• Engagement with International Partners and Supply Chain leads to focus on Global, Regional and Local products creating value in everything you do through leveraging cost improvement and efficiency savings.
• You will continually investigate and recommend new and comparable materials, techniques, etc. that may increase itsu’s profitability, productivity and effectiveness.
• Keeping abreast of market trends and commodity information is an essential part of this role.
• You will work and liaise closely with key stakeholders to prioritise needs and ensure full operational understanding.
• You will drive cross brand opportunities and share best practice across the entire business.

This is you:

• Ability to demonstrate a broad experience of product types and processes is essential.
• External Procurement skills such as CIPS advantageous but not essential.
• Relevant commercial experience in procurement position preferably £100m+ in size (total business turnover).
• Able to draw on previous relevant experience of successfully managing and negotiating with supply partners in the UK and Internationally.
• Continually demonstrating strong negotiating performance and cross functional problem solving.
• Ability to understand and appreciate technical issues associated with your categories to always ensure adherence and commercialise them.
• You’ll respond quickly to maintain supply for itsu’s multi-outlet store system subject to substantial trade fluctuations and logistical bottlenecks.
• Deliver timely and relevant communication with the ability to liaise with other departments, supply partners and franchisees.
• Ability to work in a team environment to achieve service, revenue, profit and growth targets.
• Enjoy working as part of a team, with the ability to work cross-functionally.
• Always be pragmatic, thoughtful and customer driven.

You put people at the heart of everything you do by displaying the 4 itsu qualities:

• I take pride in what I do
• I genuinely care for people
• I want to grow myself & others
• I build trust around me

This job description is not an exhaustive list of your duties; you will be expected to perform different tasks as and when needed by the business, and your role will change and evolve as the business does.

Reports to the Head of Procurement, Supply Chain and Technical (PST) and plays a critical role delivering strategic and commercial leadership to the group. Provides key leadership to ensure that the PST function enables the business to grow through delivering category strategies that help us manage risk and drive value for our business as well as franchise and supply partners. This role is accountable for the procurement and supply chain of core food, beverage and non-food categories across itsu through the creation and implementation of category strategies. The Procurement Manager will need to have strong commercial experience and skills in Food Service and/or Food Retail – with the capability to manage a multi-million pound spend, along with expert stakeholder management skills and a self-starter mindset. Solid, cross functional team leadership with a desire to ensure success is essential. Sourcing and selection from international supply partners experience is key for this role. You need a demonstrated track record of strong negotiating performance and high-level analytical problem-solving business skills. Meeting with supply and distribution partners, negotiating terms, maintaining great service levels and managing relationships. Always ensuring that all activities are better for customer, simpler for shops and create value for itsu.