Director of Food Service & Deli Category Management

Confidential – Director of Food Service & Deli Category Management

Work Arrangement: Hybrid, with regular presence at the corporate office and store locations throughout Southern California

Compensation: $150,000–$180,000 annual base salary + performance-based bonus

The stated salary range represents the employer's good-faith estimate of the base salary reasonably expected to be paid for this position at the time of hire. Actual compensation within the range will be determined based on factors such as relevant experience, skills, qualifications, and business needs.

A growing, family-owned Southern California grocery retailer is seeking a Director of Food Service & Deli Category Management to lead the strategy and continued development of several important fresh and specialty categories.

This newly created leadership role will have significant visibility across the organization. Reporting to the COO, this individual will help shape the future of service deli, prepared foods, specialty cheese, bakery, and third-party food service programs as the company continues to grow.

The ideal candidate combines strong category management and commercial acumen with a practical understanding of fresh-food retail. This is an opportunity for someone who enjoys developing differentiated assortments, improving profitability, building strong vendor partnerships, and creating scalable programs within an entrepreneurial environment.

• Lead category strategy across assigned fresh and food service categories, including prepared foods, service deli, specialty cheese, and related programs.
• Develop assortment, pricing, promotional, and merchandising strategies designed to drive sales, margin, and customer engagement.
• Analyze category performance, customer trends, competitive activity, and market data to identify growth opportunities.
• Maintain financial ownership of assigned categories, including sales, margin, shrink, and profitability.
• Lead vendor negotiations, sourcing strategies, and supplier relationships while identifying opportunities for new and differentiated products.
• Oversee relationships with third-party food operators and other in-store food service partners.
• Develop and launch new products, programs, and merchandising concepts based on evolving customer preferences.
• Partner closely with store operations to improve execution and consistency across locations.
• Establish scalable category standards and processes to support continued growth and new-store expansion.
• Lead, coach, and develop a small team of category and merchandising professionals.
• Collaborate with Operations, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, and executive leadership on broader business initiatives.

• 7+ years of progressive experience in grocery, food retail, category management, merchandising, or a closely related field.
• Experience with service deli, prepared foods, specialty cheese, meal solutions, food service, or other fresh/perishable categories strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience managing category financial performance, including sales, margin, pricing, assortment, and/or promotional strategy.
• Strong vendor negotiation, sourcing, and supplier-management capabilities.
• Experience developing or launching new products, categories, or food programs.
• Understanding of the operational complexities associated with fresh, perishable, or short-shelf-life products.
• Ability to translate category strategy into effective store-level execution.
• Experience developing team members and influencing cross-functional partners.
• Strong analytical, financial, and commercial acumen.
• Ability to operate effectively in a growing, entrepreneurial environment and build structure where needed.

The…