Catering Sales Specialist

Work Model: Hybrid; regular presence at our Oak Park restaurant and in the local community required

Job Type: Full-Time

Reports to: Catering Manager

Base Pay: $50,000–$58,000 per year + commission

Commission: 5% commission on eligible monthly catering sales above the company-established threshold

Schedule: Generally Monday–Friday, with occasional evenings, weekends, and events based on catering and business needs

Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401(k), paid parental leave, and employee meal benefit

At FARE, we're on a mission to change the way America eats.

We're a growing, scratch-made fast-casual restaurant brand serving seasonal, nutrition-forward food that's both wholesome and craveable. Born and built in Chicago, FARE is continuing to grow — and so is our catering business.

We're looking for a Catering Sales Specialist to grow catering sales from our Oak Park location by building relationships with local businesses, organizations, and community partners.

This is a hands-on sales and business development role
. You'll own the catering sales process from prospecting through closing and follow-up while partnering closely with our Catering Manager and restaurant team to deliver an excellent customer experience.

As our Catering Sales Specialist, you'll be responsible for growing catering revenue throughout Oak Park and the surrounding community.

You'll inherit existing catering customers and opportunities, but a major part of the role is generating new business. You'll identify prospects, conduct outreach, build relationships, schedule tastings, follow up with leads, and convert new customers into repeat catering clients.

You'll manage the full sales lifecycle — from first contact through closing the order and maintaining the customer relationship.

Our restaurant team will prepare and deliver catering orders, allowing you to stay focused primarily on sales and relationship development. From time to time, you may assist with customer-facing events, deliveries, or catering handoffs when it helps strengthen the relationship.

This role is generally Monday–Friday and is built around business development, prospecting, tastings, and customer relationship management. Occasional evenings, weekends, and events may be required based on business and customer needs.

• Prospect and develop new catering business throughout Oak Park and surrounding areas
• Build relationships with local businesses, offices, schools, medical practices, gyms, residential communities, organizations, and other potential catering customers
• Conduct outbound sales activity through phone, email, in-person visits, networking, and community outreach
• Generate leads and consistently build a healthy catering sales pipeline
• Schedule and conduct tastings with prospective customers
• Respond quickly to catering inquiries and follow up consistently with leads
• Manage the full sales cycle from initial outreach through proposal, order confirmation, and close
• Build strong relationships with existing catering customers to drive repeat business
• Identify opportunities to increase order frequency and catering spend within existing accounts
• Maintain organized records of leads, customer activity, follow-ups, and sales opportunities
• Coordinate closely with the Catering Manager and Oak Park restaurant team to ensure catering orders are communicated and executed correctly
• Follow up after catering orders to gather feedback and generate repeat business
• Represent FARE at local businesses, networking opportunities, community events, tastings, and other sales opportunities
• Occasionally support catering handoffs, deliveries, or events when helpful to the customer relationship
• Meet established catering sales goals and KPIs, including expectations around tastings scheduled and completed

• 2+ years of sales, business development, account management, or similar customer-facing experience
• Demonstrated ability to prospect for new business rather than relying solely on incoming leads
• Comfortable with cold calling, email outreach, in-person prospecting, and asking for the sale
• Strong relationship-building and communication skills
• Confident…