Director of Category Management,Cheese & Dairy

Ferraro Foods, a private equity-owned company backed by Kelso & Co., has a rich history rooted in hard work, family values, and a deep passion for the Italian food trade. From our humble beginnings in 1975 in a small New Jersey garage with just one truck, we've grown into a leading Italian food distributor, serving over 8,000 customers across 23 states. Our commitment to quality products, unparalleled service, and strong relationships with our customers has driven our success. We are proud of our heritage and are continually focused on delivering fresh, premium ingredients and exceptional service to help our customers thrive. Join us and be part of a legacy that values excellence, tradition, and innovation.

The Director of Category Management for Cheese & Dairy will lead strategic initiatives within these critical product categories, focusing on enterprise-wide category management and maximizing sales growth. This role will drive profitable growth by aligning with sales, merchandising, and supplier partners to develop and execute targeted strategies for cheese and dairy product lines, ensuring alignment with the unique demands of food service distribution.

Essential Job Functions:

• Drive category growth by increasing exclusive brand penetration for cheese and dairy across all divisions.

• Recruit, train, and develop top talent with expertise in cheese, dairy, and category management.

• Collaborate with sales and margin management teams to optimize profitable sales growth in the cheese and dairy categories.

• Coordinate regional sales blitzes focused on cheese and dairy product lines, partnering with local sales teams.

• Develop and execute promotional activities for cheese and dairy in collaboration with division leadership.

• Implement brand strategy initiatives by working closely with merchandising to enhance cheese and dairy product offerings.

• Identify and close product voids by converting accounts to exclusive cheese and dairy brands and expanding product lines.

• Develop category-specific training programs for local leadership to boost expertise in cheese and dairy offerings.

• Present strategies and results to senior leadership while working cross-functionally across the organization.

• Enhance customer retention and penetration efforts by partnering with sales leadership to target existing customers.

• Support acquisition integration efforts to ensure smooth onboarding of new cheese and dairy suppliers, maximizing synergy across the enterprise.

• Negotiate marketing programs with key dairy and cheese suppliers, collaborating with merchandising teams.

• Participate in RFP processes specific to cheese and dairy categories to secure advantageous supplier contracts.

Key Responsibilities:

• Sales growth within cheese and dairy categories

• Exclusive brand penetration in cheese and dairy by capturing product voids and converting customer accounts

• Marketing income improvement by negotiating supplier programs and expanding exclusive brand lines

• Increase cases per drop and lines per drop for street accounts

• Build and maintain strong supplier relationships to ensure competitive pricing and product availability

Minimum Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Bachelor’s Degree required

• 10 years of progressive experience in merchandising, with a focus on foodservice and perishable products

• Expertise in private brand product development within the cheese and dairy space

• Strategic thinker with a proven ability to execute against financial targets

• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to present to executive leadership

• Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Tableau

• Willingness to travel as needed to support regional sales teams and supplier meetings

This position will be stationed at our Piscataway, NJ facility.

After the primary training period, there will be the opportunity for hybrid work capacity.

Ferraro Foods is an equal-opportunity employer.