Associate Sales Manager

About Us:

Since 1935, we’ve been on a mission to bring a little extra happiness to everyday life and inspire connections over food. We select the finest ingredients the world has to offer, craft premium products made with love, and never settle for shortcuts. We believe that when we share our food, we share a part of ourselves — and that’s the only way we’d put our name on it.

Today, our small family company has grown into a national leader in specialty olives, peppers, and sauces under the leadership of CEO Jeff Mezzetta, and our commitment to quality has never wavered. With an 80-year legacy behind us and a bright future ahead, we’re seeking passionate, driven candidates to help us bring our cherished family traditions to a new generation.

The ideal candidate will have an immediate connection to our Core Ingredients:

• Crunchy Crunchy: We are hungry for excellence.
• Own It: We think and act as an owner – with appetite, initiative, and responsibility.
• Connection: We build authentic relationships that foster trust and open communications.
• Vibrance: We come to work eager and passionate about fulfilling our vision. When we share our work, we share a part of who we are.

The Role

The Associate Sales Manager is a Sales support role that includes analytics, administrative and selling responsibilities. This role supports the Director of Sales through the entire sales process, including ideation, sales planning, presentation, activation and post analysis, as well as the administrative activity that occurs throughout the sales process. Together with the Director of Sales, the Associate Sales Manager is accountable for growing revenue and building category market share within an assigned set of accounts. Assigned accounts may include retailers as well as wholesalers/distributors.

The Associate Sales Manager is expected to uncover opportunities and find new data-driven approaches to drive growth. This is done by optimizing item Distribution, Shelf presence, off-shelf Merchandising, and retail Pricing (the “DSMP’s”). The Associate Sales Manager is expected to continuously learn and apply those learnings to educate, recommend changes, and influence internal and external stakeholders.

This role will establish connections between business performance metrics and consumer behavior patterns. The Associate Sales Manager will collaborate with cross functional peers to develop a broad understanding of how recommendations impact the retailer, the market, and the organization.

A successful Associate Sales Manager will be curious, resourceful and driven. They will have a collaborative spirit with the ability to quickly absorb direction and then work independently to deliver results.

What you'll do

• Revenue – Together with the Director of Sales, achieve assigned revenue goals as measured by internal financial reporting.
• Category Market Share – Together with the Director of Sales, achieve brand market share goals as measured by syndicated data sources (i.e., Nielsen).
• Distribution – Together with the Director of Sales, build retail item distribution across all categories, including new items (Innovation).
• Trade Spend ROI – Continuous price and promotion reconciliation. Analyze effectiveness. Make recommendations to the Director of Sales that will enhance Trade Spend ROI.
• Forecasting Accuracy – Volume, revenue and trade spend. Build strong relationship with retailer’s replenishment buyers to drive on time, in full, forecasting, and
• Account Development – Development of influential relationships with analytical partners at assigned accounts.

What you'll need to be successful

• 3-5 years’ experience in Category Analytics within the CPG industry, including 2 years with large national account.
• Strong proficiency with standard business tools: Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, etc…
• Strong proficiency with analytical tools: Nielsen/IRI, analytics tools (PowerBI or similar), 84.51.
• Strong analytical and collaboration skills.
• Ability to think both strategically and tactically.
• 2 years’ experience working with Kroger and/or Target, preferred.

Other important stuff

• Bachelor's degree preferred
• The position is home office-based in the greater Cincinnati area. There will be the occasional early evening conference calls due to Mezzetta being based in the Pacific Time Zone.
• Average of 10-15% travel, meaning 2-3 nights a month away from home over the course of a year. Some weekend/evening work required to meet deadlines.

Our Commitment to an Inclusive Workplace:

At Mezzetta, we embrace diversity and strive to create an inclusive environment where you know you belong. Part of that commitment includes a zero-tolerance policy and being an Equal Opportunity Employer that prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions at Mezzetta are solely based on merit, qualifications, abilities and business needs, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, marital status, national origin, disability, military or veteran status, family or parental status, pregnancy, or any other status protected by law. All of us share in the responsibility of fulfilling this commitment and creating a culture where our team can thrive.