We are seeking an experienced Outlet Concept Manager – Fresh Foods to lead the operational, commercial, and people management of the Fresh Foods section across SPAR stores. The role will oversee key fresh categories including Produce, Butchery, Fish, Deli, Dairy, and other perishables, ensuring excellent product availability, quality, food safety, hygiene, and cold-chain compliance.
The successful candidate will be responsible for driving sales growth, gross margins, stock availability, inventory accuracy, shrinkage and waste reduction, merchandising standards, customer satisfaction, and overall profitability. The role will also serve as the Fresh Foods Subject Matter Expert (SME), providing coaching, mentoring, training, and capability development to supervisors and store teams.
The ideal candidate should have a bachelor’s degree/HND in Business Administration, Food Science, Retail Management, or a related field, with 5+ years’ experience in retail Fresh Foods or FMCG operations, strong knowledge of inventory and cold-chain management, and proven experience leading high-performing teams.
Key Focus Areas:
- Sales & Revenue
- Fresh Operations
- Inventory & Availability
- Merchandising
- Food Safety & Hygiene
- P&L & Cost Control
- Shrinkage & Waste
- People Leadership
- Customer Experience
- Coaching & Capability Development.
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Key Responsibilities / KRAs
Commercial Performance & Category Growth
- Own sales, margin and key commercial drivers for assigned consumer durable categories.
- Analyse daily/weekly/monthly sales, bills, basket drivers, sell-through and slow/fast-moving SKUs and take corrective action.
- Drive effective pricing, promotions, product launches and category opportunities within approved guidelines.
- Use customer and competitor insights to recommend assortment and commercial actions.
Assortment, Availability & Inventory
- Maintain the right assortment and stock depth for customer demand while controlling overstock and stockouts.
- Work with Buying, Supply Chain and Receiving to resolve replenishment and delivery issues.
- Drive stock accuracy, cycle counts, warranty/serial number controls and aged-stock actions.
- Minimise shrinkage, damage and obsolete stock, especially for high-value items.
Customer Experience & Selling Standards
- Set and enforce product knowledge and consultative selling standards.
- Ensure product demonstrations, displays, pricing and promotional communication support conversion.
- Resolve escalated customer complaints, warranty/return issues and post-sale concerns within policy.
Visual Merchandising & Concept Execution
- Ensure category layouts, displays, signage, ticketing and promotions reflect SPAR standards and customer expectations.
- Maintain clean, accessible and compelling displays and identify presentation gaps through floor walks.
- Ensure new product and campaign launches are executed on time.
Team Leadership & Productivity
- Lead supervisors and sales teams through clear targets, coaching and performance routines.
- Deploy staff according to traffic and peak trading patterns.
- Build product capability and hold teams accountable for sales, service, availability and loss control.
Governance, Risk & Reporting
- Ensure adherence to SOPs, security, stock, pricing, returns and warranty controls.
- Prepare concise performance reports with actions, owners and closure dates.
- Escalate material risks and unresolved issues promptly to the Store Manager and relevant central functions.
Required Skills & Competencies
- Commercial/category management
- Sales and margin analysis
- Inventory and shrinkage control
- Negotiation and supplier coordination
- People leadership
- Customer experience
- Excel and retail systems
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Key Responsibilities
Sales, Margin & Product Mix
- Own sales and gross margin performance across HMR, Bakery and Butchery.
- Analyse sales trends, product contribution, waste and customer preferences to improve range and production plans.
- Execute promotions, seasonal offers and new product initiatives within approved guidelines.
- Ensure pricing and portioning support both customer value and profitability.
Food Safety, Quality & Freshness
- Maintain strict compliance with approved food safety, hygiene and quality standards, including HACCP requirements and applicable regulations.
- Conduct daily checks on raw materials, production, storage temperatures, display conditions, labelling and shelf life.
- Ensure FIFO/FEFO and freshness controls are consistently applied.
- Investigate quality complaints and prevent recurrence.
Production, Yield, Waste & Inventory
- Plan production with demand to maximise availability while minimising overproduction and spoilage.
- Monitor ingredient/product usage, yields, wastage, damages and production variances.
- Coordinate replenishment with Buying, Supply Chain, Receiving and central kitchen/vendor partners.
- Ensure equipment and production areas are fit for purpose and safely operated.
Customer Experience & Concept Activation
- Maintain clean, attractive and well-presented counters and displays.
- Use tastings, demonstrations and other approved engagement activities to drive trial and sales.
- Resolve escalated complaints and ensure timely service recovery.
People Leadership & Capability
- Lead supervisors, chefs, bakers, butchers and customer-facing teams.
- Set clear production, sales, service and hygiene expectations and coach performance.
- Deploy manpower to demand and production requirements and build technical capability.
Compliance, Risk & Reporting
- Maintain audit readiness for food safety, hygiene, health and safety and operational controls.
- Review daily performance and drive closure of quality, waste, stock and service exceptions.
- Submit concise reports on sales, margin, availability, waste, quality and actions.
Education and Years of Experience
- Bachelor’s degree/HND in Food Science, Hospitality, Culinary/Food Technology, Business Administration or related field.
- 3–5+ years in food retail, restaurant, bakery, butchery or fresh food operations, including supervisory/management experience.
Knowledge, Skills and Attributes
- Food retail operations
- Food safety/HACCP
- Production planning and yield control
- Commercial and margin awareness
- Inventory/waste control
- People leadership
- Excel/reporting
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