About the Company

Yay is out to fundamentally change school food for the better. We are a school food marketplace, connecting schools to wonderful local foodmakers within their own communities to get fresher, healthier, more delicious and more diverse food to kids everyday.

Since launching a pilot in Spring 2018, we have expanded and evolved, now serving multiple markets from Chicago to Connecticut. We have aggressive growth plans backed by experienced venture capital partners, and we are excited about bringing school lunch up to a modern standard.

About the Opportunity

The Yay Company’s Procurement Lead is a remote position and is a direct report to the Director of Merchandising. They will work to maintain and improve a centralized procurement process for all current inventory and assets on hand across our Full Service and Grab + Go schools. They will maintain a clear understanding of current assets and work cross functionally to further develop a plan on core inventory items and procurement process.

The Procurement Lead will work cross-functionally across almost all departments of Yay. Strong collaboration and interpersonal skills will be critical for success.

About the Position

As the Procurement Lead, you will be responsible for the management of sourcing all products and supplies for the company. You will have oversight on our CPG product line. You will be responsible for improving our buying strategy, identification of vendors, and negotiating costing. You will work with the cafe leads at each school as well as your cross-functional team members (executive team, finance, operations, merchandising, marketing) to build out processes to track inventory, costing, and business needs. Our business is built on strong relationships and strong margins, making price negotiation and gross margin management as critical to the success of this role as selecting the right food partners to work with.

Evaluate opportunities within our CPG product line to go after growth and remove lower performing items
Develop and maintain planograms for product and work with marketing and merchandising specialists to implement planograms and drive awareness about new products
Act as a point of contact between the company and suppliers
Identify potential suppliers based on project requirements
Negotiate contracts, terms and deadlines with vendors and suppliers
Monitor and update relevant departments regarding price fluctuations of goods and vendor pricing
Manage an efficient flow of goods to ensure optimum production + supply
Work with the merchandising department to support like processes, etc during needed coverage
Monitor assigned SKU’s for inventory replenishment
Enters and maintains accurate purchasing parameters (lead times, replenishment location/method, and primary vendor)
Issue purchase orders with proper requirements and delivery.
Manage forecasting and demand planning for customer events, business shifts, and seasonality changes
Develop a working relationship with suppliers
Actively pursues appropriate charge back of unacceptable costs.
Review movement of ordered products and adjusts expectations and/or substitutions accordingly
Source for alternative products to resolve inventory shortages
Manage returns to suppliers and supplier inventory allowances
Pursues continuous improvement in purchasing procedures & efficiency and team functioning
Keeps director informed of important developments, potential problems and related information necessary for effective management.
Develop and maintain a general understanding of industry, products and purchasing techniques

You’re excited about this opportunity because you:

Love to find the right snacks and products kids + grown-ups love
Love to create and maintain strong processes
Excel working collaboratively to build out new items, research and identify best cost, and grow businesses
Thrive at price negotiation, transactional deal cycle and closing new business within days
Use data and analysis to evaluate the performance of specific items and suppliers and make informed recommendations on changes to our offerings or supplies.
Have a natural eye for optimization, customer satisfaction and efficiency
Enjoy liaising between the finance, operations, and merchandising team building strong and collaborative relationships.

Required Skills

3+ Procurement/buying/inventory management experience
Advanced Excel Skills
Proactive attitude to highlight and address issues as they arise
Ability to understand/execute standard replenishment processes and best practices
Strong tactical replenishment execution skills & understanding of product forecasting
Ability to negotiate with suppliers to execute the inventory depletion process
Strong attention to detail

We’re excited about you because you:

Are an expert negotiator and understand that pennies count
Are passionate about the food industry
Are excited to come build a brand and a growing company
Have experience exceeding goals
Have strong organizational skills and are a self-starter
Have strong problem-solving skills and the ability to exercise sound judgment and make decisions based on timely analysis
Approach challenges from the fundamentals
Express creative sales tactics to engage with prospects
Have experience using a CRM (Hubspot) and Google Apps

We pride ourselves on being a good employer, and to that end we provide:

$50,000 annual salary
Health Insurance - medical, vision, dental and life insurance
Voluntary life and short-term disability Insurance, and flexible spending account (FSA)
401(k) retirement, up to 3.5% employer match
Flexible paid time off (unlimited time off program)
Data stipend
Remote, flexible environment
Significant support structures, on-the-ground training, & coaching from central team member

#ZR