Shield Foods (UK) Ltd
National Account Manager - B2B & HoReCa
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NATIONAL ACCOUNT MANAGER - FIELD BASED W/ REGULAR OFFICE VISITS
Reports to: Commercial Director
Location: Field-based with regular office days
Channels: Smaller and growing QSRs, Travel, Food Manufacturing, casual dining & pubs, hotels, etc.
We are Shield Foods. Suppliers of outstanding seafood to leading Pan-Asian and seafood-centered London restaurants. We are a family business and proud to have brought some of seafood's biggest innovation to the UK in the last 36 years.
Due to continued growth, we are looking for our first National Account Manager. This is an opportunity to make an impact and be part of a business that is serious about growth.
You can find out more about us on www.shieldfoods.com or visit our LinkedIn page.
Purpose
This is a deliberate two-speed role, where you will build the long-cycle pipeline in contract tender-driven channels where wins take 6–18 months while also trading an inherited base of accounts and expanding the channel beyond London. For the quick wins, you will target contemporary branded small QSR and restaurant groups: founder-led, growth-minded concepts that operate like mini-chains even at a handful of sites and buy on consistency, spec and rollout potential.
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For the longer term, you will win, own and grow our multi-site and national business across contract-driven opportunities such as food manufacturing, airlines & cruise ships, contract catering and hotel channels, building the pipeline of new group and national customers that carries the largest single share of the growth target.
Key Responsibilities
- Take a structured handover of any existing portfolio and secure those relationships within the first 60 days.
- Develop and deliver quick wins that will drive revenue in the current financial year.
- Build head-office relationships across target groups: buyers, food development, NPD, technical and supply chain.
- Lead tenders, central negotiations, listings, trials and multi-site rollouts from first meeting to full distribution.
- Manage menu cycles, product specifications, cutting specs and NPD opportunities with development chefs.
- Produce robust volume forecasts for procurement and supply chain on group and rollout volume.
- Run structured price reviews tied to market and exchange movements, protecting margin on high-volume accounts.
- Progress accounts handed up from the BDM team when the Commercial Director rules they have outgrown the BDM outlet threshold.
- Work group target lists in Caterlyst with the Sales Development Executive and Head of Marketing. Be proactive in campaign development and hunting opportunities.
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KPIs
- New business revenue and gross margin vs. target.
- Retention of inherited portfolio (zero unmanaged churn in year one).
- Forecast accuracy on contracted/group volume.
- Revenue / Margin growth through a mix of new accounts, existing account basket improvement and reactivation of lapsed customers.
- Pipeline coverage of at least 3x annual new-business target, maintained in Caterlyst.
Person Specification
- 6+ years in national or key account management in foodservice supply; experience selling to QSR, pub or casual dining groups essential.
- Proven record of winning and rolling out multi-site listings; comfortable with long, multi-stakeholder sales cycles running alongside short "hunting style" cycles.
- Protein category knowledge highly desirable; channel and head-office expertise matter more. If you have only ever worked in Retail - we are not the right fit for you, sadly.
- Commercially rigorous on margin, terms and forecasting — not just top-line revenue.
- Disciplined CRM user.
- Ability to work in an SME: we are a small team and we all pitch in for success. You must be able to fully own delivery of your targets.
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