Sales and Event Manager (off-premise catering + venue)

For consideration, please submit a resume/ cover letter describing your background, experience, availability, and anything else requested in the job posting to our staffing team: recruiting@bitecatering.net

Please note that the post may contain elements we ask you to include in your application - we consider those heavily as a mark of your detail-orientation and design thinking.

Please, no phone calls, and principals only (no recruiters/ staffing agencies)!

This is a sales (with some project work) role working directly with the owners of a catering company with both off-premise events and venues.

The target profile for this role is someone with loves selling (our definition has a focus on developing key accounts with some of the top venues, planners, agencies, companies in the region...this isn't for someone who wants to stop at a retail/ transactional role). You should have a background in sales, be able to pitch accounts, love connecting people in interesting ways, love food/ beverage of all kinds, and enjoy being organized in a way that allows the team to execute at a high level.

Expect to book several hundred catering events/ yr ($0.5K-25K range per event, ~$800K target), build a book of accounts, and design impactful sales collateral in this role. This can work up to our more senior role (which is more sales/ large account focused and has a $2M target.)

We have a commissary near Culver City and venue in Long Beach, so please expect to travel between these areas and to customers and partner sites across LA or potentially Orange County.

Catering Couture: Designed Thoughtfully. Crafted Lovingly. Presented Beautifully.

Bite Catering Couture is looking for a spectacularly organized and results-oriented Sales + Events Manager to join our team.

This is a role that has a few areas of focus:

• qualify and execute catering leads including research, communications, invoicing, bookings, follow-ups, and account work.
• qualify and execute event leads at our venue(s) including research, communications, invoicing, bookings, follow-ups, and account work.
• develop high potential client and partner accounts to build your book of repeat/ refer business
• execute sales and marketing projects (update venue info/ setup meetings, update photos on website, create event blogs, assist on large events, run a mailing campaign, help us create our own themed events, etc)
• run ongoing monthly and seasonal activity (check KPIs, check in with regular clients, update holiday-specific menus)

It's a great role for someone organized and smart who wants to get into the events industry while making a difference in a small business (getting to work on owner-level projects).

Why Work for Bite Catering Couture?

We’re a high-end company who helps people and organizations put together some of the most important events in their lives.

We offer the warmth of a small business and team with the organization and stability of a more established company.

This role is about 75% sales (inbound and account dev) and 25% support of special projects and ongoing marketing work. From an experience perspective, you'll get broad exposure across our business and the opportunity to learn from an ownership team with deep experience across multiple industries. This is not a "busy work" kind of job. Your project work and organization will translate to real impact during a a time where the event industry is going through major shifts and our company is pivoting to ensure a bright future for the company and our team.

Who Should Apply?

A highly organized person who can turn ideas into action - you have a warm, personable and empathetic attitude with customers while also making sure that projects get prioritized and shipped. You'll be adaptable to changing project needs in what can be a dynamic environment and you'll enjoy problem solving and creating clarity. You're a quick-thinking, accurate, hands-on, stress-tolerant problem-solver with extreme attention to detail.

You'll want a robust job (approx. 45-50 hours/wk) working directly with the business' owner.

Success in the role generally looks like:

• High performance in a previous sales role that involved complex sales or accounts. Ability to put together pitch decks and pitch prospects in a value creating way (we use the Challenger Sales model).
• Significant past experiences/ demonstrated passion for high end food and bringing people together
• Able to visualize and communicate a compelling vision of a future event through the eyes of different stakeholders (hosts, couples, channel partners, sponsors, executives, corporate functional leads, guests)
• Strong organizational skills both via structure and push to close out open items
• An ability to listen intently and take great notes
• High energy - you're someone who's work turns the improbable into the inevitable
• A strong communicator - including keeping the owner apprised of daily work status, deliverables, etc
• A detective's sense in conducting online research against sales accounts, vendors/sourcing, government licenses/permits, etc
• Experience breaking down problems and turning them into a range of different potential solutions
• Investing proactively/ prioritizing time to build key accounts

Responsibilities & The Role

• Pull operational reports ensuring that inquiries and leads are responded to in an enthusiastic and timely manner
• Research incoming leads for account potential
• Qualify and "triage" leads to ensure they are worked to appropriate service level agreements (SLAs)
• Successfully book delivery/pick-up orders and work into more complex events/ start follow-on account work
• Build account plans for high tiered customer and partner accounts. Execute to create an ongoing stream of repeat/ refer event work.
• Create job sheets for kitchen and schedule drivers as-needed
• Track all activities in Salesforce
• Project work to include assisting the owner with ongoing projects for the business (e.g. target account research, pulling reports and making use of data, editing advertising campaigns, updating brochures using InDesign, run a direct mail campaign, update website articles/ post blogs of events)
• The role will report to the owner.

Preferred Education and Experience:

• 4-Year College Degree or equivalent experience
• 2+ years relevant work or equivalent experience (does not have to be post-college, may include relevant event activities in school/ clubs/ organizations - please highlight things like social/ events chair or fundraising)
• exposure to fine dining, 5-star hospitality environments, or high end catered events

Compensation

On Target Earnings: $70,000-$90,000 (Base of $46-50K + Commission + Performance Bonus + Health Stipend)

Requirements

• Familiarity with excel and entering information into computer web apps (we use Salesforce)
• History of achievement/accomplishment
• Must have a reliable method of transportation, valid license and clean driving record.
• Must be able to lift 50 lbs.
• Fluent in English
• Working knowledge of software applications along the lines of Microsoft Excel, Dropbox, Indesign, Powerpoint.
• Live within reasonable driving distance to cover work sites between Palms/Culver City Area and Long Beach
• Able to taste and describe ALL foods

Last Updated: Dec 7, 2024

Estimated Pay: On Target Earnings: $70,000-$90,000 (Base of $46-50K + Commission + Performance Bonus + Health Stipend)

Location: Los Angeles, CA (near Culver City/ Palms)

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