Director of Fresh Kitchen Menu Strategy
Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores
- Oklahoma City, OK
- Permanent
- Full-time
- Drives the vision and execution of category strategies for Love's Fresh Kitchen, leading the development of innovative menus and product assortments that elevate the customer experience and complement our branded food concepts
- Partner with procurement in the sourcing of high-quality, yet cost effective ingredients used for in-store assembly of the fresh food program
- Partner with internal and external stakeholders to bring innovative and exclusive products to market
- Inspires and empowers a team of Category Managers to deliver data-driven, customer-focused tactics that align with and advance overall foodservice growth goals.
- Collaborates closely with senior Foodservice leadership to shape long-term strategies around menu development and packaging innovation, ensuring continued relevance and market differentiation
- Leads the development of annual category plans that align with strategic vision of the Love's Fresh Kitchen (LFK) brand inclusive of driving decisions around assortment, positioning, product enhancements, and promotional strategies to deliver a compelling customer experience
- Owns the budgeting process and ensures the business meets or exceeds financial commitments through strategic planning, performance monitoring, and proactive course correction
- Leads the planning and execution of a 12-24 month customer engagement roadmap, designed to drive awareness, increase retention, and position Love's Fresh Kitchen as the go-to food destination for travelers
- Provide strategic, insight-driven direction to Innovation team ensuring product development initiatives align with current business goals while anticipating future customer needs and flavor trends
- Partner with Merchandising and Retail Data Analytics teams to design data-informed customer experiences leveraging product affinity to drive incremental sales and deliver on our promise of quality and convenience
- Benchmarking against competitive landscape that includes traditional competition as well as emerging channels including grocery and quick-service restaurants
- Collaborates with the Data Analytics Team to deliver timely, accurate monthly P&L analysis that supports decision making and performance management
- Guides the team in producing regular business reviews, highlighting category performance, key KPIs, and actionable insights to drive continuous improvement
- Delivers quarterly business updates to Foodservice leadership, translating data into strategic recommendations that support growth and operational excellence
- Leverage sales performance, market trends, and customer insights to continuously optimize the product offering and enhance the customer experience
- Conducts regular SKU rationalization review to ensure the right product mix is available in the right locations, maximizing relevance and profitability
- Partners with Data Analytics team to ensure pricing and promotional strategies are data-driven, market-aligned, and deliver strong value to our customers
- Has deep understanding of foodservice industry and travel stop industry customer need states to ensure we deliver against and exceed customer expectations
- Ensure a balanced portfolio approach to LFK assortment that accounts for total foodservice offering within each location to deliver on a core commitment of fresh, hot food available 24 hours a day
- Build and nurture strong relationships with strategic vendor partners to support long-term growth and innovation across the Love's Fresh Kitchen brand
- In collaboration with Procurement, leads vendor negotiations to secure optimal pricing, terms, and service agreements to balance cost efficiency with high standards for product quality and consistency.
- Cultivate a positive, collaborative team culture that encourages cross-functional teamwork, accountability, and continuous professional growth
- Provides direct leadership and mentorship to the Category Management team, guiding the development of strategic, insight-driven category plans.
- Champion team development by ensuring each team member has a clear, actionable growth plan aligned with their professional goals and business needs.
- Promotes communication, collaboration, and curiosity within team
- Bachelor's degree in business or marketing preferred
- 9+ years in Foodservice or CPG industry with a minimum 5 years of category management experience required
- 5+ years in a role with P&L accountability
- Menu strategy and/or marketing experience preferred
- Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills
- Highly collaborative with ability to build solid working partnerships across functional groups
- Proven success in influencing at multiple levels across an organization
- Comfortable and confident presenting content/ strategy to multiple levels of leadership
- Ability to synthesize internal and external business insights to interpret data
- Highly self-motivated and able to work both collaboratively as well as independently
- Strong desire to learn industry trends
- Sense of urgency
- Requires standing and walking, with some bending, kneeling, stooping, crouching, climbing and ladder use
- Occasional lifting of up to 25 lbs
- Occasional travel regionally/nationally will be required (up to 15%)