LOCAL FOOD SALES REP Interested in representing family farms in the market and selling local bounty? Farm Fare needs your help. Farm Fare is seeking the support of a sales rep to develop and implement a sales strategy to increase wholesale purchasing of local food. Farm Fare is a platform-based software that connects local food supply through food hubs and coordinates distribution using contracted, independently owned vehicles, ie: trucks owned by food companies with extra capacity in their own delivery routes. Farm Fare launched in 2017 with the collaboration of five Northeast Ohio food hubs including Lake to River (Youngstown, Ohio), Community Harvest ( Ashtabula, Ohio), Local Roots (Wooster, Ohio), Cleveland Culinary Launch Kitchen (Cleveland, Ohio) and Oberlin Food Hub (Oberlin, Ohio). Food hubs are part of a growing movement of small warehouses that source and aggregate local agricultural and value-added food products from small- and medium-sized producers and distributes these goods to regional buyers. Food hubs develop deep relationships and connections to the farmers in their local markets, which in turn offer a diversity of crops and growing practices. Farm Fare’s technology and networking platform enhances the efficiency and output of food hubs by enabling food hubs in a single region to share inventory information and by managing all of the logistics associated with delivery service. Farm Fare then provides delivery service in an efficient manner by coordinating underutilized, food-safe trucks. For instance, an orchard’s box trucks that remain idle during the off-season would be prime assets in the Farm Fare distribution model. The Role Local food is widely available in Northeast Ohio; however, it’s not yet ubiquitous across wholesale channels as it has historically not had the infrastructure to support convenient, affordable and reliable purchasing. Farm Fare addresses these challenges and needs support to communicate this to relevant buying channels. This role will be focused on developing and implementing a sales strategy to increase volume-based purchasing of local food. This includes visiting potential customers on-site, cold-calling to generate customer conversations and generation of “Sales Programs” to generate incentives for buying local. We anticipate this individual to be on-site at customers’ premises more often than in the office. Often, Hub managers will join you on a sales call or visit. During these visits, you will also assist customers in
Farm Fare | 1956 W. 25th Street | Suite 302 | Cleveland, OH 44113 | farmfare.io | @farmfareapp 1
setting up accounts and training customers on mobile and web ordering portals. While on the road, we anticipate the sales rep to occasionally handle customer service calls and questions. As a starting point, lead generation research will be provided. To date, research has focused solely on the wholesale market, including restaurants, institutions, groceries and schools throughout the major metros of Northeast Ohio. Social media and other communication tools have served as additional means to generate leads. We anticipate additional lead generation and strategy will be necessary. What’s different about work at Farm Fare? Farm Fare is a social enterprise that’s fundamentally rethinking the local food supply chain in a way that makes it more nimble, responsive and price efficient through technology and use of existing resources. We like to say, “We’re equipping economies of collaboration to compete with economies of scale.” Bottom Line: We know you’ll feel an authentic sense of purpose every time you bring a new customer on board! Secondly, Farm Fare is a startup. We’re creative, we’re fun, we’re wearing all the hats while running around. You too would be involved in conversations where we’re still figuring it out. There’s no road map when you’re doing something outside the standard box. B ottom Line: Farm Fare is a fun crew whose middle name is problem-solving. Finally, every day we learn. Sometimes it’s about our industry, sometimes it’s about soil and sometimes it’s just about best business practices. B ottom Line: Walking out the door knowing you’ve grown while working towards a solution you know will improve our world is a feeling we hope you’ll keep with you the rest of your life. Who we’re looking for… This role is geared toward an individual who is passionate about doing good, believes in a better food system and has excellent people and communication skills. This person will spend most of their days with customers. Passion about local food is absolutely critical as a basic selling premise. We expect this person to also show creativity and persistence, understanding that it typically takes 6-8 interactions with a lead to convert that person/company/organization to a customer, while simultaneously maintaining engagement with current customers. This role is best suited to an individual who is an extrovert and has patience. This role will require excellent documentation and recording-keeping in both strategy design and customer relationship management. The sales rep will also have the opportunity to shape and inform the direction of the Farm Fare sales strategy. We have aggressive sales goals at Farm Fare, and we’re expecting you to bring grit, commitment and resilience. We seek individuals with a depth of heart, spirit and work ethic. Given Farm Fare’s growth potential, this role has significant promotion opportunity. We aim for the role to grow with Farm Fare, including expanding the sales reach and strategy design to markets outside of Northeast Ohio. Previous Experience Preferred, namely: ● ● ● ●
3-5 years of sales experience in food and beverage Experience and knowledge with marketing and sales to different market channels Demonstrated success making quota and achieving sales success Demonstrated performance given “vague instructions” (Ie: taking initiative and shaping direction into action).
Farm Fare | 1956 W. 25th Street | Suite 302 | Cleveland, OH 44113 | farmfare.io | @farmfareapp 2
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Building and maintaining relationships with individuals you would have previously identified as “strangers” Strong reasoning skills that have led to new innovations/outcomes in the sales effort
-- Compensation: The Sales Rep will be paid a base salary of $20,000-25,000, commensurate upon experience. An additional 10% sales commission could be garnered on Farm Fare revenue that results from sales generated, an estimated $16,500. At this time, benefits are not included. Job-related expenses will be reimbursed, namely mileage. -- Location & Travel: We have space and would welcome you in our Farm Fare offices located at 1956 W. 25th Street in the quirky, vibrant neighborhood of Ohio City in Cleveland, Ohio. We expect the Sales Rep to be in the office an equivalent of 1-2 days per week, but recognize and encourage meeting on-site early and often with returning and potential customers. While this can be negotiated, we’d like this person to also be open to flexing to other markets to develop sales channels as Farm Fare grows. Currently, we’re evaluating market opportunity in New York (state) and New England. As these markets come on board, this person would replicate successful efforts in Northeast Ohio and adapt to specific conditions in these markets. This is likely to require a significant (at least three months) focused effort in these regions. During this time, we’d like you to be based out of these markets. As a startup, we’re always thinking creatively about room and board, and we welcome your creative thinking on this topic, too! -- Preferred Dates of Hire: We’d like to welcome someone on board as soon as possible. We anticipate a one- to two-week training period prior to a more autonomous approach. -- How to Apply: Please apply HERE. You will be required to upload a resume, cover letter and list of three references. All questions should be directed to Cullen Naumoff at
[email protected]. -- More information? Check out our recent press on C leveland.com and in E dible Cleveland and check us out @farmfareapp on Instagram and Facebook.
Farm Fare | 1956 W. 25th Street | Suite 302 | Cleveland, OH 44113 | farmfare.io | @farmfareapp 3
