Regional Sales Manager (TX,NM,OK,AR&LA)

The Regional Sales Manager (RSM) drives profitable foodservice sales growth across Texas (TX), New Mexico (NM), Oklahoma (OK), Arkansas (AR), and Louisiana (LA). The RSM proactively identifies, prioritizes, directly calls on, and develops high-value accounts across K–12, colleges and universities, healthcare, regional restaurant chains, and other commercial and noncommercial channels. The role owns strategic customer relationships, develops new business, protects and expands existing accounts, and works with distributors to secure product listings and stocking. Independent broker management supports, but does not replace, direct account development. The RSM reports to the Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

Territory: Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Preferred candidate location: Texas.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Own and execute a regional sales strategy and territory business plan, including revenue, volume, margin, distribution, and new-account objectives.
• Identify, prioritize, personally call on, and develop strategic accounts in each assigned state; maintain direct relationships with key decision-makers rather than relying solely on brokers.
• Pursue opportunities across all foodservice channels, particularly K–12, colleges/universities, healthcare, regional restaurant chains, and other institutional and commercial accounts.
• Develop and maintain prioritized target lists in each state covering the top 25 K–12 accounts, top 25 noncommercial accounts, and top five regional restaurant chains. Focus detailed account plans, direct calling efforts, and resources on the highest-value opportunities; the lists are prospecting and prioritization tools, not a requirement to actively manage every listed account.
• Call on regional distributors and collaborate with their sales, purchasing, and category teams to secure product authorizations, listings, stocking, placement, and ongoing movement.
• Lead broker relationships by establishing clear account priorities, activity expectations, joint calls, performance reviews, and follow-up accountability.
• Prospect and qualify new business, develop sales presentations and proposals, conduct product demonstrations, negotiate terms within approved guidelines, and close opportunities.
• Prepare accurate sales forecasts, territory and key-account plans, opportunity pipelines, and regional budgets; monitor pricing, margins, profitability, and performance against goals. Identify at-risk or declining accounts, execute retention and recovery plans, and expand product penetration and share of wallet with existing customers.
• Maintain timely, complete CRM records of customer calls, contacts, opportunities, next steps, projected close dates, and account activity; submit required call reports and business updates.
• Provide prompt, professional, and proactive internal and external communication, including follow-up on customer inquiries, proposals, service issues, and commitments.
• Partner with customer service, supply chain, operations, finance, marketing, and product teams to resolve product availability, quality, pricing, and customer concerns.
• Present regional performance, market trends, competitive intelligence, risks, and corrective action plans to sales leadership; participate in regular business reviews.
• Represent the company at customer meetings, food shows, conferences, distributor events, and industry functions; plan travel strategically to maximize selling time and territory coverage.
• Perform other related duties as assigned consistent with the position.

Performance Expectations and Accountability

Sales leadership will establish numerical targets, CRM reporting cadence, and scorecard thresholds for the assigned territory. Performance will be evaluated using measures such as:

• Achievement of assigned revenue, gross-margin, volume, and new-business targets.
• Development and maintenance of prioritized target lists (top 25 K–12 accounts, top 25 noncommercial accounts, and top five regional chains per state), with detailed plans and outreach focused on the highest-value opportunities.
• Documented direct customer and distributor calls, timely CRM updates, opportunity progression, and accurate sales forecasting.
• New product authorizations, distributor stocking wins, new account openings, retention of existing business, recovery of declining or lost sales, and expanded product penetration within current accounts.
• Broker activity and results against agreed account plans, with timely follow-up and corrective action.
• Responsiveness, customer presentation quality, and effective coordination with internal and external partners.

Supervisory / Partner Management Responsibilities

Provides direction and performance accountability for assigned independent brokers and broker partners. Direct employee supervision, if any, will be determined by the organizational structure.

Core Competencies

• Strategic Territory and Account Management
• Business Acumen and Financial Accountability
• New Business Development and Consultative Selling
• Communication, Presentation, and Negotiation
• Planning, Time Management, and Execution
• Collaboration, Responsiveness, and Relationship Management

Education and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience considered.
• Valid driver’s license and driving record that meets company driving standards.
• Proficiency in Microsoft 365 applications, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams; ability to create effective customer-facing presentations.
• Ability to use CRM software consistently for call reporting, opportunity management, forecasting, and account documentation.

Experience and Skills

• At least five years of successful sales experience in the foodservice industry, including experience calling on distributors and working with or managing foodservice brokers.
• Experience with K–12 and other commercial and noncommercial foodservice channels preferred. Knowledge of USDA Foods processing programs (including NOI, FFS, and commodity utilization), school district procurement, cooperative purchasing, and bid cycles strongly preferred.
• Track record of direct key-account development, prospecting, relationship management, negotiation, and profitable revenue growth.
• Knowledge of foodservice distribution, product placement, pricing, budgets, sales forecasting, and margin management.
• Strong organization, follow-through, presentation, written and verbal communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently across a multi-state region and coordinate effectively with internal teams and external partners.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

Work includes office and remote administrative activity, frequent computer and telephone use, travel to customer and distributor sites, and visits to commercial kitchens, foodservice operations, trade shows, and similar environments. May involve extended sitting, standing, and walking; occasional bending, reaching, and handling of presentation materials or product samples. Exposure to hot or cold foodservice environments may occur. Any specific lifting or other physical requirements should be validated against actual essential duties before publication. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals to perform essential functions.

Travel and Attendance

Compensation: Competitive base salary and performance-based bonus opportunity, subject to the approved compensation plan. Any salary-range disclosure will follow applicable state and local requirements.

Travel up to 70% of working time, including overnight travel, is required throughout TX, NM, OK, AR, and LA. Reliable attendance and availability for scheduled customer and business commitments are essential, subject to applicable law.