Catering Sales Executive

Catering Sales Executive

Company: Thrive Restaurant Group

Location: Kansas City KS/MO

Reports To: VP, Off-Premise and Digital Sales

Base: $55,000 - $70,000

Bonus Target: 25% of base

Are you ready to drive revenue growth by blending modern digital lead generation with strategic, in-person account management? Thrive Restaurant Group is seeking a proactive Catering Sales Executive who doesn't wait for business to come to them, but instead actively makes the outbound moves every single day to introduce our brands to new organizations.

In this role, you are the ground-level sales engine. You will spend your days executing a coordinated communication strategy pairing smart online prospecting with face-to-face field consultations and real food tastings to secure the high-volume group orders that keep our restaurant teams thriving.

Why You'll Love Thriving With Us

Thrive Restaurant Group is a family-owned company with a 50-year history in hospitality. We operate nearly 200 restaurants across 15 states, representing five distinct brands: Applebee's, Qdoba, Carlos O'Kelly's, Modern Market, and HomeGrown. With over 8,000 team members, we genuinely believe that work should be meaningful and that people matter more than profit. We are dedicated to helping our team members flourish in both their work and their lives.

What We Offer:

• Comprehensive Benefits: Health, dental, and vision coverage.
• Retirement Planning: A 401(k) profit-sharing plan.
• Work-Life Balance: Generous paid time off.
• Perks: Food discounts across all Thrive-owned restaurant brands.

What Your Day-to-Day Looks Like

• Hybrid Lead Generation: You will utilize CRM data, LinkedIn, and digital tools and research to pinpoint key decision-makers, like office managers or administrative assistants, in local corporations, healthcare facilities, and school districts.
• The "Digital-to-Physical" Transition: You will turn digital email campaigns and phone calls into active partnerships by showing up in person to drop off actual food samples because a great meal closes deals that emails alone can't.
• Menu Consulting & Cross-Selling: You will master all five catering menus inside and out so you can easily consult on portion sizes, setups, and dietary restrictions. You will strategically cross-sell across our portfolio, pitching Modern Market for a light executive lunch or showing how HomeGrown can handle early morning breakfast meetings.
• CRM Discipline: You will maintain complete ownership of your daily pipeline in the CRM, meticulously logging every single call, email, and drop-in immediately. You'll use our "New, Frequent, and Lapsed" framework to prioritize your sales outreach.
• Operational Alignment: You will partner closely with Restaurant General Managers on complex orders to ensure a clear plan for execution, and you'll meet with leadership quarterly to align on community outreach. Once a client is established, you will smoothly transition them to Guest Relations for ongoing order intake so you can focus back on top-of-funnel sales.

What It Takes (Must Haves)

• Sales Resilience: You have 13 years of B2B sales experience and the baseline confidence to handle being rejected dozens of times a day without letting it dent your drive or professional demeanor.
• Territory Travel: A valid driver's license and a reliable vehicle are non-negotiable, as you will travel daily to meet prospective accounts face-to-face within your territory.
• Strategic Independence: You possess the ability to work independently, think strategically, and collaborate smoothly with external partners.
• Physical Capability: You must be able to lift up to 50 lbs to regularly help load, haul, and set up heavy catering equipment and food deliveries.
• High Precision: You are detail-obsessed and highly precise with dates, delivery times, addresses, and dietary notes, knowing a single typo can ruin a client's entire event.

Are You Ready to Create Value?

If you are a friendly, down-to-earth, and resilient relationship-builder who wants to expand our footprint and target top-tier VIP accounts, you belong on our team.

Apply today to start your journey with Thrive Restaurant Group!

Work Conditions:

Plan on 50%-60% interstate travel

The majority of work is field based.

May work a schedule that varies in days of the week and hours

Multi-shift work may be required to deliver successful catering experiences.

Benefits:

Competitive salary and bonus program (bonus potential $25,000-$50,000 per year)

401(k) with match

Multiple health insurance options with company-paid Life, AD&D, Long-term and Short-term Disability.

Health Savings Account or Flexible Medical Spending

Voluntary Life insurance

Paid Time Off

Training and development