Catering Sales Specialist

Work Model: Hybrid; regular presence at our Oak Park restaurant and in the local community required Job Type: Full-Time Reports to: Catering Manager Base Pay: $50,000–$58,000 per year + commission Commission: 5% commission on eligible monthly catering sales above the company-established threshold Schedule: Generally Monday–Friday, with occasional evenings, weekends, and events based on catering and business needs Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401(k), paid parental leave, and employee meal benefit About FARE At FARE, we're on a mission to change the way America eats. We're a growing, scratch-made fast-casual restaurant brand serving seasonal, nutrition-forward food that's both wholesome and craveable. Born and built in Chicago, FARE is continuing to grow — and so is our catering business. We're looking for a Catering Sales Specialist to grow catering sales from our Oak Park location by building relationships with local businesses, organizations, and community partners. This is a hands-on sales and business development role . You'll own the catering sales process from prospecting through closing and follow-up while partnering closely with our Catering Manager and restaurant team to deliver an excellent customer experience. About the Role As our Catering Sales Specialist, you'll be responsible for growing catering revenue throughout Oak Park and the surrounding community. You'll inherit existing catering customers and opportunities, but a major part of the role is generating new business. You'll identify prospects, conduct outreach, build relationships, schedule tastings, follow up with leads, and convert new customers into repeat catering clients. You'll manage the full sales lifecycle — from first contact through closing the order and maintaining the customer relationship. Our restaurant team will prepare and deliver catering orders, allowing you to stay focused primarily on sales and relationship development. From time to time, you may assist with customer-facing events, deliveries, or catering handoffs when it helps strengthen the relationship. This role is generally Monday–Friday and is built around business development, prospecting, tastings, and customer relationship management. Occasional evenings, weekends, and events may be required based on business and customer needs. What You'll Do Prospect and develop new catering business throughout Oak Park and surrounding areas Build relationships with local businesses, offices, schools, medical practices, gyms, residential communities, organizations, and other potential catering customers Conduct outbound sales activity through phone, email, in-person visits, networking, and community outreach Generate leads and consistently build a healthy catering sales pipeline Schedule and conduct tastings with prospective customers Respond quickly to catering inquiries and follow up consistently with leads Manage the full sales cycle from initial outreach through proposal, order confirmation, and close Build strong relationships with existing catering customers to drive repeat business Identify opportunities to increase order frequency and catering spend within existing accounts Maintain organized records of leads, customer activity, follow-ups, and sales opportunities Coordinate closely with the Catering Manager and Oak Park restaurant team to ensure catering orders are communicated and executed correctly Follow up after catering orders to gather feedback and generate repeat business Represent FARE at local businesses, networking opportunities, community events, tastings, and other sales opportunities Occasionally support catering handoffs, deliveries, or events when helpful to the customer relationship Meet established catering sales goals and KPIs, including expectations around tastings scheduled and completed What We're Looking For 2+ years of sales, business development, account management, or similar customer-facing experience Demonstrated ability to prospect for new business rather than relying solely on incoming leads Comfortable with cold calling, email outreach, in-person prospecting, and asking for the sale Strong relationship-building and communication skills Confident meeting with prospective customers and representing FARE in the community Self-motivated and comfortable working independently toward measurable sales goals Organized and able to manage multiple leads, customers, follow-ups, and orders at the same time Strong follow-through and attention to detail Comfortable working both from the Oak Park restaurant and out in the local community Hospitality, restaurant, catering, or food-service experience preferred B2B or local-market sales experience is a plus What Success Looks Like Success in this role means consistently creating new sales opportunities rather than waiting for catering orders to come in. You'll build a strong pipeline, schedule tastings, develop new relationships, convert prospects into customers, and turn first-time catering clients into repeat FARE customers. You'll work closely with the Catering Manager, who will establish sales goals and KPIs and provide coaching and support as you grow the Oak Park catering business. Compensation This position pays a base salary of $50,000–$58,000 per year , based on experience and qualifications. In addition to base pay, the Catering Sales Specialist is eligible to earn 5% commission on qualifying monthly catering sales above the company-established sales threshold . The applicable threshold is established by FARE and may be reviewed or adjusted periodically. This structure provides meaningful earning potential for someone who can consistently generate new opportunities, build customer relationships, and grow catering revenue. Why FARE? FARE is growing, creating an opportunity to help build a catering business rather than simply maintain an existing book of accounts. You'll have the support of an experienced Catering Manager and restaurant operations team while having direct ownership over developing catering business in the Oak Park market. If you're energized by meeting new people, opening doors, creating relationships, and seeing your effort translate directly into sales, we'd love to hear from you. FARE is an equal opportunity employer. We consider qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. #J-18808-Ljbffr FARE