Produce Buyer

Job Summary

As a Produce Buyer your responsibilities will include sourcing and purchasing fruits, vegetables, seeds, grains, etc. Also, Produce Buyers are responsible for setting and adjusting selling prices, managing perishable inventory, and completing inventory and profit reports. Produce buyers may also be responsible for ensuring that our produce is properly handled and stored before it reaches consumers. This might include tasks like checking temperature gauges, monitoring ripeness levels, or making sure that produce isn?t sitting out too long on display shelves.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for finding and negotiating best prices on all products with all suppliers.
• Analyze and monitor sales records, trends, weather/seasons, and economic conditions to forecast consumer-buying patterns and determine inventory needs.
• Reviews costs to ensure items purchased are at the lowest cost consistent with considerations of quality, reliability of source, deliveries, and urgency of need.
• Establish and adjust selling prices by monitoring costs, competitive factors and supply and demand, while also working with sales staff to obtain information about customer specific needs and preferences.
• Negotiate favorable terms in order to gain maximum advantage for costs and vendor funding opportunities.
• Manage inventory to ensure fast turns, proper rotation and prevent age/quality issues. May include hands on inspection of product at time of receiving and daily until product ships.
• Interact as a team with sales, warehousing and distribution and develop strong professional working relationships everyone they interact with, both Ideal team members, suppliers, etc. professional at all times.
• Develop a strong working relationship with each produce supervisor, produce manager and other operational team members.
• Visits stores as needed.
• Follow the store?s policies on purchases and priority of local vendors.
• Monitor programs and obtain store feedback and to assess overall implementation effectiveness as needed.
• Plan attractive produce displays with consistent, readable, clear signs.
• Ensure handling of produce adheres to Company procedures and standards; cull, replenish and rotate produce throughout the day; mark down produce that is not selling to reduce losses.
• Complete all administrative functions of the job and deadlines on time and in full.
• Attend store and buyers? meetings to coordinate promotions.
• Maintain strong follow up and documentation on quality issues to mitigate and/or eliminate potential losses.
• Must have knowledge of produce specific information such as growing seasons, inflation/ deflation cycles, inventory experience, and knowledge of pricing.
• Purchase of all repack materials such as labels, plastics, containers, and specialty items.
• Compile weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly inventory and profit reports.
• Performs other duties as assigned by management.

Requirement Qualifications

• Team-player with a positive attitude and comfortable with ambiguity.
• Works effectively with others, in groups, in cross-functional settings and with diverse stakeholders internally and externally.
• Displays strong levels of customer service.
• Possess excellent negotiation, listening, and verbal communication along with excellent writing and computer skills and confidentiality.
• Manage, track and control several ongoing projects concurrently.
• Exhibit strong ability to analyze data, make judgments and develop reports
• Be extremely self-motivated, take initiative and drive results
• Multi-task and work in fast paced, multiple-priority environment
• Be highly organized and detail oriented.
• Ability to be a change agent and not get easily frustrated with external and internal obstacles. Must have the attitude and aptitude to overcome.
• Be available to respond to calls on urgent matters, including after business hours, on weekends and holidays if necessary.
• Excellent knowledge of produce; solid understanding of produce varieties handled in a wholesale operation.