Commercial Food Jobs

Commercial food jobs are amongst some of the most demanding and rewarding roles in the food and drink industry.

Seen as a key contact for your customers, as a commercial manager you will see and feel the highs and lows of the business that you work for more closely than many of your colleagues.  In other functions of the food industry you can become totally immersed in your own area whether that be development, technical, operations etc, but as a commercial manager you are often asked and expected to be the fountain of all knowledge for your business.  The commercial contact is often the voice of the business to their customers on a day-to-day basis and as such a great deal of responsibility lies in your hands. In many instances Commercial Managers find themselves having to be the voice of reason for the business, acting as a sounding board and always keeping the customer and consumer at the front of their mind; for this reason commercial managers often have an excellent understanding and appreciation of all areas of the business and in many instances this is reflected in the structure of businesses - but more on this later.

So how do you get started in a commercial role in the food industry?

Unlike many functions within the food industry commercial roles do not necessarily require you to have a food related qualification.  Of course a passion for and good understanding of food is essential for any function within the industry, but to be a successful commercial professional a good business or marketing related qualification is much more relevant.  Interpersonal and communication skills are of paramount importance for this function as you will often be presenting both to internal colleagues and senior managers, as well as delivering important customer presentations.  And importantly, strong negotiation skills and the ability to think and act under pressure are also extremely useful skills.  

To get started in a career within commercial management you should be looking for an account executive or commercial assistant role.  This will see you working along side experienced commercial managers, helping them with promotional calendars, pulling together data sheets and dealing with a lot of the admin that is inevitably attached to a sales related role.  This will give you an excellent grounding in the basic day to day activities and skills that are needed to become a success in the commercial world.

National Account Manager vs Commercial Manager?

In theory there is no real difference in the above job roles and of course this is very much dependent on the individual businesses as all companies have slightly different structures and also the emphasis on certain responsibilities will vary.  For example, some companies will place a great deal of responsibility on the Commercial Function with Marketing and Product Development reporting into this stream.  In this case the Commercial Director would need to be a highly experienced individual, used to dealing with product development and marketing teams, and understanding the nuances of these functions as they will be accountable to their customer.  Here, you can begin to see why Commercial is such an exciting and demanding function in the food industry as it can be all encompassing and of extreme importance to a business.  For some companies this type of structure works extremely well as many functions are all pulling in the same direction; however in some circumstances this can lead to frustration within the development teams as it could be said that innovation can be quashed by too much commercial involvement.  This is up for debate and is also dependent on the relationship the business has with its retail customers and of course, the importance that Development has as a function within the business as a whole. Commercial Managers need to be able to sell, to develop business opportunity, to foster strong working relationships with customers, to take a broad business overview, and to deliver sales and profit.

If you are interested in a new commercial opportunity, please browse our commercial food jobs or get in touch with us on 01625 560778.