Regional Marketing Director - Aramark Student Nutrition East

Job Description

Aramark Student Nutrition provides food and nutrition services to over 350 school districts in the U.S.  It offers public and private education institutions a variety of dining options including breakfast and lunch programs, after-school snacks, catering, nutrition education and retail operations.  We partner with schools to create culinary experiences that propel students to success.  Our goal is to provide healthy, nutritional meals with a stellar dining experience for our communities. For more information on Aramark's Student Nutrition food service programs, please visit Aramark Student Nutrition.

The East Marketing Director (MD) is the marketing counterpart to the other function leaders in the East Region (RVP, VPO, RFD, HRD) in achieving region objectives. The MD is responsible for working with the region operations team to execute both national and regional marketing strategy, developed in collaboration with regional leadership, to meet the meal count and retention goals. MDs are the ambassadors of our marketing programs and Student Nutrition brand to articulate our value differential within the organization.

The MDs also assists District Managers (DMs) and Food Service Directors (FSDs) in meeting client and organizational objectives at key accounts (10-15) identified in the annual regional marketing plan.

The MD will travel approximately 70% or as needed to provide on-site support in meeting business goals.

Job Responsibilities

Regional Marketing Plan:

The MD will drive the development of the business unit marketing plan and the customization of it for their assigned region to assist DMs and their FSDs in building effective tactics for their districts. This will be done via activities such as:

• Weekly/monthly regional support team calls/meetings
• Strategy sessions with RVP, DMs, VPO(s)
• District Manager Meetings, minimum target is 3 meetings/DM each year
• Regional summer training sessions
• Annual budget planning sessions with RFD and Regional Ops reviews
• Drive the region marketing plan process to ensure that individual account marketing plans, DM plans, and the regional plan roll up is accomplished

Base Business Growth/Retention:

Execute initiatives to meet the region’s meal count and retention goals, and enhance ARAMARK’s competitiveness in the region. Completed through a mix of activities such as:

• Serve as brand steward and implementation coach for all marketing programs; ensure DMs and FSDs are knowledgeable about the tools and resources available
• Remain abreast of industry trends and competitor activities, and share with regional staff
• Track and analyze district statistics on program enrollment, monthly/quarterly financial trends (in conjunction with RFD), and correlation between program implementation and account performance
• Develop a school by school marketing plan to participation for the top 10-15 target accounts
• Capture and share best practices for program implementation
• Conduct site audits, build marketing strategy and assist in project-specific efforts for top 10-15 critical rebid and BBG priority accounts, and new business efforts defined in the annual business plan
• Be an expert in Campus Metrics toolkit to help identify and target growth opportunities at each school district

Marketing Training:

Conduct marketing training for regional leadership and FSDs to support base business growth and retention efforts, brand standards, customer service and merchandising

• Determine needs and execute training for RVP, VPO(s), DMs and FSDs
• Conduct new program training and refresher sessions, as necessary
• Conduct marketing breakouts at national and/or regional training sessions
• Support Business Unit Marketing in building Operator training materials & curriculum
• As capacity allows, assist FSDs with developing training approach and/or materials for Front Line Employees. (FSDs should conduct/execute all training modules.)

New Business and Retention Efforts:

Collaborate with region’s leadership and sales lead on annual new business and retention strategies and plans, and assist in the execution against key opportunities.

• Participate in sales opportunities including site surveys, marketing planning and marketing funding for pro forma analysis
• Actively support high profile rebid accounts through participation in fresh eyes surveys, marketing planning and client communications.

Regional Communication:

Support communication efforts within the region, which may include:

• Own, support and collaborate on the weekly communication updates (Region Round Ups)
• Develop broad approaches to motivate FSDs to build high-wide-deep relationships within their districts
• Assist DMs and FSDs in developing both standard and non-standard communications for various constituents (e.g. principals)
• Attend client meetings and tradeshows with district team, as appropriate/needed for supporting annual business plan
• Collaborate on any district or region-specific advertising or marketing communications efforts
• Works with Corporate Communications Director as needed

Job Responsibilities Continued:

Business Unit Level Initiatives:

Collaborate with business unit functions (e.g. OpX, HR, IT) and marketing development team to provide field marketing perspective. Manage business unit specific project and/or innovation efforts as assigned.

• Manage a project or assist a development director or VP on a project within a specific function area for product development & launch process, wellness education, promotion, etc.
• Support team-wide efforts surrounding annual planning (e.g. Marketing Playbook, strategic planning priorities, etc.) and miscellaneous initiatives that arise throughout the fiscal year
• As assigned, manage program development efforts including but not limited to a variety of marketing programs that are updated on an ongoing basis. Examples of these programs are as follows and the role will be assigned a select few working with the Vice President of Marketing:
  • Meal Growth Tools
  • Breakfast Strategy
  • Annual Planning Calendar
  • Free & Reduced Materials
  • Pop Ups
  • Back to School Package
  • Snacking Daypart Strategy
  • Summer Feeding Program
  • Constituent Communications
  • National School Lunch Week / National School Breakfast Week
  • Summer Meeting

Supervisory Responsibilities:

When applicable, serve as direct supervisor to account-level marketing managers (AMMs) at districts within assigned region from a marketing function perspective. When, there are no AMMs at an account, establish a Marketings council for Regional coverage. Operations management will also maintain direct supervision over daily activities and administrative aspects. MD to supervise AMMs through activities such as:

• Collaborate with region team to develop/refine job responsibilities, interview candidates, and onboard, and mentor new AMMs
• Maintain oversight to district marketing efforts through routine status meetings, reviewing/approving major initiatives, and training on new programs, among others
• Serve as functional manager and assist in career development; collaborate with operations management on AMM performance reviews

KEY INTERACTIONS

• Regional Leadership: RVP, VPOs, DMs & regional support staff
• Field Operations Managers
• Service Line Marketing Directors
• Clients and Prospects
• Account-level Marketing Managers

Travel

Travel for this position is anticipated to be 70-75% and the position will be located in the East Coast

Ideal Candidate Profile:

Ideal candidate has worked in Student Nutrition as an Operator but is interested in / has passion for Marketing. The candidate’s future career goals can be in operations or marketing leadership as the position will allow them to gain experience in multiple functions. 

Qualifications 

• B.A. and/or MBA, with 7+ years operations and/or marketing experience ideally in Foodservice management
• Microsoft Office Suite: Word, Excel and Power Point
• Influencing without formal authority – able to create an informal network to support program pilots, implementation and collection of best practices and measurement
• Strategic agility – the ability to be the region marketing strategist and advisor to the RVP
• Business analysis – ability to track, analyze, and present results from marketing program implementation
• Project management – Multiple tasks will be managed at one time resulting in a need for strong time management and multi-tasking skills
• Organizational savvy – Ability to speak to multiple levels within the region, representing a ‘big-picture’, business-oriented view of development
• Dealing with Ambiguity – able to get in, assess the situation, identify key players, set action plan and deliver
• Results oriented – analytical skills and ability to think strategically about the business are essential; accountable for achieving the region’s financial goals through collaboration with the operations team

It is expected that the successful candidate will have the following personal attributes:

• Strong communication skills: oral, written, presentation, and influencing, plus the ability to communicate with a wide range of people.
• A self-starter, confident in his/her abilities, self-motivated and able to work effectively with little supervision
• A results-oriented individual who can make a difference; an individual who takes initiative, makes things happen, accepts accountability and has a “can do” attitude; has a sense of urgency
• Creative and flexible in attitude and style to adapt to new situations in a rapidly changing, dynamic environment
• A strong value system, unquestioned integrity and good listening skills
• Skilled to implement through people, not through doing the tactical; able to train and enable the success of others

About Aramark

Our Mission

Rooted in service and united by our purpose, we strive to do great things for each other, our partners, our communities, and our planet.

At Aramark, we believe that every employee should enjoy equal employment opportunity and be free to participate in all aspects of the company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, pregnancy, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, military status, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by applicable law.

About Aramark

The people of Aramark proudly serve millions of guests every day through food, facilities, and uniform services in 19 countries around the world. Rooted in service and united by our purpose, we strive to do great things for each other, our partners, our communities, and our planet. We believe a career should develop your talents, fuel your passions, and empower your professional growth. So, no matter what you're pursuing - a new challenge, a sense of belonging, or just a great place to work - our focus is helping you reach your full potential. Learn more about working here at http://www.aramarkcareers.com or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.