National Account Manager

The National Account Manager is responsible for managing relationships and service delivery to our NHS customers - specifically with the large national Contract Caterer providers.

You will manage and develop a joint strategic partnership through building excellent relationships with the whole healthcare team and wider apetito team and ingrain yourself in the portfolio of your accounts. Your role will drive forward joint strategies and initiatives to deliver real competitive advantages within the lifetime of the contracts and capitalise on growth opportunity for apetito.

The National Account Manager will work in collaboration with the contract caterer’s business, working with operational, procurement, dietetic and sales teams, supporting tenders and bids for new business, demonstrating the strength of our partnership and proposition with the key aim of growing revenue in a profitable fashion and retaining the business at the end of the contract term, and to be in a position to negotiate an extention or new contract.

The National Account Manager role is a chance to bring to life our ethics and sustainability agenda, something of great value to the NHS and to work closely with the B2B Category Manager & NPD team to develop and innovate within the product range. Reporting to the Sales Manager (National Accounts), you will be a key member of the Healthcare National Accounts Team and work very closely with Training and Operations, Catering Consultants and Marketing colleagues. 

The healthcare team at apetito Ltd are experts in the field, with a wealth of operational, managerial, and training experience and knowledge both within apetito but also from our previous roles within the healthcare industry, providing us with a thorough and empathetic understanding of our customers and enabling us to fully support their strategy and vision. We supply catering product, systems and services to healthcare organisations both directly and through contract caterers. 

We are looking for an ambitious individual with a growth mindset, exceptional relationship skills, and the ability to engage from hospital kitchen to the boardroom.

The ability to create and work to a joint business plan, outlining clear objectives, projects, and growth targets for the National Account Manager to deliver with outstanding execution.

apetito is the UK’s leading food supplier to the health and social care sectors serving more than 1,300 care homes, health care and education settings.

Our meals are expertly crafted by our dieticians and chefs, and then frozen to lock in the goodness.

Wiltshire Farm Foods, our sister company, is the UK’s largest ready meal supplier cooking and delivering over 330 different delicious frozen ready meals across the UK.

The National Account Manager will have responsibility for a selection of major National Accounts, looking after their day-to-day management, sales growth development, margin growth and overall retention of all our sales and the contract.

• Working to the agreed contract and KPI’s the National Account Manager will ensure that apetito deliver its ongoing commitments in a timely and customer focused manner.
• This will be supported by Catering Consultants, Training & Operations. Marketing and the wider apetito team.
• Organise and drive Monthly Strategic Review Meetings with the contractor’s central teams, also attend and support site meetings within their operations, looking on how they can develop joint initiatives for the future, to include key stakeholders form both businesses.
• Ensure the targeted margin of the account is achieved throughout the contract. Activities will include the successful delivery of price increases, in line with the contractual mechanism, as well as other tasks such as menu engineering and more.
• Working alongside the contractor in bids to generate new business and achieve budgeted targets for sales growth and profit. Ensure our added value proposition continues to stay ahead of the curve and the market to demonstrate ourselves as true market leaders for your business.
• Execute and deliver projects to continuously deliver competitive advantage and ensure our offer is unrivalled in the market. We expect the National Account Manager to work with speed & agility and to collaborate with multiple stakeholders, internally and externally.
• Network across the contract caterer’s estate, with their clients and internally within apetito. Building up exceptional relationships and communication skills will be fundamental to capitalise on the opportunity we have as their chosen partner. It will be essential for key stakeholders within apetito to work alongside you to deliver strategic projects.
• Working in conjunction with your apetito colleagues especially those within the healthcare team, ensuring retention of the sales in the current portfolio’s. Maintaining contract caterer’s when up for renewal, so we remain the clear choice as their ongoing and future partner.

The National Account Manager may be asked to work on other account development, critical business unit projects and strategic healthcare priorities

Qualifications/Experience

Essential:

• Extensive experience of managing large accounts and complex customers
• Previous success in coordinating & managing large projects and implementation of key actions/decisions
• Extensive commercial experience in a B2B environment
• Proven experience of achieving and exceeding sales targets – a focus on target achievement
• Experience of negotiating at board level 
• Agile communication and presentation skills - able to engage and build trust at all levels of the business, from board room to kitchen
• Demonstrate great team working (internally and externally)
• Proactive approach to time management and prioritisation to manage a complex workload effectively
• Ability to think strategically and implement key actions/decisions
• Project management experience
• Formal Sales training
• Valid UK driving license

Desirable:

• Understanding of nutrition and catering systems within the NHS
• Advanced Food Hygiene

Personal Qualities:

• Demonstrates a passion for service.
• Empathy and understanding of our culture of ‘making a real difference’.
• Driven to deliver on short term goals and long term visions.
• Diplomatic, but assertive with a pragmatic approach. 
• An individual with the vision to take the role to another level
• Driven by building strong long-term business and financial targets
• Self-motivated and resilient, able to reflect and learn
• Able to inspire and motivate others
• A team player: works with others to achieve optimum results in their own role and for the business as a whole.

As this role involves working with elderly and vulnerable customers, it is exempt from The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and requires a Basic DBS Disclosure.

This role is home-based covering operational Hospital sites and Head Office locations across the whole of the UK so will involve early starts, late finishes and overnight stays.

As such a company car is provided.

• Competitive salary – accredited Living Wage employer
• Company car
• 25 days holiday per year, plus bank holidays
• Option to purchase up to 5 additional days holiday per year
• Generous annual bonus scheme
• Pension scheme - employer matched contributions up to 5%
• Life assurance scheme worth 2x annual salary
• Free turkey or voucher at Christmas
• apetito perks scheme including salary sacrifice options and retail discounts

As a family-owned business, we take great pride in being a company that makes a real difference and is dedicated to creating outstanding meals to be proud of.

We develop a range of products designed to enhance health and well-being for all our customers.

We are driven by a passion for service and dedicated to feeding some of the UK’s most vulnerable people.

We proudly support British food and farming, focusing on using the best ethical and sustainable produce in alignment with our goal to reach Net Zero by 2040.

Our ethical standards are recognised by the ETI and we are an accredited Living Wage employer.
Learn more about apetito’s commitment to a more sustainable future.

We embrace inclusion, empowering individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Our commitment to making a real difference extends to customers, communities, and staff and we're on a mission to build an inclusive workplace where everyone reaches their full potential.