Senior Product Executive

Wiltshire Farm Foods is the UK Direct to Consumer (DTC) channel for apetito, and is the leading prepared meal brand in the UK.   

Established in 1992, Wiltshire Farm Foods now delivers retail sales of c. £130m p.a.  The success has been based on development of a successful home delivery model that delivers outstanding customer service combined with an extensive high quality nutritious product offering, tailored to the core elderly customer base.  

The culture of the business is based on making a real difference to our customers, many of whom depend on the service WFF provides.  

We are looking for someone exceptional to drive the growth and development of several key product categories. Our overarching objective is to develop products and categories that attract more of our target audience to consume our products more frequently. 

Reporting to the Category Manager - Wiltshire Farm Foods, the Senior Product Executive will be personally responsible for approximately £20m of sales across a broad portfolio of destination and supplementary categories including desserts, soups, snacks, bakery and breakfasts. 

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.

1. Deliver the 5-point WFF Category Strategy:
   • Drive Sales volume growth through increased product consumption.
   • Continuous improvement of product quality, validated by our customers.
   • Ensure clarity and conviction of every product and category.
   • Develop seasonal innovation that drives customer engagement.
   • Ensure any product tiering is well defined and communicated:
     1. ‘Best in market’ premium offering to drive trade-up.
     2. Maintain ‘Outstanding Value’ offering to prevent trade away.

2. Manage Pricing and product mix to deliver against the target standard margin.
   • Support the overall pricing strategy by providing regular market intelligence, including competitor price benchmarks and industry analysis of your categories.
   • Manage the product mix through range reviews, promotion and merchandising.

3. Manage Key promotions to drive unit sales and provide real customer value at key trading times throughout the year.
   • Act as project lead for major seasonal promotions, including Christmas, Easter, and any other limited edition product campaigns.
   • Support the delivery of the overall Trading Calendar Strategy with product promotions that deliver the 3 primary objectives:
     1. Drive Frequency: Time limited windows to encourage shoppers to return quickly.
     2. Driver Order Value: Basket add-ons, new meal occasions, premium items.
     3. Drive Customer Engagement: Surprise and delight customers.

4. Build strong relationships with key stakeholders through the internal supply chain – from product development, to purchasing, planning and production to distribution – to help support availability of your categories to our in-house depots and Franchise Partners.

5. Deliver customer insights. Provide actionable insights to inform your category development.  Utilise first-hand methods that are fast and effective.  Bring the voice of the customer to the fore.  Provide real insights that spark ideas and generate debate.

6. Manage excess stock and reduce risk/exposure of write-offs. Support planning by inputting into product forecasts in order to optimise availability vs excess stock risk.

7. In partnership with Finance and Data & analytics teams, provide detailed analysis of category performance to help support range review and promotion decisions.

Skills and Experience:

• Experience working in category management, product development or a related commercial role.
• Above all, the nature of the role requires someone with a well-rounded skillset, in particular strong interpersonal / influencing / relationship management skills.
• They will have some experience of successfully managing high-profile projects with multiple stakeholders.
• Financially literate.
• Interest / passion for food, with a willingness to try a wide variety of foods
• Degree educated.
• Full clean driving licence.

Personal Qualities:

• Demonstrate energy, enthusiasm and passion.
• Resilient and determined, able to deal with setbacks and respond well to challenge.
• Diplomatic but assertive.
• High level of attention to detail, and be very comfortable with numbers.
• Excellent communication skills with an ability to quickly build strong and effective relationships with a variety of teams and individuals from across the business.
• Strong influencing skills.

·  Competitive salary – accredited Living Wage employer

·  25 days holiday per year, plus bank holidays

·  Option to purchase up to 5 additional days holiday per year

·  Discretionary annual bonus scheme

·  Pension scheme - employer matched contributions up to 4%

·  Life assurance scheme worth at least 1x annual salary

·  Subsidised canteen

·  Free parking

·  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.