The Tahoe Food Hub is a non-profit organization whose mission is to galvanize our community to build a regional, sustainable and equitable food system. Tahoe Food Hub is working to build a local food system for North Lake Tahoe. A local food system increases market opportunities for small farms while increasing access to local, year-round food production.

We increase access to nutritious, ecologically grown food by creating a network of regional farms within 100-miles of North Lake Tahoe and connecting them to restaurants, small grocers, schools and hospitals. We are committed to reducing food insecurity by sourcing food regionally and ensuring equal access while exploring ways to grow food locally using 4-season growing techniques at our Sierra Agroecology Center.

FARM TO MARKET MANAGER – JOB DESCRIPTION

The Farm to Market Manager reports directly to the Executive Director and is responsible for all aspects of bringing local, farm food to market through the Tahoe Food Hub. The position requires taking a critical look at both supply and demand and developing strategies to ensure one meets the other and the systems and processes to get there are efficient and effective. Duties include but are not limited to: farmer recruitment and onboarding; coordinating with producers on weekly crop availability, analyzing sales data for bi-annual crop-planning process with growers; managing customer relationships and weekly sales calls with buyers; and developing and managing programs to increase purchases of local food. The Farm to Market Manager will be trained on all aspects of the organization so they have a deep understanding of how things work and can fill roles as needed. These roles may include: building orders in the warehouse; picking up produce from farms; delivering orders to buyers; working in the Farm Shop, working on fundraising events; and supporting staff at our education farm. Some evening and weekend work will be required.

Farm Responsibilities:

1. Reach out to new farmers and manage new Producer Partner paperwork. Participate in farm visits to each to affirm standards for good agricultural practices (GAP). Assess each producer’s role and place in the food hub family of farms to ensure they are a good fit and to not oversaturate our supply with too many of the same types of growers.
2. Support farmers in technical assistance and trainings, i.e. organize food safety workshops, roundtables and summits with buyers, etc.
3. Engage farmers in bi-annual crop planning process, collecting their crop plans, inserting their information into the master plan for the food hub, comparing our demand with available supply and assigning crops to farmers for the next season.
4. Work with farmers on a weekly basis to receive their availability lists for the current market. Use their availability lists to build a robust and well-rounded online market for buyers.
5. Assist in developing our sub-station model with aggregation spots in the Sierra Foothills for farms to bring orders for pick-up.

Market Responsibilities:

1. Be proficient in managing the online sales software.
2. Open the online market one to two times per week. Responsibilities include coordinating with producers for timely submittal of their Product Availability forms, managing the master availability list, ordering gaps from third party distributors, uploading products proficiently to the online market, reviewing market for errors, ensuring market is balanced and full, producing the Fresh Sheet newsletter for buyers. Checking back to make sure any holes get filled on the market as products sell through.
3. Close the online market one to two times per week. Responsibilities include coordinating with buyers to ensure their orders get placed before the market closes, placing orders, adjusting orders, executing end of market procedures: adjust final pick lists, send pick lists to producers, place third party distributor order, organize pick-up routes, format invoices, place cheese orders, ensure each order is confirmed.
4. Manage dry-goods inventory in online sales software working with Farm Shop Manager to ensure product availability matches with warehouse inventory.
5. Communicate with Farm Shop Manager on produce orders
6. Assist in maintaining a sales report for the online market

Sales Responsibilities:

1. Create a customer relations schedule for fostering relationships with chefs and wholesale buyers.
2. Assist in weekly sales calls to wholesale buyers for orders.
3. Coordinate farmer and chef roundtables and summits.
4. Build the weekly newsletter to buyers
5. Expand our Build Your Own Box (BYOB) program to include an online store for personal shopping with in-store pick-up (delivery optional for a fee).
   • Develop the overall strategy and execution for expanding BYOB to the individual consumer
   • Build and execute a marketing campaign to recruit community members with a goal of 100 members within the first year
   • Manage inventory for the BYOB program working with farms on crop availability each week and using that data to build an annual plan with farmers as the program grows
   • Create a work plan for order fulfillment and presentation of orders
   • Assess the financial feasibility and execution of a delivery option
   • Curate the online market to provide consumers with a robust and well-rounded online market for buyers
6. Assess markets in Reno and South Lake Tahoe for growing accounts in these regions. Create a strategy and sales plan for building demand for local food sourced through the Tahoe Food Hub.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have experience in food distribution and/or agricultural production, as well as a background in logistics management and sales. Excellent attention to detail, organization, customer relations, and the ability to manage competing deadlines is essential. This position is located in Truckee, California in the Lake Tahoe region.

Compensation

This is a full-time, hourly position with a salary dependent on experience.