Company description

Kitchen Sync Strategies is a social enterprise brokerage and consulting company dedicated to supporting small producers. We launched in 2019, and we are driven by the belief that a smarter, healthier food economy is built around people being in relationship with their food and farmers. We work with buyers, suppliers, and supporters of local food.

Kitchen Sync believes there is immense, untapped potential in the institutional food market channel, and through our work brokering sales opportunities for small farms, food hubs, and food companies, we have created systems that help realize the promise of farm-to-school and farm-to-institution efforts nationwide.

Job description

The Regional Food Sales Lead (AZ) is an exciting new role for Kitchen Sync Strategies, and it will play a pivotal role in our rapidly growing work in the Southwest US. This Sales Lead will be responsible for using Kitchen Sync’s existing systems and processes to drive sales of food from food hub clients to Arizona institutions like K-12 schools, hospitals, universities, corporate dining facilities, and others. The position may also be charged with developing new sourcing and sales partnerships with values-aligned food businesses (like value-added food makers, CPG companies, etc.). Specializing in sales and aligning buyers and suppliers, the RFSL will help embed KSS in farm-to-school, farm-to-ECE, and farm-to-institution projects across the State.

This position will focus on our work with 2 core groups: Food Hub Partners and Non-profit Support Partners:

We’re seeking an experienced, charismatic sales leader who understands the process of institutional food sales well, who has a sharp sense of strategy, and has a firm commitment to building a fairer, more sustainable food economy.

A successful Regional Food Sales Lead will:

• Develop strong personal relationships with buyers, sustainability leaders, and/or local procurement leadership within each institution to which Kitchen Sync sells products
• Drive sales to a range of institution types across the delivery zones of our food hub clients, with a specific focus on K-12 schools
• Implement a bold yet achievable sales plan for client food hubs and food companies that increases their sales to institutions in Arizona and, where applicable, neighboring states
• Perform weekly sales activities including:
  - Carefully manage Kitchen Sync’s CRM database to track existing sales accounts
  - Make weekly, recurring contact with all active leads, anticipating customer needs and working hard to strengthen personal relationships
  - Conduct weekly outbound sales calls to new institutional customers
• Understand and skillfully navigate food hub systems, processes, and software to effectively share product availability with customers, hub capacity, and delivery logistics to buyers, and to share product substitutions, menu suggestions, and seasonal specials with customers on a weekly basis
• Ensure customer satisfaction while meeting sales targets for client food hubs and long-term goals for KSS
• Explore partnerships with values-aligned food companies locally, potentially leading to brokerage relationships including adding values-aligned food businesses to KSS’ sales portfolio in Arizona and the Southwest
• Work with CEO and Regional Director of Growth to develop marketing and branding strategies for attracting more institutional buying clients for KSS
• Make group presentations to institution representatives (especially K-12 school districts) on local procurement strategies and providing 1:1 Technical Assistance
• Document barriers for buyers/sellers and trends in buyer behavior, all informing solutions to improve KSS’ work and partner programs
• Maintain a high level of integrity as a representative of KSS, and be about it 😎
• Other stuff that we encounter along the way- but not too much of it, we promise

Required Skills

• Sales experience specifically in local/regional food systems
• Preference for candidates with 3-5 years of experience in local food sales, sales with food hubs or aggregators is a bonus.
• A strong grasp of the institutional foodservice market and a particularly keen understanding of farm-to-school and institutional procurement
• Preference for candidates with direct experience with institutional foodservice, and/or food service management companies
• A demonstrated, strong understanding of the local food system in Arizona
• Including familiarity with the range of products that can be grown locally, product seasonality, and ease of use in different settings
• A deep, firm commitment to the notion that supporting small farms and food producers to access institutional markets is one critical step towards building a fairer, healthier, less harmful food economy
• Complete fluency across core tech platforms especially strong grasp of:
  - G-Suite apps including Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Presentations,
  - MS Office programs including Excel, Word, and Powerpoint
  - Virtual meeting software and chat, such as Zoom, Google meet, and Slack.
• Ability to synthesize complex information, recognizing and documenting patterns in buyer and seller behavior to inform improvements to systems and programs
• Very strong writing and even better verbal communication skills
• A commitment to building relationships rooted in compassion, kindness, and care

Desired Skills

• A sense of adventure and a willingness to explore new ideas of how to build fairer food economies- and a tolerance for the high levels of ambiguity inherent in this work
• Tech savvy and ability to quickly leverage a range of additional softwares:
  - Experience with HubSpot or similar ERP software is a big plus
  - Experience with inventory systems for food hubs (Local Food Marketplace, Shopify, etc.) is also super helpful
  - Familiarity with Mural, Canva, and other design tools also a plus
• Strong, self-driven focus and the ability to maintain drive while working remotely
• Training or teaching experience, including ability to cross-train others in 1:1, small group, and large group settings
• Experience presenting to groups and comfort with public speaking and presentations

Compensation Package (cont)

• This contract position is a full-time (35-40 hours/wk)
• The position will be paid a starting salary of $66-$69k per year with the following benefits:
  - Generous and flexible vacation policy (15 days PTO, 5 days sick time, plus federal holidays)
  - Generous medical benefits package (Health, Dental, Vision, Life)
  - 401k plan with company match
  - Healthy travel stipend for business travel
  - Annual professional development funds

Compensation

this position is: salaried, $50,000 - $75,000

Application instructions

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Deadline

March 01, 2026