Sourcing Specialist, Culinary Partnerships

At ZeroCater, we believe food is one of the easiest, and most effective, ways to build culture in an office. We make it easy for companies to feed their employees delicious meals and are building technology to revolutionize the way employees eat. Our proprietary FoodIQ® technology learns employees’ unique tastes and preferences to curate menus they will love. We successfully launched our core product into 6 markets nationwide and recently launched Cloud Cafe, a personalized digital cafeteria that offers companies unmatched flexibility and enables employees to choose their own daily meals from hundreds of top-rated caterers and restaurants. ZeroCater is changing a $100 billion industry and continues to innovate to best serve today’s dynamic workplace.

Our Culinary Partnership Acquisition Specialist play an essential role in ensuring we provide the highest quality food for our clients from the most successful Catering Partners. In this role, you will be responsible for all phases of the sourcing process to enroll new Culinary Partners with Zerocater. From the initial selection & prospecting to the build out of menus, you will ensure that we have the supply ready to meet the demand coming. You’re the kind of person that is always up to date on the latest food trends, and love the idea of immersing yourself in the details of food descriptions & menu item pairings.

You thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment and adapt seamlessly to shifting priorities. The ideal candidate is proactive and collaborative—ready to contribute both within their core department and across teams when needed. Whether it's helping achieve departmental goals or stepping in to support the performance of our Culinary Partners, you're someone who rolls up their sleeves and gets the job done. As a growing startup, we often step outside of traditional roles to meet evolving business needs. Flexibility and a team-first mindset are essential. To succeed in this role, you’ll bring a strong background in business development or negotiation, exceptional attention to detail, and top-tier organizational skills.

What you will do:

• Identify, vet, and recruit high-performing Culinary Partners with diverse and scalable menu offerings that align with the company’s strategic priorities and growth objectives.
• Lead negotiations to secure competitive margins, pricing structures, and portioning across both new and existing menu items, ensuring long-term profitability and value.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to prospective Culinary Partners throughout the onboarding process, providing coaching and support to set them up for operational success.
• Establish, communicate, and track performance standards for newly onboarded partners to drive consistent quality, efficiency, and alignment with Zerocater standards.
• Make data-informed decisions regarding future Culinary Partners and their offerings by conducting cuisine gap analyses, anticipating client demand, and collaborating closely with cross-functional teams.

Qualifications for Success:

• 2+ years of sales, partnership, or business development experience.
• 2+ years experience in the food and beverage industry partnered with deep knowledge about food and food production.
• Ability to critically identify key market trends and demand, and work collaboratively across geographies and departments.
• Strong interpersonal skills needed for effective relationship management, establishing rapport, negotiating deals, and creating business partnerships.
• Experience with a CRM, Google Suite, and other tools.
• This role does require you to be based locally so that you can do regular visits to our culinary partners.

What we offer:

Not only will you have the opportunity to grow your career with other food-obsessed colleagues who have a shared passion for creating delight for customers, but you will also work alongside a highly collaborative team that values leading with trust and respect, and taking smart risks.

• 401k match with immediate vesting (we match up to 3% of up to 6% that you defer)
• Flexible PTO, 9 paid holidays, flexible sick time, plus 8 hours of volunteer time
• Low to no-cost comprehensive health (Anthem Blue Cross), dental and vision coverage
• Employer-paid life, short-term and long-term disability insurance
• $100 monthly wellness stipend
• $35 monthly internet allowance
• $35 monthly cell phone stipend
• Commuter benefits: Pre-tax money towards parking or public transit
• Equity

Compensation: Base salary range $65k-$75k + 25% bonus potential

“The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from the mere animal biology to an act of culture.”

• Michael Pollan

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us at accommodations@zerocater.com.

Zerocater builds revolutionary corporate catering and cafeteria solutions employees love while saving companies millions of dollars as they transition to the hybrid workplace. With its Cloud Cafe, Hybrid Cafe, Managed Cafe, and Event Cafe products; Zerocater has built corporate cafeteria and office catering programs for companies of all sizes from growing startups to the Fortune 500. Thousands of companies like Robinhood, Datadog, Airtable, and McKinsey choose Zerocater for the customized, consistent, and diverse meal experiences its products offer, while also reducing costs by giving companies the flexibility to only pay for the employees who come into the office. Zerocater currently offers its corporate cafeteria and office catering products in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Austin, Denver, Seattle, and Washington D.C. with additional markets in the U.S. and Canada coming online every month. Since completing YCombinator in Winter 2011, Zerocater has raised $38.5M from leading investors including Cleveland Avenue, Remus Capital, Romulus Capital, Struck Capital, SV Angel, Keith Rabois, Yuri Milner, Paul Buchheit, and Justin Kan. For more information visit zerocater.com and follow @Zerocater on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
For more information, please visit: zerocater.com.

Pay: $67000.00 - $75000.00 / year

Pay:

• Commission pay

Benefits:

• Paid time off
• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Referral program
• Other

Job Type: fulltime

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Education: No education required

Work location: Flexible work from home options available