Senior Business Development Manager

Senior Business Development Manager – Production Kitchen
£55,000 basic + £5,000 car allowance + uncapped commission
UK-wide (field-based)

About the role

Our client is a well-established, premium food manufacturer that is investing heavily in the next phase of its Production Kitchen business. This is a genuine growth story, not a replacement hire or a role being created to plug a gap, but a strategic investment in a division the business sees as central to its future.

Their chef-made products are already trusted by some of the UK's leading hotels, stadia, airport lounges and hospitality groups. These are premium, value-added solutions that help operators reduce labour costs, improve consistency across sites, and deliver a better end-customer experience. It's the kind of product that sells itself once it's in front of the right person, but it still needs a skilled operator to get it there.

They're now looking for an exceptional Business Development Manager to open new doors, build relationships with key decision makers across the hospitality and foodservice sector, and convert opportunities into long-term, profitable business.

To be clear: this is not an account management role. There is no book of existing clients to inherit and quietly maintain. This is a new-business hunting role, built for someone who wants to build their own territory from the ground up and be rewarded properly for doing so.

You'll thrive in this role if you:

• Love meeting new people and building relationships from scratch, rather than working from a warm list

• Are motivated by winning new business, not maintaining what's already there

• Can handle rejection without losing momentum or motivation

• Are naturally competitive and driven by hitting (and beating) targets

• Take ownership of your territory and your pipeline without waiting to be told what to do

• Thrive in a fast-paced, autonomous environment where the pace is set by you, not by process

If you're the type of salesperson who'd rather spend your day chasing new business than managing existing accounts, and who gets a genuine buzz from closing a deal you built from cold, we want to hear from you.

Your mission

• Win new Production Kitchen customers across the UK, targeting hotels, stadia, airport lounges and broader hospitality groups

• Build long-term relationships with Executive Chefs, Procurement Managers and F&B Directors, the people who actually make and influence the buying decision

• Create opportunities for the client's Development Chefs to showcase their products directly to prospects, turning meetings into tastings and tastings into orders

• Build and convert a substantial, qualified pipeline of opportunities. This is a volume and quality game, not a handful of leads

• Become a recognised ambassador for the business within the industry, building a personal reputation alongside the company's

• Make a measurable, visible contribution to the growth of the Production Kitchen division, with your impact tracked and recognised at the top of the business

What's on offer

• £55,000 basic salary

• £5,000 car allowance

• Uncapped commission scheme, genuinely uncapped, so your earning potential is tied directly to what you bring in

• Support from an experienced Culinary Director and Development Chef team, so you're never selling alone. Product credibility is backed up by real culinary expertise in the room

• Premium products that customers genuinely want to buy, rather than a hard sell on price

• Real investment behind the Production Kitchen growth strategy, not a role set up to fail on a shoestring budget

• Autonomy to build and own your territory your way, without someone looking over your shoulder

About you

• 5+ years' sales experience in food service or hospitality (pub groups, restaurant groups, hotels, wholesalers)

• An existing network of Executive Chefs, Procurement Managers and F&B Directors that you can activate quickly

• A track record of selling premium food or value-added solutions, ideally where the sell is on quality and consistency rather than lowest price

• A full UK driving licence and genuine willingness to travel UK-wide. This is a field-based role and travel is a core part of it, not an occasional inconvenience

• Excellent presentation and communication skills, comfortable presenting to senior decision makers and holding your own in a room with chefs and procurement leads alike

• A chef background, or experience working closely with chefs, is a strong advantage, as is a degree in Sales, Business, Marketing or a related subject, though track record will always count for more than the certificate