Regional Food Commercial Leader | Marketing & Business Development | Retail | IKEA RSO Jebel Ali

Job Requisition ID: 175046 

Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim Group today is one of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses headquartered in Dubai, United A”rab Emirates. Structured into five operating divisions; automotive, financial services, real estate, retail and healthcare; employing more than 35,000 employees across more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, Al-Futtaim Group partners with over 200 of the world's most admired and innovative brands. Al-Futtaim Group’s entrepreneurship and relentless customer focus enables the organisation to continue to grow and expand; responding to the changing needs of our customers within the societies in which we operate. 

By upholding our values of respect, excellence, collaboration and integrity; Al-Futtaim Group continues to enrich the lives and aspirations of our customers each and every day.

Overview Of The Role:

The Regional Food Commercial Leader is tasked with supporting the Regional Food Commercial Manager to secure a comprehensive IKEA Food strategy that adheres to quality, food safety, and environmental requirements. This role collaborates with store Food teams and the IKEA Food Service Office team to highlight the significance of Food in attracting visitors and boosting customer satisfaction while optimizing sales and profitability. The position demands commercial competence to address gaps in food commercial performance and involves leading activities that enhance sales effectiveness and efficiency.

What You Will Do:

Commercial

• Integrate food into activity commercial calendar by working closely with stakeholders in and outside the Commercial team.
• Plan, conduct, and follow-up on commercial performance and reviews, and act upon them to ensure performance excellence throughout the year.
• Implement common food commercial framework and KPIs, adapting to local legislation and laws.
• Lead food experience improvements and food innovation.
• Work to make the IKEA Food department successful and high performing by attracting visitors, achieving sales growth, ensuring customer satisfaction, and excellent operational performance as measured through defined KPIs.
• Utilize relevant reporting tools, such as Navision and the Functional Commercial Review, to develop the IKEA Food business.

Operations

• Lead and develop mechanisms to ensure guests are always in focus, striving to meet and serve them with empathy and care.
• Regularly assess Restaurants and Food areas through customers' perspectives and act based on feedback.
• Utilize tools like Profit & Loss, KPI-report, and Pulse CX to challenge stores and monitor performance.
• Implement the IKEA FOOD concept to increase sales of home furnishings and reinforce IKEA's market position.
• Cooperate actively with key stakeholders to secure integration.
• Drive an open and sharing climate, and work on sustainability within food sourcing and production.
• Monitor and challenge costs at a regional level by promoting lean, simple, and cost-conscious approaches.
• Consolidate and update services/products in stores and use this knowledge to assist guests.

People

• Empower IKEA Restaurant Managers and Co-workers to meet guest needs and improve standards.
• Conduct training sessions for Restaurant managers.
• Promote productivity and continuous improvement among staff.

Required Skills To Be Successful:

• Strong customer focus.
• Effective multitasking capabilities in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Proven leadership abilities, leading by example.

What Qualifies You For The Role:

• High School/Trade School Graduate, preferably in hotel, business, or culinary studies.
• Minimum 3-5 years of food service manager experience in a high-volume business.
• Strong interest and knowledge of the culinary or food service industry.
• Ability to work in fast-paced, high-volume retail environments.
• Proficiency in multitasking and in MS Office and data analysis.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to build working relationships and speak and understand English fluently.
• Proven leadership capabilities, demonstrating personal leadership and team collaboration.

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Before you click “apply”: Please read the job description carefully to ensure you can confidently demonstrate why this opportunity is right for you and take the time to put together a well-crafted and personalised CV to further boost your visibility. Our global Talent Acquisition team members are all assigned to specific businesses to ensure that we make the best matches between talent and opportunities. We not only consider the requisite compatibility of skills and behaviours, but also how candidates align with our Values of Respect, Integrity, Collaboration, and Excellence.

As part of our candidate experience promise, we also want to make ourselves available to you throughout the application process. We make every effort to review and respond to every application.