Are you passionate about clean, sustainable eating? Enthusiastic about working in a people-first culture committed
to living the good life and eating the good food while being good people? Awesome! Keep reading…
Who we are –
Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative is a nonprofit organic farmer’s cooperative of over 120+ farmers in Lancaster County Pennsylvania. We focus on creating healthy high-quality foods from our highly maintained and enriched soils on our small-scale family farms. LFFC serves all Eastern Pennsylvania, New York City, and most of the tri state area by connecting the farmer and customer, delivering the best local organic produce, value added products, and humanely raised and pastured animal products to retail establishments, co-ops, restaurants, and institutions.
The perks of working here –
- Competitive medical, dental and vision coverage
- 3% match for Simple IRA
- Paid time off and paid sick days
- Free summer CSA (community shared agriculture) share
- Access to employee store with discounted organic food and drink and awesome LFFC-branded swag
- Being part of something that will make you feel good at the end of the day
Position Summary –
The Purchasing Manager will implement, direct, and oversee local/regional/national food purchasing, functions, programs, and processes within Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative (LFFC). Their work involves the development and implementation of LFFC purchasing policies and guidelines, while establishing operating policies; policies and procedures for inventory or other assigned services must be maintained. Their work may involve development and execution of contracts if/as needed, while working in conjunction with Wholesale, CSA, Warehousing, Receiving, Surplus Functions, and other LFFC teams. The Purchasing Manager will directly report to the Business Development Manager.
Who you are –
- 3-5+ years in a similar role
- Exceptional time management and follow-up skills
- Strong and effective written and verbal communication skills
- Proficient with Microsoft Office
- Enthusiasm for and commitment to working with farmers in the local organic food movement
- B.S. Degree in supply chain management, logistics, business administration or similar is preferred but not required
The successful candidate will possess the following skillsets:
- Leadership Skills: The ability to lead within LFFC and design an adequate purchasing program while adhering to our standards and guidelines
- Relationship management: The ability to leverage interpersonal skills to establish and develop relationships with all key members, suppliers, customers & colleagues.
- Flexibility: Working varied hours throughout the week to accommodate LFFC department’s needs
- Communication: The ability to communicate clearly and tactfully to a wide variety of departments, farmers, and vendors
- Initiative: Continuously striving to sustain the local food hub model that we’ve created
- Category Management: Arranging or categorizing according to specific goods or services while keeping in mind quality, service, risk, and cost
- Analyzing: The ability to visualize, articulates, and solves problems and concepts and makes decisions that make sense based on all available information
- Negotiation: The ability to persuade, influence and explore positions and alternatives to reach outcomes that will gain acceptance of all parties and will also meet your LFFC’s strategic procurement objectives.
- Financial: The ability to apply a broad understanding of financial management principals and other information to ensure decisions are responsible and based on LFFC’s procurement budget
What you’ll be doing –
- Purchasing local and regional farm products – directly working with the Executive Director and Managers of LFFC to run an efficient and centralized purchasing program
- Overseeing the Purchasing department, a team of 4+, as a natural, trusted leader
- Maintaining inventory and keeping data for CSA/Wholesale – understanding the buying and coordinating needs of CSA/Wholesale and all other LFFC departments
- Approving the orders of necessary products
- Cultivating and maintaining external and internal relationships through long lasting partnerships
- Tracking and reporting key functions and metrics to reduce expenses and improve efficiency
- Foreseeing market trends while sourcing products – looking for and helping to create the best high quality sustainable foods in our region while keeping well-informed of the market for supply of, and demand of new products (industry trends)
- Negotiating with vendors to secure advantageous terms for LFFC, (distribution) from the vendor/farmer – understanding local/regional food pricing and the value of what LFFC does through each department
- Checking vendor/farmer invoices thoroughly for cost accuracy on purchase orders and invoice discrepancies before submitting to Accounts Payable; controlling spending and valuing long term savings
- Aiding departments in forecasting and planning, scheduling deliveries/pick-ups and working with receivers to ensure orders are filled correctly
- Visiting vendors/farmers to maintain good relationships as needed.
- Seeking opportunities to further increase discounts and volume
- Acting as a liaison between vendors and other departments for order status, procurement procedures, and problem resolution
- Ensuring all vendors are in compliance with LFFC growing/animal husbandry/Food Safety guidelines
- Working closely with transportation department to ensure timely pickups and the lowest possible delivery/pick up costs – has an understanding of transportation rates, FOB, etc.
- Researching, evaluating, and negotiating with vendors to find the best possible products for LFFC while keeping in touch with the market affecting both supply of and demand for, needed products
- Aligning with a variety of food hub and local distribution concepts, practices, and procedures
- Relying on experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals while performing a variety of tasks
This job description is intended to describe the general requirements for the performance of this job. It is not a complete statement of duties, responsibilities, or requirements. Other duties, not listed here, may be assigned as necessary to ensure the proper operations of the team.
