Sales Manager

Gerald Blake

Email: **********@********.***

Address: **** ****** ****

City: Berkeley

State: CA

Zip: 94705

Country: USA

Phone: 925-***-****

Skill Level: Director

Salary Range: $120,000

Primary Skills/Experience:

See Resume

Educational Background:

See Resume

Job History / Details:

GERALD BLAKE

1801 TUNNEL ROAD, BERKELEY, CA 94517 TEL:925-***-**** EMAIL: **********@********.***

SUMMARY:

An assiduous, innovative leader in the specialty food and restaurant industries; offering a rare blend of diverse prior experience-from proprietorship of a small business, to management of a division within a billion-dollar national retailer-that makes me a flexible and versatile addition to any food and beverage operation. My professional standards and personal passion for excellence manifest in a drive to actualize products and services that are concomitantly current and perdurable. With more than 25 years of highly effective cross-functional leadership experience across all core business functions, I have been successful in building strategic relationships throughout all tiers of an organization and can quickly identify and capitalize on unique opportunities for the creation of value to stakeholders. Throughout my career I have been able to swiftly assess the business needs and align the right people and processes to generate improvements in sales, profit, and team motivation/satisfaction.

KEY COMPETENCIES:

* Operational/Capital budgeting

* Exceptional leadership and interpersonal skills

* Long-term fiscal and conceptual planning

* Personnel recruitment, training and development

* Private label and company-specific branding * Customer base expansion and retention

* Extensive start-up and concept expansion experience

* New product sourcing, development, and implementation

* Operational turn-around expert

* Recipe development and costing

WORK EXPERIENCE:

Fresh Choice Restaurants Emeryville, CA December 2011 - Present

Vice President / Chief Operating Officer

Administer fiscal, marketing, personnel training and development, product development, and daily operational standards for a casual dining chain consisting of 28 units in three states with $34 million in annual sales. Recruited by and report directly to the owner of the organization with a specific goal to turn around sales and profitability that had been trending down over a 3 year period.

Conceptualized and instituted a new corporate communication structure to increase executive oversight of all facets of daily operations, which reduced operational costs by more than 5%.

Direct supervision of 4 Regional Managers, Director of Purchasing, Director of Marketing, IT Manager, Corporate Chef, Controller, and Human Resource Manager.

Compiled customer feedback to institute new menu items and aesthetics in several high-visibility units, with a consequent increase in same-store sales of more than 15% over previous year, with greater customer satisfaction.

Forged new vendor relationships resulting in a menu that is aligned with current industry trend while bettering budgeted cost of goods by more than 4% and stabilizing sales decline to neutral.

Negotiated a reduction in rent expenses with key landlords resulting in a 3% decrease of operating expenses.

Berkeley Bowl Gourmet Marketplace Berkeley, CA March 2009 - December 2011

Director of Culinary

Established and maintained the culinary operational vision and strategy for a new gourmet grocery store that opened in June of 2009 as well as the highly successful original store. Departmental sales were in excess of $15,000,000 annually.

Produced a 49% gross profit margin, (best margin in the history of the company), across a diverse division, including a scratch bakery, production kitchen, gourmet deli, cheese and charcuterie, prepared foods, catering, and a full-service restaurant by creating and instituting new operational systems and procedures never used by the organization in the past.

Maintained a 21% labor cost while fostering productive communication with four department managers, three chefs, and 90 hourly employees. Labor cost were consistently 3 to 5% better than budget.

Responsible for vendor relations/negotiation and assortment management ensuring department sales and profit margins were at or above budget.

Boundary Oak Golf and Event Center Walnut Creek, CA September 1998 - December 2008

Proprietor and General Manager

Developed and implemented an operational plan for a private event center concept in a previously vacant facility.

Perpetuated a steady 14% profit margin each year, with 28% cost of goods and 26% cost of labor, 6& better than industry norms.

Prioritized employee growth and relationships and achieved 70% employee retention over ten years.

Received the -Best Reception Location and Service- award from The Knot bridal publication in 2006 and 2007, in addition to numerous local awards and commendations.

Client satisfaction surveys showed the operation exceeded the expectations of more than 96% of all corporate and social clients.

Cost Plus World Markets, Oakland, CA March 1996 - July 1998

Divisional Merchandise Manager, Consumables Division

Led the consumable division: including the merchandise assortments, budgeting, forecasting, advertising, managing international buyers, and developing marketing strategies for a division with annual sales in excess of $125 million and gross profit of approximately $44 million.

Facilitated more than sixty store openings to ensure adherence to the vision of the consumables division.

Sourced, designed, and introduced dozens of new products that drew new customers and provided opportunities for reciprocal sales in other departments.

Improved gross profit margins from 31% to 35%, resulting in more than $4 million in additional profit.

Traveled throughout the world to source new products and forge new vendor relationships.

Augmented private label penetration from 4% to 10% of total division sales and from 9% to 21% of sales within the targeted categories.

First Colony Coffee and Tea, Norfolk, VA April 1992 - February 1996

Divisional Manager, Retail

Created and executed a refreshed plan for the operation of a retail division consisting of full-service restaurants, coffee kiosks, (located in local colleges and universities), and several seasonal cart operations.

Facilitated relationships with new wholesale market clients to increase targeted sales by 18%.

Introduced new products and store design elements that increase store-level profit by more than 24%.

Maison Blanche, Department Stores, Baton Rouge, LA January 1986 - February 1992

Divisional Vice President, Food and Beverage

Catalyzed a complete overhaul of the food and beverage division within a department store retailer with 26 stores in three states and annual sales of $650 million.

Planned and implemented over 25 new food operations, including the design and construction of new restaurants, gourmet food markets, scratch candy kitchens, and unique food kiosks;

Sales increased by $7 million, including an increase in profit from a $400,000 loss to a $1.5 million profit annually.

EDUCATION

Johnson and Wales University, Providence, RI

Associate of Science, Culinary Arts, Hotel / Restaurant Management

AFFILIATIONS

National Association of Specialty Food Trade

National Restaurant Association

Habitat for Humanity International Volunteer

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