Drew Randolph
Category Manager
805-***-**** ************@***.***
Indio, CA
Highly skilled Category Manager with 37+ years' grocery industry experience with a strong background in purchasing, management and vendor relationships. Ability to multi-task, manage daily workload and focus on long-term objectives. Possess superior organizational skills and can execute annual goals to completion. Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills for fostering relationships with peers, management and vendor community.
EXPERIENCE
Gelson's Markets Encino, CA 1994 - 2017
A premier supermarket in Southern California since 1951
Grocery Category Manager (June 2006 – April 2017)
Oversaw the management of various high-profile and profitable categories. Have managed numerous Grocery categories, as well as Frozen and Dairy. Most recent commodities included:
Seasonal confection (Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas)
Kosher (daily and holiday)
Non-alcoholic beverage and water
Shelf stable juice
Canned fruit/dried fruit/fruit snacks
Collaborated with vendors/brokers/manufacturers to accomplish goals, authorized/discontinued items, analyzed sales performance at item and commodity levels, established everyday and promotional item pricing, scheduled displays, submitted items for newsletter ads, maintained inventory management of warehouse SKU's, purchased all non-direct seasonal items, effectively communicated holiday itemization, pricing, game plan, etc. to store personnel.
Key Accomplishments:
In 2016, increased beverage sales by 5.56% and water sales by 2.9% for same stores.
Category growth for grocery categories was 2.15% in 2016
Successfully coordinated item authorization/delivery, new item funding, displays and grand opening ads for 7 new stores over a five-month period in new geographical areas (I.e. Rancho Mirage, San Diego).
Converted non-direct vendors into direct vendors where it made economic/business sense.
Director of Construction, Design & Maintenance (May 2000 – May 2006)
Responsible for all facets of company’s Construction, Design & Maintenance department. Included general maintenance of entire chain; from flooring to roofing, painting to asphalt, plumbing to electrical, and refrigeration to HVAC. Interacted with numerous trade vendors and store personnel to accomplish goals.
Key Accomplishments:
Constructed three new stores (Dana Point, Irvine and Pasadena).
Remodeled five locations (Century City, Marina del Rey, Santa Barbara, Silver Lake, Westlake Village).
Buyer (1998 - 2000)
Responsible for overall buying, pricing and establishing/maintaining vendor relationships and contracts for various commodities.
Buyer/DSD Project Manager (1996 - 1998)
Implemented an automated Direct Store Delivery (DSD) receiving system in each store. Coordinated the efforts of the Accounting, M.I.S., Store Operations and Buying departments to achieve goals.
Merchandiser/Supervisor of Gift Basket Center (1995 - 1996)
Performed product schematics at store level with Merchandising team. Responsible for budgets, P&L’s, labor scheduling, production, etc. of Gift Basket Center.
Merchandising Analyst (1994 - 1995)
Collected, analyzed and compared scan data of numerous items and categories, past versus present sales. Presented results to upper management.
Ralphs Grocery Company Compton, CA 1979 - 1994
Large retail grocery operator in Southern California
Manager of Pricing (1991 - 1994)
Monitored marketplace positioning in relation to competition via price survey analyses. Reported directly to Sr. Vice-President of Advertising and Promotion.
Merchandiser (1990 - 1991)
Supervised all aspects of bakery merchandising and operations for over 30 stores.
Assorted Positions at Store Level (1979 – 1990)
Held several positions at store level, including management levels. Highest level attained was Manager of Store Operations or Assistant Store Director.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Science Degree - Marketing Major - 1993
California State University, Northridge, CA
Certificate in Food Industry Management (FIM) program - 1989
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA