Home Chef · 8 hours ago
Associate, Category Manager
Chicago, IL
Full-time
Onsite
Entry Level
$67K/yr - $74K/yr
1+ years expHome Chef is the leading meal solutions company with both a retail and online presence. The Associate Category Manager is responsible for building a national category strategy through supplier research, cross-functional collaboration, and executing sourcing plans.
DeliveryFood and BeverageRestaurants
Responsibilities
Research the supply chain, industry structure, and potential supplier partners by using online tools, industry resources, and talking to suppliers
Conduct research into supplier capabilities and product portfolios
Create and present recommendations for sourcing strategies based on data-driven research
Formulate and execute strategic sourcing plans with our distribution/fulfillment centers
Support the plants by improving efficiencies, manage category costs, and reducing fulfillment and cost risk within the Home Chef supply chain
Work with cross-functional teams (Operations, Culinary, Food Safety, Supplier Quality, Procurement) to compare supplier samples, align on product spec and troubleshoot quality concerns
Assist in managing emergency supply shorts and use category expertise to expedite replacement products or substitutes to plant teams
Conduct supplier discovery, exploratory conversations, and research
Ensure NDAs are signed and draft RFP documentation
Analyze bids received and provide pricing feedback to suppliers
Make sourcing recommendations to category managers
Work and communicate with supplier partners to ensure that category goals are met
Share short-term and long-term forecasts with vendors
Address quality and fulfillment-related issues with the vendors and make sure corrective actions are taken
Collect required documentation from vendors to meet FSQA guidelines
Qualification
Required
1+ year(s) experience in strategic sourcing, ideally within perishable goods
Strong analytical skills, with competency in Excel
Experience in relationship management
Completion of a four-year degree in business or a related field
Benefits
Medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance available
Paid holidays, sick time and vacation time
401k program
Flexible spending accounts for qualified medical, dependent care, parking, or transit expenses
Company
Home Chef
Home Chef is a provider of subscription-based meal kit delivery services to help people to save time while enjoying home cooking.
1001-5000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Home Chef has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (3)
2024 (2)
2023 (2)
2022 (3)
2021 (4)
2020 (1)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
$57MKey Investors
L CattertonShining Capital
2018-05-23Acquired
2016-09-29Series B· $40M
2016-06-28Debt Financing
Leadership Team
Erik Jensen
Chief Executive Officer
Recent News
2025-12-29
2025-11-05
Company data provided by crunchbase