JOB DESCRIPTION

General Manager - Retail & Food Operations

Location: Central Africa

Function: Management

Department: Retail & Food Operations

Job Level: Managerial - Executive Leadership

Reporting To: CEO

Role Overview:

We are looking for an experienced General Manager - Retail & Food Operations to take end-to-end techno-commercial responsibility for a growing supermarket and food-retail business in Central Africa.

The incumbent will be responsible for driving sales, profitability, operational excellence, supply chain, procurement, category management, food processing and business expansion.

The ideal candidate should have strong hands-on experience in supermarket/hypermarket operations combined with food processing, bakery and fresh/perishable categories. Exposure to meat processing, butchery or fresh-meat operations will be an added advantage.

Key Areas of Expertise:

- Retail & Commercial Leadership

- Food Processing Operations

- Bakery & Fresh Food Operations

- Fresh & Perishable Categories

- P&L and Financial Management

- Procurement & Supply Chain

- Category Management & Merchandising

- Inventory, Shrinkage & Wastage Control

- Food Safety & Quality

- Store Expansion

- Team Leadership & Development

Key Objectives:

Short-Term Objectives:

- Stabilize and optimize existing supermarket and food operations.

- Improve sales, gross margins and store profitability.

- Establish strong controls over inventory, shrinkage, wastage and expiry.

- Improve availability of high-rotation SKUs and fresh products.

- Strengthen bakery, fresh food, perishables and food-processing operations.

- Establish product-wise yield, recipe/BOM, costing and production controls.

- Optimize procurement and supplier terms.

- Improve customer experience, merchandising and store standards.

- Strengthen food safety, hygiene and quality systems.

- Build a strong local operational and commercial team.

Long-Term Objectives:

- Drive profitable expansion of the supermarket network.

- Develop centralized food-processing capabilities where commercially viable.

- Expand private-label and in-house manufactured food categories.

- Build strong fresh-food differentiation through bakery, meat and perishables.

- Develop category-wise profitability and assortment strategies.

- Introduce ERP/POS-driven inventory, demand planning and replenishment systems.

- Build leadership succession and localization.

- Establish the business as a leading modern retail and food destination.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Retail & Commercial Management:

- Lead overall retail operations, sales, gross margin, store profitability and customer experience.

- Develop and execute commercial strategies to drive revenue and profitability.

- Monitor store performance and ensure achievement of business KPIs.

2. Food Processing & Fresh Operations:

- Oversee bakery, food processing, fresh and perishable categories.

- Ensure productivity, quality, yield, freshness and wastage control.

- Establish effective production planning and cost controls.

3. Category Management & Merchandising:

- Drive product assortment, pricing and promotional strategies.

- Improve shelf productivity and category-wise sales and profitability.

- Optimize product mix based on customer demand and commercial performance.

4. Procurement & Supply Chain:

- Optimize sourcing and supplier negotiations.

- Ensure effective inventory management, replenishment and warehousing.

- Maintain product availability while controlling working capital.

- Strengthen supply-chain efficiency, including imported supply where applicable.

5. Financial & P&L Management:

- Own budgeting, forecasting and financial performance.

- Drive cost optimization, EBITDA and overall business profitability.

- Manage CAPEX decisions and evaluate ROI on business investments.

6. Quality, Food Safety & Compliance:

- Ensure strong food safety and hygiene standards across all operations.

- Maintain appropriate cold-chain and quality standards.

- Ensure compliance across stores, bakery, perishables and meat/butchery operations.

7. Expansion & Team Leadership:

- Lead new-store openings and business expansion initiatives.

- Build a high-performing team with clear KPIs and accountability.

- Develop talent, succession planning and localization initiatives.

- Foster a culture of operational discipline and continuous improvement.

Key Performance Areas (KRAs):

- Sales Growth: Revenue / Same Store Sales Growth

- Gross Margin: GM% by Store / Category

- Profitability: EBITDA / Store Contribution

- Inventory: Inventory Days / Stock Turns

- Availability: On-Shelf Availability / OOS

- Wastage & Shrinkage: Shrinkage %, Expiry %, Fresh Wastage %

- Food Production: Yield, Productivity, Cost/kg or Cost/unit

- Fresh Categories: Sales, Margin, Wastage & Availability

- Customer: Footfall, Basket Size, Complaints

- Expansion: New Store Opening / CAPEX / ROI

- People: Productivity, Attrition, Localization

- Compliance: Food Safety / Hygiene / Audit Score

Candidate Profile:

Qualification:

- Bachelor's degree in Food Technology, Food Science, Engineering, Operations, Business Management or a related discipline.

- MBA/PGDM will be preferred.

Experience:

- 15 - 20 years of overall experience.

- Minimum 5 years of senior leadership experience in a supermarket, hypermarket or large food-retail environment.

- Candidates should ideally have a combination of:

1. Supermarket / Retail

2. Food Processing / Manufacturing

3. Fresh / Perishable Categories

- Hands-on exposure to commercial and P&L management, procurement, category management and retail operations is essential.

Age:

- Preferably not more than 50 years.

Preferred Experience:

- Experience in bakery manufacturing/production is highly preferred.

- Experience in meat processing, butchery or fresh-meat operations will be an advantage.

- Experience managing multiple stores or large-format supermarkets is preferred.

- Africa experience is strongly preferred, particularly experience operating in developing/emerging markets involving imported supply chains, infrastructure constraints and multicultural teams.

Preferred Industry Background:

- Large supermarket / hypermarket chains with in-house food production

- Food-retail groups operating supermarkets, bakery, fresh food and meat-processing businesses

- Large-format food-retail businesses with integrated processing and fresh-food operations

Key Skills:

- Retail Operations

- Category Management

- Food Processing

- Bakery Operations

- Fresh & Perishables

- Meat / Butchery - Preferred

- Procurement & Vendor Management

- Food Costing & Yield Management

- Inventory & Shrinkage Control

- Cold Chain Management

- HACCP / GMP

- P&L Management

- ERP / POS

- Store Expansion

- CAPEX & ROI Management

Ideal Candidate:

The ideal candidate will be a strong commercial and operational leader who can independently manage a large retail and food business, improve profitability, establish operational controls, strengthen food-processing and fresh-food capabilities, and lead the organization through future expansion in Central Africa.