QSR Supply Manager
Procurement lead buying frozen fries by the truckload for a regional QSR chain
I don't buy potatoes, I buy promises that there'll be the right potato in the right DC the morning of the rush.
Owns the frozen potato category for a 40-300 unit QSR chain. Negotiates annual contracts with Lamb Weston, McCain, and Simplot. Manages co-op distribution (often through Distribution Market Advantage or a regional broadliner). Hedges against potato crop year volatility. Approves SKU changes that affect every store in the system.
Corporate HQs of regional chains — Texas, Florida, the Midwest, Southern California. Some sit inside the chain, some sit at the chain's purchasing co-op (think Restaurant Services Inc. for Burger King franchisees, RFMA-style co-ops).
A potato crop year that comes in short (drought in the Columbia Basin, freeze in Idaho) and contract pricing reopens mid-year. A processor allocating supply in a tight year and the chain getting a 92% fill rate when they promised stores 100%. A DC out of a key SKU during Final Four weekend. Switching frozen fry SKUs across the system without a noticeable customer experience drop.
Locking a year of pricing 2 weeks before a crop report sends the market up. A clean SKU transition where the new product spec matches the old in fry color, hold time, and mouth-feel. A processor partnership review that earns a better allocation for the next contract year.
Coupa or SAP Ariba for procurement, internal forecasting tied to POS data, Urner Barry or Expana for commodity pricing benchmarks, contract templates with explicit force majeure and crop-failure clauses, regular calls with processor account managers, a back channel with one or two ag brokers for ground-truth on crop conditions.
Contract season is August-October, right around the crop report and harvest projections. Supply tightness shows up January-March if the prior harvest was rough. Promotional fry pushes (Lent, March Madness, summer combo deals, back-to-school) get planned 6 months ahead. Q4 is volume; Q1 is the audit.
Career path
Often a supply chain or business degree, sometimes an MBA. Many come up through a broadliner (Sysco, US Foods, PFG) on the foodservice side, or from inside the chain in operations. Procurement certifications (CPSM, CSCP) are common. A few are ex-processor sales reps who jumped to the buy side.
Salary with annual bonus tied to category cost-savings, contract performance, and supply reliability. Stock or equity comp at larger chains. The bonus structure rewards beating the market — buying ahead of price spikes is the real KPI.
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