Strategic Purchasing Manager Jobs in East Rutherford, NJ

About Us

Green Top Farms is a New York-based food service company specializing in farm-fresh meals for enterprise workplace dining and corporate catering. We partner with leading companies to deliver elevated daily dining and hospitality experiences, using seasonal ingredients and thoughtful operations to create consistent, high-quality service at scale.

Our mission is to build a more sustainable and equitable food system, starting by reconnecting consumers and local farmers. We believe the results of strengthening that connection are better nutrition, tastier food, greater social justice, and reduced environmental impacts. Our menus reflect this attention to bringing nutritious, delicious food to those who need it most.

Our Sourcing Philosophy

At Green Top Farms, sourcing is driven by freshness, seasonality, and social and environmental responsibility. We prioritize direct partnerships with regional farmers, ranchers, fishermen, cooperatives, and small-scale producers, including long-standing relationships across the Hudson Valley and broader Northeast network, to ensure freshness, traceability, and a more resilient supply chain. With in-house warehousing and bulk purchasing capabilities, we reduce reliance on intermediaries and maintain flexibility across our programs. Sustainability is our north star, guiding every purchasing decision.

Position Overview

The Purchasing Manager is responsible for leading Green Top Farms’ purchasing, receiving, and picking operations, owning sourcing strategy, vendor relationships, food cost performance, and the day-to-day flow of ingredients and supplies from farm and vendor partners into our kitchens.

This role blends procurement strategy with a culinary production mindset and operational leadership. The Purchasing Manager must understand not only how to buy efficiently and hit food cost targets, but also how ingredients perform in the kitchen, from shelf-life and yield to recipe application and cross-utilization, and how to translate Green Top Farms’ sourcing mission into daily decisions.

The Purchasing Manager leads the full purchasing, receiving, and picking team, including purchasing support staff, receiving personnel, and pickers. The role serves as the primary point of accountability for departmental performance and the escalation point for discrepancies, shortages, and vendor issues.

We are looking for a candidate who is:

• Grounded in both procurement strategy and culinary production
• Deeply knowledgeable about ingredients, shelf-life, yields, and recipes
• Experienced negotiating with farms, cooperatives, and specialty vendors, not just large distributors
• Passionate about local, seasonal, regenerative sourcing and short supply chains
• A strong operational leader who can develop a team and hold standards across purchasing, receiving, and picking
• Analytical and tech-savvy, comfortable working in inventory, purchasing, and accounting systems

The ideal candidate brings both buyer instincts and culinary fluency: someone who can read a spec sheet, evaluate a case of produce on the receiving dock, talk confidently with chefs about how an ingredient will perform in a recipe, and lead a team that keeps ingredients flowing accurately and efficiently into production.

Responsibilities

Sourcing Strategy & Vendor Management (25%)

• Uphold GTF’s sourcing mission by prioritizing direct partnerships with regional farmers, ranchers, fishermen, cooperatives, and small-scale producers
• Cultivate and expand relationships across our Hudson Valley and Northeast producer network; identify and onboard new vendors aligned with local, regenerative, and B-Corp principles
• Negotiate pricing, terms, and delivery schedules to balance cost-effectiveness with quality and sustainability standards
• Monitor market trends, commodity pricing, weather, and supply-chain conditions to proactively adjust sourcing strategies

Purchasing Operations (20%)

• Own the weekly purchasing cycle, ensuring orders are accurate, timely, and within budget for daily service, catering, and events
• Review pricing and vendor options regularly; adjust sourcing decisions to optimize cost and quality
• Address cost gaps by prioritizing substitutions or existing inventory before issuing new purchase orders
• Continuously improve purchasing processes, systems, and SOPs as the business evolves

Culinary Partnership & Production Alignment (20%)

• Partner with Executive Chefs and culinary leadership to align purchasing with menus, recipes, and production schedules
• Translate recipes and forecasts into accurate purchasing plans while optimizing shelf-life, yields, and cross-utilization to reduce waste
• Advise on seasonal availability, substitutions, and specialty sourcing; support food-waste reduction practices
• Conduct quality inspections of incoming goods to ensure adherence to GTF standards

Receiving & Picking Team Leadership (20%)

• Lead purchasing, receiving, and picking teams, including hiring, training, scheduling, and performance management
• Set and uphold standards for accuracy, timeliness, quality control, FIFO, labeling, and communication
• Foster accountability and continuous improvement; act as escalation point for discrepancies, shortages, quality issues, and vendor disputes
• Partner cross-functionally with culinary and operations on staffing and workflow coordination

Inventory, Facility & Food Safety (10%)

• Oversee inventory accuracy, rotation (FIFO), and proper storage across all environments
• Maintain a clean, organized, and compliant warehouse and receiving area
• Ensure all handling, storage, and tracking meet GTF quality and health department standards

Reporting, KPIs & Financial Operations (5%)

• Own reporting on purchasing performance, including spend vs. food cost targets, variance analysis, and KPIs
• Partner with Finance on month-end close, reconciliations, and purchase timing
• Maintain data accuracy across purchasing and inventory systems
• Support additional business priorities as needed

Who You Are:

• A minimum of 2-4 years of experience in buying/purchasing, merchandise/financial planning, or procurement in raw food materials
• Ability to carry over 50 pounds and remain standing for long periods of time
• Exemplary communication skills
• Inherent problem solver that's organized, punctual, and tech savvy
• Passionate about local food and nutrition, and on a mission to reach folks with better food
• Bilingual Strongly Preferred (Spanish)
• Proven experience as a produce buyer or in a similar procurement role within the food industry
• In-depth knowledge of agricultural markets, produce varieties, and seasonality
• Strong negotiation skills and ability to build and maintain effective supplier relationships

What We Offer:

Green Top Farms provides benefits including medical insurance, sick leave, paid time off that increases with tenure, commuter benefits and potential for bonuses through our Green Shares employee bonus program.

Green Top Farms is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Job Type: Full-time

Schedule:Monday through Friday, 8 AM - 6 PM,requires weekend flexibility

Pay: $80,000/year, with potential for bonuses based on meeting performance targets

Reporting To: Chief Culinary Officer