John T.
Director Of Purchasing at Cermak Fresh Market- Claim this Profile
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Bio
Graciela Osinger
Purchasing, Sales, Marketing, Forcasting
Frank Bruno
John is very honest and detail oriented, with extensive knowledge in the retail and wholesale grocery industry !!
Graciela Osinger
Purchasing, Sales, Marketing, Forcasting
Frank Bruno
John is very honest and detail oriented, with extensive knowledge in the retail and wholesale grocery industry !!
Graciela Osinger
Purchasing, Sales, Marketing, Forcasting
Frank Bruno
John is very honest and detail oriented, with extensive knowledge in the retail and wholesale grocery industry !!
Graciela Osinger
Purchasing, Sales, Marketing, Forcasting
Frank Bruno
John is very honest and detail oriented, with extensive knowledge in the retail and wholesale grocery industry !!
Experience
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Cermak Fresh Market
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United States
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Retail Groceries
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1 - 100 Employee
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Director Of Purchasing
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Jul 2022 - Present
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La Bodega Ltd.
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United States
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Wholesale
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1 - 100 Employee
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General Manager & much much more
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Mar 2020 - Jul 2022
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FIESTA MARKET
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United States
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1 - 100 Employee
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Grocery Buyer/Marketing
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Sep 2009 - Mar 2020
After a successful tenure in wholesale purchasing, I wanted to transition into retail. A customer of mine owned Fiesta Market and recruited me to create a new role as Grocery Purchasing Director to help expand the organization. Currently I manage the Grocery, Ethnic, Dairy, Frozen, and Deli departments. In addition to the challenges of developing systems and processes in this role, I was tasked with modifying a company culture that was resistant to change. Over the last 9 years, the company has experienced growth that has far outpaced industry standards. > I masterminded a warehouse distribution program. We are able to ‘bridge buy” over 900 SKUs and was able to increase margins greatly as a result. > I created the Asian line from the ground up, which not only has expanded by double digits in sales growth for 8 consecutive years but has helped position Fiesta as the ‘retailer-of-choice” for ethnic foods in the Chicago-land area > I partnered with a cheese supplier to purchase radio advertising in bulk, which landed additional “prime” spots and saved over 18% in advertising costs. > I developed several key marketing initiatives including our vendor-sponsored Christmas time calendar giveaway that increases brand awareness year-round.
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Dearborn Wholesale Grocers
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Greater Chicago Area
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Director of Hispanic Grocery
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Aug 1994 - Sep 2009
I joined Regency Wholesale in 1992 as a Sales Manager. In 1994, Regency was acquired by Dearborn, and I was continued in my role as a Sales Manager until 1999 when my role was expanded to include Purchasing, and I promoted into a Business Development Manager. In 2004, I ascended to the Direct0r of Grocery and was in charge of more than $250M of purchasing and sales > I spearheaded the development, launch, and management of newly created Hispanic and Asian product lines that grew to over $100M annually in revenue > After successfully creating the ethnic line, I was asked to take over our stagnant private label brand. Through intense data analysis of historical sales and our product mix, I retooled our product line, generating annual sales increases of over 25% for 3 consecutive years > I developed an online ordering system that replaced a 400-page order guide. This system allowed sales reps to focus on their customers instead of performing mundane administrative tasks > I created the Pharmacy grocery vertical and landed CVS, a $5M/year account generating a 19% profit in the first year
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Education
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Northwestern College
Bachelor's Degree Equivalent based on experience level, Business Administration and Management, General