Customer Development Partner - #194503

Customer Development Partner

Location: Lincoln (Field-based with travel across your region)

Hours: 40 per week (Monday - Friday), Full Time Permanent Contract

Ready to take your culinary career beyond the kitchen?

Pilgrim Foodservice is a family-run foodservice wholesaler supplying food, drink and catering products to hospitality and catering businesses across the UK. Our customers include restaurants, pubs, hotels, schools, care homes and other foodservice operators. Founded in 1979, we employ 350 people across 4 sites in Boston, Colchester, Dewsbury and Dereham

We’re looking for a Customer Development Partner who combines culinary expertise with business insight. You’ll work closely with customers to create menus, develop new product ranges, and drive growth—both theirs and ours. It’s a position that blends innovation, relationship-building, and strategic thinking.

This opportunity is about supporting our customers and helping businesses thrive. If you’re ready to bring your chef experience into a consultative, customer-facing position where your skills, ideas, and values truly matter, we’d love to meet you

Key Responsibilities:

• Partner with customers to develop innovative, practical menu solutions.
• Lead tastings, cook-offs, and product demonstrations that inspire customers.
• Collaborate with procurement, sales, and marketing to launch new products and menu ideas.
• Build strong customer relationships, identifying opportunities to help business growth and attain aspirations within their business.
• Stay ahead of food trends, supplier innovation, and market opportunities.
• Represent the company with professionalism and integrity in every interaction

Skills & Experience:

• Trained chef with a minimum 2 years’ experience as a Head Chef or Development Chef
• Strong background in menu development, culinary innovation, and coaching or training teams.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills capable of building trust with a wide range of people.
• Commercial awareness: ability to balance creativity with business growth
• Highly organised, resilient, providing commercial solutions with attention to results.
• Full clean UK driving licence and willingness to travel throughout Lincolnshire (company car provided)

What We Offer:

• Competitive salary reflecting your experience and contribution.
• Company car.
• Performance-related bonus.
• Large staff discount on products from our website
• Company Pension Scheme
• Life Assurance at 2 x salary
• Remote working with all equipment (laptop, phone, company car) provided
• Comprehensive benefits including wellbeing support, staff discounts, and enhanced holiday entitlement.
• A supportive, family-led culture where ideas are valued, success is celebrated, and people come first.

y to take your culinary expertise beyond the kitchen and make a real impact with customers, we would love to hear from you. Apply today and join a family-run business where your knowledge, ideas and passion for food can help shape the future of hospitality.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Work Location: In person