28 June 2018

Customer Experience and Innovation Director – 2018-0004

ST-ALBERT CHEESE- CANADIAN CAPITAL OF THE CURDS!

St-Albert Cheese, regional pillar and true Franco-Ontarian institution founded in 1894, is proud of its great reputation for the exceptional quality of its cheeses and the maintenance of its tradition for over a century. Every year, hundreds of thousands of visitors make the detour to visit one of our 2 stores to get their delicious cheeses and local products or to visit our restaurant in St. Albert to taste one of our 15 gourmet poutines made with our famous curds! More than anything, it’s the quality of its cheeses, made from 100% pure milk from Eastern Ontario dairy farmers that gives St-Albert Cheese its guarantee of quality and good taste. Besides the retail sales close to $8 million a year in our facilities, our cheeses are also distributed in over 2000 outlets across Canada.

Located between Ottawa and Montreal, St-Albert Cheese is the most popular gourmet attraction in Eastern Ontario. Visitors have the chance to discover, in our visit hall, all steps of production through huge windows and watch the employees at work. It is also an ideal stop to take a rest in a peaceful place. It is even possible to visit us with your recreational vehicle during the summer tourist season and stay for a few nights through our famous Curd Festival or to discover the region! 

ROLE AND RESPONSABILITIES 

Under the supervision of the General Manager of St-Albert Cheese, the Customer Experience and Innovation Director is responsible for the retail sales development as well as events and tourism development for St-Albert Cheese. Its main role is to develop and implement strategies and an action plan to attract and retain new customers and visitors from everywhere to St-Albert Cheese; deliver to them the most unique and world-class customer experience to encourage their positive appreciation and loyalty. The incumbent will have to propose, develop and implement innovative ideas to optimize the customer experience and make St-Albert Cheese stand out as a company of choice. The Director will have a major role to play in improving store sales and increasing annual traffic in our facilities.  He will also manage the stores in St-Albert and Mirabel and the restaurant. He will be responsible for the management of employees in these departments.

MAIN TASKS 

  • Understand customers’ and visitors’ behavior and expectations to elaborate attraction and retention strategies with corresponding action plans;
  • Develop and implement an organizational client-oriented culture, with a goal of offering an all level highly satisfactory customer experience;
  • Lead and oversee all retails and tourism development activities and the teams involved;
  • Ensure the proper operations of the stores (St-Albert and Mirabel) and the restaurant;
  • Management of the store and restaurant teams;
  • Elaborate promotional strategies for sales and tourism development;
  • Propose and elaborate valorization projects for St-Albert Cheese, restaurant and the stores;
  • Research and lookout for new market trends to maintain an innovative and pertinent offer;
  • Propose new product lines to enhance our offer and develop a complete range of attractive promotional items;
  • Organize special events and activities to increase traffic in our stores and restaurant;
  • Increase our visibility and reputation to become a must-visit destination in the region, not only for local and regional consumers but also for tourists from around the world;
  • Organize guided tours of St-Albert Cheese;
  • Work in collaboration with the Director of Business Development and other departments to unify the customer experience and brand image;
  • Plan, organize and coordinate tourist events, including coordination of the logistics;
  • Perform and present pertinent financial analysis; compile and analyze statistics about the customer traffic evolution;
  • Develop and maintain relationships with tourism partners, tourist press and regional media;
  • Elaborate informative or promotional material for our visitors as well as internal advertisement tools to use within our sites;
  • Standardize and streamline our « product » and practices to make them reproducible;
  • Elaborate and propose a profitable development strategy in new markets.

 SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES REQUIRED

  • A Bachelor of Business Administration (specialization in marketing) or a combination of scolarity and experience considered equivalent;
  • Possess a minimum of ten (10) years experience in the food sector retails, including five (5) as a team manager;
  • Have used an approach valuing the customers experience in their past experiences;
  • Have experience in the field of tourism development an events organisation would be considered an important asset;
  • Have a good knowledge of the various digital platforms (web sites, blogs, social media, etc.)
  • Be a food and cheese anthusiast;
  • Must have excellent planning and coordinating skills;
  • Have good organizational skills and resourcefulness;
  • Display initiave and creativy;
  • Demonstrate excellent communication and interpersonal skills;
  • Must be willing to travel to the Mirabel store;
  • Communicate efficiently in both French and English (oral and writen)

Status: Full time

Work Schedule: Day; must be willing to work evenings and weekends when required for special events.

We thank each candidate for their interest, however, only selected candidates will be contacted.

Please send your resume along with a cover letter to rh@fromagestalbert.com indicating the job title and the Posting ref. in the subject.

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