Senior HORECA Sales Manager

ABOUT MAIVA

Maiva is a D2C wellness and nutrition company with its own manufacturing plant and complete setup.

We are currently available across most major online ecommerce and quick-commerce platforms and are expanding our retail and Horeca network.

Our plant-based milk range — almond and oat — is built for cafes and bakeries: barista-grade performance, consistent steaming, and a cost-per-cup that actually works for an outlet's P&L. We are now opening our foodservice channel, with protein powders and vegan frappé bases to follow.

THE ROLE IN ONE LINE

Own Mumbai end to end — walk the outlets yourself, win the cafes and bakeries, appoint the right distributor. Then help us seed the satellite markets around it — Pune, Gujarat, Goa and the other metros — opening each one before a full team is put in place there.

WHAT YOU WILL OWN

1. Outlet acquisition — hands on

•   Build and work a live Mumbai universe of specialty cafes, bakeries, cloud kitchens, patisseries and QSRs — Bandra, Andheri, Lower Parel, Colaba, Powai, Juhu, Thane.

•   Run product trials on site: steaming, microfoam stability, latte art, no splitting in espresso, performance in bakes and cold beverages.

•   Convert on cost-per-cup economics, not price per litre. Close the outlet, then make sure the second order happens.

2. Distributor appointment and management

•   Identify and appoint the right HORECA distributor(s) for Mumbai — ideally partners already running syrups, creams, bakery ingredients or coffee into the same outlets.

•   Build the distributor's ROI case yourself: margin, credit cycle, working capital, cost per drop, return on investment. Sell the economics, not the favour.

•   Own secondary sales, not just primary billing. Track depletion, active outlet count, and cases per outlet per month. No channel stuffing.

•   Manage claims, credit discipline, stock rotation, near-expiry and fill rates.

3. Key accounts

•   Open and close cafe chains, bakery chains, hotel groups and corporate cafeterias — trial to R&D spec-in to rate contract to rollout.

•   Work with our team on samples, technical documentation, costing and shelf-life data through the approval cycle.

4. Seed the satellite markets

•   Once Mumbai is running, open the next markets one at a time — Pune, Gujarat, Goa, then the other metros.

•   In each: scope the outlet universe, appoint the distributor, win the first anchor outlets yourself, and get the first repeat orders flowing before we put a permanent team there.

•   Hand over a working market, not a list of leads — then stay involved as the person the local team reports into.

Expect roughly 3 to 5 days a month outstation to begin with, going up as more markets open. The bulk of your time stays in Mumbai.

5. Build the playbook and the team

•   Document what works: pitch, trial protocol, pricing ladder, distributor ROI model, objection handling.

•   Feed the market back to us — competitor pricing, format and pack size gaps, product performance issues, what cafes are actually asking for.

•   As the channel grows, hire and coach your first executives in Mumbai and the satellite cities.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Must have

•   5–9 years in HORECA / foodservice / institutional sales. Food or beverage ingredients into cafes, bakeries, QSRs or hotels.

•   Distributors you personally appointed and closely work with.

•   Deep market knowledge and an existing outlet or chef or purchase manager network.

•   Genuinely comfortable in the field 15+ days a month in Mumbai, plus a few days outstation each month as the satellite markets open.

•   Based in Mumbai

Strong plus

•   Background in beverage syrups and concentrates, bakery ingredients, dairy foodservice, or professional-channel coffee and tea.

•   Any plant-based or non-dairy category exposure.

•   Hands-on barista or application skill — if you can steam a jug and hold your own with a head barista, say so.

•   Experience opening a channel or a city from zero at an early-stage or challenger brand.

•   Existing distributor relationships in Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat or Goa.

THIS ROLE IS PROBABLY NOT FOR YOU IF

•   Your experience is hotel purchase relationships only, with no cafe or bakery or QSR exposure.

•   You have managed distributors someone else appointed, but never signed one yourself.

•   You sold a brand that pulled itself — where the demand existed and you took the order.

•   You want a team on day one, or you would rather review a dashboard than visiting a customer for trials.