About us
We are Rennet & Rind. We source, mature and sell British artisan cheese, made on farms by independent cheesemakers who still do it properly.
We are not a distributor who moves boxes. We are an affineur. Cheese comes to us from the maker and we mature it in our own rooms in Cambridge until it is at its best, then it goes out to restaurants, delis, farm shops and pubs across the country. Very few businesses in the UK do this.
Perry Wakeman, who leads the cheese side of the business, is a three time UK Affineur of the Year and sat on the Super Jury at the World Cheese Awards. Mark Hulme started the business in 1989. We have a shop in Stamford, our maturing rooms and offices at Papworth Everard, and around 80 British cheeses on the range at any one time.
We are a small team. Everyone knows the product and everyone helps out.
The role
You will look after your own group of wholesale customers and be the person they ring. Chefs, buyers, shop managers, catering teams. Some have been with us for years. Some you will win yourself.
A Tuesday might go like this. A head chef calls wanting something with a bit of funk for a new menu and leaves the choice to you. A deli in Edinburgh is short on their usual blue, so you find them something better. A farm shop you have been working on for a month finally puts an order in. A washed rind you tried in the maturing rooms last week is ready, so you ring four customers who you know will want it before it is gone.
In between all of that, every order goes onto the system correctly, because a slip there becomes a wrong delivery on Thursday and an apology on Friday.
That last part is not the interesting bit. It is the bit that makes the rest of it possible. The people who are good at this job care about the detail as much as they enjoy the conversation.
What you will actually be doing
- Answering calls promptly and warmly, and becoming the voice customers associate with us
- Taking orders by phone and email, checking quantities, cut sizes, formats and delivery dates before confirming anything
- Checking availability and condition before you promise it, and offering a sensible alternative when a line is short
- Entering every order on the system accurately and in good time, then checking it back before it is released
- Keeping customer records, delivery instructions and pricing up to date
- Ringing your accounts rather than waiting for them to ring you
- Noticing when an account goes quiet, and following it up
- Telling customers about new arrivals, seasonal cheeses and limited batches before they hear about it elsewhere
- Suggesting cheeses a customer has not tried, and knowing their business well enough to suggest the right one
- Growing the value of every order, because a fuller board sells better for them and the account is worth more to us
- Following up samples, quotes and new lines instead of leaving them open
- Working closely with the warehouse, despatch, procurement and the maturing team
The commercial side of this job matters. We want the accounts on your list to be bigger and stronger in a year than they are today. That does not come from pushing product at people. It comes from knowing a customer's business well enough that when you ring and say you have something they should try, they take your word for it. Do that properly and both businesses do better out of it.
What we are looking for
No cheese knowledge needed. No wholesale experience needed. We will teach you all of that.
What we cannot teach is being good with people and careful with detail. So we are looking for:
- A clear, warm telephone manner, and someone who listens properly rather than assuming
- Good written English, and the confidence to send a professional email without anyone checking it first
- Care with numbers and detail, and the habit of checking work before it goes out
- The ability to stay accurate when it is busy and you are being interrupted
- Someone who picks up new systems quickly
- Someone who takes ownership of a problem rather than passing it on
- Comfortable recommending something to a customer and asking for the order, without it feeling like a sell
- A genuine interest in food and a willingness to learn about cheese
- A reliable commute to Papworth Everard
Useful but not essential: order processing, ERP or CRM experience, previous account management or internal sales, a background in food, hospitality or speciality retail, a full UK driving licence.
What you get
- £26,000 to £28,000 a year, depending on experience
- Monday to Friday, with the very occasional evening or weekend for events and busy trading periods
- Funded Academy of Cheese qualifications, the recognised professional standard in our trade
- A structured eight week induction covering the company, the range, the systems and food safety
- Tastings, cuttings and supplier visits as part of the job
- Real scope to move into other parts of the business, see below
- Staff and store discount
- Free on site parking
- Company pension
- Three month probationary period
Where it can go from here
We are a small business, and that works in your favour. The job can shape itself around the person doing it.
If the marketing side interests you and you want a go at it, say so and we will find you a way in. If you would rather spend more of your week in the shop with customers in front of you, we will sort it. If you want to get out on the road and sell face to face, go ahead.
This is not a promise of a promotion on a fixed timetable. It is simpler than that. Tell us the direction you want to go in and we will do what we can to get you there. We would far rather grow someone who is already here and already knows the cheese than start again with an advert in two years.
A word on the training
The Academy of Cheese qualification is a real credential in this industry and we pay for it. You will spend time in the maturing rooms, at cuttings and out with suppliers. Within a year you will know more about British cheese than almost anyone you meet, and you will be able to talk to a chef about condition, cut and shelf life with confidence.
That is not a perk we mention to fill out the list. It is how we expect you to do the job well.
To apply
Apply through Indeed with your CV and a short note about why this one interests you. We read them.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: £26,436.80-£28,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Employee discount
- On-site parking
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Cambridge CB23 3GY: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Work Location: In person
