Customer Service Team Lead

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This position is accountable for leading, developing, and managing Freshstone Brands’ end-to-end order fulfillment processes, capabilities and competencies. These accountabilities include, but are not limited to: i) leading a small team of Customer Service representatives responsible for all aspects of order fulfillment, accounts receivable and deductions management; ii) improving, evolving and refining Freshstone’s customer service, accounts receivable, and order fulfillment processes, policies, procedures,; and iv) enabling the achievement of Freshstone’s operational and financial goals by creating a customer-centric, customer service and order fulfillment capability which ensures predictable and consistent achievement of all expectations of the customer service function.

**REPORTING RELATIONSHIP & REPORTS**:
Directly to the National Customer Service Manager:

- Executive Leadership Team and broader Business Team
- External Customers
- Other 3rd Parties

**FRESHSTONE BRANDS INC.**

Freshstone Brands Inc. (“FBI”) is a premier manufacturer of high-quality prepared food products that services the retail, foodservice, and co-manufacturing channels. The Company’s products include branded and private label entrees, salads, sides, appetizers, hand-held foods, and other prepared foods. FBI supplies mostly fresh and some frozen items to major Canadian retailers for sale “behind the glass” or in packaged formats in the perimeter of the store, as well as to well-known foodservice customers, and some major branded food businesses under contract.

FBI manufactures its products in 6 manufacturing plants which are SQF Level 3 certified and which are strategically located across Canada, giving FBI critical mass, and geographic proximity to the strategically important US market.

With its own brands, FBI services all the major Grocery, Mass, Club and Food Service customers in Canada either directly or through distributor and broker relationships. Additionally, FBI has co-developed and launched a variety of “own-label” and private label programs with a wide range of blue-chip, recognized retailers and food service companies across North America.

**LOCATION**:
Etobicoke, Ontario. Occasional attendance at other manufacturing facilities may be required depending on current and future business needs.

**ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS**:
**CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM LEAD PROCESSES**:

- Lead, and support the team of Customer Service Representatives
- Interact with customers on a daily basis, responding to their questions and guiding them to the appropriate service
- Receives processes and verifies the accuracy of orders from customers utilizing the organization’s internal ERP systems and customer purchase orders.
- Initiates required action for response to customer service requests for order changes, including the maintenance of order/customer information files and communicates changes to the appropriate personnel/departments.
- Coordinate the prompt handling of customer service requests including, but not limited to, order entry, pricing, expediting, billing, order maintenance, credit and claims.
- Handle written correspondence received from and sent to customers in a timely manner.
- Prepare shipment - contact freight forwarder with details
- Accesses the company’s internal systems to obtain and extract order information and provide customer service management with the data for inclusion in various scheduled and special reports
- Participates and provides expertise as a member of the customer service’s departmental team. The team's objectives are develop and recommend changes to existing methods and systems to increase the accuracy, efficiency and responsiveness of the customer service department as a whole.
- Set and manage reasonable customer satisfaction goals and work with the team to meet them on a consistent basis
- Works with other internal functions to administer and process customer transactions including Pricing, Production Planning, Sales Management, Supply Chain, Accounts Receivables and Customers.

**BUSINESS SUPPORT**
- Work with the business to ensure accurate and efficient administration of purchase orders using Microsoft Nav - Just Foods
- Act as Customer Service Champion to on-going Microsoft Nav - Just Foods improvement efforts and projects.
- Using Microsoft Nav 2018 - to maintain customer master files and ensure data integrity.

**PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT**
- Ensure appropriate transfer of knowledge to and from colleagues. Acts as a gatekeeper to ensure all policies and processes are adhered to and provide appropriate education on policies, procedures and processes to the business as required.
- Provide customer service personnel with guidance in handling difficult or complex issues or problems so they can be resolved effectively and efficiently. Provide guidance on how to escalate complaints / disputes within the organization
- Resolve customer complaints and answer customer