On-Trade Controller (12 mth initial contract-perm)

🌱 Who we are

Mother Root is the Ginger non-alcoholic aperitif. We harness the power of apple cider vinegar to serve up a dose of good feelings. Our mission is to redefine what it means to drink well and feel good - with drinks that are complex, delicious and rooted in nature.

Fresh from securing three offers on BBC Dragons’ Den, we’re on an exciting growth journey — scaling from a £7m brand today towards £50m+ in the years ahead, with 230% year-on-year growth already underway. With our small but mighty team, we’re building one of the UK’s fastest-growing non-alcoholic brands, both online and in retail.

We’re bold, inclusive and ambitious. We value creativity, curiosity and collaboration — and we believe work should be joyful, purposeful and full of flavour.

🚀 The Role

We’re looking for an experienced On-Trade Controller to build and prove Mother Root’s UK on-trade channel through a focused, high-quality portfolio of flagship accounts. This will begin as a defined 12-month strategic build phase , with a clear view to this becoming a permanent and expanding function.

Reporting into the Head of Sales , and working closely with the CEO and COO, this role will own all UK on-trade activity end-to-end , establishing the blueprint for scalable future growth.

Mother Root already has placements in some of the UK’s most respected food-led pubs, restaurants and hotels. The immediate opportunity is to fully activate these accounts, build deep relationships, and establish clear performance benchmarks - before selectively expanding into new flagship venues.

The objective is not rapid, indiscriminate scale, but to build a tightly curated on-trade presence that delivers long-term brand and commercial value. This role will define what “success” looks like in on-trade for Mother Root, and shape how the channel develops over time.

This person will be highly commercial, deeply thoughtful about brand and hospitality, and comfortable operating autonomously in a scale-up environment. They will think like a founder of the channel - building not just distribution, but a repeatable and scalable model for success.

📋 What You’ll Do

Channel strategy and ownership

• Build and deliver Mother Root’s UK on-trade strategy end-to-end, aligned with wider business and brand goals

• Establish and prove the Mother Root Perfect Account Model - defining where we win, why, and how to scale it

• Define and lead a phased route-to-market strategy, including both direct supply and wholesale partnerships, to maximise early momentum, learning, and long-term scalability

• Establish clear performance benchmarks including bottles per account per week, reorder frequency, activation ROI, and overall channel contribution

Activate and grow existing accounts

• Own and fully activate Mother Root’s existing on-trade accounts, ensuring strong relationships, visibility, menu presence, and repeat order velocity

• Build deep relationships with key operators, GMs, bar managers and group buyers

• Ensure Mother Root is properly represented on menus, positioned appropriately, and consistently served to a high standard

• Identify opportunities to increase performance within existing groups and flagship venues

Selective, high-quality account expansion

• Identify, secure and grow relationships with the right premium pubs, restaurants, hotels and hospitality groups

• Prioritise quality and performance of accounts over volume of distribution

• Leverage your network and strategic outreach to secure flagship placements that reinforce brand positioning

• Develop a tightly curated portfolio of high-performing, category-defining venues

Distributor and commercial management

• Select, onboard and manage wholesale partners where appropriate, ensuring strong alignment and performance

• Negotiate commercial terms, pricing, and support structures that balance brand integrity with long-term commercial sustainability - Full P&L responsibility for your accounts

• Ensure route-to-market decisions support both near-term learning and long-term scalability

Build the playbook and inform future scale

• Develop a repeatable, scalable on-trade playbook, including ideal account profile, menu positioning, serve strategy, pricing, and activation approach

• Track performance and extract learnings to inform future channel expansion

• Build compelling flagship case studies that demonstrate Mother Root’s success in hospitality environments

• Feed insights back into the wider business across sales, brand, marketing and product

🎯 First 12 months success will include

• Fully activating and improving performance across Mother Root’s existing on-trade accounts

• Establishing a tightly curated portfolio of approximately 50 high-quality flagship accounts

• Defining clear benchmarks for account performance and improving velocity across the portfolio

• Establishing appropriate wholesale partnerships to support scalable growth

• Developing a clear, repeatable blueprint for national on-trade expansion

🎓 What You’ll Bring

Essential

• Proven experience in senior on-trade commercial roles (Controller / Senior Manager level) within a drinks business

• Strong existing network across UK premium pubs, restaurants, hotels and hospitality groups

• Track record of opening accounts and successfully growing their long-term performance

• Experience building or scaling an on-trade channel, rather than inheriting a mature one

• Strong commercial judgement on where to invest time, effort and resources

• Experience working with distributors and managing route-to-market strategy

• Highly autonomous and comfortable building new channels in fast-moving, scale-up environments

Nice to have

• Experience launching or growing a premium challenger brand

• Experience in non-alcoholic, low-alcohol, wine or premium spirits categories

• Experience building early-stage channels or working in founder-led businesses

• Experience mentoring or managing others

💫 You’ll Thrive Here If You

• You are commercially sharp but brand-led in your decision-making

• You prioritise quality, performance and long-term brand equity over short-term distribution wins

• You enjoy building new channels from the ground up

• You care deeply about hospitality and how brands show up in real-world environments

• You are both strategic and hands-on in execution

• You are comfortable with ambiguity and motivated by building something meaningful

💛 Benefits & Perks

• Annual Leave: 25 days per year

• Summer Hours: Early finish Fridays (June–August)

• Work From Anywhere: Up to 2 weeks per year

• Pension: 5% matched contribution

• Cycle Scheme: Bike or Lime/Forest Pass

• Personal Development: £300 annual allowance for approved training

• Wellbeing Support: Access to Spill app & Heka allowance (£40/month) + birthday/work anniversary boosts

• Annual Team Trip: Gastronomical & wellbeing-focused team away trip

• Parental Leave: Competitive maternity/paternity package

• Lots of free Mother Root