Location: Irvine, CA (Hybrid – 4 days in office, 0.5–2 days in field)
Company: Newport Meat Company
Salary: $78K – $107K (Glassdoor est.)
Schedule: Monday–Friday, 7:00 AM – 4:00 PM
This isn’t just a purchasing job — it’s full-category ownership over all frozen and fresh seafood. You’ll manage vendor relationships, negotiate pricing, optimize logistics, guide marketing efforts, and spend time with the sales team to help expand customer reach.
Highlights:
Total control over the seafood category
Hands-on involvement in product, pricing, and promotion
Cross-functional collaboration with logistics, sales, and marketing
Hybrid structure offers a mix of office and field work
Requirements:
3+ years in seafood merchandising or purchasing
Strong analytics, negotiation, and vendor management skills
Microsoft Office proficiency
Comfort working independently and cross-functionally
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Would You Take This Job?
It’s specialized, well-paid, and gives you the reins over an entire product category — but it also demands experience, autonomy, and in-office time.
Is this your kind of leadership role?
Or too niche and logistics-heavy?
If it were me. I’d try: take it only with clear ownership of the vendor portfolio and inventory KPIs. otherwise I’d pass. The $78K,$107K range and the Monday,Friday, 7:00 AM,4:00 PM schedule are fine if I can set timelines, negotiate supplier terms, and control turns and shrink. Does that sound realistic for you?
Tempting if there’s a bonus tied to margin/rebates, but $78–107k feels light for Irvine considering seafood volatility and vendor wrangling. 7am start and 4 days in-office are fine for ops, but I’d want clarity on travel to ports and weekend calls when supply goes sideways. Anyone know if Newport pays meaningful incentives or is it mostly base?
In OC, $78–107k feels light for a seafood buyer unless there’s a solid bonus; the 4 days in office with 7am starts plus field time is a grind. I’d only be interested if there’s real margin upside (rebates/bonus) and decent autonomy — anyone know how Newport structures comp?
I’d bite if there’s a clear bonus tied to GM and rebates; base alone feels light for Irvine given shrink and volatility. I’ve run fresh/frozen before — 7am’s fine, but 4 days in-office plus field time needs a car allowance and real T&E. Do they share target GP and rebate %?
I’ve done fresh/frozen in SoCal, and the make-or-break was comp and accountability: ask for a sample monthly GM/rebate report and clarity on who owns shrink, freight, and credits on QC rejects. If rebates flow to corporate or shrink hits your P&L, that $78–107k feels very thin.
I’d ask how they handle weekend inventory turns and Sunday landings - if you own fresh, you’ll eat Monday shrink unless ops adjusts pars. One thing that saved me was baking vendor quality claims into the deal (photo + temp-logger threshold = automatic credit within 48 hours), which kept GM steady through summer heat waves.
Role Summary: