CCO

HENDI is a leading business in professional kitchen equipment with a strong European footprint. The company develops, sources, and distributes about 4,500 own-label products through local sales teams and trusted resellers. The Chief Commercial Officer drives HENDI’s further acceleration through an ambitious commercial strategy. Unlocking sustainable organic growth, they focus on share of wallet and focused expansion across Europe’s largest foodservice markets.

About HENDI

HENDI is a leading European developer and distributor of professional kitchen equipment and non-food catering supplies (Tools for Chefs). With a broad portfolio of approximately 4,500 products, ranging from cutlery and pans to ovens and refrigeration units, HENDI serves the full breadth of the hospitality industry. Over 95 percent of products are sold under the HENDI label, known for its quality, durability, and attractive pricing. Clients include international wholesalers, foodservice dealers, e-commerce platforms, and key accounts such as hotel and restaurant chains.

Founded in 1934 and headquartered in the Netherlands, HENDI has grown into a European organization with offices in six countries and a Hong Kong sales office, conducting sales in more than sixty countries. The organization has twelve geographic entities across the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Romania, Italy, Spain, China, and Hong Kong and a joint venture in Greece. At the moment, HENDI is in the process of incorporating entities in Sweden, France, and Germany. The company operates six modern warehouse hubs across Europe and manages its supply chain and rigid quality control via its dedicated sourcing and quality control team in Hong Kong. The manufacturing of HENDI’s products is outsourced to a diversified group of manufacturers and its own production joint venture in China. This setup enables fast delivery, consistent quality, and efficient operations – giving HENDI a strong competitive edge in a fragmented market.

Since the partnership with private equity firm 365 Capital in 2024, HENDI has entered a new growth phase. The strategic ambition is to scale revenue from circa 160 million euros to 250 million euros by 2029 through organic growth at sustainable margins. To succeed, the company’s commercial organization needs to evolve while maintaining its entrepreneurial DNA. Commercial execution is decentralized across the different entities and key regions, each with its own local team and market dynamics. HENDI’s leadership is committed to complementing local initiative with a more centralized data-driven, performance-oriented, and scalable commercial function. The resulting sales culture will fuel HENDI’s significant revenue growth at sustainable margins and continued success.

Vacancy: Chief Commercial Officer

The Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) leads the transformation of HENDI’s sales organization and brings structure, focus, and performance to a decentralized commercial operation – building the best-in-class commercial strategy, team, and capabilities needed to grow organically across Europe.

Success is defined by sustainable revenue growth to 250 million euro by 2029 and margin resilience as a direct result of the implementation of a commercial strategy by entity by country by customer segment by top customers. Key priorities include increasing share of wallet with top accounts, accelerating growth in underpenetrated markets such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Nordics, and building a high-performing, KPI-driven sales organization across all entities.

While the CCO sets out to strengthen HENDI’s commercial strategy, they also aim to preserve the lean, entrepreneurial execution that has made HENDI into the success it is today. Working across diverse European markets, it is critical for the CCO to build trust with local teams and acknowledge their ownership while still driving alignment around group-level strategy and performance. They lead with empathy and cultural sensitivity while raising the bar.

“We are not looking for just an ‘Officer.’ It is a rare combination, but this organization needs someone who has been in the sales trenches—someone who can guide but also jump in when the situation calls for it.” – Tom Buch, Co-owner and Co-CEO HENDI

In HENDI’s entrepreneurial culture, respect and credibility are earned through action, not hierarchy. The successful CCO also spends time with sales teams, engages with customers, and is seen as a sparring partner rather than just a strategist. Especially in early stages, they balance board-level thinking, often in close collaboration with the CFO, with the ability to “get in the van” and visit clients if needed.

Transforming HENDI’s sales culture
To provide a solid foundation for growth, the CCO drives commercial excellence across HENDI’s entities. The sales organization has historically grown rapidly but informally, with each entity operating relatively independently. The CCO builds a unified commercial strategy and introduces sales playbooks, KPIs, and routines. This requires a shift in sales culture to value data and rigor in combination with existing intuition and relationships. The resulting more proactive, accountable approach is supported by performance management and coaching, and if needed, personnel changes. To lead the change successfully, the CCO works closely with local leaders and considers the diverse cultures and sales environments across European markets.

Ambitious organic growth
Realizing HENDI’s ambition requires unlocking growth from existing clients and winning in underpenetrated markets with high potential. Across all entities, the CCO implements strategic key account planning for the top ten customers per entity, sets up data-informed segmentation, and aligns incentives and sales activities to share-of-wallet growth at sustainable margins. They tailor the go-to-market plans to improve sales coverage and team efficiency.

“You can’t run France like you run Poland, and you can’t tell the Austrians what to do from Poland. The CCO leads through influence, not hierarchy—and knows when to adapt and when to align.” – Maksymilian Kultys, Co-Owner and Co-CEO HENDI

Setting the organization up for scale
Sustainable transformation and acceleration of HENDI’s commercial organization depends on aligned and capable leadership at every level. The CCO ensures local leadership is on board with the group strategy and objectives. They evaluate and restructure the commercial team where required, coach and support existing talent, and recruit A-players to complement the sales teams.

Leadership at HENDI
The CCO reports to the co-CEOs and the Group CFO. Together, they realize HENDI’s ongoing transformation. As the CCO oversees all commercial functions across the HENDI Group, the regional commercial directors – while formally reporting into their local structures – have a functional reporting line to the CCO for all matters related to commercial strategy and performance. The CCO also actively works with over 140 local salespeople across all countries. Over time, they are expected to build a small central team with group-wide capabilities to support roll-out and alignment. The CCO also participates in the regular board meetings with HENDI’s private equity partner, 365 Capital.

“This is a business that has grown through great instincts and relationships. Now we need someone who respects that legacy but knows how to add commercial discipline and insights from our data without killing the energy. ” – Freddy Peeters, Group CFO HENDI

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced commercial leader who thrives in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment and knows how to turn vision into execution. The CCO brings a hands-on, extroverted leadership style and a track record of building high-performing commercial teams – someone who hires and develops talent but also makes tough calls when needed. They combine commercial sharpness with a data-driven mindset, particularly around pricing, margin management, and key account development. Their credibility in the organization is driven by their pragmatism, low ego, and hard-working attitude. Leading from the front, the CCO seizes the opportunity to define what ‘great’ looks like for HENDI – and brings their entire team along.

Interested?

HENDI is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Gijs Millaard at gijs.millaard@topofminds.com.