Description

I’m a Senior Strategy & Product/Category Consultant with 15+ years of experience helping retailers, grocery brands, food companies, and rapidly growing startups scale smarter and faster.

I specialize in product & category strategy, go-to-market planning, vendor operations, and private label product development. My background includes major retailers, emerging food tech brands, and early-stage startups.

I help clients achieve:

• Building and optimizing product/category assortments

• Improving margins through pricing, sourcing, and vendor management

• Designing and executing GTM strategies and innovation roadmaps

• Creating scalable operations and workflows for vendor onboarding and data management

• Launching private label products from concept to execution

I’m known for quickly diagnosing complex business challenges, creating clarity, and delivering actionable, high impact solutions. I work equally well at the strategic level and in the operational details needed to make strategies come to life in store or online.

Based in Barcelona and working globally, I partner with clients across the US and EU. I'm available for strategic consulting, fractional leadership roles, short-term projects, and fast turnaround advisory work. I look forward to connecting with you about your brand!

Industry field of expertise

Languages

English
Native or bilingual
Spanish
Conversational

Workplace preferences

Can work on-site

Ho Chi Minh City (up to 50km)

Caitlin Gardulescu Consulting
Senior Strategic Consultant
RETAIL (LARGE RETAILERS)
January 2023 - Today (3 years and 7 months)
Barcelona, Spain
• Advise consumer goods and lifestyle brands on sourcing, product development, assortment strategy, and vendor negotiations.
• Develop trend-informed product roadmaps and category strategies aligned to margin, positioning, and design requirements.
• Streamline supply chain workflows, vendor management processes, and multi-warehouse visibility for scaling brands.
Product Development Supply-Chain Management Category Management GTM Strategy Vendor Management
FoodHealth Company (formerly Bitewell)
Director of Vendor Operations
HEALTH AND WELLNESS
March 2024 - July 2024 (4 months)
New York, NY, USA
• Drove Ops for DTC food products, overseeing cost negotiations, sourcing, supply planning, and SKU lifecycle management.
• Increased gross margins by up to 50% through optimized purchasing and price negotiations.
• Built and managed supplier relationships across all food and beverage categories, onboarding new suppliers for growth.
• Developed and analyzed P&L statements for all retail operations, delivering insights in regular reviews with the CEO and COO.
Supply-Chain Management Procurement Growth Strategy Pricing strategy Vendor Management
Amazon Fresh
Senior Vendor Manager (L6), Clearance & Seasonal
RETAIL (LARGE RETAILERS)
March 2022 - November 2022 (8 months)
New York, NY, USA
• Championed the creation, implementation, and successful execution of a comprehensive Clearance program across all sites, reducing the organization's total shrink risk by $3M in 2022.
• Owned GTM strategy for all Seasonal categories, shaping assortment, pricing, and delivery timing to drive a +22% YoY increase.
• Streamlined processes for both Clearance & Seasonal, accelerating timelines and improving operational efficiency.
• Led 40+ person cross-functional team for total store & online Clearance and Seasonal.
• Proactively identified and integrated new Seasonal vendors, elevating the customer experience through diverse product offerings.
Category Management Process Management GTM Strategy Vendor Management Pricing strategy