Mentors Matter

Provide outsourced sales management for the organic & natural foodservice and e-commerce food & beverage market. Natural Source Sales offers brokerage and sales management services to the natural foods industry. We provide a value-added approach towards developing a foodservice presence in the Western U.S. We represent both grab & go snacks and foodservice pack sizes. Multiple vendors are combined under a single portfolio. We will help you develop and grow your food service sales in the West. Healthy food is in demand in foodservice. We offer a variety of certified organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, kosher, low-sodium, dairy-free, fair trade, vegan, local and low glycemic foods. We are committed to the growing number of natural and organic brands, and enjoy eating the fine foods in our portfolio as much as we enjoy representing them. Consider the costs of maintaining a regional management team vs. the savings of working with Natural Source Sales to develop and accelerate your foodservice program. We leverage decades of industry knowledge and relationships to advance your foodservice sales program at a great value.

Jim Badalati shares his expertise on broker and sales management with the Emerge community. He has years of of experience gaining initial distribution and optimizing current distribution practices. Jim is the Senior Vice President of Customer Development at Crossmark, and has expertise in nearly every category.

Allison Ball, a former Grocery Buyer & Head of Grocery at Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco, now consults with CPG clients on the behind-the-scenes of wholesale & retail. Her clients range from small vendors launching their first product, to entrepreneurs opening their first market, to well-established retail stores and nationally known food producers. She concentrates on supporting sustainable, community-focused businesses, promoting unique, delicious products, and coaching small business owners on developing strong management teams, creating effective operational systems, and building strong business models.

I am a passionate social impact entrepreneur providing employment and opportunity for adults in underserved populations.

Partners with growing brands to improve their business forecasting, e-commerce strategies, and broker relationships. Spent years building his expertise in sales strategy, while working with companies like IAM's, Stacy's Pita Chips, and Boom Chicka Pop, as they evolved from emerging to household brands. Mike also shares insights on retailer interests, when working with emerging brands. Companies include Publix, Kroger, Harris Teeter, and Sprouts.

Julie helps emerging brands set strategic sales strategy including retail prioritization, key processes, and go to market approach. She shares insights on what it takes to win in different channels and with different retailers.

Elliot Begoun is the Founder of The Intertwine Group, a practice focused on helping emerging food and beverage brands grow and become scalable and investable. He works with clients to design and execute customized go-to-market strategies that drive sales, build velocity, gain distribution, and win share of stomach. Catch him at FoodBytes in his role as a mentor and find his articles in publications such as the Huffington Post, SmartBrief, and New Hope.

Outsourced VP of Sales | Full-Time Results. Part-Time Cost.

Food industry marketing expertise—from retail to food service— is a natural outcome of having deep knowledge in every facet of a business’ operation. With 10 years in branding and business development, preceded by 15 years in mass media and promotions, Stephanie holds an executive-level expertise in sales, marketing, media, and production management. This exceptionally diverse skill set adds value for clients by providing a full complement of perspectives on food-industry brand management endeavors. Wired for a hawkish attention to detail, while also maintaining a high-resolution view of the big picture, Stephanie is uniquely able to provide astute branding direction and simultaneously apply the business principles necessary to squeeze more bang out of every marketing buck.

Kelly Bottenfield is an accomplished sales professional with the proven ability to help emerging brands with advisement in the following areas: sales and distributor management, purchasing management, broker and team management, merchandising, and marketing. Kelly brings expertise in diverse areas of natural grocery, conventional, club, c-store/drug, e-comm and foodservice. She has been instrumental in achieving record growth in saturated markets with her decisive leadership skills.

Amaris Bradley brings key expertise as a registered dietitian with a keen understanding of strategic nutrition communications and food policy. Her experience includes partnership-building, CSR strategizing, and health professional outreach and nutrition communications. Currently, Amaris is Senior Account Lead at Eat Well Global, a highly-specialized strategic consulting firm focused on food, nutrition and health. In her role, she supports clients in planning and executing strategic health professional outreach and activations domestically and abroad. Prior to joining Eat Well Global, Amaris served as the resident nutrition expert at the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), a national nonprofit founded my Michelle Obama dedicated to leveraging the power of the private sector to bring lasting, systemic changes that improve the nation’s food supply and increase physical activity. While at PHA, Amaris brokered partnerships to transform the marketplace via third-party verified commitments to reformulate, innovate and market healthier options. Before joining PHA, she was Senior Account Executive at Porter Novelli, a global public relations agency where she executed nutrition communications strategies for a number of food boards and brands, including the Almond Board of California, NatureMade Vitamins and SOYJOY bars. Amaris holds a master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree in dietetics from the Florida State University. She is an active member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and serves as communications chair for the Food and Culinary Professionals Dietetic Practice Group.

Bob specializes in bringing natural, organic and specialty products to market. Prior to consulting, Bob was the VP, Sales & Corporate Development with Stonyfield Farm, and has held marketing positions with Colombo, Inc. and Sperry Top-Sider. Bob was named one of the “Top 25 Business Builders of the Natural Products Industry for the last 25 years” by Natural Foods Merchandiser Magazine. Co-author of the Natural Products Field Manual, 8th Edition. www.naturalconsulting.com