Matt Cotton

Rooted Food Sales

Helping innovative and best-in-class brands grow their Foodservice business.

Founder and CEO

Atlantic Sea Farms

Strategic Advisor

Rodeo CPG

Launched and grew Rodeo’s Foodservice division

Director of Foodservice

Veggie Fries

•    Created new distribution with Sysco, US Foods, PFG, Reinhart and other regional distributors in the first 6 months
•    Launched and managed 4 new regional brokers in first 6 months
•    Created a partnership with Foodbuy/Compass  
•    Led Farmwise sales into College and University, Business and Industry, Healthcare and Concessions 
•    A small sample of accounts include Gillette Stadium, Fenway Park, U Maryland, URI, Harvard, LinkedIn and Kaiser Permanente

Director of Foodservice Sales

Plenus Group, Inc.

•	Created 7 new points of distribution in first 18 months
•	Established and launched four new accounts that brought in $1,000,000+ annually in sales
•	Successfully brought company into the College and University category, gaining over 15 new accounts including University of Maryland, MIT and BU
•       Launched, managed, two brokerages in New England and upstate New York

Good Tastes, Public Benefit Company

•	Grew Food Service sales from $0 to 15+ major distributors, 100+ operators, $250,000 gross sales in first 6 months
•	Brought 7 new SKUs to market across c-store, campus, restaurant, concession, grocery, B&I, HC
•	Launched, managed 4 brokerages, 45+ broker reps  across 10 states 
•	Managed company’s presence at distributor food shows, district meetings & general sales meetings; Good Tastes’ lead representative at all shows/meetings

National Sales Director

Vitamix

• Researched new opportunities; created and managed Vitamix’s market share in over 100 new venues.
• Sold over 1550 units in 2013 with gross sales of $650,000.
• Ranked first in sales for Northeast region in 2013 and second in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and was awarded MVP in 2010, placed first in quality sales in 2010
• Chosen Sales Representative for Whole Foods kickoff trial event after just six months with the company resulting in selling over 40 units in five days; sparking the now very successful partnership with Whole Foods
• Helped manage, maintain and grow the Massachusetts Whole Foods account from the onset of partnership

Sales Representative

After 6+ years of being a “pitch man” for Vitamix (microphone and all), I shifted to the Foodservice industry in 2014. I built robust Foodservice businesses from scratch at two emerging brands (both within a year). I then spent three years with a 60 million-dollar food company, which offered me a totally different vantage point on the industry. 
 
In March 2020, I combined all of my experience and started my own brokerage that is focused on “better for you” brands, Rooted Food Sales. I am beyond grateful to get to work with people I love and help incredible brands grow their business in the Foodservice world!

Helping natural food brands grow their Foodservice business.

I respectfully cut someone off early in an interview to let them know it wasn’t the right fit.
And here’s why…

I am very direct and clear when it comes to hiring, as our sales team is the most important part of Rooted Food Sales.

One of the major pillars at Rooted Food Sales that separates us, is our passion and proactive approach to hunting and creating new business everyday.

Of course we can farm/manage with the best of them…but that’s the easy part. 

Because here’s the truth: my intuition and process for interviewing has tightened up tremendously. The right people light up when asked the right questions. 

That’s the kind of energy I’m looking for at Rooted Food Sales.

Founder & CEO | Foodservice Keynote Speaker | Passion for Health | Racket Sports Enthusiast

Our team meeting didn't happen this week.

And honestly? I couldn’t be prouder.

The entire team is out in the field meeting with customers, driving new business, and building traction for the brands we represent. 

Sometimes the best sign of progress is when the work itself takes center stage!

Clarissa Boston is the absolute bomb.

Every ounce of effort we give at Rooted Food Sales is focused on becoming a stronger sales organization — and having Clarissa as our jack-of-all-trades, super organizer is absolutely key to that continued leveling up.

I have so much appreciation and gratitude for Clarissa. She’s deeply grounded, wise, sharp, strong, confident, proactive, and just an all-around positive, awesome person. She’s also so invested in Rooted Food Sales and our growth and the systems she’s put in place and the support she provides are game changing.

Cheers to you Clarissa Boston. Thank you for all that you do and for who you are.

This is one area where I see foodservice sales folks get stuck…

When the sales communication is only email… you HAVE to mix it up and use some creative muscle.

If there were a million dollars on the line, would you just send an email and wait? Of course not. You’d get creative. 

You’d pick up the phone, send a text, maybe even drop a handwritten note in the mail, whatever it takes to get a response while respecting the relationship.

The key is balance. You don’t want to be pushy or damage trust, but you also don’t want to disappear into the inbox void. Strong sellers know how to diversify their communication channels and lean into them at the right time.

What could that look like?

Pick up the phone
Send a text (if appropriate)
Show up in person
Send a thoughtful letter or package in the mail
Send a LinkedIn message

Don’t get in the narrow rut of just emailing.

The strongest sellers at Rooted Food Sales and in the industry, have many communication lanes with email being only one of them.

What would you add as another communication lane to consider outside of email?

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In business school, Levon Kurkjian was taught a simple rule:

👉 Consumers buy with emotion. Businesses buy with logic.

It sounded neat and tidy… until he got into the real world.

Working with foodservice brands, Levon realized that B2B decisions aren’t purely rational at all. Yes, operators and distributors want the data, the proof points, the ROI. 

But they also need to like the experience. They want to feel excited about the product, trust the team behind it, and believe in the story.

The truth? B2B is both logical and emotional. Numbers get you to the table. Emotion closes the deal.

It’s a reminder that even in “business decisions,” it always comes back to people.

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