40 years experience in food, half in foodservice leadership.
References. You’ll work directly with me.
Budget. We’ll accomplish as much as possible with constraints.
I know experts and lean on them to do what’s right for you.
You’ll get my best. I live by my ethos. You won’t be blindsided.
Plan development takes collaboration and challenging. I’ll do both as a partner and leader.
Why
Experienced in national and international category management leadership.
I know what it takes for you to succeed.

Grow Foodservice was formed to help vendors excel in foodservice, especially foodservice distribution. Based on extensive experience in sales and category management, founder Rich Wolverton has a passion for helping others succeed. As a category manager, Rich coached vendors on how to effectively sell more product to the distributor he worked for and to their customers. As Vice President of Corporate Category Management for a major distributor, Rich enjoyed playing a part in the success of his teammates.
With his background of half his career in food sales and half in foodservice category management/merchandising, Rich sees the full cycle of profitable sales. As a relationship builder, he has resources in all aspects of distribution: sales, QA, logistics, finance, marketing, CM and more.
Grow Foodservice will work along side our clients to help them develop the strengths needed to succeed in efficient distribution of their products.
Put another way…..Grow Foodservice partners with clients to give them decades of experience in foodservice distribution without sacrificing extensive time when bringing products to market.
Ethos
I aspire to these cultural beliefs and energize people who share them.
Transparency
Do the right thing.
Servant Leader
Create a great project of collaboration.
Risk & Reward
Advise on and take well seasoned risks.
Consistency
Be consistent in all circumstances, not just the easy ones.
Time Matters
Avoiding “time sucks” like meetings without clear agendas & deliverables.
Integrity
I do this work focused on being your advocate. It is linked to my purpose.