Our Sales Team
Our personnel offer nearly 200 years of combined sales experience in the highly competitive supermarket trade class extending from West Virginia to Maine. Key sales personnel possess significant expertise gained from working with and for national consumer products companies.
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Mikel began his career as a vacation relief driver for Interstate Brands Corp. (Dolly Madison Cakes) in 1980. At age 25, he became the youngest District Manager in the company, in charge of Arizona. Due to exceptional growth in the first two years, Mikel was put in charge of Nevada, Utah, and So. California.
After 10 years with IBC, Mikel was approached by a headhunter and subsequently moved to Pennsylvania as VP of Sales for Penn Dairies, Inc., with sales coverage from Virginia to Maine. While putting together a deal in DC between Marriott and Haagen-Dazs, he was asked to take the job of General Manager of the new Haagen-Dazs facility in Moorestown, NJ, with distribution covering all trade classes in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
After the sale of Pillsbury to Grand Metropolitan, Mikel joined Johanna Foods, Inc., as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, where he grew the business to all trade classes nationally from 1993-1999.
Mikel was recruited in late 1999 as President of R-1, a large brokerage firm in St. Louis, servicing Aldi, Save-A-Lot, and Dollar General. Upon the death of the then president of MPS in New Jersey, Mikel was recruited to fill that position which he held from late 2003 to the end of 2006.
Mikel left MPS in November 2006 and started Empire Food Marketing in January 2007. He acquired Regional Access, a broker in Harrisburg, PA, in 2008. Empire Food Marketing currently services all supermarkets from West Virginia to Maine, east of Pittsburgh.
Jennifer is a Key Account Executive and has been with Empire Food Marketing since its inception in 2007. She has 23 years of experience in consumer grocery product sales and account management.
Jennifer has worked with various wholesale and independent accounts in the New York marketplace, as well as direct headquarter calls to several accounts including ShopRite, A&P, White Rose, C&S, Associated, Met, Pioneer, Kings, and many others. Her focus is sales, promotions, pricing, distribution, and ad frequency objectives.
Jennifer has worked for several brokerage firms, both national and regional, including Mai-Metro (her start in the industry), CROSSMARK, and MPS. She has held several positions during her career including Sales Representative, Retail Sales Supervisor, Category Analyst, and her current position of Key Account Executive.
Jennifer has her BA from The College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, NJ.
Pete has been with Empire Food Marketing since 2008. He heads up the Mid-Atlantic Division and is located in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, office.
Prior to joining Empire Food Marketing, Pete was the President and Founder of Regional Access Inc., a broker in the Harrisburg area. He also spent several years at Advantage Sales and Marketing as General Manager, and later Sr. Vice President/Grocery Team Leader. Earlier in his career, Pete held several sales and marketing positions with Daniels/Sladek Associates.
Pete has 40 years Food Retail Sales and Marketing experience. He has a BA from East Stroudsburg University and his MBA from St. Joseph's University.
Paul has been with Empire Food Marketing since January 2008. He is responsible for sales of all product lines represented to SuperValu Eastern Region, Giant Eagle Pittsburgh, Tops Markets, and Wegmans Markets.
Prior to joining Empire Food Marketing, Paul was a Senior Vice President with Regional Access, Inc. for eight years. Paul also spent several years as General Manager for RF Byers, a large specialty food distributor in central Pennsylvania. He was the Eastern Regional Sales Manager for Spring Tree Corp., covering 24 states, managing 35 brokers and 185 accounts. Earlier in his career, Paul was a Sr. Business Development Manager at ESM, and Senior Vice President and General Manager of Daniels/Sladek Associates.
Paul has been in CPG sales for 44 years. He is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Business Administration.