Concept & Basic Beliefs

Market Connections Group combines the energy and market power of several emerging companies; allocating its industry knowledge, creativity, marketing expertise, time, capital, systems, and relationships with brokers, distributors, and retailers in order to generate positive results faster, cheaper and with less aggravation than any one of its client companies could do on its own.

We Believe:

• Brand building is not just selling.  It is a deliberate process that creates great value beyond top line sales, but demands in return a long-term commitment of time, capital and passionate labor.

• The who is more important than the what.  The most valuable resource of a company is the human capital in its team members, clients, brokers, service providers and friends.

• Becoming an excellent company requires a long-term dedication to continuous learning, training and improvement.

• Speed to market is critical.  Time saved by manufacturers in understanding “market reality” and executing realistic action plans can mean the difference between success and failure.

• The combined market power of several emerging companies is as powerful as that of a more established company.

• There are more similarities than differences in successful “go to market” strategies of emerging brands. 

The Development of Market Connections Group (MCG)

Caught up in the rapid consolidation of the food industry, David Hollister, the founder of MCG, saw first hand what was happening to small and emerging companies and the daunting challenges they were facing.  A believer in the entrepreneurial spirit, he was drawn to assisting these companies; which he often did while a Category Manager at Ralphs Grocery Company in Los Angeles.   These experiences gave him his starting point and a new company was born in February 2000.

MCG started as Market Connections Consulting, a pure consulting firm.  David was deeply involved in the creation and development of several natural/ specialty focused companies.  Starting in early 2002, the company took its first steps to become a brand and sales management company by launching Double B Natural Jerky; managing both their development and sales on a national basis.  Since then, the company has focused nearly all of its resources on developing a solid foundation for an effective and efficient system to build new brands.

Through the process of managing a few initial brands, David realized that they had similar needs and the process of their development had more similarities than differences.  In fact, having more brands made the process easier.  Instead of selling one or two brands when traveling, he was now pitching three or four, thus spreading the cost of making each sale.  The efficiency in working with multiple brands was also transferred to MCG’s clients.  There were cost savings for them in the development and printing of sales materials and most importantly the participation in trade shows. 

Market Connections Group Today

MCG manages brands on a national, Western regional and a Southern California regional basis. When we represent companies on a multi-regional basis, we work with the company to develop the sales tools, promotional programs, pricing, and sales plan for the brand.  We assist the company in areas such as marketing, package design, public relations, logistics, general industry knowledge and virtually every aspect of bringing the product through the process of launch and expansion. 

Through this guidance, we work to prepare the company for the challenges of building a brand by being very candid about what needs to happen, how the retailers and distributors work, and what financial and other resources will be required for the next stages of development.   The strategic plans developed between MCG and the client is then implemented by the sales team directly and indirectly through regional brokers.  Essentially, MCG at its very basic level becomes a client company’s outsourced sales and marketing team.

Our Team

R. David Hollister, Founder & President
David Hollister is President of the company that has grown into Market Connections Group since its founding in February 2000. His involvement in the food industry started early; his father ran an independent supermarket. Since then, David has had a passion for all kinds of food, especially unique ethnic cuisine. After many years of counseling manufacturers from the buyer’s chair, he made the transition to consulting and sales with the formation of MCG.

Prior to the formation of Market Connections Group, David was the Category Manager for Natural, Specialty and Ethnic Food at Ralphs Grocery Company in Southern California. He had previously held a variety of buying positions of increasing responsibility with retailers and wholesalers such as Albertsons, Hughes Family Markets and United Grocers. He is a graduate of the University of Portland (BA Philosophy 1991) and the University of Southern California (MBA Entrepreneurship 2000). At USC, David was awarded the Marcia Israel Outstanding Student Award upon graduation. He was also awarded a top five finish and the “Pounding the Pavement” award for his final business plan which resulted in the founding of Market Connections Group.

David serves as Co-President on the Board of Directors of Food from the ‘Hood, a not-for-profit food company that provides real world training and college scholarships for students at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles. His wife, Somrak, is also an entrepreneur. Her company Baan Changthong (“House of the Golden Elephant”), based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, is a traditional Thai dance and music performance company, which has performed in France, Singapore, and China as well as extensively throughout Thailand.

Ron Sebasto, Director of Operations
Ron Sebasto joined MCG in January 2008 as our Director of Operations.  He is responsible for managing our sales team and our network of regional brokers.  Ron has an extensive background in the food industry; including significant experience with both beverage and snack companies building and managing sales teams.  Prior to joining MCG, he ran all sales and marketing activities for Snack Masters, a brand of natural meat snack products, and served at several beverage companies, including A & W, Shasta, Canada Dry USA, and Monarch Beverage in roles of increasing responsibility.

John M. Gurich, Eastern Regional Manager
John Gurich has served as a Regional Manager for MCG since November 2003. He is responsible for sales in the Northeast, Midwest, Southwest/Texas, and Southeast.  John has thirty years of experience in the food industry including fifteen with Ralphs Grocery Company and twelve with A-1 International Foods / Gourmet Award Foods in Southern California. John has a degree in Finance from California State University Long Beach. He and his wife Allison have two children; Paige and Owen. Allison has been a personal chef and has run her own business for over ten years.

Roberta Fleischer, Western Regional Manager
With over 31 years in sales and marketing experience, Roberta has helped to launch brands such as Cardini Salad Dressing, Horizon Organic Dairy, Lily of the Desert, Nile Spice, and Sonoma Tomatoes (Timber Crest Farms). For several years, her company R/R International served as MCG’s Southern California regional broker. Starting in January 2006, she joined MCG in a more intensive role. Her sales responsibilities include management of Southern California natural and mainstream key accounts, and management of sales in Hawaii, Northern California, Northwest, and Intermountain region.

Kate Flores – Administrative Director
Kate joined MCG in September 2007.  She manages all order processing, promotional activity, and all administrative functions in the MCG offices; including customer service for our clients, distributors and retailers, broker assistance, Turnlink updates, and event management.  She is also responsible for trade show activity and execution of trade show follow up.

Angelina Sosa – Retail Sales Manager Southern California
Angie Sosa calls on multi-store natural food chains and independent stores in Southern California.  She joined MCG in August 2003 in a clerical position and quickly established herself as a key part of our team. She managed all office operations and inside sales and in 2006 moved into outside retail sales.  She also assists with our major tradeshow activities.

Joyce Ging – Sales Representative Southern California
Joyce represents MCG’s brands in the San Fernando Valley and all points North to Bakersfield and San Luis Obispo.  She calls on natural foods, specialty and supermarket retailers.  She joined MCG in September 2007 and brings with her a wealth of specialty and natural food sales experience.

Shenandoah “Chano” Yrigollen – Warehouse / Shipping
Chano joined MCG in January 2007.  He manages all shipments of samples and fulfillment orders.  He also manages samples, sales materials, and supply inventories.

Rebecca Puente – Event Coordinator / Office Assistant
Rebecca joined MCG in July 2007.  She manages events and demos for our brands and assists with assorted administrative duties.

Kathy Martinez – Office Assistant
Kathy joined MCG in June 2007.  She processes orders and assists with daily office tasks.

Allison Gurich –Inside Sales Western Region
Allison joined MCG in August 2007.  She assists our brokers in the Western Region by telemarketing independent retailers.

Maritza Palacio – Inside Sales Eastern Region
Maritza joined MCG in June 2006.  She supports John and assists our brokers in the Eastern Region by telemarketing independent retailers.