Bob Burke

As a consultant since 1998, Bob Burke provides assistance in bringing natural, organic and specialty products to market across most classes of trade. This includes work in growth strategies, writing sales and business plans, budgeting, pricing, building distribution, broker selection and management, organizational development, strategic options, financing, branding, trade spending management and assistance around M&A, due diligence and venture strategy groups. He is also the co-author and co-publisher of the Natural Products Field Manual, Ninth Edition. Prior to consulting, Bob was with Stonyfield Farm Yogurt for 11 years as Vice President, Sales & Corporate Development and Vice President, Marketing & Sales. He has held marketing positions with Colombo, Inc. and Sperry Top-Sider. He received an MBA from Babson College.

Sample Clients: Have had the privilege of working with and learning from exciting companies such as: Annie’s Homegrown, Oregon Chai, Snyder’s of Hanover, UNFI, Kraft Foods, Bayer Consumer Care Division, ConAgra, Kellogg’s, General Mills, Stacy’s Pita Chips, Kettle Cuisine, Small Planet Foods, New Hope Natural Media, Bushes Beans, Equal Exchange, Stirrings, Immaculate Baking, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Dancing Deer Bakery, Rice Select, PMO Wildwood, S.C. Johnson, Blake’s All Natural Foods, Megafood, Mighty Leaf Tea, Theo Chocolate, The Jane Goodall Institute, Kashi, Project 7, Vermont Creamery, Bord Bia, Tea Forte, Orgain, Tofurky, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Bausch + Lomb, Boehringer Ingleheim, Harbar LLC, Rhino Foods, The ProBar, Hail Merry, Mamma Chia, Heel USA, Nature’s Path, Pfizer, Dave’s Gourmet, Sopexa USA, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, Bob’s Red Mill, New England Natural Bakers, Quantum Health, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, Califia Farms, Taza Chocolate, Integria, NutPods, Glanbia Ingredients, Valio, Fazer Chocolate, Cali’Flour, Curaleaf CBD, Fora Foods, Mason Dixie Biscuit, Vive Organics, and others.

He currently serves as an outside director for EcoFish, Saffron Road, All Terrain, Uncle Matt’s Organic, Cali’flour Foods and King Arthur Baking, where he also serves as board chair. He serves on the advisory boards of Noops, Wildgood, and Maine Crisp Co. He is a former director of Stonyfield Organic, Orgain, Equal Exchange, Stirrings LLC, Pulmuone-Wildwood, Nutrabella, Farmwise, MegaFood, and the Specialty Food Association.

He also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Nutrition Business Journal and he is the co-founder of the GENA Group, a share group of leading natural and organic manufacturers. He serves as a Beachhead Advisor with New Zealand Trade & Enterprise and works in a similar capacity with Bord Bia, Business Finland, Business Sweden, the Quebec Delegation and various Canadian Consulates in the US. He serves on Industry Working Group, Education and Preparedness of the Specialty Food Association. He is a member of The Angel Group. He is on the board of the non-profit Hirshberg Entrepreneurship Institute. He is also on the board of advisors of the Boy’s and Girl’s Club of Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Also serves as a volunteer mentor with Project Place in Boston, Santander Bank’s Cultivate Small Business Program, The Shift Fellowship, Emerge Network and Naturally Boulder.

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. He was also named an inaugural Senior Fellow at Food Sol, within the Lewis Institute at Babson College.

He has been qualified as an expert witness in federal court on the subject of the sales and marketing of natural, organic and specialty products.

Bob has delivered presentations, seminars and moderated panels at leading trade shows and conferences such as Natural Products Expo East & West, The Specialty Food Association’s Winter and Summer Fancy Food Shows, Naturally Good Business Summit in Sydney, Natural Good Expo trade show in Sydney, Australia, Nutrition Capital Network, International Keynote speaker at Innovest in Auckland, New Zealand, Natural Products Europe in London, Bord Bia in Dublin, Canadian Consulates in Boston and Chicago, Quebec Delegation in Boston, Agrifood Trade Services in Nova Scotia, Saskatoon and Quebec, the CHFA Expo East in Toronto, BevNet Live, Project NOSH and their Boot Camps in New York and Santa Monica, the Global Access Advisors conference in Melbourne, Australia, the National Health Store Conference in London, and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise educational programs throughout New Zealand. He is also a presenter and panelist at the Hirshberg Entrepreneurial Institute Boot Camp in Auckland and Boulder. He authored the Specialty Food Association’s White Paper on Trade Promotion. Also interviewed on the Product Launch Rebel Podcast and the BevNet’s Taste Radio Podcast both found on iTunes.

He also runs full day seminars and networking events on “Becoming a more Effective Sales Manager in the Natural and Specialty Channel” and “Financing your Natural and Specialty Products Company”. For complete info, please visit www.naturalconsulting.com.

Bob lives in Andover, MA with his wife, Kathy and four children: Conor, Caitlin, Devin and Rory spoiled dog.