While not newsworthy to those of us in the industry, CNN pulled back the curtain back to reveal the Wizard beyond United Natural Foods Michael Funk.
NBN remembers meeting Funk by the keg of Sierra Nevada ale, in the then brand new Mountain People’s Warehouse in Aurora, California.
Oddly enough, Funk, as atypical as any CEO in America has avoided the attention of the media. Mountain People’s, once the outsider distributor on the West Coast, now outsells once powerful Tree of Life five-fold, through its 1990’s acquisitions of competitors, notably Stow Mills, Cornucopia and Rainbow Distributors, and through ongoingly maintaining strong vendor and retailer relations.
Mountain People’s growth is widely believed to have been fostered by Funk’s genius in logistics, ensuring that trucks never traveled empty by also hauling freight for other manufacturers en route to deliveries or when returning to the warehouse.