MACK DORVAL

Head of US Sales Candidate
15-year sales operator. AI systems builder. The player-coach Choco needs to capture the US market before the moat erodes.
140%+
Avg Target
92%
Eng. NPS
275
Team Size
12
Voice Agents Built
Tariff pressure peaks Apr–Oct 2026 — distributors who don't digitize won't survive. The window is NOW.
MOAT WINDOW: calculating...
Why Mack + Choco = Category Creation
🚀
15 yrs

Sales at Scale

Built and led organizations up to 275 people. Top 3% of managers company-wide. Player-coach who stays on the floor.

🤖
12

Production Voice Agents

Built with OpenAI, ElevenLabs, and Claude. Shipped Arcmirror to the App Store. Not conceptual — production AI builder.

🌱
1/3

Mission Alignment

One-third of food is wasted before reaching consumers.[1] This isn't just business — it's a moral imperative I'm built to solve.

🔥 The 3P Framework
People
Hire for character, coach for competence
Process
Systems that make good behavior easy
Performance
Measure to illuminate, not punish

🎙 I Know This Product — Because I've Built It

Simulated Choco Voice Agent interaction — this is what I explain to distributors from lived experience

📞
SPANISH • 2:47 AM
"Necesito 40 cajas de pollo, 20 de cerdo, y 15 de aguacate para mañana temprano."
✓ Order captured in real-time via OpenAI Realtime API
✓ Translated, structured, pushed to ERP in 3.2 seconds
✓ Confirmation sent via SMS in Spanish
✓ No night-shift employee needed
💬
Mack's edge: "I don't read a script about this. I've built exactly this system — voice capture, real-time processing, multilingual output. I debug this at 2 AM."
🎯 Role Fit Assessment
Sales Leadership at Scale98%
Player-Coach Mentality96%
AI / Technical Fluency95%
Data-Driven Management97%
Team Development & Culture99%
Outbound Sales Machine Building94%
Food Distribution Domain42%
⚡ Domain = 30-Day ProblemSOLVABLE
🔒 Click to Reveal: What No Other Candidate Brings

I ship product.

While other candidates talk about AI, I've built Arcmirror — a Jungian archetype journaling app with 12 distinct voice agents, live on the App Store this month. I built Resonance — 6 voice personas on ElevenLabs Conversational AI. I built a Zero-PII architecture (patent pending) for privacy-preserving AI applications.

My tech stack: React • TypeScript • Supabase • OpenAI • ElevenLabs • Claude • Hume AI

"Domain knowledge is a 30-day problem. The leadership operating system takes 15 years to build."

📄 Professional Experience
140%+
Avg Target Attainment
92%
Employee Engagement NPS
275
Team Members Managed
40%
Loans/Agent Increase QoQ
Sept 2024 – Present
Central Sales Manager
Purpose Financial
Improved conversion rate by 23% (17.2% to 21.3%). Launched Tableau-based scorecard system increasing individual performance by 15%. Developed new commission structures. Reduced churn by 10%. Drove 40% increase in loans per agent QoQ.
Oct 2022 – July 2023
Interim Inbound Sales Director
Comcast Cable Communications
Directed 275-employee sales organization. Achieved 12% YoY revenue growth. Sustained 92% employee engagement during organizational transformation. Cross-functional leadership with QA, HR, Marketing, Workforce.
July 2016 – Aug 2024
Inbound Sales Manager
Comcast Cable Communications
Exceeded revenue goals by 50%+ consistently. Boosted mobile mention rate by 52%. Led performance analysis with Tableau across 300+ interactions/month. Ranked top 3% of managers company-wide.
June 2011 – July 2016
Inbound Sales Supervisor
Comcast Cable Communications
Surpassed targets by 135%. Grew team by 200%. Designed division-wide sales tracking tools. Selected for Manager Development Program pilot.
Aug 2003 – July 2011
Customer Care Supervisor / Sales Agent
Comcast Cable Communications
Progressed from frontline agent to supervisory leadership. Top Voice of Customer (VOC) recognition. Built mentoring programs for peer development.

Education & Certifications

  • MBA in Sales Management — Nova Southeastern University
  • BS in Business Administration — Kaplan University
  • AA in Computer Science — Miami Dade College
  • Google Professional Cybersecurity Certificate (2024)

Technical Proficiency

  • CRM & Analytics: Tableau, Salesforce, Excel Dashboards
  • AI Platforms: OpenAI APIs, ElevenLabs, Claude, Hume AI
  • Development: React, TypeScript, Supabase, Node.js
  • Collaboration: Microsoft Teams, Slack, Cross-functional PM

MACK DORVAL

Greater Raleigh, NC • 305-970-5920 • mcximus@icloud.com • linkedin.com/in/mackdorval

March 8, 2026 • Hiring Team — Head of US Sales • Choco

Dear Choco Hiring Team,

I'm writing to express my interest in the Head of US Sales role at Choco. As a sales leader who has spent 15+ years building, coaching, and scaling high-performing teams — consistently exceeding targets by 140%+ — I'm drawn to Choco's mission to reshape the food supply chain through AI-powered technology. The opportunity to bring player-coach leadership to a unicorn-stage company solving real operational problems at scale is exactly the kind of challenge I thrive in.

My leadership approach is rooted in what I call the 3P Framework: People + Process = Performance. At Comcast, I led a 275-person sales organization as Interim Sales Director, delivering 12% year-over-year revenue growth while maintaining a 92% Employee Engagement NPS sustained over five consecutive years. I achieved those results from the floor — coaching reps, reviewing deals, diagnosing customer challenges in real time, and building the systems that made consistent execution repeatable. That's the player-coach mentality Choco is looking for.

In my current role leading outbound sales at Purpose Financial, I've driven a 23% conversion rate improvement, a 40% increase in loans per agent quarter-over-quarter, and built a Tableau-based performance system that lifted individual productivity by 15%. I've also developed incentive structures and contributed to departmental OKRs that connect frontline execution to strategic goals — exactly the structured, data-driven sales rhythm this role demands.

What makes me particularly compelling for Choco is my combination of large-scale sales leadership and genuine AI technical fluency. I've built with conversational AI platforms, React, and TypeScript — which means I can speak credibly about how Choco's AI voice agent transforms distributor operations and why technology adoption requires trust-building with customers who may be resistant to change. Pair that with a track record of developing future leaders (ranked top 3% of managers company-wide) and a culture-first approach to performance, and you have a leader built for what Choco needs next.

I'd welcome the opportunity to discuss how my experience scaling sales teams and driving technology adoption translates to accelerating Choco's growth across North America. Thank you for your consideration.

Best regards,
Mack Dorval
305-970-5920 | mcximus@icloud.com
🔎 Competitive Intelligence Dossier — Q1 2026
THREAT
ESCALATION
Pepper $50M raise. GrubMarket $4.5B. Window compressing.
86%
Supply chain leaders feeling tariff impact[2]
12-18mo
AI moat window before competitors replicate
ONLY 2
Companies with production AI voice agents (Choco + GrubMarket)

⚠ GrubMarket — The Dark Horse

Potentially highest long-term threat to Choco's US market position. Different model, same customer.

$4.5B
VALUATION[4]
$2.4B
REVENUE[4]
12K+
EMPLOYEES
90+
ACQUISITIONS

Only company operating at the intersection of physical distribution AND software/AI at scale. Profitable on EBITDA basis. 6 distinct AI agents deployed. CNBC Disruptor 50 trajectory[5]: #41 → #23 → 3rd consecutive year (2025). Procurant acquisition added $5.5B GMV and 850+ customers overnight.[6]

⚡ Pepper — Primary Near-Term Threat

$50M Series C (Feb 20, 2026)[3] — 3 weeks ago. $30B annual GMV.[3] Scaling fast.

Strengths:

70+ ERP integrations (broadest in market). Comprehensive AI across sales, ops, finance. Fresh $50M capital. $30B GMV data flywheel.

Vulnerabilities:

NO real-time voice agent (critical gap). NO OpenAI partnership. Only 48 employees — execution risk at scale. Not yet profitable.

Competitor Threat Funding Voice Agent AI Agents OpenAI Partner US Presence
GrubMarket HIGH $600M+ ($4.5B val)[4] YES 6 agents NO STRONG
Pepper HIGH $99M[3] NO Broad AI NO STRONG
REKKI MEDIUM ~$60M[8] NO REKKI Connect NO WEAK
Cut+Dry LOW-MED ~$13M[9] NO 'Yes Chef' NO US-NATIVE
Orderlion LOW Undisclosed NO Blog only NO MINIMAL
Silo LOW Undisclosed NO NO NO REGIONAL
Choco (Us) $328M[7] YES ★ Voice + Platform YES ★ GROWING

Key Strategic Insight

Choco's Voice Agent creates a NEW switching cost dimension that no competitor currently offers. Once a distributor replaces their night shift with Choco AI, they can't easily go back. The tariff window (Apr-Oct 2026) shifts the sales motion from "nice to have" to "survive or die."

The US market needs a wartime sales leader. This is not a peacetime hire.

🚀 90-Day Battle Plan: Capturing the US Market

What I would execute in my first 90 days as Head of US Sales. Built from competitive intel, market timing, and 15 years of building sales organizations from the ground up.

Days 1-30

ABSORB & ASSESS

  • Map every active deal and rep performance baseline
  • Shadow 20+ customer/prospect calls — learn distributor language
  • Audit current pipeline velocity, conversion rates, deal stages
  • Meet with Product, Marketing, CS — understand Voice Agent roadmap
  • Learn ERP landscape, margin structures, distributor personas
  • Identify quick wins — low-hanging pipeline acceleration
  • Build relationship with Dot Foods partnership team
Days 31-60

BUILD THE MACHINE

  • Deploy Tableau/analytics scorecard — real-time rep visibility
  • Redesign coaching cadence: weekly 1:1s, deal reviews, skill sessions
  • Build outbound prospecting playbook — tariff urgency messaging
  • Launch Dot Foods activation pilot — target first 50 distributors
  • Create Voice Agent demo script that sells the "night shift replacement"
  • Hire/assess first 2-3 AEs for outbound expansion
  • Establish weekly pipeline review rhythm with CRO
Days 61-90

ACCELERATE & SCALE

  • Full outbound engine running — predictable pipeline generation
  • First Dot Foods cohort converting — prove the channel model
  • Performance framework live — every rep knows their daily behaviors
  • Present Q3 revenue forecast and scaling plan to leadership
  • Identify and develop first internal team lead (future manager)
  • Competitive war room established — weekly intel updates
  • Deliver first "customer saved by Voice Agent" case study

🎯 90-Day Success Metrics

+30%
Pipeline Growth
50
Dot Foods Activated
100%
Rep Scorecard Coverage
3
New AEs Onboarded
THE DATA NEVER LIES. GO GET IT.
📚 Industry Glossary — Terms, Definitions & Choco Impact

Every term you need to speak fluently in the food distribution technology space. Each entry maps to how it impacts Choco's business and your sales conversations.

Abbreviation Full Term Definition Choco Impact & Sales Relevance
ERP Enterprise Resource Planning Integrated software system managing core business operations — inventory, accounting, purchasing, order fulfillment. In food distribution, it's the source of truth for product catalogs, pricing, and stock levels. CRITICAL: Choco's Voice Agent pushes orders directly into distributor ERPs in real time. ERP integration is the #1 technical barrier to adoption and the #1 switching cost once connected. Pepper has 70+ ERP integrations — Choco must match or exceed this. Every sales conversation starts with "What ERP do you run?"
GMV Gross Merchandise Volume Total dollar value of all goods/orders processed through a platform over a period. Measures transaction volume, not revenue. BENCHMARK: Pepper claims $30B annual GMV across 500+ distributors. Choco's GMV is the key growth metric for investors. Every distributor you onboard increases GMV. The Dot Foods partnership (4,000 distributor customers) represents a massive GMV expansion opportunity.
GTV Gross Transaction Value Similar to GMV but often used to include service fees, commissions, or platform charges on top of goods value. MONETIZATION: As Choco matures, GTV becomes the basis for take-rate pricing models. Understanding the difference between GMV and GTV matters when discussing revenue per distributor with leadership.
ARR Annual Recurring Revenue Annualized value of subscription/recurring contracts. The gold standard SaaS metric for predicting future revenue. GROWTH TARGET: As Head of US Sales, your comp and the company's valuation trajectory are directly tied to ARR growth. Each new distributor adds predictable recurring revenue. Upselling Voice Agent to existing customers expands ARR without new acquisition cost.
NRR Net Revenue Retention Revenue retained from existing customers including expansion and contraction. 100%+ means customers are paying more over time without needing new logos. HEALTH CHECK: High NRR = sticky product. Choco's Voice Agent + SalesHub creates multiple expansion paths per account. If distributors start with ordering and add CRM + Voice, NRR climbs. Target: 120%+ for best-in-class food tech.
ACV Annual Contract Value Average annualized revenue per customer contract. Used for deal sizing and sales planning. DEAL SIZING: Understanding distributor ACV ranges is essential for quota setting, territory planning, and forecasting. Larger distributors = higher ACV but longer sales cycles. The mid-market sweet spot is where Choco likely has the highest win rate.
DSR Distributor Sales Representative Field sales reps employed by food distributors who sell products to restaurants, grocers, and institutions. They're the customer's primary relationship. END USER: DSRs are the humans Choco's SalesHub is built for. They use the CRM daily. Your sales pitch must resonate with distributor leadership AND the DSRs who will adopt the tool. Cut+Dry's "Yes Chef" AI specifically targets DSR prospecting — a competitive angle.
SKU Stock Keeping Unit Unique identifier for each product variant. Food distributors manage thousands of SKUs across perishable and non-perishable categories. COMPLEXITY: The Voice Agent must correctly match spoken product names (in any language, at 2 AM) to the right SKU. This is why OpenAI's Realtime API matters — natural language → SKU mapping at speed. More SKUs = more value from AI automation.
MOQ Minimum Order Quantity Smallest amount a distributor will fulfill for a single order. Varies by product, customer tier, and delivery route. SALES OBJECTION: Small restaurants worry about meeting MOQs. Choco's platform can aggregate orders intelligently. The Voice Agent can suggest alternatives or bundle recommendations in real time — a key differentiator in sales demos.
EDI Electronic Data Interchange Legacy standard for exchanging business documents (orders, invoices) between systems. Widely used in food distribution but rigid and expensive to maintain. DISRUPTION OPPORTUNITY: Many distributors still rely on EDI for order processing. Choco replaces rigid EDI workflows with flexible AI-powered ordering. "Replace your EDI with a voice call" is a powerful pitch — especially for smaller distributors who can't afford EDI infrastructure.
API Application Programming Interface Software interface allowing different systems to communicate. APIs enable real-time data exchange between platforms. CORE TECH: Choco's Voice Agent is built on OpenAI's Realtime API. ERP integrations work via API connections. As a sales leader who builds with APIs, you can speak to technical buyers (CTOs, VPs of Ops) with credibility no competitor's sales leader can match.
CRM Customer Relationship Management Software for managing customer interactions, sales pipeline, and account data. In food distribution, it tracks ordering patterns, DSR activities, and customer health. CHOCO HAS THIS: SalesHub IS Choco's food-specific CRM. It uses live order data for AI prospecting, churn prediction, and upsell opportunities. Unlike Salesforce, it's purpose-built for food distribution. This is a key differentiator — see Strategic Recs tab.
NPS Net Promoter Score Metric measuring customer or employee loyalty on a scale of -100 to 100. Calculated from "How likely are you to recommend?" surveys. YOUR SUPERPOWER: You sustained 92% Employee Engagement NPS for 5 years. Industry average for contact centers is ~60-70%. This stat alone tells Choco you build teams that want to stay and perform. Use it in every conversation.
OKR Objectives & Key Results Goal-setting framework where qualitative Objectives are measured by quantitative Key Results. Used by tech companies to align strategy with execution. ALIGNMENT: At Purpose Financial, you contributed to departmental OKR development connecting frontline activity to strategic goals. Choco as a Berlin-founded tech company almost certainly runs on OKRs. You speak the language.
RGU Revenue Generating Unit A single revenue-producing product subscription or service line within a customer account. Common in telecom/SaaS. EXPANSION METRIC: From your Comcast experience — you were Top Manager for Revenue per Agent & RGUs. In Choco's context, each product module (Ordering, Voice Agent, SalesHub, CustomerHub) is an RGU. Multi-product adoption = higher retention.
CAC Customer Acquisition Cost Total cost to acquire one new customer — includes sales, marketing, onboarding. Lower CAC = more efficient growth. DOT FOODS PLAY: The Dot Foods partnership dramatically lowers CAC because 4,000 distributor customers are pre-qualified warm leads. Your 90-Day Plan to activate 50 of these represents near-zero CAC expansion — exactly what investors want to see.
LTV Lifetime Value Total revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship. LTV/CAC ratio measures business health — 3:1+ is the SaaS benchmark. VOICE AGENT = LTV MULTIPLIER: Once a distributor replaces their night shift with Choco's Voice Agent, switching costs are enormous. This extends customer lifetime dramatically. High LTV justifies aggressive CAC — meaning you can invest more in sales hiring and outbound.
TAM/SAM/SOM Total/Serviceable/Obtainable Market Market sizing framework. TAM = total market. SAM = segment you can serve. SOM = what you can realistically capture. US MARKET SIZING: US food distribution is a ~$380B market. Choco's SAM is mid-market distributors ($10M-$500M revenue) who process orders via phone/voicemail. Your SOM in Year 1 depends on sales team size and Dot Foods activation rate.
EBITDA Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation & Amortization Profitability measure excluding non-operational costs. Shows core business earning power. COMPETITIVE INTEL: GrubMarket is EBITDA profitable at $2.4B revenue. Choco is likely not yet profitable. This matters because GrubMarket can outspend Choco in a war of attrition. Speed to market is critical — Choco must grow faster than it burns.
QoQ / YoY Quarter-over-Quarter / Year-over-Year Growth measurement comparing same periods. QoQ shows momentum; YoY shows sustained trajectory. YOUR LANGUAGE: You drove 40% QoQ improvement in loans per agent and 12% YoY revenue growth. Using these metrics shows you think in growth rhythms, not just point-in-time snapshots. Choco's board reviews QoQ and YoY religiously.

💡 Pro Tip: Speaking the Language

In your interview, weave these terms naturally: "What's your current ACV per distributor?" or "How does the Voice Agent impact NRR for existing accounts?" This signals you understand unit economics, not just sales tactics. Technical fluency + business fluency = the combination Choco can't find elsewhere.

💡 Strategic Recommendations — Unsolicited Value Bombs

These are insights you bring to the table unprompted. They demonstrate you're already thinking like an executive, not a candidate.

🌱 Proposed Public Dashboard

The Choco Impact Counter

Estimated cumulative impact since platform launch (2018) — based on public data and industry benchmarks

🍅
0
Food Saved from Waste
💰
0
Waste Cost Prevented
🌎
0
CO₂ Emissions Prevented
🍽
0
Meals Equivalent Saved
📊 Show Calculation Methodology (click to expand)

Source Data (All Public)

110,000+ businesses on Choco's platform[11]
1 in 3 orders contain errors upon arrival in traditional ordering[11]
97-99% accuracy with OrderAgent[12][13][14] vs. ~67% accuracy with manual phone/voicemail ordering
200B+ AI tokens processed[15] — confirmed by OpenAI team recognition
70% of food waste occurs in the supply chain before reaching consumers[1]
40% of all food produced globally goes to waste[16]

🍅 Food Saved — 82M lbs

Logic: Ordering errors are a primary driver of supply chain food waste. When a restaurant orders 40 cases of chicken but receives 40 cases of pork (a common voicemail/fax error), the correct product must be rush-shipped and the wrong product often becomes waste — especially perishables on tight shelf-life windows.

Calculation:
• 110,000 businesses × avg 3 orders/week × ~250 weeks at scale (2021-2026) = ~82.5M total orders processed
• Error rate reduction: 33% → 2% = 31% of orders saved from errors
• ~25.6M orders corrected that would have contained errors
• Avg error waste per incorrect order: ~3.2 lbs of food (conservative — perishable misfills, quantity errors, spoilage from reorders)
25.6M × 3.2 lbs = ~82M lbs of food saved from waste

💰 Dollar Value — $340M

Logic: Food waste carries a cost-per-pound that varies by product. We use a blended average across protein, produce, and dry goods — weighted toward perishables which dominate distributor orders.

Calculation:
• 82M lbs of food saved × $4.15 avg blended cost/lb[17]
= ~$340M in waste cost prevented
• Cross-check: Choco's own case study shows one client saves $23K/year. Across thousands of distributors over 5+ years, $340M is conservative.

🌎 CO₂ Prevented — 287K metric tons

Logic: Food waste generates greenhouse gases at every stage — production, transport, refrigeration, and decomposition in landfill. EPA estimates U.S. food waste embodies 170M MTCO2e annually.[18]

Calculation:
• 82M lbs (37,200 metric tons) of food saved
• Full lifecycle emissions: ~3.5 kg CO2e per lb of food waste prevented[19]
• 82M lbs × 3.5 kg = 287,000 metric tons CO2e
Equivalent to ~62,000 cars off the road for one year (EPA: 4.6 MT CO2e/car/year[20])

🍽 Meals Equivalent — 68M meals

Calculation:
• 82M lbs of food saved ÷ 1.2 lbs per meal[21]
= ~68M meals equivalent
• Context: Enough to feed every person in California for 1.7 days, or provide a year of meals for 186,000 families of four.

⚠ Important Caveats

• These are estimated projections based on public data, industry benchmarks, and reasonable assumptions — not Choco's internal data.
• Actual impact could be significantly higher or lower depending on Choco's true order volume and geographic mix.
• The 110,000 businesses figure includes restaurants and suppliers — not all are active daily orderers.
• The model uses conservative assumptions throughout (e.g., 3.2 lbs waste per error vs. industry reports suggesting 5-10 lbs for perishable misfills).
• This is positioned as a framework Choco could adopt and refine with real data — not a definitive claim.

⏱ The Real ROI Isn't Dollars

It's Time Given Back to People

Choco doesn't just cut costs. It gives DSRs and distributors back the time to do what actually grows the business: build relationships.

13s
Order Processing
(was 4-8 min)
15h
Saved Per Rep
Every Week
90%
Less Manual
Order Work
10-15%
Of Rep's Week
Reclaimed
1→5
One Person Does
The Work of Five

🎙 Distributor Voices — From the Dot Foods Innovations 2025 Panel[22]

If our DSRs can get out of the transaction, they can focus on what matters: customer success. We give reps back 10 to 15 percent of their week. That's time they can spend in front of customers.

— Jeff Tynes, SGC / Springfield Grocers (60+ reps)

They're not in their cars punching in orders anymore. Choco's doing the work for them. We're not paying reps to enter orders. We pay them to build relationships.

— Joey Barbagallo, Colony Foods, Boston (family business)

Customers don't want to change. They want to write notes and send texts. Choco was the best solution — tech for those ready, AI for those who aren't. Choco gets everything ready so quickly. I wish my team moved that fast.

— Ed Mayburn, Cotati Foodservice, California

With Choco's AI we've processed orders in 13 seconds for one of our largest clients, saving us around 15 hours a week. One person can now handle what would have previously required five.

— Mike Longo, Co-owner, Krystal Produce (150 clients, 1,500 orders/mo)

"AI isn't replacing people. It's replacing the bad decisions."

— Joey Barbagallo, Colony Foods

📈 Verified Case Study Results

Krystal Produce[12]

13-second order processing. 15 hrs/week saved. $23K/yr savings from one client alone. Zero order issues. 1 person now does the work of 5.

North West Meat Co.[13]

Order time 3 hrs → under 1 hr daily. 99% accuracy. $22K/yr labor savings. Nearly 70-year family business transformed.

Reach Foods + DeBragga[14]

90% reduction in order-processing labor. 96% accuracy. 15+ hrs/week saved each. 50% faster processing (DeBragga).

💡 Why Time Saved Matters More Than Dollars Saved

DSRs Become Revenue Generators

When reps stop punching in orders from their cars, they start selling. 10-15% of a 60-rep team's week back = 360-540 additional selling hours per week across the org. That's not a cost reduction — it's a revenue multiplier.

Relationships = Retention

In food distribution, customers leave when they feel like a number. DSRs with time to visit, consult, and problem-solve create the kind of loyalty that no competitor can poach. Time in front of customers is the ultimate switching cost.

Family Businesses Survive

Joey said it: "For my family business to keep going, we have to adapt." These aren't enterprise accounts. They're generational legacies. Choco gives them a future. That story sells itself — and it's the story that should be told publicly.

Sources: [22] Dot Foods Innovations 2025 Panel. [12] Krystal Produce case study. [13] North West Meat Co. case study. [14] Reach Foods & DeBragga metrics. All case studies available at choco.com/us/stories/case-studies. FB Wholesaler: 250% dairy sales increase via Choco eCommerce.

📡 The Untapped Brand Play: Food Waste Saved = Organic PR Machine

The Problem: Choco's Social Presence Is Invisible

27K
LinkedIn
4.6K
Instagram
561
Facebook
0
YouTube
0
Threads
$1.2B
Valuation

🚨 A $1.2B unicorn[7] with 110,000+ customers[11] has 561 Facebook followers, no YouTube channel, no Threads, and no active video content strategy. For comparison: Toast (restaurant tech) has 42K+ YouTube subscribers. Sysco has 17K+.[23] The category is wide open.

For a unicorn-stage company backed by $328M in funding and serving 110,000+ businesses globally, these numbers are shockingly low. Pepper doesn't even have a public following of note either — which means the entire food distribution tech category has zero brand presence in the public consciousness.

This isn't necessarily because they're doing something wrong — the industry is B2B and traditionally operates in the dark. But that's exactly the opportunity.

The Play: "Food Saved" as a Brand Currency

70% of food waste happens in the supply chain before it reaches consumers. Choco's stated mission is zero food waste. But they're not telling that story publicly with data.

PROPOSED: "The Choco Impact Counter"

A live, public-facing counter showing:

  • 🍅 Pounds of food saved from waste through Choco's platform
  • 💰 Dollar value of waste prevented for distributors
  • 🌎 CO2 equivalent — carbon footprint reduced
  • 🍽 Meals equivalent — "enough food to feed X families"

Why This Matters for US Sales:

1. Free press. Media outlets (NYT, WSJ, TechCrunch, local news) love "AI doing good" stories. Every time a distributor goes live with Choco's Voice Agent and eliminates a night shift while reducing waste, that's a press release. Nobody in this space is owning the narrative.

2. Distributor pride. Give distributors a badge: "Powered by Choco — X tons of food saved." They put it on their website, their trucks, their invoices. It becomes a selling point for THEIR customers (restaurants, grocers). That's organic co-marketing.

3. ESG and procurement leverage. Large restaurant groups and grocery chains increasingly have sustainability mandates. A distributor who can prove they reduced waste using Choco's platform has a competitive edge in winning those contracts. Choco becomes a revenue driver, not just an efficiency tool.

4. Talent magnet. Engineers and salespeople want to work for companies with visible social impact. A public impact counter makes recruiting easier — especially in a market where GrubMarket has 12,000 employees and Choco needs to scale fast.

5. Category creation. Right now, "food distribution tech" isn't a public conversation. By leading with impact data, Choco defines the category in the public mind before Pepper or GrubMarket can. The company that tells the best story wins the market narrative.

6. YouTube & video — the missing channel. Choco has zero YouTube presence. No Threads. 561 Facebook followers. This is a $1.2B company invisible to the public internet. A YouTube channel with short-form content — "Watch our AI take a midnight order in Spanish," "How this distributor saved $40K/year with one change," "What 1 million pounds of saved food looks like" — would generate organic inbound leads, build SEO authority, and create shareable proof points that DSRs send to their own management. Toast built a massive restaurant tech brand partly through video. Choco could own "food supply chain AI" on YouTube with almost no competition.

7. Threads & social storytelling. Threads is the emerging professional conversation platform. A presence there with real stories from distributors — "We used to have 3 people on the night shift. Now we have Choco's Voice Agent" — creates viral B2B content. Pair it with Instagram Reels showing the actual AI in action. The food industry is visual. Show the product working, not just describe it.

💻 CRM Intelligence: Choco Already Built It — Now Weaponize It

Choco SalesHub

  • ⚡ AI-powered prospecting from live order data
  • ⚡ Smart reminders for churn-risk accounts
  • ⚡ Upsell opportunity detection
  • ⚡ Live customer insights for DSRs

Choco CustomerHub

  • ⚡ Dedicated foodservice CRM
  • ⚡ Real-time visibility into orders & frequency
  • ⚡ Basket trend analysis
  • ⚡ Early churn detection

Key Insight: Choco already built a homegrown CRM purpose-built for food distribution — SalesHub and CustomerHub. This is a massive competitive advantage over Pepper and every competitor forcing distributors to bolt on Salesforce or HubSpot. Choco's CRM uses live order data to power AI insights. No generic CRM can do that.

The Sales Angle: As Head of US Sales, I would position SalesHub not as "our CRM tool" but as "the only CRM that actually knows what your customers ordered last night." Generic CRMs track what reps type in. Choco's CRM tracks what customers actually do. That's a fundamentally different product.

Recommendation: The "Dog Food" Play

Choco should be using SalesHub internally to manage its own sales pipeline. If the US sales team runs on SalesHub, every demo becomes authentic: "We use this ourselves. Let me show you my actual dashboard." This is the ultimate proof point. I would implement this in my first 30 days — the team sells using the same tool they're selling.

🤝 Dot Foods Activation: The $0 CAC Growth Engine

Dot Foods is the largest food redistributor in North America[24] with 4,000+ distributor customers.[10] Their partnership with Choco is potentially the most underappreciated asset in the portfolio. Here's the framework I'd execute:

Phase 1: Segment

Identify the 200 Dot Foods customers who still process orders via phone/voicemail at night. These are the distributors bleeding labor costs and making errors. They're pre-qualified for Voice Agent.

Phase 2: Co-Sell

Partner with Dot Foods sales team for joint outreach. Their reps already have relationships. Choco provides the demo and technical integration. Dot Foods provides the warm intro. Split the activation workload.

Phase 3: Case Study

First 10 activated distributors become case studies: "Eliminated night shift. Saved $X/month. Reduced order errors by Y%." These case studies feed the brand play AND accelerate the next 50 conversions.

10% of 4,000 = 400 distributors activated at near-zero CAC = category-defining growth

⚠ Tariff Urgency: The "Survive or Die" Sales Motion

The April-October 2026 tariff window creates a once-in-a-generation sales accelerant. Food distributors operate on 2-4% margins. When 86% of supply chain leaders report tariff impact and 51% have already raised consumer prices[2], there is no more room to absorb. The sales pitch shifts from "improve efficiency" to "automate or go bankrupt."

Proposed Outbound Sequence: "The Margin Math"

Email 1: "Your night shift costs you $X/month. Tariffs just cut your margins by Y%. Here's the math on why that night shift becomes unsustainable by Q3."

Email 2: "Your competitor [anonymized] just eliminated their voicemail ordering and reduced errors by 40%. They're using the savings to absorb tariff impact. Are you?"

Email 3: "In 6 months, distributors who digitized will have survived. The rest won't. Here's what the data says — and here's a 15-minute demo of how."

🌎 Geopolitical Risk Watch: Strait of Hormuz & Global Supply Chain Fragility

Risks ahead that compound the tariff urgency — and strengthen Choco's case

⚠ Active Threat Vectors

Strait of Hormuz Disruption Risk

~21% of global oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz.[25] Escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran, combined with ongoing Middle East conflict, create a real risk of shipping lane disruptions. Any closure or harassment of tanker traffic spikes global energy prices overnight — directly inflating food transportation and cold chain costs for every distributor in the U.S.

Broader Middle East Conflict Cascade

Houthi Red Sea attacks rerouted 90%+ of container shipping away from the Suez Canal in 2024-2025, adding 10-14 days and $1M+ per voyage.[26] If conflict escalates further, food ingredient imports (spices, oils, specialty produce) face extended delays and cost spikes. Distributors relying on imported products get hit on both price and availability.

+35%
Shipping cost increase from Red Sea reroutes (2024-25)[26]
2-4%
Typical food distributor net margin (razor thin)
$0.50-1.20
Added cost per case from fuel surcharges

💡 Why This Makes Choco's Pitch Even More Urgent

The compounding effect: Tariffs + energy price spikes + shipping disruptions + labor shortages = the most hostile operating environment for food distributors in a generation. When margins are already at 2-4% and every cost line is inflating simultaneously, the distributors who survive are the ones who eliminate waste everywhere they can — starting with the ordering process.

Choco's positioning: In this environment, the Voice Agent isn't a technology upgrade. It's an insurance policy against operational collapse. A distributor who eliminates their night shift, reduces order errors by 90%, and cuts processing time to 13 seconds has removed three entire cost lines from their P&L. That's the difference between surviving and closing when diesel hits $6/gallon and imported ingredient costs spike 20%.

Sales messaging shift: The outbound pitch evolves from "save time and money" to "build resilience before the next disruption hits." Every week a distributor delays digitization is a week they're exposed to supply chain shocks they have zero capacity to absorb at current margins.

Context for interview: If tariffs or macro conditions come up, this is a layered insight bomb: "It's not just tariffs. The Hormuz Strait risk, Red Sea rerouting, and energy price volatility are all compounding at the same time. Distributors on 2-4% margins don't have one shock to absorb — they have four. That's why the digitization window isn't 18 months. It might be 6."

The Bottom Line

I'm not just applying for this role.
I'm already doing the work.

This dossier contains competitive intelligence, market analysis, CRM strategy, brand positioning, partnership activation frameworks, and outbound messaging that most candidates don't deliver after being hired. I delivered it before the first interview.

THE DATA NEVER LIES. GO GET IT.

MACK DORVAL • mcximus@icloud.com • 305-970-5920 • LinkedIn • Prepared March 2026