Marc Connor’s initial foray into plant-based foods wasn’t an entrepreneurial endeavor. It was a personal one.
A few years ago, Connor began to place a greater emphasis on his nutrition and adopted a plant-based diet. But as he altered his diet, Connor struggled to find quick and easy meals he could eat amid his busy schedule. That sprouted the creation of rootberry, a St. Louis plant-based foods startup co-founded by Connor that makes and sells prepared plant-based meals, shareables, salads and desserts.
“There was a need, just selfishly, to figure out how to have delicious food that was good for you, and that’s where we started,” Connor said.
Rootberry launched in June 2021 with a direct-to-consumer delivery service model. It offers delivery of its products within the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County. It has since expanded to sell its products at 48 retail locations, which include local grocery stores and universities. It has formed a pact with another local food company, Del Carmen Foods, to expand its product line.
While it offers an array of food products, Connor said rootberry’s main focus is on its prepared meals. Its product line includes ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat dishes like its peanut buddha bowl, aztec enchiladas and Indian chickpea curry. Meals currently sold on its website are priced from $7.99 to $11.99 per meal.
As rootberry seeks to expand its product line and distribution, it’s also expanding its footprint. It has established its own headquarters, relocating its production operations from a shared commercial kitchen. It has taken over the former Weber Grill Restaurant location at the Saint Louis Galleria in Richmond Heights. Rootberry says the roughly 9,000-square-foot former Weber Grill location, vacated last year, provides it with the needed space for the preparation and production of its products as it charts growth and expansion. In addition to its kitchen, the former restaurant facility includes two dining rooms, a bar, two patio spaces and training space.
Rootbery is using its new facility to make its products and as its corporate headquarters. It is keeping the former restaurant’s current footprint and interior design in place. For example, Connor said his company is utilizing the dining room as its office space.
“My office is a booth,” Connor said.
Currently, rootberry doesn’t plan to make its new headquarters a consumer-facing facility, but Connor said that could come in time, with the startup possibly adding components such as a grab-and-go storefront within the facility. Rootberry has inked a lease for the space that is less than five years in length, Connor said.
“My hope is that we can find a way to be around longer in this space,” Connor said.
Connor co-founded rootberry with J.T. Norville, who is co-founder and managing partner of hotel management group Midas Hospitality. Connor previously was chief experience officer at Midas and credits Norville for his adoption of eating plant-based foods.
“He was the guy that introduced me to plant-based eating,” Connor said.
Rootberry’s co-founders have funded their company through personal investment and financing from a small group of angel investors. Connor said. The company has 25 full- and part-time employees.
While rootberry so far has limited its operations to the St. Louis region, the startup has ambition to expand. Connor said the company hopes to begin exploring other markets at the start of 2023. He expects its new headquarters and production facility to provide a blueprint on how to replicate its operations elsewhere.
“I think this move and this location is going to give us the example of how to do that,” he said.
