Meet Matt Rebackoff | Founder & CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matt Rebackoff and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, how does your business help the community?
This has been embedded in the ethos of the company since its inception. Every transaction has had a charitable aspect since the site was launched. When I started MR EATWELL, I gave the customer the option of where 10% of proceeds would go from their order. I was donating a few dollars to hundreds of different charities a month. Since about a year in, we changed the model to be a different charity/cause monthly because as order volumes increased, it became untenable to do a different charity for every order. We also have some drop/collab-specific causes. Between us and our partners we’ve collaborated with, we’ve donated around $50k to charity since launching.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We’re a clothing brand that makes clothes about food. And drinks. Sometimes we branch out a little bit, but that’s usually the deal. I’ve been obsessed with food and comfort my whole life, so I decided to combine those two things and dedicate my life to it. And while I always try and remember when things get stressful that at the end of the day we’re making sweats with pasta on them, and no one’s lives are on the line.

But, we do try and do things differently and make people’s lives better if we can. I think our biggest differentiator is our customer service. For better or worse, I’m an avid consumer of goods and services. Because of this, I’ve had hundreds, if not thousands, of interactions with companies and brands throughout my life. Almost every single one of them has been bad. I often get off the phone with a customer service rep feeling like I’m just an account number or a line on a balance sheet, and I hate it. So we treat people like people, and more specifically, the people that make it possible for us to do this thing that we love for a living. When our first significant drop was late shipping because of production and shipping issues, I called every customer, explained what was going on, and conveyed how important they were to me. And I was thankful that they spent their hard-earned money on my product. And, especially with COVID and supply chain issues becoming the norm over the last couple of years, we have run into plenty more delays and treat them the same. We’re transparent, and we try and be proactive. People are stunned when I call to let them know something is running late or to call and say thank you for being such a good customer because people have been conditioned to be treated like shit by companies.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m not going to claim to know Miami well enough to give any real advice. But for New Orleans, I’ve got a list for you for sure:

Eat:
Turkey & the Wolf
N7
Palm & Pine
Paladar 511
Lengua Madre
Cafe Du Monde for Beignets
Sylvain
Parkway Tavern for Po Boys

Drink (Full Disclosure: I actually don’t drink alcohol anymore, but I still love a good bar):
Anna’s
R Bar
Jewel of the South
Bar Marilou
Barrel Proof
Cane & Table

Hang Out (This portion is hotel-heavy, but that’s because a lot of the coolest spots to hang out happen to be hotels. All of these spots also have fantastic bars and restaurants):
Chloe Hotel (great pool)
Saint Vincent Hotel (great pool, but I think it’s hotel guests only)
The Columns
Peter & Paul

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
This is tough because there have been so many people that have helped with the success of the brand, but without Heather McMahan, MR EATWELL would not exist. I landed a collab with Crystal Hot Sauce in month two of business. I had countless people telling me I had to get some to a comedian that LOVED Crystal named Heather McMahan. I didn’t have her address, so I tagged her in a post, and so did some other people, and one night she saw it and re-posted it. I got 80 orders and hundreds of followers overnight. I hadn’t reached 80 orders total to that point. We started DMing, she placed an order, I sent her some extra stuff, and the next time she posted about the brand a couple of months later, I got 200 orders, and I quit my day job, We collaborated on the Parmsuit and did as much in sales in one day as I had in my first year. She’s been an incredible supporter of the brand and is a fabulous person I’m proud to call a friend.

Website: http://mreatwell.com

Instagram: http://instagram.com/mr_eatwell

Image Credits
Mary Hannah Harte (only photo with pink background)