Dishing with Stephanie's Dish

Lisa Nicholson went from local farmers markets to your grocery store produce section with her Salsa Lisa's Fresh Salsa. Find out how she made the leap from a case of salsa at a time to a large scale commercial kitchen in St Paul while maintaining that farmers market freshness. Support the show Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas t...

If I told you that there are two guys, in a boat, in the dark, with a bow, on a Minnesota lake shooting Carp and hauling them back into the boat and turning them into organic fertilizer - you would have the story of the Two Mikes The Two Mikes were childhood friends who turned their love of fishing into a business turning Carp into Organic fertilizer sold under the name "Two Mikes Green Fin P...

Scott Mayer didn't see himself as an event promoter. He did see himself as someone who was interested in bettering his community, who liked talking with people and who saw a need to bring the "party" to some underserved industries who rarely took time to celebrate their achievements. First it was the Ivey Awards that served the theater industry. From there he brought about the Charl...

From IT Recruiter with On Demand Group to Heathers Dirty Goodness Spices and Crooked Water Spirits, Heather Manley is a serial entrepreneur who has made her 3 loves all work for her in business and in Life. When you ask Heather Manley how she started her companies she will tell you she structures her life around three things: family/friends, food and booze. Her first endeavor was growing her famil...

Chiara and Tony Bolton fell in love with bees first then each other. This husband and wife entrepreneur team learned the bee keeping trade from Chiara's experience on a farm in China. Once bitten by the love of bees, they started mating queens and genetically selecting them for the best characteristics for Minnesota to create more thriving bee colonies. From bees to their bee by-products of B...

Manufacturing in Minnesota is alive and well on the shores of Lake Minnetonka where we found Brooks Chandler and her growing company, Canvas Back. Canvas Back makes custom bed liners for your car. Dirty dogs, leaves or wood logs can all stand up to the wear and tear of these waterproof and durable liners custom made for cars in Minnesota. Support the show Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook...

Mark Levine can see a good opportunity when it happens. After helping a client self publish a book he realized there were not very many good resources or "how to manuals" so he created one and it propelled him to be the self publishing expert! Hear his story here Support the show Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephan...

Dean Phillips comes from a long line of successful entrepreneurs. In his world, that success comes with responsibility. From his early days of college he worked in his families distillery and gradually worked his way up to be on the team that reimagined many of Phillips recipes from the 1950's including the flavored vodka line we now know as UV Vodka. Other brands followed like: Revelstoke Wh...

Laura Hlavak started designing clothing when she was 10 years old. Throughout her career she designed active wear for Rollerblade and NordicTrack before she started her own retail store and designed children's clothing. After running the store for 5 years, where she designed, manufactured and sold her clothes she took a break to have her third child and closed the store. She felt she needed t...

We have all heard of upcycling or re-using possessions in new creative ways but Julia Moss did it and turned it into a business and a retail shop in Uptown. Do you have plated silver in your buffet that you haul out every Thanksgiving or Christmas and beg the kids to polish so you can eat off it? Julia Moss did too until she found a way to powder coat it in fabulous colors that allow you to repurp...

Nick Kosevich went from Town Talk Diner bartender to hospitalitarian to Minnesota maker. As a partner in Bittercube he helped create and launch the 8 flavors of Bittercube cocktail bitters. What started out as improving on the craft cocktail scene became a movement as they expanded the Bittercube brand identity of these products and helped refine and define the evolving craft cocktail movement in...

Chad Gillard was a food carney turned entrepreneur who saw so many great food products being produced but very few making it to supermarket shelves. How could he take the knowledge he learned about packaging and marketing and help food producers scale their products for the grocery store? Maybe if they collectively shared their ideas and brain space they could shorten the time to get to market. Th...

Ryan Furness started his entrepreneurial career selling pencils from his school locker. A frustrated foodie who had a hard time finding his favorite local products, he began noodling on store locators and their platforms. He created the web site and store locator NearestYou to help answer the age old question, "Where can I find your products?" Support the show Follow the Makers of Minnes...

Jennifer Cermak was trying on bathing suits in anticipation of her honeymoon. The experience left here in tears. Did trying on bathing suits have to be awful? Could she re-engineer the bathing suit shopping experience to make it fun and helpful and dare we say even fashionable? Hear how she did just that by opening Nani Nalu and eventually manufacturing her own bathing suit line for D-GG cup women...

Melissa Farris went from living in London and going to school to importing French medical grade essential oils and packaging them in her garage in Bloomington. Today her essential oils, Veriditas Botanicals, can be found in over 100 stores in Minnesota but also nation-wide. Melissa knows her organics and the importance of how you use and prescribe essential oils. Learn more about essential oils, t...

When you think of pioneers in the restaurant business in Minnesota you think of Phil Roberts, Co-Founder and CEO of Parasole. Buca, Oceanaire, Manny's, Muffaletta, Mozza Mia, Burger Jones, Chino Latino and Figlio are all Parasole restaurant concepts. In this episode we revisit some of his successes and failures along the incredible path he has forged on our restaurant scene. Phil shares his u...

Becky Sturm was from three generations of hairdressers when she decided she would pursue her passion and break out of the salon business and create new beauty products. From retail store to online website, Storm Sister Spatique was born. From creating a line of lipsticks to a 3-way beauty bar she has forged a path through the competitive beauty products industry by offering niche products that she...

Ryan Ott is has a big vision for crafting unique spaces, having founded Midwest Tiny Living to build Tiny Homes and Camping Pods. Through Ryan's ability to build and craft unique environments, he is helping people fulfill their big dreams of Tiny living, camping and traveling with their portable homes. Support the show Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram @Make...

Tracy Dyer had a great job at Best Buy. On her corporate travels, she discovered women wanted fashionable laptop bags. She envisioned the perfect laptop bag but could not get anyone to manufacture her vision. In 2008, she took her father's advice, "don't die with the music still in you" and founded Urban Junket to create bags and totes for women. In this podcast the founder of...

On this episode of the Makers of Minnesota podcast, host Stephanie Hansen chats with Cathy Skinner, Minnesota Cup semi-finalist and creator of Thrivors, an individualized exercise and nutrition self-managed program on a mobile app. How did Cathy bring this app to market? What were the challenges? And what is it like to compete in the Minnesota Cup start-up competition? Support the show Follow the...

On the debut episode of the Makers of Minnesota podcast, host Stephanie Hansen sits down with Gina Holman, founding partner of J. Carver Distillery -- a grain to glass micro-distillery located in Waconia, and makers of J Carver Spirits. Stephanie Hansen pulls back the curtain to find out how Gina helped grow this company. Support the show Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook , Twitter , and...