This Commerce Life

A what? A dacquoise + macaron = Dacaron. Jimmy Kim talks about their journey to bring the Dacaron to Canadian consumers.    Find wonderful Dacarons at: https://www.earthlingfoods.ca/ Talk to Jimmy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmy-kim-8219838b/ Vote for Jimmy here: https://www.bcfbawards.com/vote Make sure you sign up for CHFA here: https://www.chfanow.ca/toronto/  

Riaz Meghji, Author of Every Conversation counts comes on to talk about conversations, journaling and connections.   Find Riaz here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/riazmeghji/ Riaz's book is here: https://riazmeghji.com/book   Make sure you sign up for CHFA here: https://chfa.ca/en/Events/chfa-now Sign up for our newsletter here: www.thiscommercelife.com    

Karen Danudjaja the founder of Blume comes by to talk about startups, not knowing retail and celebrating wins. We were pretty excited to talk to Karen - she's an incredible founder with a wonderful outlook on how she wants to approach her business.   Find Karen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-danudjaja-8275682a/   Shop Blume here: https://itsblume.com/   Make sure you sign up for CHFA here...

We get the '101' about chocolate and social enterprises. Mara Mennicken is the 'GOOD' in the The GOOD Chocolatier.  After studying about social enterprises, she wondered why companies don't give back every step of their journey to growth.    Find Mara here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mara-mennicken-24609469/ Shop the Good Chocolatier here: https://thegoodchocolatier.com/   Make sure you sign up f...

She takes risks. She loves learning  and she's made a  habit of sharing her wins and mistakes. Bro-Dough founder Erica Rankin comes on to talk about learning CPG and selling a product that she loves.   Find Erica here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericabrodough/ Shop bro dough here: https://eatbrodough.com/     Make sure you subscribe to the This Commerce life Podcast at www.thiscommercelife.com  ...

One of his greatest fears is that he will talk without saying anything. That isn't true - while he was with us, VP Strategic Partnerships / Ethical Food Group Corwin Hiebert has a lot to say about helping brands grow.   Find out more about Ethical Food Group here: https://www.ethicalfoodgroup.com/ Check out Corwin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corwinhiebert/   Don't forget to subscribe to our...

This guy finally makes it onto the podcast. Kirk Homenick talks about getting kicked out of London Drugs in his first week, and the long hard road back to being a Canadian made, hand-crafted snack.    shop Hardbite here: https://hardbitechips.com/ Find Kirk here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirk-homenick-a19bb71/   Make sure you subscribe to the podcast newsletter here: https://www.linkedin.com/in...

Near 90 years of farming in Pitt Meadows BC, Hopcott Farms continues to thrive as a Family Farming Business.  Started by their Grandparents in the 1930's and then run by their parents Bob & Debbie, it's now been the mission and passion of the 3 siblings, Jean, Travis and Brad,  to continue and expand this family enterprise and truly become your one stop shop for locally raised meats, vegetables an...

It's not about fear, it's about being aware.  Mike Nunn from TLC Solutions walks us through the threats we face today in the world of Cybersecurity whether from a business stand point or personal.  Mike chats with the Knuckleheads and goes through how we can do a better job and make some relatively easy changes to how we view and protect our data online.   check out Mike here: https://www.linkedin...

Still hurting from a de-llsting years ago with Kenny; we catch up  with our CPG Industry Recruiting Guru, Trevor Baker.  A chat about the workplace today, post Covid, the job market now and what people are looking for in employees and employers, and we ask, and seek Trevor's wisdom, when asking the proverbial "Where has everyone gone?"  Whether you are looking for work or looking to hire, what doe...

We meet a fan, become fans. Sarah Kinlin will be a world reknowned speaker, coach and educator.  We're proud to be her first podcast.   talk to Sarah here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-kinlin-253917137/ check out Sarah's website here: https://sarahkinlin.com/pages/podcast   make sure you subscribe to our newsletter at www.thiscommercelife.com  

Mushrooms! We talk mushrooms and building a mushroom farm from scratch with Brian Thomas. Brian’s career started as a mental health and addictions counsellor working in detox facilities, treatment centres and later on adult outreach for mental health and addiction for Fraser Health. During that time his passion for supporting communities and helping people led him to start co-op food buying progra...

"It's like running up a down escalator"  CEO of BC Food and Beverage James Donaldson talks about member challenges, being a not-for-profit industry association representing food and beverage manufacturers in British Columbia.   Find James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamessdonaldson/ If you're in BC, you should be signing up to be a member of BC Food and Beverage. https://bcfb.ca/   Sign up t...

A ballet dancer, model, actress, and scuba instructor turned to beverage maker. GnuSante Chief Strategy & Ideation Officer  Autumn Kendrick  talks about making kid friendly, nutritional drinks.    Talk to Autumn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/autumn-kendrick-829015184/ Shop for Gnubees here: https://www.gnusante.com/ Make sure you subscribe to our podcast newsletter here: www.thiscommercelife.c...

Dean Yachison jumps in to talk about Health First network - the first network of independent natural food stores joined together to reduce costs and increase effectiveness of marketing and communication giving consumers greater access to the benefits of natural products in Canada.   To find Dean: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-yachison-63497315/ to subscribe to our newsletter: www.thiscommerceli...

We take a road trip to Fancy Food show in New York City. Favorite brands, how we think about imported products and costing are a few of the things we talk about.  If there's anything you want to know, shoot us a question at podcast@thiscommercelife.com  Could be anything - something retail related, or just if you want to know something about Kenny and I that's ok too.    sign up at www.thiscommerc...

They met in law school. While they were there, they decided that the health benefits of a plant-based diet  was a worthy cause to work on as a side hustle. Fast forward, Emily and Kyle have made it their mission to knock down barriers to eating a plant-based diet by making accessible vegan versions of traditional products, being uncompromising on taste and quality. talk to Emily here: https://www....

He's a CPA by training, but he was employee #2 with Choices.  It turns out that retail stuck, and now Arif Ahmed runs two stores, and has ambitions for more locally focused, community driven stores.    Get in touch with Arif here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hwmarif/   Sign up and subscribe to our newsletter at www.thiscommercelife.com  

Jeff Ball talks about his family, and their journey thru farming. Trudi-Ann and Jeff talk about the process of getting Thrive Provisions to market, and packaging wagyu beef as a snack.   find Jeff here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-ball-3b51a169/ find Trudi-Ann here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trudi-ann-webster-651bbb2/   Buy Thrive Provisions here: https://thriveprovisions.ca/   Head to www....

Retailer Spotlight: Peter Boyd, YIG Kelowna.  We finally get Peter Boyd on. He's a local legend, and a brand favorite grocer - he's helped so many brands, retail folks, store folks to find their feet, we were honored to have him on the podcast.    To read more about Peter: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/kelowna-grocery-store-recognized-for-hiring-new-canadians-1.4018591   To talk...

She'd never made  guacamole before. While mashing the avocados, Dyana saw a bottle of Aji condiment, a speciality in Colombia and South America. The rest, they say is history.    Talk to Nicholas here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-gonzalez-biagi-7b3193101/   Shop for Dyana's Aji Sauces here: https://www.ajigourmetproducts.com/

She's an OG. Took us awhile to bring her back. Kelly Ison updates us from episode 27 and what's happening today at Einstein Pets.    check out her first episode here: https://this-commerce-life-fb5a846c.simplecast.com/episodes/062f1c64 Shop Einstein Pet here: https://www.einsteinpets.com/   Get in touch with Pareen and Salud Management here: https://saludbrandmanagement.com/

She got fired from being an admin assistant job, but rocked a sales job.  She wondered if she was going to sell olive oil forever.  Instead, she built Hive, the merchandising company that helps brands be visible and standout on shelf.    To find Amanda: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandakenny01/ Check out Hive Naturals : https://www.hivenaturals.ca/   Talk to Pareen and her team at Salud here: htt...

A recipe for yeast based salad dressing turns into a gluten free product that solves Paul Kleinschmidt's health concerns and puts flavour back in his food. Yeshi starts in Paul and Barbara's kitchen and now is found nationwide.   Contact Paul here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pkleinschmidt/ Shop Yeshi here: https://www.yeshifoods.com/

Ken Anderson, friend to the podcast and long time CPG guy (now retired) comes on to give a history lesson on how and why retailers do what they do that makes us so mad.    Find Ken here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-anderson-188a8b17/