My Food Job Rocks!

You are listening to episode 236 with Lisa Donovan, Writer, Baker and author of Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger. She’s a James Beard Award recipient for her writing in Food & Wine. Her publisher, Penguin Random House asked me to interview her so that means this podcast, has made it! Anyways, something to note is that we as professionals love to script our lives. Especially early on. By this age, I wa...

The Institute for the Future? What does that even mean? It’s a non-profit organization that thinks differently and uses specific tactics to think about the future. Max Elder does a better job explaining it than I do so I brought him on to talk about how we as people in the food industry can be more insightful in our future decisions. I’ve always wanted Max on the show ever since he gave a presenta...

We’re back baby, and I’m currently in smokey California but this week, I’ll be in Boston for the foreseeable future. What a trip! Today we have Chris Robb to talk about one of the blind spots I have in the food industry, stocking shelves or merchandising. I’m probably not doing the description justice, but it’s the workhorses that not only coordinate putting items on the store shelves but also how...

Blended Sense is a media technology company that matches the right creator to the right local projects to distribute and produce digital assets quickly such as video, audio, anything digital. Albert Baez is a wonderful communicator who does an amazing job of breaking down strategies and concepts. During the pandemic, I was impressed on one of his webinars and invited him to do a webinar for WeWork...

We have an amazing episode all about recruiting. This is a bit different from previous recruiting interviews. George McGehrin’s agency is focused on finding top brass, executive-level people, and putting these into companies. The shocker is that the salaries these top executives are offered, hit the seven-figure mark. So this interview gives you some tips on interviewing whether on a  podcast or o...

We showcase the After Animals Podcast, a podcast that focuses on the future of food, and in this case, a world without having to use animals to feed people. This podcast is created by Ulara Nakagawa and Sharanya Krishna Prasad and every month, they share a high-quality interview with a change-maker in the alternative meat/other product space. Though I’ve met both, I have had some personal discussi...

This episode was recorded when I was still living in the Bay Area! This was planned to be another podcast but things fall through. I always had this episode in the back of my mind one, because Nona Lim is just a really cool person, but also her story showcases the tenacity and perseverance of an entrepreneur. We do this outside in Marin County I would say around August 2019, wow, such a different...

  I’m really excited about this episode. Today, we have a jam-packed episode full of startup advice, inspiring challenges, and an accelerator breakdown all in one with founder, Andrew Ive. One of my favorite parts of this interview is the talk about startup ecosystems. Not only on how we think they are formed, but how they can be transferred. Other questions such as investing is also brought up. W...

We have returning guest Dr. Maya Warren, who is now a co-founder of Ice Cream for Change, a soon-to-be non profit that’s a platform of ice cream lovers and makers advocating for social change and civic action. Maya joins me as we talk about life as a food scientist in quarantine, such as how traveling has given us the opportunity to try new things, but also the different ways we optimize our homes...

Ashish Jogi connected with me through Siddharth Bhide. You might remember him when we interviewed him at JUST but now he’s at the Good Food Institute in India, an organization that we also have interviews with. The plant-based scene in India is growing and Ashish is one of the people helping companies over there launch products. We talk a variety of topics ranging from Intellectual Property, produ...

Stacie Waters is the CEO and owner of Bilinski’s Sausage company. A Multi-generational sausage company that thinks about sausage a bit differently. Instead of the standard beef or pork sausages, Bilinski’s focuses on chicken and plant-based sausages. This wasn’t always the case, and there is a bit of an unorthodox legacy in how Bilinski innovates. There is always a struggle when it comes to keepin...

Today we have Marie Wright, President, Creation, Design & Development and Chief Global Flavorist at ADM Nutrition That’s a long title, but Marie knows literally everything I just mentioned. I think the best part about Marie is just how easy it is to talk to her about the complex world of flavors. The bulk of the interview is a break down on how we as food scientists collaborate to talk about what...

Prime Roots is an innovative alternative meat company in the Bay Area that just launched a bacon made out of Koji, the same stuff that ferments soybeans into soy sauce Being in the alternative meat circle in the Bay Area, I’ve been pretty much in touch with the Prime Roots team since the beginning. They are a really fun, quirky group of young scientists and entrepreneurs so I get along with them w...

Minh Tsai started Hodo Foods with a simple farmer’s market stand after finishing up a wealthy career in investment banking and I asked him, why? His answer surprised me, but within context, it makes sense. Minh is someone who’s addicted to learning and solving problems and the intricacies and growth of the business has kept him in the tofu business for a little less than 16 years. Not only can you...

I first interviewed Weber Stibolt in episode 92, when he was a Quality Assurance Specialist at Eight O Clock Coffee. A couple of years later, he’s now at one of the most talked-about food startups at the moment: Beyond Meat. The last interview we’ve had from Beyond Meat was episode 24 with one of their food engineers so it’s good to get an update on what’s happening there. So I ask Weber about his...

With all that’s going on, will all the tension in the air, and with all the systemic issues that are being talked about, what if the main solution was to just have dinner with someone of a different perspective? After all, everyone is human and everyone eats and I felt the best way to understand someone is through a good dinner? Eric Adams, Borough President of Brooklyn, New York, believes that a...

Kris Theodorakos is the Business Development Manager at Webber Smith Associates, a firm that builds and designs manufacturing plants specifically for the food industry. If you ever wanted to know what goes into planning actually building a facility, Kris gives a nice rundown on what you need to prepare, what you should consider, and some strategies on how to build them out. Another topic we get to...

NOSH writer Carol Ortenberg captured a written article with Neal Gottlieb about how he had to shut Three Twins Ice Cream down after 15 years of being in business and I found the article (which now behind a paywall) very reflective. So I got Neal on the show to talk about the really crunchy details about the direction of Three Twins Ice Cream. From its beginning in an ice cream shop, to raising mon...

Blake Thomas, the founder of Tiny House Coffee Roasters, was one of my first contacts in Austin, Texas and I had a lot of fun getting to know him and drinking his coffee every day when I was working at WeWork. Blake’s story is super impressive and he works really hard at his job. Learn how Blake jumped on board selling coffee during the end of his Peace Corps stint and how he built up a nice littl...

Whenever I move to a new city, I try and contact the local IFT section in the area and connect with them saying I’m a new food scientist looking to get involved. Natalie Roesler, the VP of Surlean Foods and the section leader at Alamo IFT welcomed me with open arms. Actually, everyone in the Austin Texas area is well connected and super welcoming. It’s one of the friendliest places I’ve ever been...

Today's episode is with Jaime Snydel, Founder of Simplified Superfoods. A direct to consumer smoothie pack business where you can enjoy a delicious smoothly with just ice, fresh fruit, and a pack of Simplified Superfoods. After the pandemic hit, I started to post in a few food startup groups if they’d like to be interviewed. It was my impulsive way of giving back. My Food Job Rocks now does have a...

After the pandemic hit, I started to post in a few food startup groups if they’d like to be interviewed. It was my impulsive way of giving back. My Food Job Rocks now does have a bit of a barrier of entry just because I get so many PR inquiries so this was an opportunity to ask businesses who might not have made it, about what’s going on in their world. So I have a couple of interviews where I tal...

Sari Kimbell is a food business consultant who helps people from the idea stage to getting into retail channels. She runs the website, food business success. Sari's experience being a broker at Whole Foods and running a commissary kitchen makes her an expert in understanding the challenges and needs to starting a food business so I ask her some pretty real questions. I try to ask super blunt quest...

For those of you who don’t know Gary Nowacki, he built TraceGains, a very popular supply chain management software that allows you to digitize your documentation. For those of you in product development, you can see how useful this is. But TraceGains does so much more than just digitize paperwork, it’s a network, so it becomes valuable when it comes to understanding how to navigate through the pan...

Today we have Christine Rico, the consulting CFO for CFO on Speed Dial equips business owners and entrepreneurs with the accounting and financial strategies needed to maximize both profit and social impact. We dive into what loans are good and what loans are bad and how to really think about it. You’ll learn some cool resources like the Small Business Development Centers, or KIVA, or what a bridge...