My Food Job Rocks!

I met David Benzaquen, CEO and Co-founder of Ocean Hugger Foods, and his company at multiple different events and tried some of their sushi. As someone who’s in the space, I was super impressed. I’m always impressed with David’s network and because he’s so intertwined within the plant-based industry, I wanted to ask him why he decided to go into building businesses and how can we all can get start...

Payal Gupta’s journey to becoming a food stylist was a wild one. She quit her standard corporate job, in which both her ex-husband and her family disapproved of, but through years of persistence,e she now owns her own food styling studio and is flourishing Though you'll learn some fun tricks and tips to style food, and how to work with clients, this episode is more than a peek inside being a Food...

With the plant-based movement in full force, you have burgers and milk, but you also have something that already naturally feels like meat. Jackfruit, young jackfruit in particular, has been an up and coming food that when Annie Ryu first found it in India, saw the potential to save the world. Eight years ago, Annie was in pre-med student at Harvard and during a trip to India to implement a health...

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Tetrapak is one of the biggest packaging companies in Europe and you might know them for their unique boxed packaging. When you think of boxed chocolate milk or juice, these guys might have made it. But more importantly is that TetraPak is more than just a packaging company, they solve complex ways in how to package and sustain food. You’ll learn about how Jesper Thomsen (Food Technologist)  and H...

Robert Jakobi is a serial food entrepreneur who founded Metcalfe, Itsu, and is now CEO and Founder of BOU, a company reinventing bullion. What makes Robert’s story so fascinating is that he made successful companies in two different countries. Originally from the United Kingdom, he built Metcalfe and Itsu, and now is growing a successful bullion company right in the United States. You’ll get a gre...

The name of the game in this episode is food service, an area that’s not well talked about yet it dwarfs retail space. Think about it, lunch spots, schools, universities, and prisons all use the foodservice channels to feed people and this channel has its own challenges. That’s where Stephanie Lind comes in. Stephanie Lind has a good understanding of the food system and I like to say I do too so w...

Coca-Cola has probably the most ubiquitous and well-known branding in the entire world but they need scientists to do it. Scientists that help innovate in multiple countries Wendy Zhang is one of those scientists who works on Coke products to bring them internationally. She works with teams from China and Japan to get innovative coke products onto the market while still maintaining that delicious...

You might have heard of Salt of Earth because they sponsored our podcast So David Hart was a native in California but more to Israel on a scholarship and kept on coming back. Now in Israel full time, he’s worked for companies, started his own company, and recently heads a company within a company. You see, Salt of the Earth is actually a parent company where they sell well, salt. However, David is...

This episode's main focus is talking about the legal nuances of starting a food business. Everything you’d like to know about NDA’s, patents, and copyright, it's is all here. But Abe Cohn also does a great job talking about the fun stuff like LLCs, stocks, and fiscal cliffs, you know,  the fun stuff.  But another hidden gem in this interview is talking about networking. Whether you're an introvert...

When you think of High-Pressure Processing, you might think guacamole, or hummus, or juices, but can you do it for a snack bar? Brenden Schaefer has spent the last three years developing a fresh-tasting fruit and vegetable bar that’s sold in retail such as Whole Foods, etc. Brenden knows his stuff, and there’s a reason why. He worked for one of the biggest food company in the world, Pepsi! He advi...

If you are looking at the field of sensory, then this is the episode for you! This is probably the most technical sensory episode we’ve had so far as we learn about new sensory techniques, what type of groups should do what type of sensory and also, great tips on how to sensory test for kids! Emily Kimmins from KraftHeinz does a great job explaining the purpose of sensory, and how focusing your te...

Our guest today is Dr. Maya M Warren, Sr. Director of International Research and Development and the Tastemaster at Cold Stone Creamery. I’ve seen Maya twice on TV. One on an episode of the Amazing Race with Amy DeJong (a podcast guest from way back) and last Christmas at my Grandma’s house watching Dr. Oz (my grandma loves the show, not me). Anyways, I had to get her on the show so I asked Amy fo...

You are listening to a bonus episode where I talk about my actual day job at the Concept to Consumption podcast. I talk with Gary Nowacki, the CEO of TraceGains! So you’ll learn mainly about how I think about things and my thought process on innovation. I talk a lot about growing Better Meat Co and the steps it took to do so. A big portion of the interview is also about analyzing the current plant...

Today you are listening to episode 180 with Alexander Zox, New Business Development Lead and Dianna Rogers, Director of Account Services and New Business Development at BrandFirst Creative Agency. BrandFirst Creative Agency specializes in branding food companies form confections to food tech. They were the main creative agency behind the Alt Protein Show and I bumped into them at Expo West This ep...

Zachary Lones started working as a cashier at Sam’s Club (which I didn’t know was owned by WalMart) and rose through the ranks from a business associate to multiple levels of managers and landed in the director’s seat 8 years later. I saw his story on LinkedIn and I thought, Zachary would be a great podcast guest. A lot of people want to get promoted, especially in a large company and Zach has don...

Today we have Roger Berkowitz, CEO and President of Legal Sea Foods on the show. A Third generation family business that not only does fish processing, but has a fish restaurant, and a fish grocery store. All of my fans in the East love this restaurant. I interview Roger on the complexities of the fish farming industry and there was some things I didn’t know about, one, Roger talks about how the r...

Eric Pierce analyzes hot trends, consumer behavior, and innovative breakthroughs and collects this data to help natural product industries strategically innovate. If you guys don’t know, the New Hope Network is at the forefront of the food industry as they are the ones in charge of Expo West, Supply Side East, and many more industry conferences throughout the world. I was fortunate enough to meet...

This episode is with Scott and Jon Demers, two brothers who founded a frozen meal company that specializes in healthy seafood. They’ve recently rebranded, so you might know their previous brand, Cheating Gourmet but now they’ve gotten a bit more personal and call it simply, Scott and Jon’s. Maybe you’ve seen that small little refrigerator right next to the fresh fillet of salmon. If you’ve ever pe...

If you recall, a year or two ago, we did one of these and had a pretty good response so we’ve decided to do one again to catch up. The issues we discuss in this episode aren’t really well talked about, so I view this as a very transparent heart to heart. It helped Kim Schaub, perhaps it might help you. Things like communication, impostor syndrome, prioritizing your life versus your work life all c...

James Richardson has a PhD in anthropology and has worked for the Hartman Group for a little less than 15 years. During that time, he’s done work for a whole variety of different companies. From small companies to legacy brands. With a tone similar to Anthony Bourdain’s view of the restaurant interview, James brings a realistic yet refreshing viewpoint on the food industry and throughout the inter...

Pete Brennan is the Co-Founder of Soñar! Foods. A mission-driven company that sells plant powered tortilla chips. Pete might have started his own food business, but he is a veteran in the food industry. With experience from E&J Gallo Winery, Kelloggs, Foster Farms, and Zola, Pete’s specialty is marketing big brands. He teamed up with the best person he knew to start Soñar! Foods, his wife, Maria....

Mark Crowell has had quite an amazing culinary journey with a lot of risks and a lot of reward. First he tells me how he found out about cooking, by staging at a restaurant in Europe, and brought that love back to the United States and worked hard enough to open his own restaurant. But opening up a restaurant was really hard, and he struggled. Eventually, he became an R+D Director at both Olive Ga...

Jeremy Smith, founder of LaunchPad has impacted iconic brands such as Apple, Chobani, Bob’s Red Mills, Urban Remedy and Kumana. This episode has prime examples on how Jeremy has worked with these company's and how these companies went to the next level. A lot of great takeaways for food entrepreneurs and marketers including how to recognize superflourous trends versus trends that stick, with also...

Sally Squires is a food communicator who works with really cool companies crafting messages. She spent her early years at the Washington Post, and now works for Weber Shadwick, as their SVP-Management Supervisor & Director, Food, Nutrition and Wellness Communications A funny story about this interview is that you might recall I had the opportunity to go to The Ohio State University to talk about p...