ShandeeLand

Michael Matarazzo has an impressive resume.   He was formally trained at The Culinary Institute of America.  He was named USA’s Chef of the Year by The American Culinary Federation.  He has been to the Culinary Olympics both as a competitor and coach.  He is an ACF Certified Competition Judge and has received numerous medals, both domestic and international in his 20 year culinary career and is cu...

Sara Shannon knows a parent’s greatest grief.  Her daughter, Sabrina, passed at the age of 13 due to an anaphylaxis reaction from inadvertently eating her food allergen during school lunch.  Sara has worked tirelessly in her daughter's memory bestowing her name and her courageous spirit to Sabrina’s Law. Sabrina’s Law requires all Ontario Schools to establish and maintain an anaphylaxis polic...

Greg Graber, CEO and Founder of Heritage Restaurant Brands, is a results-driven restaurant executive with extensive senior leadership experience.  His diverse management portfolio includes Operations, Marketing, Facilities and Construction, Development, Purchasing, HR, and New Product Development.  From beginning to end, Greg shares his wisdom from years of experience in this informative and inter...

Cooking was always her first love, since Fourth Grade, and it is now her career and business.  Chef Raechel Barfield, Founder of Māla Girl Broths, shares the beautiful story of her mom’s dream becoming her own and how this dream developed into an incredible business.  Raechel shares her culinary journey and how it lead to the development of Māla Girl Broths. Her mission is to provide organically c...

Brian Wayne, VP of Customer Success at QSR Automations, joins Shandee to discuss how Covid-19 affected restaurant off-premise technology and the nuances of balancing technology and operations with guest experiences.  Brian leads the Implementation, Project Management Training, and Support Services groups, guiding customers to get the most out of QSR products.  He shares his experiences, priorities...

Rebecca Greene is an author, licensed social worker, and food allergy awareness advocate.  She writes inspiring stories to empower children and help them overcome challenges.  In this episode, Rebecca shares her son's food allergy journey and the anxiety that overwhelmed her. We also get to hear about how she found inspiration in writing a picture book series with an important central theme:...

For this week’s episode, Shandee welcomes Tom Fricke, CEO of Bar Louis, for an informative and insightful conversation.  Tom discusses the shifts that the business made during Covid-19 and how they completed 5 to 10 years of changes in the last year and exited it with a better and completely different business.  He shares his career journey and the whos and the whats that helped him evolve his lea...

Sarah Matheson is Co-Founder and Creative Director of  Hungry Harry’s – a food allergy-friendly food company with five baking mixes that are free from the Top-14 food allergens.  Sarah, the consummate storyteller, shares the incredible account of Harry’s first reaction while the family was traveling in Thailand and how that experience led her to create Hungry Harry’s.   She offers her advice on tr...

We welcome Pete Gibson, CIO/CTO for Johnny Rockets and Friendly’s Restaurant, to ShandeeLand for this week’s episode.  Pete is responsible for all aspects of their technology program and IT organization.  He sits down with Shandee and discusses why technology is a major enablement of a restaurant and how technology is improving hospitality.  Interestingly, Pete had an integral part in developing N...

Danny Klein is the director of digital content at Food News Media, publisher of QSR and FSR magazines and he joins Shandee for this week’s podcast.  They discuss the struggles restaurants have faced during Covid-19, how they adjusted and what the future may look like.   He also shares the behind-the-scenes and day-to-day look of being a journalist while telling everyone why he loves it.  He talks...

In our new episode, Shandee is joined by Dr. Edwin Kim.  Dr. Kim is a food allergy dad and pediatric allergist and immunologist whose research focuses on food allergy, immunotherapy, and chronic idiopathic urticaria. He is currently the director of the UNC Food Allergy Initiative (UNC FAI), which investigates the biological basis of food allergy as well as new forms of immunotherapy as a treatment...

We kick off Food Allergy Awareness week with Kyle Dine, CEO and Founder of Equal Eats. Kyle shares his personal transformation as an 80’s child with limited information surrounding food allergies and taking risks and being dismissive about his allergies through a severe food allergy reaction in which he wasn’t prepared. The anaphylactic reaction was his moment to realize he needed to reevaluate hi...

In this week’s episode, Caroline Verdon joins Shandee to chat about her embarrassing moments and funny anecdotes she has from her years in the industry. We put on our headphones for a stimulating chat with this award-winning radio presenter, producer, journalist, and podcast host of "At Least You Didn't".  This hysterical conversation will make you laugh out loud!  

In this episode, Shandee converses with food allergy advocate Stacey Saiontz.  Stacey’s journey into food allergy advocacy began because her son was diagnosed with 27 food allergies.  Stacey works closely with FARE and has spearheaded the passage of several pieces of legislation in New York State, including training of educators to recognize anaphylaxis and how to treat it; and allowing students t...

Manik Suri , CEO and Founder of Therma , joined Shandee to discuss his mission to help protect our food, health and planet though smart technology.  Therma builds safety and sustainability tools to eliminate food waste and improve energy efficiency to protect consumers and combat climate change.  Therma is leading the way in smart technology to tackle the 1.6 billion ton food waste problem.  Liste...

Meenal Lele is the founder and CEO of Lil Mixins , an early food allergen introduction solution.  When her 10-month-old son erupted in hives and his lip swelled after he ate an egg, she and her husband were baffled. All signs pointed to an allergic reaction, yet their baby had just been tested for food allergies and the results were negative for egg.  One week after her son’s first food allergy re...

As Revel Systems ’ Chief Customer Officer, Leslie Leaf oversees all aspects of the post-sale customer journey including support and account management. Energetic and analytically minded with a background in IT, Leslie focuses on people, process, and technology improvements to minimize turn-over, improve customer satisfaction, and decrease support costs.  Throughout the conversation, it is obvious...

We have been honored to speak to 49 exceptional guests that we are celebrating on our 50th episode. Please join the team as they converse about a few of the many memorable exchanges Shandee had with the guests.  CertiStar team members Richard Poczulp , Kelli Serrano and Marny Leary join Shandee as they cry, laugh and muse over a sampling of these conversations.

The impact of motion sickness and morning sickness led Renee Louis-Charles to develop Hana Tonic , a unique blend of the best ingredients to help prevent and ease nausea.  While often driving along the Road to Hana that made her nauseous as a child, she brainstormed a drink product to ease feelings of queasiness.. She shares her story of how her idea came to fruition and offers advice from her les...

It was an absolute joy having Laura Brubaker , Vice President of Food and Beverage at Knott’s Berry Farm , join the podcast.   Laura shared her incredible culinary journey that began after missing a job fair and eventually led her to the iconic Knott’s Berry Farm.  She shares what inspires her, including her travels, as she is creating and influencing the restaurant concepts and their menus.  We l...

Chef Diego Baraona is an expert at allergy friendly cooking. He’s made a name for himself by helping prepare safe and delicious meals for hundreds of children suffering from food allergies. He currently serves as recipe developer for The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Connection Team ( FAACT ). I was honored to have him on the show to discuss his culinary journey and involvement with the food alle...

Marci Heit is a professional voice-over artist, writer, and founder of Q.D. Foodie , an innovative line of kitchen utensils that aims to be inclusive and welcoming for all children. We were excited to have Marci on the show to discuss the story behind Q.D. Foodie and how her brand is helping stimulate children’s minds in the kitchen. Marci opened up about her previous volunteer experience as a pup...

Mark Setterington is a restauranteur, entrepreneur, and co-founder of the growing franchise, Island Fin Poke . Mark and business partner, Paul Rea, launched their first location in 2017 and over the past four years, Island Fin Poke has grown to over 30 locations in various stages of development across the country. I was honored to have him on the show to discuss his experience in the restaurant in...

Meg Nohe is Chief Marketing Officer for Allergy Amulet , the world’s smallest & fastest consumer food allergen sensor. Meg joined the podcast to share her food allergy journey and how she became involved with the company. We kicked off the episode by discussing her daughter’s multiple food allergies and how this inspired Meg to start her career in the food allergy space. Meg also shared detail...

Presto is a leader in the restaurant technology space. Their innovative front-of-house technology platform is currently used by over 100 million guests each month. I was honored to have Presto’s Chief Product Officer, Daniel Dreymann, to discuss the company’s approach towards innovation. Daniel explained more about Presto's next-gen technology and how they are helping restaurants enhance dini...