The Food Professor

Welcome to a special summer bonus episode of The Food Professor podcast recorded live in our on-site podcasting studio at the SIAL Food Innovation show in Toronto.  Over three great days in May, Sylvain and I met dozens of food innovators and thought leaders; these are their stories.  We're sure you will enjoy hearing these incredible interviews as much as we enjoy hosting the conversations. Stay...

Welcome to a special summer bonus episode of The Food Professor podcast recorded live in our on-site podcasting studio at the SIAL Food Innovation show in Toronto.  Over three great days in May, Sylvain and I met dozens of food innovators and thought leaders; these are their stories.  We're sure you will enjoy hearing these incredible interviews as much as we enjoy hosting the conversations. Stay...

Welcome to a special summer bonus episode of The Food Professor podcast. I'm sure you will enjoy hearing these incredible interviews as much as we enjoy hosting the conversations. Stay tuned for season four of The Food Professor podcast, Canada's top food industry and Canadian-produced independent management podcasts, when we return live on the mic Thursday, September 21st On this episode, meet Ri...

In this episode, Felix Cheung, the founder of IXON Food Technology, joins us from Hong Kong to discuss his revolutionary sous-vide aseptic packaging (ASAP) technology. Cheung's interest in food technology stemmed from a passion for food and technology. He explained that the inspiration behind starting IXON Food Technology was to develop ASAP technology, which enhances sous-vide cooking. Sous-vide...

Welcome to the latest episode of "The Food Professor" podcast! In today's interview, we have the pleasure of hosting the renowned chef and entertainer Chuck Hughes, who shares his insights on various aspects of his career and the restaurant, food entertainment and product retail industry. Chuck begins by introducing himself and discussing his background as a chef. The conversation then delves into...

Our guest on this episode is Sheena Russell, founder and CEO, Made with Local - and she is raising the bar on sustainable snacking!  Sheena is based in Halifax and joins us to share the origin story of her tasty and healthy product, how she built a brand and achieved distribution across Canada and the path to success in a crowded category.   In other news, we look at the implications of the Bank o...

In this podcast interview, the discussion revolves around aquaculture and its significance. Isaiah, Stephanie, and Tim share their perspectives on various aspects of salmon farming in British Columbia. Stephanie explains what aquaculture is and why it should matter to the listeners. Isaiah talks about the role of aquaculture in his community and local economy. Michael raises the controversy surrou...

Join us on this captivating episode as we delve into the inspiring journey of Shivani's Kitchen, a thriving Indian cuisine business in Nova Scotia. Discover Shivani Dhamija's motivations, their secret to preserving authenticity while based in Canada, overcoming challenges faced during growth, and fascinating anecdotes of product development. In the news, we look at consumer perceptions around AI &...

Our guest on this episode, recorded live at the Toronto SIAL food innovation conference, is Vince Sgabellone, Foodservice Industry Analyst at Circana.  Vince emphasizes the resilience and adaptability of the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting how quickly businesses reinvented themselves by offering off-premises services and embracing digital engagement. We also discuss the challenges re...

Live from the tradeshow floor of the SIAL food innovation show in Toronto. Our exceptional guest is Quebec Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food André Lamontagne , who pays us a visit to our bespoke podcasting studio in Toronto. We talk with the Minister about food innovation in the Province and the government's best role in moving the industry forward for the people and hand out magic wands...

In this episode, we have a fast-moving and fascinating interview with the one and only  Dickson Delorme , also known as Quick Dick McDick, a farmer from Saskatchewan with a popular YouTube channel with over 12 million views and over one hundred thousand subscribers.   We talk to Dickson about his farming experience, the challenges he has faced, and the lessons he has learned. We also discuss the i...

Welcome to The Food Professor podcast Season Three, episode 22, with your host Michael LeBlanc coming to you from Barcelona, where he’s attending the World Retail Congress. Michael is joined by Sylvain and special guest Colleen Martin, Chief Revenue Officer at Caddle, who is here to discuss a custom study commissioned by the lab, which is all about plant-based foods and beverages and the latest co...

On our first solo episode of the season, Sylvain and I are together live in person for a wide-ranging conversation, starting with China cloning super dairy cows to 18,000 dairy cows perishing at South Fork Dairy in Texas and celebrating cannabis 4-20.  China claims they have cloned super cows, and we talk about Olymel's plant closure and what it means to the people in Quebec and Canada's hog indus...

On this episode, we chat with the dynamic Katie Hotze , CEO of Grocery Shopii, a Top 10 Women in Grocery Tech, with her grocery industry eCommerce application solving a $550B problem in the CPG & Retail industry by reducing cart abandonment with machine learning. In the news, the Inflation Cookbook: Canada’s first-ever AI-powered meal-planning tool designed to help Canadians source affordable and...

Our special guest for this episode is the dynamic Jake Karls, Co-Founder & Rainmaker of Quebec-based Mid-Day Squares. Based in Montreal,  Mid-Day Squares  is changing the afternoon snack game, one chocolate square at a time. Founders Nick, Lezlie and her brother Jake have raised $21 million and sold over one million chocolate bars in just under 20 months, but it's been anything but a conventional...

In this episode, we are joined by a special guest, Barry Murchie, President & CEO of TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture, to discuss his unique vertical farm business. TruLeaf's products are available in major grocers such as Loblaw, Sobeys, and Metro under the Good Leaf brand. We then jump into the news and discuss Sylvain's viral TikTok on snacks and taxes. Next, we discuss the global population gro...

Our special guest in this episode is Susan Krashinsky Robertson , Retail Reporter from The Globe & Mail, recently nominated for two National Newspaper Awards. Susan gives us an insiders look into her tradecraft as a reporter and how modern media approaches and crafts the narrative of a story.   We delve into the unique aspects of reporting on the food and grocery industry. We solicit Susan's advic...

Welcome to The Food Professor podcast Season three, episode 16. Our special guest is Tom Margeson, President & CEO at Healthy Berries , live from PEI, talking to us about Superfruit Puree! Tom shares with us the fascinating origin story, growth trajectory and experiences of his business, and his experiences as a contestant on Dragon's Den . In the news, Sylvain reviews the grocery CEOS performance...

In this episode, we discuss recent news stories in the food industry, starting with the recent layoffs at Eat Just, notwithstanding their success with their plant-based egg product and cultivated meat products, and the closure of Merit Foods in Winnipeg: is there more behind these closures to the plant-based protein industry, or just swings and roundabouts of risk, growth and capitalism? We touch...

Welcome to The Food Professor podcast. We have a special guest live from Saskatchewan, Kristjan Hebert, President of Herbert Grain Ventures and the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2022 Prairies winner. We talked to Kristjan to get his overall view of the state of Canadian agriculture today, including the grain market for 2023 and beyond, the impact of the Ukraine War on the market and planting and th...

This episode's guest is Michael Burgess, founder of Nerpy's hot sauces and marinades.  We talk about Nerpy's origin story, what inspired Michael to get into the food business, and all about the products and what makes them different. But first, we cover Canada's food inflation numbers and if they are on track to match Sylvain's predictions from Canada's Food Price Report. Ukraine: One year later  ...

Our first weekly podcast episode, and as expected, there is no shortage of news and happenings in the food, grocery and restaurant industry to report on!  Our extraordinary guest in this episode is JP McMahon, Michelin star chef, restauranteur, ambassador for Irish food and author, joining us live from Galway, Ireland. In a wide-ranging conversation, we talk about his eclectic and artistic interes...

Sylvain gets pretty worked up about Nestle's decision to exit the freezer section with their pizzas and other frozen staples, the latest report from the AgriFoods lab on the cashless economy, Canadian dairy in the dumps, and we visit the discount grocery store sector. Finally, a bit of trouble for our friend Yanick Gervais at Olymel, who is closing some processing plants   We get the "T" from our...

Welcome to The Food Professor podcast, Season three! We're back on the mic after a busy couple of weeks for Sylvain and the podcast; our last episode with Robert Andjelich, the largest farm owner in Canada, was our most popular ever, though some of that activity may be a reflection of Sylvain's media popularity in the past couple of weeks too! Our extraordinary guest this week is a revolutionary f...

Welcome to The Food Professor podcast, Season 3, episode 9. In this episode, we're looking ahead to the year 2023. We have an extraordinary guest joining us for this episode - Robert Andjelic, Founder & CEO of Andjelic Land, the largest farm owner in Canada, who has graciously agreed to join us for a rare interview. https://andjelic.ca/ In this episode, we discuss predictions for 2023. We also del...