The Perfect Bite

Some restaurants feel like places. Via Carota feels like a person. Warm, unhurried, deeply intelligent, and completely unconcerned with trends. That’s not an accident. It is the direct result of two women who have spent decades building exactly the places they wanted to eat in, and refusing to compromise on a single detail along the way. Rita Sodi and Jody Williams are the co-owners of I Sodi, Via...

You can taste the love someone puts into their cooking. And the opposite is true too. Norman Fenton is the Michelin starred, James Beard nominated chef and co-owner of Cariño, a modern Mexican restaurant in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood that is, in every sense, a love letter. A love letter to his wife Karina and their sons. A love letter to her family in Quintana Roo. A love letter to Mexican cuis...

On June 15th, 2026, The Perfect Bite went live from the red carpet of the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. As an official press credential holder, host Sarah Perkins spent two hours on the carpet meeting, interviewing, and asking the world's best and hardest question to some of the most celebrated names in food, hospitality, and beyond. From the Humanitarian of...

Some people learn about the food industry from the outside. Jordan Buckner learned it from all sides at once, and then built the community he wished had existed while he was figuring it out. Jordan Buckner is the founder of Foodbevy, a community and resource platform now reaching over 5,000 CPG founders and food and beverage professionals, and of Joyful Co., a corporate gifting company built aroun...

In a world full of AI generated images, there is still nothing quite like a photo that makes you stop scrolling and say: Is that for real? Laura Scherb is the founder of Page and Plate Studio, a food photography and styling business that brings CPG brands, cookbook authors, and editorial projects to life through imagery so textural and rich it practically pops off the page. She is also the co-foun...

Some people spend their entire careers supporting others before they finally step into the light themselves. Adrienne Cheatham spent eight years at Le Bernardin, years supporting Marcus Samuelsson at Red Rooster and Street Bird, and a lifetime believing she was meant to be the operational person behind the scenes. And then a call to Top Chef and a family gumbo challenge changed everything. Adrienn...

He broke his back snowboarding, got stuck on his couch, and found the Food Network. Thirteen minutes after submitting his MasterChef application, a producer called him. And he never slowed down from there.   Josh Gale is the founder and private chef behind The Chef Out West, a Canadian food creator and MasterChef and Beat Bobby Flay veteran whose bold, unapologetic, in-your-face food philos...

If you have been sleeping on Cleveland, Chef Vinnie Cimino is here to wake you up. Vinnie is the co-founder of Cordelia, one of Cleveland's most beloved restaurants, and the brand new ROSY, a wood-fired neighborhood spot that opened just seven weeks before this conversation. He is also a three-time James Beard Award nominee, a community anchor through the Cleveland Family Meal Project and Food Con...

Some brands set out to sell a product. Diaspora Spice Co. set out to change a supply chain, honor a culture, and bring the most potent, story-rich spices in the world into home kitchens across America. Nine years in, they are doing all three. Sana Javeri Kadri is the CEO and founder of Diaspora Spice Co., a regenerative spice company built on a singular mission: put money, equity, and power into t...

What if food media got the Puck treatment? That's the question Max Tcheyan asked and Caper is the answer. Max is the CEO and co-founder of Caper, a new food and hospitality media company built on the premise that the food world deserves the kind of serious, insider, character-driven storytelling that business gets from Puck, that sports got from The Athletic, and that Hollywood gets from Vanity Fa...

Some brands feel like they were always meant to be national. Killer Brownie is one of them. But it took a 40-year journey, a nurse-turned-founder, and a tagline born from a dad sneaking Oreos to his kids to finally make it happen. Chimene Mayne-Ross is the CEO of Killer Brownie, a gourmet brownie brand born out of Dorothy Lane Market, the legendary Dayton, Ohio specialty grocer her father built, t...

He hated pasta as a kid. Now he's the self-proclaimed Prince of Pasta, the Ruler of Rigatoni, the Sultan of Spaghetti, and one of the most exciting chef-turned-CPG-founders in the food industry. Joe Sasto is the founder of Tantos pasta chips, co-founder of Ripi Foods frozen pasta, author of “Breaking The Rules,” and a familiar face across Food Network, Top Chef, and Netflix competitions. But what...

What is Big Dip Energy? You’re about to find out! Alyse Whitney is a food journalist, cookbook author, Netflix judge, and certified Dip Queen who has spent nearly 15 years building one of the most distinctive voices in food media. Over 1,000 bylines. Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Rachael Ray Every Day. Managing editor of Chrissy Teigan's Cravings. Ina Garten's cell phone number on hand. And a cook...

What do you do when the thing you've dedicated your entire career to becomes the thing that's making you sick? Chef Monica Glass spent years working in some of the most celebrated kitchens in the country, including Gotham Bar and Grill, Le Bernadin, and the Ritz Carlton Philadelphia, mastering the art and science of pastry. And then she was diagnosed with Celiac disease. The flour she had been bre...

Some guests walk into a conversation and immediately make you feel like you've known them forever. Emery Whalen is one of those people. Emery is the CEO and co-founder of QED Hospitality, a nine-restaurant group with locations across New Orleans, Nashville, and Kentucky that is doing something increasingly rare in the hospitality industry: Putting people first, actually meaning it, and building a...

Eric Skae is the CEO and co-founder of Carbone Fine Food, the fastest growing pasta sauce brand in America. In just five years, Carbone Fine Food has gone from zero to over $130 million through the register, adding an average of 156,000 new households every single month. And before that, Eric ran Rao's, where he took it from the number six pasta sauce brand in America and set the foundation that w...

In this special Podcasthon episode of The Perfect Bite, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Jake Tepperman, founder of Chicago Food Rescue, a nonprofit that rescues fresh, perishable food — produce, baked goods, prepared meals — from grocery stores, corporate offices, restaurants, and events, and delivers it directly to community organizations that feed people in need. No physical location. No wareh...

What if instead of waiting for a big brand to buy you out, you just built something bigger on your own terms? That's exactly what Stefanie Garcia Turner, Regina Trillo, and Jocelyn Ramirez did when they merged their three beloved brands - Tuyyo Foods, Nemi Snacks, and Todo Verde - into one powerhouse under the Tuyyo Foods umbrella. And the food industry is paying attention. In this episode, host S...

Rachel Mansfield is one of those people where listing her titles doesn't even do her justice — OG food blogger, recipe developer, cookbook author, CPG investor, and now founder of cadootz!, the kids' snack brand that's checking every box health-conscious parents have been begging for. Oh, and she's doing most of it alongside her husband Jordan, while raising three boys and renovating a 90-year-old...

From sommelier to restaurateur to hospitality consultant, Liz Mendez has built a career rooted in community, beverage expertise, and reinvention. In this episode of The Perfect Bite , host Sarah Perkins sits down with Liz Mendez, founder of Aldea Hospitality, to talk about building sustainable careers in the restaurant industry, the rise of non-alcoholic beverage programs, and what it really takes...

When I say Swedish hot dogs will change your life, it’s true! And they did for techie turned chef Amelia Eudailey.  In this episode of The Perfect Bite , host Sarah Perkins sits down with chef and entrepreneur Amelia Eudailey, founder of the cult-favorite pop-up concept Hej Hej (pronounced “hey hey”!). Known for its Scandinavian-inspired hot dogs, Swedish candy, and playful menu, Hej Hej has...

How do you build a lasting career in food when media, platforms, and business models keep changing? In this episode of The Perfect Bite , host Sarah Perkins sits down with food writer, editor, cookbook author, and media entrepreneur Chandra Ram to talk about building a career that evolves with the industry instead of resisting it. From restaurant PR to leading Plate Magazine for over a decade, wor...

What does it actually take to build a better ingredient for professional kitchens? In this episode of The Perfect Bite , host Sarah Perkins sits down with Susannah Schoolman, founder of Tourlami, to unpack how deep culinary experience can become a real competitive advantage in entrepreneurship. Susannah shares how her background as a classically trained pastry chef revealed a major gap in the plan...

What does it really take to build a food business from the ground up — and keep it alive for over 16 years? In this episode of The Perfect Bite , host Sarah Perkins sits down with Mindy Crosato, founder of Decadent Creations, Collective Kitchen, and Collective Market in Hillsboro, Oregon. Mindy shares her raw, honest entrepreneurial journey — from a personal rock-bottom moment at age 20 to becomin...

This week’s episode is our first ever MINI BITE! You get to learn so much in a shorter episode length. Enjoy! Building a food or CPG company is never easy—and finding the right investors can be just as challenging. On this episode of The Perfect Bite, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Nate Cooper, founder and managing partner of Barrel Ventures, to talk about what it really takes to build, fund, a...