Full Stack Food

On the face of it, the problem James Rogers was trying to solve for as a grad student is pretty simple: how can you get produce to last longer? Once the materials science PhD student started digging, he found out that nature already solves the problem…fruits and vegetables already have a natural protective coating to shield them from the elements and the effects of aging. Rogers has taken that principle and used it to come out with a natural coating that extends the shelf life of produce, all in the name of reducing food waste in the global supply chain. He named his Santa Barbara-based company Apeel, which today is worth more than 2 billion dollars. Apeel's retail partners include Costco and Kroger and its investors include Katy Perry and the one-and-only Oprah Winfrey. In this episode, Rogers explains why it took him years to develop his product, how he convinced skeptical grocers to buy it, and what it was like to pitch Oprah.

These days, there are so many ways food entrepreneurs are making plant-based meat. There are using methods like fermentation, or culturing meat cells, or simply using a plant-based source like pea protein or mushrooms to make vegan meat. And in this space that's bubbling over with innovation, the work Dan Riegler is doing is truly novel. Riegler is the cofounder of Karana, a startup which turns jackfruit into plant-based pork. His vision came about after living in Asia - where jackfruit is popular- and seeking to find a more sustainable and equitable alternative to industrial farming. Before he was a founder, Riegler was a traveler and a musician - not exactly the typical prototype of a food tech founder. But growing up in a nomadic and musical family which didn't have traditional expectations for Riegler is exactly what he says allowed him to think outside the lines.

Did you know that black pepper can boost your metabolic health? That's just one nugget that Brightseed, a startup that studies the compounds in plants, has uncovered. But there's so much more to learn, according to Brightseed's co-founder, Sofia Elizondo. Brightseed targets what Elizondo calls the "dark matter of plants," or the healing compounds in plants that we haven't known about until now. Using data produced by microscopes powerful enough to detect those compounds on a molecular level, Brightseed's artificial intelligence technology combs through that data to reveal medicinal and healing properties of plants, thereby shedding light on the "dark matter." Sofia explains how Brightseed's discoveries may someday turn your pantry into a medicine cabinet.

Farmer's Business Network is one of the seminal disruptors in agriculture. Founded in 2014 by Charles Baron and Amol Deshpande, FBN's crowdsourced platform has challenged Big Ag companies - conglomerates which sell inputs like seed, fertilizer, and chemicals to farmers - by shedding light on price disparities and lack of transparency in the industry. Today, FBN is valued at more than $4 billion, and backed by Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, and ADM, among others. Charles Baron tells us how the seeds of FBN were planted the first time he visited a farm, when he was in his 20's.

Amogha Srirangarajan is the founder of Carbon Origins, which develops robots to deliver food on college campuses, and hires human gamers to operate them.

You may never have heard the name PURIS Foods, but there's a good chance you've tasted their products. The "legacy disruptor" launched more than three and a half decades ago when its founder, Jerry Lorenzen, spearheaded what he called the coming "plant protein revolution," long before companies like Impossible Foods were household names. Today, PURIS counts Beyond Meat and some of your favorite plant-based milks as its clients. Jerry's two kids, Tyler Lorenzen and Nicole Atchison, have taken over CEO duties. The pair of siblings is steering the company into the next chapter of plant-based foods, picking up where their father, now considered a visionary for predicting a "plant protein revolution" left off.

When you hear about Lindsey Hoell's life journey, there's almost a Forrest Gump-like quality to it. Lindsey is the founder of Dispatch Goods, which aims to make the oceans cleaner by getting restaurants - and their customers - to switch to reusable packaging. Lindsey is sharp, opinionated, inquisitive, and action-oriented…and throughout her life, her varied interests have landed her in extraordinary circumstances – from helping to save lives as a cardiac nurse to riding the waves as an avid surfer. Her current passion - trying change the world by ridding the oceans of plastics and pollutants.

Amol Dixit is used to living in two different worlds. For one, he calls himself a company guy and an entrepreneur. Amol heads up G-works, or General Mills' startup incubator, which creates companies that will eventually be spun back into General Mills. The team is made up of what General Mills calls “corporate entrepreneurs,” which sounds like a contradiction in terms. But Amol insists it's not. He should know. He's worked at the consumer packaged goods giant for 15 years. But in the middle of that time, he was laid off, and instead of going to another big company, Amol decided to follow his dream of democratizing Indian food by launching a food truck. That dream is rooted in his own personal story - which again…begins with Amol living in two worlds.

Jeff Grass and Eman Pahlevani are a pair of entrepreneurs who were working on a business when they stumbled upon a personal pain point - how can they access affordable, fresh, home-cooked food when they're stuck in an office all day? That's how they came up with the idea for Hungry, a platform that connects chefs with companies for catering. The business took off and the founders clinched some high-profile investors, including Jay-Z and Usher. That was in March of 2020. Almost overnight, the world went into lockdown , offices closed, and Hungry's business was effectively eviscerated. Instead of coasting, Jeff and Eman were clawing their way back. Not exactly the script they had written when they started Hungry…but then again, food-tech was a path neither of them expected to take.

Dr. Leila Strickland and Michelle Egger believe the $100 billion dollar infant formula industry isn't serving the nutritional needs of newborns. So they're taking on a daunting task - to make and eventually produce at scale - lab-made human milk for babies (aka recreating breast milk in a lab). In this interview, the BIOMILQ co-founders share with us the opportunities and challenges in their quest to make a game-changing difference in the lives of mothers (and fathers) around the world.

Matt Barnard grew up in a family of farmers, but was always drawn to technology. So, after a stint in the wireless technology business, he returned to farming, but with a twist. Barnard is the co-founder of Plenty, a Softbank-backed vertical farming company that seeks to feed the world in the most sustainable way possible. He speaks to us about creating, at scale, autonomous farms run by robots, to produce the most delicious produce available on the market.

A bagel with cream cheese may not seem like a catalyst to change the world, but that's exactly what it was for Ryan Pandya and Perumal Gandhi. The two are co-founders of Perfect Day, a company that makes the proteins you find in milk in a lab using a method called fermentation. As grad students, Ryan and Perumal found themselves gravitating towards the same scientific problem - is it possible to make a nearly identical replacement for dairy without the cow? For the pair, the answer is a resounding yes. Today, Perfect Day is a unicorn with former Disney chief Bob Iger on its board. From their first meeting in Ireland, to a pivotal presentation to an influential VC (where they wore white lab coats to look "the part"), Ryan and Perumal take us on their memorable food entrepreneurial journey.

Full Stack Food is a podcast about food and innovation. We cover topics ranging from plant-based meat to robot-operated vertical farms, and the impact of COVID on the startup scene. Join journalist Aditi Roy and investor Brett Brohl to navigate the exciting world of food tech.