Podcasts about Aramark

Hospitality at Commander's Palace isn't a job description—it's a full-body commitment to excellence. In this episode, Ti Adelaide Martin shares how her team delivers that level of care day after day, from the first phone call to the final course. She also opens up about co-founding NOCHI, New Orleans' first dedicated culinary and hospitality training insitution, now partnered with brands like Aramark, Sodexo Live! and Viking River Cruises. Ti's passion for people, paired with her relentless pursuit of great service, has set a new bar—not just in New Orleans, but across the industry.

-Coastal Carolina announced this week—and no, it wasn't an April Fool's joke—that hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and fountain drinks will be no cost to any fan this year---a max of 4 items per visit in line but NO LIMIT OF AMOUNT OF TIMES IN LINE-They announced the move in a video and press release through Aramark, their concessionaire, much to the surprise of pretty much any college sports fan—or any fan or anything in the world, reallyShow sponsored by SANDHILLS GLOBALOur Sponsors:* Check out Hims: https://hims.com/EARLYBREAKAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Today, we are breaking down the food catering giant Compass Group. Whether it's your corporate cafeteria, the food stands at a sporting event, or the old hospital food tray, the food services industry is all around you. Compass is the giant in this space, with a history that dates back to the emergence of this outsourced trend. My guest is Asif Jeevanjee, Chief Executive of Oakmont Capital. Asif talks through both the business and the sector. How does the ecosystem work? What do contracts typically look like? And why had I heard of Aramark but not Compass, when Compass is nearly double the size? Here is another example of carving out an effective business model around an essential need product. Please enjoy this breakdown of Compass Group. Subscribe to Colossus Review For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. —- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Business Breakdowns (00:01:22) Understanding the Food Service Market (00:05:03) Contract Structures and Retention (00:11:47) The Origin Story of Compass Group (00:17:33) Expansion into the US Market (00:21:34) Sectorization and Market Penetration (00:27:45) Growth Strategies and Pricing (00:29:07) Financial Dynamics and Margins (00:30:41) Procurement and Food Buy (00:35:24) Labor Management and Technology (00:37:55) Impact of Economic Cycles and Covid (00:43:27) Capital Allocation and Valuation (00:51:44) Lessons From Breaking Down Compass (00:54:02) Key Lessons from Compass

Eine Suite im Hotel Kronenschlösschen, drei Mikrofone, zwei Menschen mit ausgeprägter Trüffelleidenschaft – und fertig ist eine Podcast-Episode, die ein bisschen nach Delikatessen klingt und ziemlich nach guter Laune duftet. Für diese Spezialfolge haben wir uns stilecht ins Rheingau Gourmet & Wein Festival eingeklinkt und die Aufnahmetechnik kurzerhand in ein Hotelzimmer mit Kronleuchter verlegt. Dort zu Gast: Ralf und Talia Bos – Vater und Tochter, Feinkosthändler mit Leib, Seele und Lagerhallen voller Genuss. Was einst mit 400 Kilo Wildreis in der heimischen Garage begann, ist heute ein Unternehmen mit mehr als 16.000 Produkten, unzähligen Geschichten und einem klaren Prinzip: Leidenschaft ist kein nettes Extra, sondern Einstellungsvoraussetzung. Im Gespräch geht es um kuriose Kundenwünsche, den täglichen Spagat zwischen Haute Cuisine und bodenständiger Begeisterung für gute Produkte, um den Wandel in der Gastro-Branche – und um Plan B, für den Fall, dass das mit dem Wildreis und der Weltkarriere als Trüffelkoryphäen doch nichts geworden wäre. Seit vielen Jahren verbindet BOS FOOD und Aramark eine enge Partnerschaft – und genau das merkt man auch im Gespräch: Hier treffen Expertise und Humor aufeinander, hier wird genussvoll gefachsimpelt, gelacht und mit einem Augenzwinkern über das Business philosophiert. Eine Episode, wie ein perfekt abgestimmtes Menü: gehaltvoll, unterhaltsam, mit einem Hauch Umami und überraschenden Zwischengängen. Das ist Feinkost fürs Ohr!

Daryl Dollinger's journey began in his youth, working in the food service industry through high school and college. Hegained valuable experience in catering, cafeteria management, and campus dining with Aramark. His exposure to the food business, including opportunitieswith the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, sparked his interest and led him to leave Aramark and join a new restaurant venture in Buckhead called Country Star American Music Grill.This marked a pivotal transition as Daryl embarked on a path towards entrepreneurship and franchising. His journey in food and hospitality included stints at Einstein's Bagels and Planet Smoothie, before becoming the co-founder and creator of the Moe's Southwest Grill concept, which they launched in Buckhead in 2000 with a small team andlimited resources, but managed to build into a successful business through hard work and dedication, with more than 100 locations, before his successful exit in 2008. Today he is focused on the further development of his Flying Biscuit Cafe Concept, with more than 36 open and operating and many more on the way.

The Drive went thru some of the new MLB ballpark foods across baseball and wondered if they would or wouldn't eat it.

Send us a textThe talk of summer for the five-year old "littles" of Elyria is Safety Town--a program where kindergarteners discover essential rules for walking, biking, and everyday safety. And no one knows the ins and outs of Safety Town better than Nicole Edwards, the Recreation Supervisor for the city of Elyria and a wonderful friend of Elyria Schools! With Safety Town registration fast approaching, be sure to catch this friendly chat with Nicole!It's a great day to be a Pioneer! Thanks for listening. Find Elyria Schools on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube!

In recognition of National Nutrition Month, Samantha Rux from OSF HealthCare joined Wake Up Tri-Counties to discuss the transformations at the OSF Saint Luke Medical Center cafeteria. The shift to Aramark Food Services is underway, with dietician Sara Umphfleet leading the charge. This change aims to enhance the dining experience, drawing from the success at OSF Saint Clare in Princeton, where Aramark's offerings are both delectable and affordable. Such developments emphasize the importance of nutrition and the goal of providing healthy, enjoyable meals. For more insights and meal planning tips, the official Eat Right website offers valuable resources. Visit https://www.eatright.org/food to learn more about the daily nutritional chart and how to plan your meals each week.

Aktien hören ist gut. Aktien kaufen ist besser. Bei unserem Partner Scalable Capital geht's unbegrenzt per Trading-Flatrate oder regelmäßig per Sparplan. Alle weiteren Infos gibt's hier: scalable.capital/oaws. Aktien + Whatsapp = Hier anmelden. Lieber als Newsletter? Geht auch. Das Buch zum Podcast? Jetzt lesen. Gold knackt 3.000 $. Steyr Motors knackt Hype-Level. Finanzpaket von Merz knackt die Grünen. Ansonsten sorgen ServiceTitan, DocuSign & Foxconn für gute KI-Stimmung. Und viele Dinge werden heiß erwartet: Die GTC-Konferenz von NVIDIA & der IPO von Klarna. Das denkt Buffett zu Gold: https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2011ltr.pdf Ist Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (WKN: A2AJ8Q) das bessere Coca-Cola? Börse sagt: Ja. Viermal besser sogar. Musk spart. Wer leidet? Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Palantir, UiPath, Booz Allen Hamilton, CACI, SAIC, Parsons, Maximus, Equifax, Thomson Reuters. Wer spielt sonst noch mit? Aramark, DocuSign & Cloudflare. Diesen Podcast vom 17.03.2025, 3:00 Uhr stellt dir die Podstars GmbH (Noah Leidinger) zur Verfügung.

On this final episode of our Emotional Onboarding Series for The Healthcare Plus Podcast, Dan Collard is joined by Bart Kaericher, President, CEO, and Chief Cultural Officer of Aramark Healthcare+. Highlighting his commitment to Aramark's 25,000+ teammates and the hospitals and patients they serve, Bart shares the importance of a human-centric approach to employee engagement and collaboration to enhance patient experiences. Along Aramark's journey to becoming a Modern Healthcare Best Place to Work (which they achieved for the first time in 2024), Bart shares several key learnings and adjustments his team made, including:Implementing Early Connect, a program aimed at supporting new employees, and Team Member Connect, a new system of rounding that encourages coworker connections.Offering a daily pay system to support the team's financial flexibility and address social determinants of health (SDOH).Reducing early turnover by connecting with new hires before they step onsite and regularly through the first 120 days. Advocating for a focus on purpose, culture, and effective communication.Missed an episode in our Emotional Onboarding series? Listen back now with Dr. Katherine Meese, Patti Frank, Natasha Lee, and Abby Spence. About Bart KaericherBart Kaericher is the President & CEO of Aramark Healthcare+. Since his arrival to Aramark he's been focused on building an organization that is delivering a vision of having engaged employees, positive patient experiences, operational excellence, caregiver support, and being problem-solvers within the healthcare arena.  Having a unified Culture of Caring has become a strong differentiator for Aramark Healthcare+. Before joining Aramark in May 2021, Bart served as Chief Growth Officer & Senior Vice President of Compass One Healthcare. While at Compass Group, he played an instrumental role in building revenues, profits, and valuable strategic partnerships. Prior to his tenure with Compass One Healthcare, Bart worked for more than a decade in the medical device industry at American Hospital Supply, now B. Braun Medical.  Bart holds an MBA in Healthcare Marketing from Saint Joseph University in Philadelphia, PA, and a BS in Business from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He has also completed Cornell University's Executive Healthcare Leadership program.

Wer hätte gedacht, dass ein Käsebrot einen dreimal höheren Klima-Impact hat als ein Avocado-Toast? Oder dass Fast Food gesund und nachhaltig sein kann? In dieser Episode ist Balázs Tarsoly von Branding Cuisine zu Gast, Europas erster und einziger Kreativagentur, die sich auf Food und Nachhaltigkeit spezialisiert hat. Gemeinsam mit Simone Zilgen von Aramark verrät er Überraschendes und Spannendes über nachhaltige Gastronomiekonzepte. Wir sprechen darüber, wie die Gastronomie den aktuellen Wandel von einer fleischlastigen zu einer pflanzenbetonten Ernährung für sich nutzen kann und wie nachhaltige Gastronomiekonzepte auch wirtschaftlich erfolgreich sind.

Große Marken kennt jeder - aber was macht sie wirklich stark? Wie werden sie zu Top-Marken? Und sind wir nicht alle auf unsere Weise eine Marke? „Marken im F&B-Bereich müssen vor allem Lösungen bieten“, sagt Patrizia Stitz von der Agentur FOOD IDEAS. Seit über 20 Jahren berät sie Unternehmen in den Bereichen Markenstrategie, Markenaufbau und Innovation. In dieser Episode spricht Hannes Wagner von Aramark mit ihr über das Erfolgsgeheimnis starker Marken: Warum Authentizität, Mehrwert und Emotionen entscheidend sind – und warum Dinosaurier-Chips vielleicht die neue Dubai-Schokolade sind.

In this Best Possible Taste episode, we're diving into a story of heritage, craftsmanship, and an exciting new collaboration that brings together two iconic Irish brands. Sharon Noonan had the pleasure of visiting the picturesque fishing village of Howth in February 2025, to meet brothers Tadgh and Damian O'Meara at their family business, Kish Fish. Founded in 1966 by their father, Kish Fish has grown into one of Ireland's most respected seafood specialists, supplying the finest seafood to foodservice and retail customers across Ireland. This visit coincided with a momentous occasion for the company—a rebrand that celebrates their legacy while embracing the future. And what better way to mark this transformation than by partnering with one of the world's most famous names—GUINNESS™. This official collaboration has led to the creation of an exceptional new product: GUINNESS™ Smoked Salmon By Kish Fish. Kish Fish's rich heritage, passion, and expertise were key to them being entrusted by GUINNESS™, and given their seal of approval, to launch a Smoked Salmon cured using their signature stout that delivers a taste reflecting both brands' proud Dublin roots. The initial idea for the uniquely Irish product began life in the Guinness Storehouse, one of Kish Fish's largest customers. A couple of years ago, the Storehouse's executive chef, Sean Hunter (of Aramark), began curing Salmon in GUINNESS™ and smoking it himself in very small quantities for tourists to enjoy as part of the visitor experience at St. James's Gate. Having noted the product's potential and mass appeal, GUINNESS™ partnered with Kish Fish to further finesse the recipe and use their smoking expertise to develop a GUINNESS™ Smoked Salmon that could be crafted on a much larger scale for wider distribution - a process that they have patiently perfected at their Smokehouse in Howth over the last two years. In this episode, which was recorded in front of a live audience, you will hear Sharon chat to Tadgh and Damian about their childhood memories from when their father started the business, the impressive growth that Kish Fish has experienced and their commitment to sustainability. BEST POSSIBLE TASTE IS IRELAND'S LONGEST-RUNNING FOOD & DRINK PODCAST. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.SHARONNOONAN.COM

This episode of The ASHHRA Podcast features Jeff Knapp, the Chief People Officer at BAYADA Home Health Care. Jeff joined our dynamic hosts, Luke Carignan and Bo Brabo, to discuss how values, culture, and consistent communication can drive an organization to new heights.Episode Highlights:A Journey from Ministry to HR Leadership Jeff began his career as a pastor before transitioning to the corporate world. This unique background became the foundation for his human-centric approach to leadership. Discover how Jeff leverages his experiences in psychology, theology, and philosophy to foster an inclusive and purpose-driven workplace.Creating and Sustaining a Values-Based Culture At BAYADA, the core values of compassion, excellence, and reliability are more than just words—they are practiced daily. Jeff explains how weekly communications like the "key action of the week" email help keep these values at the forefront, creating a unified culture across over 360 locations globally.The Importance of Simplicity and Consistency Jeff emphasizes that building a successful organization isn't about complex strategies but rather the diligent application of simple, fundamental principles. Regular communication, recognition, and a steadfast commitment to values are what truly makes a difference.Engagement and Connection Learn about the innovative practices at BAYADA that keep employees engaged and connected, even when they work remotely as caregivers. Jeff sheds light on their twice-yearly engagement surveys and the concept of an "inverted pyramid," where caregivers are seen as the most important part of the organization.Leadership Insights With anecdotes from his own career and references to influential experiences with organizations like Aramark and Studer Group, Jeff provides actionable advice for HR professionals and business leaders aiming to build a thriving, supportive, and community-focused workplace.We hope this episode leaves you with new strategies and a renewed sense of how vital culture and value-based leadership are to the success of any organization.Stay Engaged, The ASHHRA Podcast TeamSponsor informationwww.LFG.com/HealthcareLincoln Financial annuities, life insurance, and workplace solutions help nearly 17 million customers confidently plan for their financial future. Lincoln Financial. Your Tomorrow. Our Priority. Lincoln Financial is the marketing name for Lincoln National Corporation and its insurance companies and broker/dealer affiliate Lincoln Financial Distributors, Inc.  Support the show

Schon vor 3.000 Jahren stellten die Griechen Apfelwein her. Heute gehört das Handwerk der Apfelweinherstellung zum UNESCO-Kulturerbe und hat sich längst vom regionalen Genuss zum internationalen Trend entwickelt. In dieser Episode sind zwei echte Apfelwein-Fans zu Gast im Bistro Bonanza: Michael Stöckl, Managing Director der Cider World, und Simone Zilgen, Geschäftsführerin HR und VP HR Continental Europe bei Aramark. Gemeinsam sprechen wir über die wunderbare Vielfalt des Apfelweins, über die Weltleitmesse für Cider im Herzen Frankfurts und darüber, wie Produkte und fast vergessene Traditionen vom Trend der Regionalität profitieren können.

In dieser Episode ist der internationale Trendexperte Pierre Nierhaus zu Gast. Gemeinsam mit Arnd Rune Thomas, Vorsitzender der Aramark-Geschäftsführung, spricht er über die Zukunft, die uns alle betreffen wird: Was erwartet die Gastronomie in den kommenden Jahren? Wie beeinflusst Social Media das Essverhalten zu Hause und unterwegs? Pierre ist sich sicher, dass Restaurantkonzepte mit Herz und Geschichte wichtig bleiben werden. Und auch bei Aramark wird die tägliche Verpflegung in den Betriebsrestaurants immer mehr zum Erlebnis. Wie es außerdem mit der Gastronomie, der Digitalisierung und der künstlichen Intelligenz weitergehen könnte - auch am Beispiel ferner Länder - hört ihr jetzt.

In this episode I sit down with Benjamin Butler, Vice President of Key Account Development at Aramark SeniorLIFE+, to dive into the world of culinary, environmental services (EVS), and facility solutions in senior living. With nearly two decades of experience in senior living, Ben brings a wealth of knowledge, passion, and a fresh perspective to the conversation. We explore Ben's incredible journey, from his early days in the industry to his current role at Aramark SeniorLIFE+. He shares what drew him to this position after 18 years in senior living and how his passion for creating exceptional resident experiences drives his work every day. Ben and I discuss the unique challenges senior living communities face in delivering top-tier culinary, EVS, and facility services. From balancing the needs of residents, families, and staff to innovating solutions that improve quality of life and operational efficiency, Ben offers valuable insights into what it takes to succeed in today's senior living landscape. As we look ahead, Ben shares his vision for the future of senior living and the role of innovative partnerships like those offered by Aramark SeniorLIFE+. Whether you're a provider looking to elevate your services or someone passionate about the industry, this episode is packed with practical advice and inspiration. What You'll Learn in This Episode: Ben's personal journey into senior living and what inspires his work. How Aramark SeniorLIFE+ creates customized solutions for culinary, EVS, and facilities. The biggest challenges and opportunities for senior living providers today. The importance of balancing the needs of residents, staff, and families. How the industry is evolving and where innovation is heading. Tune in for an engaging conversation that connects the dots between passion, innovation, and the future of senior living. Don't miss this one!

Skupina Hopi prodala síť Perfect Canteen společnosti Aramark, ale potravinářství rozhodně neopouští. Naopak, má velké plány se svou výrobou vývarů a krabičkových jídel - měsíčně chce chystat až milion jídel.Firma, kterou proslavila logistika, teď dokonce plánuje, že ve své potravinářské divizi výrazně posílí. „Před nějakou dobou jsme si dali cíl, aby nelogistické aktivity, tedy potravinářství, představovaly 40 procent výkonu naší skupiny,“ říká v Agendě SZ Byznys spolumajitel a předseda představenstva holdingu Hopi David Piškanin.Agenda. Rozhovory s top lídry českého byznysu, zakladateli firem, odborníky. Čtvrthodinka o byznysu z první ruky.Každý všední den na SZ Byznys a ve všech podcastových aplikacích.Odebírejte na Podcasty.cz, Apple Podcasts nebo Spotify.

Heute spricht Christopher Hollmann, Director Veganuary Deutschland, im Bistro Bonanza über die vegane Ernährungsweise. Wir erfahren, wie aus einer Idee am Küchentisch die mittlerweile weltweit populärste Initiative für vegane Ernährung wurde. Der „Veganuary“ begeistert und inspiriert jedes Jahr Millionen Menschen, sich im Januar genussvoll pflanzlich zu ernähren und damit etwas für die Umwelt, das Tierwohl und die eigene Gesundheit zu tun. Auch für Unternehmen und Gastronomiebetriebe bedeutet ein Monat mit veganen Gerichten auf der Speisekarte eine enorme CO2-Einsparung. Arnd Rune Thomas, Vorsitzender der Geschäftsführung von Aramark, berichtet deshalb als weiterer Gast in dieser Episode, wie sich aus dem veganen Januar auch Impulse für die Folgemonate und sogar neue, attraktive Rezepturen für die Betriebsgastronomie entwickeln lassen.

Send us a textElyria Schools Foodservice Director, Lauryn Smith, and new Executive Chef, Alex Hrvatin, both of Aramark, join us on Petey Podcast to talk school food and nutrition. Aramark recently announced that all students in Elyria City School District are now eligible for free school meals through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program of the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. Since making the announcement, participation in the school meal program has seen a big bump, and Lauryn and Alex couldn't be happier. Take a listen to how this program is working, and catch up on other culinary news from the central kitchen of Elyria Schools!It's a great day to be a Pioneer! Thanks for listening. Find Elyria Schools on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube!

Erfahre hier mehr über unseren Partner Scalable Capital - dem Broker mit Flatrate und Zinsen. Alle weiteren Infos gibt's hier: scalable.capital/oaws. Aktien + Whatsapp = Hier anmelden.  Lieber als Newsletter? Geht auch.  Das Buch zum Podcast? Jetzt lesen. Zwei der drei wertvollsten europäischen Firmen haben ein Problem: China. Die Chip-Branche hat ein Problem mit Regulierung. Israel hat kein Problem mit iranischem Öl. Ansonsten wächst Adidas stärker als gedacht & Wolfspeed wird gefördert. Versteckte Software-Perle aus Deutschland. Indirektes Indien-Investment. Luftfahrtprofiteur. Das alles ist Nagarro (WKN: A3H220). Aramark (WKN: A1W92R) ist ein High-Performer an der Börse, aber ein Low-Performer in Yosemite. Deshalb ist Sodexo (WKN: 870935) vielleicht der bessere Deal. Diesen Podcast vom 16.10.2024, 3:00 Uhr stellt dir die Podstars GmbH (Noah Leidinger) zur Verfügung.

In this episode we're diving back into the topic of office coffee and exploring how coffee businesses are adapting to the evolving workplace dynamics. In part one, we examined the office coffee markets in the UK and Europe and in this episode we'll take an in-depth look at the US market.We'll speak with Daniele Foti, Marketing VP, Lavazza North America, Erin Moshier, VP of Growth, Aramark and Tracy Ging, EVP Coffee Services, Canteen to uncover the key trends shaping the future of office coffee in the US and how employers are meeting the needs of today's hybrid workforce.Credits music: "One Year" by Kirsten Izer in association with The Coffee Music Project and SEB CollectiveTune into the 5THWAVE Playlist on Spotify for more music from the showSign up for our newsletter to receive the latest coffee news at worldcoffeeportal.comSubscribe to 5THWAVE on Instagram @5thWaveCoffee and tell us what topics you'd like to hear

Looking for loads of important stories tangential to the South Philly Sports Complex? From Mayor Parker sharing new details about her plans to help the 76ers leave the Wells Fargo Center, to updates on the ongoing strike by Aramark workers at all three stadiums, we've got you covered. Find out how the son of the Phillies' controlling owner wound up making headlines for all the wrong reasons, and which member of the team consulted a couple of fans to help curate the club's untz-filled locker room celebration playlist. Host Matt Leon and KYW Newsradio's reporters break down the biggest news in the Philadelphia region this week. 00:00 Intro 02:01 Mayor reveals more details about 76ers arena agreement 06:32 Examining the impact of Aramark workers' strike  10:49 DNA from remains could offer cold case clues 16:08 Busy portion of Vine Street set to be revamped 21:41 Son of Phillies owner summoned for clean-up duty 27:37 The origins of the Phillies' locker room playlist Listen to The Week In Philly on KYW Newsradio every Saturday at 5am and 3pm, and Sunday at 3pm. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While there is still home field advantage to play for, the Phillies have put themselves in a good spot going into the playoffs. Justin Klugh and Liz Roscher discuss the upcoming postseason, the Braves and Mets' weather debacle, the A's leaving Oakland, and the striking Aramark workers at Citizens Bank Park.

US futures are pointing to a higher open today on positive sentiment from after-hours rally in Micron. European equity markets have opened in the positive territory, following mostly positive Asian market trades. China set to issue one-off cash handouts to people in poverty to boost holiday spending, while reportedly considering CNY1T capital injection into state banks. RBA Financial Stability Review has no surprises. South Korean policy officials debate over measures. SNB cut rates by 25bps.Companies Mentioned: Automatic Data Processing, Aramark, Johnson & Johnson

In this podcast we speak with Mr. Alan Horowitz, Vice President of Sustainability at Aramark, and Walter J. Conti Professor at Penn State University, on his perspectives of sustainability in the foodservice industry, and beyond. The quiz question is aligned with our discussion topic.

Grasshoppers good for you?... Supermoon / Two Moons… Cleaning up the ISS… Russians leave ISS with record… SpaceX sending crew up this week?... Elon being sued by Cards Against Humanity people… Bending knee in Brazil?... SEC seeking to sanction… Boeing makes final offer?... Aramark workers to strike?... Kmart almost gone… www.blazetv.com/jeffy Promo Code: Jeffy40 / $40 off ( as long as it lasts ) chewingthefat@theblaze.com The Cure releasing new music… Mozart has new music, sort of… The Penguin ratings / Dark but worth the watch… End of Bosch Legacy… Paid neighbors power for years… School kicks parents out because of bracelet… Basketball Courts / satellite photos in U.S… Joke of The Day from Brayden… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Disney, Slack, AT&T, Aramark, Dell, Wells Fargo and more all had the best week ever...

In this episode of Building Texas Business, I learned how a missed home run sparked the creation of Rivalry Tech from co-founder Aaron Canopy. He conveyed the early challenges of building their platform from the ground up and initial launches at Rice University football games. Aaron discussed their pivotal strategic partnership with Aramark, which led to expansion into major league venues like the Mets, setting them up for scalable growth. I also discovered how the company used the COVID-19 pandemic to refine its software and form industry relationships. Additionally, the importance of building a dynamic culture centered around transparency, open communication, and employee empowerment was highlighted. Strategic collaborations with Comcast Business assisted in entering new verticals. Aaron provides insightful entrepreneurial lessons through strategic partnerships on values like self-funding phases, team building, and innovation. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS In this episode, I interview Aaron Knape, CEO and co-founder of Rivalry Tech, about his journey from a missed World Series home run to founding a successful food delivery technology company for sports and entertainment venues. Aaron discusses the initial inspiration for Rivalry Tech, which came when his partner, Marshall Law, missed a crucial home run while waiting in line for food during a 2017 World Series game. Aaron and Marshall, neither of whom were tech experts, navigated numerous challenges in the early days, including finding the right tech talent and building a minimum viable product with the help of Craig Zekonty, a former Rice MBA classmate. The episode explores how Rivalry Tech started at Rice University football games and eventually expanded to other venues, including a significant partnership with the New York Mets. Aaron shares how the COVID-19 pandemic allowed Rivalry Tech to focus on fortifying their software and establishing key industry relationships, ultimately positioning themselves for scalable growth. The importance of strategic partnerships is highlighted, including collaborations with Aramark and Comcast Business, which have helped Rivalry Tech expand into new verticals like healthcare and hospitality. Aaron emphasizes the significance of company culture at Rivalry Tech, which includes transparency, open communication, and fostering an environment where employees feel empowered to voice their ideas and criticisms. The episode delves into the lessons learned from strategic partnerships, including the necessity of validating customer needs before development and anticipating market trends. Aaron discusses his philosophy on hiring, emphasizing the "hire slow, fire medium fast" approach and the value of team loyalty during tough times. The episode concludes with a glimpse into Aaron's personal life, including his preference for Tex-Mex over barbecue and what he would do on a 30-day sabbatical. LINKSShow Notes Previous Episodes About BoyarMiller About Rivalry Tech GUESTS Aaron KnapeAbout Aaron TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Chris: In this episode, you will meet Aaron Canopy, CEO and co-founder of Rivalry Tech. Aaron tells a fascinating story about how missing a home run during the World Series led to he and his partner creating a successful technology company in the food delivery industry. Aaron, thanks again for taking time. Welcome to Building Texas Business. Aaron: Yeah, great to be here. Thanks for having me, Chris so let's talk about Rival would use to order the food. And it's our software and it's our hardware that's back in the kitchen, that lets the people back there get that food out faster. So, known for sports and entertainment, we're now in healthcare, fast food, restaurants, hotels, resorts, casinos, wow. Chris: So kind of like the Amazon Prime of food delivery. I think so yeah, it is, I like that. So what was the inspiration to start the company? Aaron: Yeah, so my partner Marshall Law. Actually his full name is Jesse James Marshall Law no way, no joke. Chris: Yeah, that's his real name. Aaron: Parents are comedians. They must have been. Yeah, they're awesome. But he was at Astros-Dodgers World Series back in 2017, sitting out in the left field and ran up to get a hot dog and a Coke with his two boys, and while he was up there waiting in line for 20, 25 minutes, yuli Gurriel just hits a bomb and it's right over his seats and you can go back to the highlight reel and you can see Marshall's empty seats. So he's crushed, right, he's devastated, and that's the whole reason you go to an Astros game to see moments like that. But it was even worse that it was right over his seats. So he texts me that night and says man, we've got to fix this. We've got to like why is there no app for food delivery in a stadium? And so that's when Rivalry Tech was born. Back then we called it seats, but that's when it was born. Chris: Oh, we don't, yeah. So a lot of people start companies where they see gaps in a process or something. Aaron: Yeah. Chris: But that was pretty remarkable. I mean literally leaving the stadium. He sends you a text about this. Aaron: He did and he was adamant. You know my being, you know, skeptic in general. I was like, well, either it's already being done or it's not efficient to do in a stadium. And he said, well, it's got to be done somewhere, so we're going to do it. It's going to be you and me, and he's very charismatic. So he convinced me to join up with him and we started the company a couple months later, Wow so walk us through that then what was it? Chris: you know what was it like and kind of what were the missteps taken to kind of start from scratch on this kind of idea that born out of frustration. Aaron: Yeah, yeah, you know that neither of us are tech founders, right? Neither of us are tech guys. So we had another hurdle to cross. You know, marshall had done some internet research and found you could build an app for $3,000. And we laugh to this day we look at the millions of dollars we've spent on the platform. So we might have been a little fooled into thinking it was going to be easier than it has been. But we started by, you know, trying to understand what the real need was, trying to just kind of map it out. And then we had to find a tech guy who was going to build this for us, right, because Houston's got a lot of tech talent now, a lot more than it did seven years ago when we started the company. But seven years ago it was tough and all the tech talent was being utilized by oil and gas and healthcare. You know, it's not like the West Coast where you've got a lot of talent. So we set out to find tech talent and that's where I went to. One of my old rice MBA classmates got in Craig's a canty who I knew had been a developer in his past life. He had his own successful company called Pino's Palate that he had built and grown and scaled, and so I said, hey, help me find a tech guy. And so we looked for two, three months and finally Craig comes to me and he says I found him, it's me. So great. Aaron: So Craig got back into startup life and that was probably one of the best things that happened to us, because he's very organized, very methodical and he's not just a coder, he's an architect, and so we got really lucky early on that we weren't like a typical tech startup where we're just writing code and it's kind of all thrown together. We were building enterprise grade, minimum viable product in the early days, right. So we kind of had a leg up in those early days and Craig is also co-founder, so he joined the company, really helped us get it off the ground. And then we went to work. We went to work and started out at Rice University football with our wives handing out flyers, our kids and brothers and friends were delivering the food into the stands and I was running a laptop just manually assigning orders and it was definitely a minimum viable product back at the time. But Rice had faith in us and we did them right and delivered a good first product and we learned a lot from that experience. Wow. Chris: So yeah, and it's grown from there. Aaron: We've grown from there. We then went, we got the Skeeters now the Space Cowboys to sign up with us, right, and then we had our big break. Then we got really lucky. We're building software the whole time, we're learning from Rice and Skeeters. And we had really good opportunity to be put in front of one of our old mutual friends, jamie Roots oh, sure, and president of the Texans at the time, and it was at a pitch event and it was funny. I'd never met Jamie. I didn't know him prior to this and he was sitting in my chair at my table at some point and I didn't recognize him. And I walked up to grab my bottle of water and Marshall's wife, melissa, knows him and she said, hey, aaron, this is Jamie. And I'm like, hey, what's up man? And she goes no, this is Jamie Roots. And I'm like, oh. And so we had a great 15-minute conversation and he said, man, I really like what I'm hearing. I like your ethos, I like the aggressiveness. We have an issue with the fan experience at NRG Stadium. I want you to come down and meet with Aramark and let's give it a go. So he got us into the stadium and I remember walking in and meeting with Aramark and Jamie and I won't name names. But the Aramark guy walks in the in the boardroom and he sits down and he goes mobile ordering is BS. It'll never work at scale and in stadiums. And I thought, man, we're done, yeah, we're toast. And Marshall leans across the table and says, well, that's because you're doing it wrong. So we got a kick out of that. They gave us a shot and we did well. We had a few thousand seats we were serving. We showed them that it could be done logistically, we could make money off of it and that we had a good product. So from there we started to scale and and built a really good relationship with Aramark, one we maintain to this day. And you know the sports side. We work with them at other pro stadiums. We work with them at Minute Maid. Right now we work with them at Fenway Park. The Boston Red Sox, the New York Mets. Those are some key Aramark partnerships with us. Chris: Wow, that's a great story, fortuitous, like most, if you're working hard and you get that lucky break and take advantage of it. The combination of hard work and luck sometimes is a really good thing. Aaron: It is. It helps, and we were astute enough at the time to understand that there is a bigger problem. The bigger problem wasn't that a fan wanted a beer or a hot dog in their seat their seat. It's that the operators the arrow marks of the world were having trouble keeping up with that unfettered convenience. We'll call it right, okay. All of a sudden, you go from lines, which naturally throttle your demand, to cell phones and everybody can order as much as they want, whenever they want, and they all expect it to show up in two minutes. So we learned that the operational challenges were the real problem and that's where we turned our focus. So now, when you look at our platform, it's not just about delivering food, it's about streamlining that entire process. Yeah, if the kitchen can't keep up, then it doesn't matter. Right? That's exactly right. Yeah, that's exactly right. So building in the controls, the throttles, the reporting, the communication, all that stuff's baked into our platform. Chris: So a couple of things that come to mind as you talk about what sounds like a lot of focus in Energy One on product development, software and then trying to prove the concept. What did you all do to try to finance that? Did you have to go out and raise money? Were you doing it yourself? Because most startups and entrepreneurs face that conundrum and there's a number of different ways to handle it. Aaron: What did y'all do at Robbery, at the beginning we were self-funded, we were self-financed, we were bootstrapping it. I had a good job. I was president of a manufacturing company. Marshall has like three, four other companies, he's a serial entrepreneur and Craig was running Pino's Pallet. So we all had good jobs and we were able to fund the beginning parts of the company and ultimately it got to a point where really two things happened. One, I was spending more than 40, 50 hours a week on rivalry tech, and we saw that we were getting enough traction that it needed full-time focus, and so as a group we decided, okay, it was time for one of us to leave, and that was me. So I left my job and we financed a salary to get it going and do some fundraising, and we raised our first round of funding from Venture Capital probably about a year into operations, when we really wanted to start scaling, and that was interesting as well. That was a fun experience, but now that's how we got it started Just a lot of sweat, blood, tears and a lot of our own money. Chris: Yeah, that's a common theme for anyone kind of starting something from the ground up. Aaron: Yeah it is, and it's interesting when you do it that way, and I'll give credit to know when you have an idea and you want to start a company. You've got about a thousand ideas. Here's what it should be, and Craig was really good at saying, ok, but we can only afford to build three of those things out of the thousand things. What are the three things we really need to prove? What's going to help us get to that next round of funding or what's going to help us get that next customer? And it's not all the super convenient stuff right. It's not about sending you a text message when you're within a mile of the stadium. That's not going to generate revenue. So we really had to spend time and figure out what are the most most important things to build, and that's how we got the first version of the platform out right. We just wanted to prove that, a people would use it. B people would spend money to use it. And C we could help the customers make more money. And that was it right. So that's how you get to a platform where you have to have your kids deliver food. Chris: I'm sure that was great. Yeah, they enjoyed that a bit. They did, they had a blast. So then you know, the next, I guess, issue you face, I'm guessing is, as that success is coming, you've got to start building your team to service the customers that you're bringing in. Yeah, how did y'all go about doing that and kind of going through adding key people in the right spots at the right time? Aaron: You know that was a really interesting journey for us. You know, at the beginning we knew it was mostly about tech, like we had to build the technology and the software. We did hire an operations guy in January of 2020. It was a great time to hire a field ops guy, no-transcript. And so you know, at that stage we were really trying to figure out where we scale and how we scale, and we got to go hire all these operations, people et cetera. But then something happened in March of 2020 that changed the course of live sports and entertainment. Just a little bit. Chris: Right. Well, our good friend Jamie. I remember him saying at the time it's a terrible time to be in the mass gathering business. Aaron: That's exactly right. So you know, when COVID shut everything down, it was really funny we were actually in an investor meeting. It was, I think it was March 11th, 2020. And we're talking about raising a series A and we're going to raise some more money, and then the phones kind of start buzzing and vibrating and everyone's looking down and they're like, oh man, the rodeo just canceled and or just shut down. And then a few minutes later it was like, oh, the Rockets have postponed, you know, their season already. And or no, it was the Astros. I'm sorry, the Astros postponed their season, start dating all of this. And so we said, okay, well, maybe we shouldn't have this investment meeting right now. And that really kind of set the stage for, quite honestly, was a better growth phase for us, and I actually give COVID not that it deserves any, but I give it credit for turning us into the company we are today. We took COVID and took that time to build the software we really wanted to build, if that makes sense. So, rather than splitting resources you know we had precious resources at the time rather than splitting it between operations and marketing and all the other things you're normally spending money on, we put it all into tech and by then we had established a good relationship with Aramark. We had established a good relationship with the teams like the Texans, like the Astros, and we had established a good relationship with Major League Baseball through some of our other connections at Aramark. And so we just spent all that time in isolation talking to these other people who were in isolation. So, mlb, they became really good, almost friends, and said here's what hasn't been built, here's why you don't see it at every stadium. And we listened, and so we somehow managed to raise almost $2 million during COVID throughout 2020 and just put it all towards the software Wow. And so we were able to come out of 2020 better funded, but also with a product that MLB signed off on it we launched at the New York Mets in 2021, coming out of COVID. So that really helped us allocate those tech resources and then we could start. And, if you think about it, covid also gave us a really nice kind of gradual increase in activity with operations. So we hired one ops guy, because ballparks are only at 10% capacity, sure, and they were at 30, then 50, and then 100. So we were able to scale. It was a lot better runway than just getting hit with it all at once yeah, I guess it makes sense right. Chris: You were able to kind of that hiring process that we kind of started talking about you were able to ease into that right and not have to throw a lot of investment at it because of exactly the ramp up exactly and we were able to take our time and find good people. Aaron: You know, culture is huge for us. Startup life is a grind. Startup life in live sports and entertainment is probably worse because it's a lot of nights, it's a lot of weekends. It's going to happen, whether you want it to or not, you know. I mean, the schedule is the schedule and so we had to find those people who, you know, kind of thrive on that life. They like going and the insanity and the chaos around. You know, trying to serve food to 80,000 people, you know, on any given Sunday. Chris: Oh, I can't imagine right. The other thing, though, that you know, I hear from your lessons and the advantages you took during, you know, kind of the COVID shutdown, if you will, was you really and this applies at any time but the importance and value that you gain by listening to your customer? And we have what were the issues, what did they like, what would they change if they could? And then you were one listening and you took that back to the developers or maybe they were in the meeting too to make those adaptations and modifications. Aaron: Yeah, yeah, exactly. It really helped highlight a lot of those bigger challenges right, where we got to understand, okay, well, we did have the good fortune of working through Texan season in 2019 and we saw the issues, and then COVID just allowed us to sit face-to-face from the customer when they weren't distracted, when Aramark and the Texans weren't distracted by the season. They're just sitting at home literally and let's talk through it and we're going to build it for you guys. So, yeah, it really helped put a magnifying glass in without the chaos, and that made all the difference, right, because we have a lot of competitors who just build on the fly and they're just trying to build and learn and they're getting beat up every day and that, and they're getting beat up every day and that's the advantage we have. Chris: That's great. Advert Hello friends, this is Chris Hanslick, your Building Texas business host. Did you know that Boyer Miller, the producer of this podcast, is a business law firm that works with entrepreneurs, corporations and business leaders? Our team of attorneys serve as strategic partners to businesses by providing legal guidance to organizations of all sizes. Get to know the firm at boyermiller.com, and thanks for listening to the show. Chris: Well, you mentioned culture, and I definitely don't want to gloss over that. Couldn't agree more. I mean, culture is everything. What have you done at Robbery to build the culture that you appear to be proud of, and how would you describe that culture? Aaron: with grit. I mean a lot of people use that term as part of their core values, but for us it's. We really make sure, whoever sitting across the table, they know that this isn't an eight-to-five job, that this is going to be some nights and weekends and you may have a thought at 2 am and you know Marshall and I talk at 2 am all the time. We don't expect that from everybody, but hey, just know that you don't have to answer that 2 you in text, but if you want to, that's okay. But we've got a really fun culture. I mean, look, first of all, we're doing a lot of fun things. I mean whether we're at sports or, you know, I mean resorts. We do the Margaritaville up in Conroe. I mean there's worse places to go to have to do work, right. I mean we even enjoy going down to the hospitals. We're at Methodist in the Med Center. We've got some robotics stuff. It's just a lot of fun. And it's really fun to go into areas where, you know, people aren't using a lot of technology on the food and beverage side, and so we really focus just on people who are creative and they like to question and they like to come up with answers or solutions, you know we don't have. We try not to have any of those barriers where they feel like they can't approach me with an idea or criticism or feedback. You know, I think part of our success has been allowing everybody in the company to have a voice and there's no such thing as a stupid idea or a bad idea. You never know where it's going to go right, and so you know we like that everybody can feel safe just throwing it out there, right, I mean? And we've had some crazy ideas come across the come across the whiteboard, and some of them have gone on to become parts of the product and some we've tucked away and some we've giggled at and erased, you know yeah. And then we've got definitely a culture of you know, just a very candid culture, right? I'm trying to think of what the phrase is, but our candor is very important. So, you know, we have a lot of meetings where we'll share ideas and opinions and then we'll fight about those ideas and opinions and voices will get raised and pulses will increase and language will be thrown around. But at the end of the day, everybody does it respectfully and you can scream and yell at your partner all you want, but we always make up and we realize it's coming from a place of trying to better the company. Chris: Yeah, Sounds like transparency, but also in a safe environment, right. Aaron: It is. Chris: Yeah, the other thing that sounds like you've created within that culture is one that fosters innovation you talked about. People are encouraged to bring their ideas to the table. Yeah, their ideas to the table? Yeah, how? I mean? Are there things that are meetings you have to, or challenges you present to people so that they know that innovation is respected and welcomed? Aaron: Yeah, we do. I mean we have weekly meetings where we kind of go through everything from the tech roadmap to the operational roadmap to sales and marketing, and we just talk through what we're seeing in the market, try to identify the gaps, right. So we're really trying to teach everybody in the company look for those gaps. Where are we seeing, you know, areas where there's no solutions? And so I mean we love whiteboards. I mean if I could have every surface in the office be whiteboard, it would be whiteboard. I mean, put it up on the whiteboard and go and let's start playing with it. And we've gone through some sessions where we've covered a whole room and come up with new ideas or better ways to execute. Right, I mean we're dealing with, you know, a stadium or a hospital. They're not simple organisms, they're very complex. And then when you get back into the food and beverage service side and fragmented technology stacks that they're using in the back and how do you tie it all together? And then you got to pull in the different stakeholders the hospitals, the aramarks, the employees. It becomes a lot of moving pieces and within that is opportunity, yeah, and so we spend a lot of time just talking through you know where and how can we do this? Chris: so let's let's talk a little bit about you. Know you start in sports missing the home run of the World Series. You mentioned this and alluded to it earlier. You've grown in sports. While you still do. That's not your primary area. Tell us a little bit about you. Know how you moved into health care, as an example. Aaron: And what are some? Chris: of the innovative things that you're actually doing, that when people show up, you know hopefully not at a hospital, but at a resort or or something that they could see to know that this is your technology in play. Aaron: Yeah, so sports and entertainment was our focus market for a very long time and we realized that the needs existed everywhere. Right, the problem that we were solving wasn't just at large stadiums, so large operators like Aramark, they operate in a whole host of other industries, right, like we talked about hospitality or leisure hospitals, etc. And so we knew we wanted to expand into those other verticals at some point. And we got really lucky again where and you can obviously tell Aramark's been a great partner throughout all this Right, they called us out of the headquarters up in Philly and it was really funny. I'd gotten to know the guy well and he says, hey, great job in sports, you've solved a lot of issues for us. You've built a great platform. Can you do it in other business verticals? Could you do it in health care? And we said, absolutely, yeah, we've been wanting to for a long time. What are you looking for? And he goes well, we've got a customer down in Houston and you can hear the papers kind of flipping through. You ever heard of MD Anderson? Yeah, yes, I've heard of MD Anderson. He goes. Yeah, they have a need down there. We want you to go look at it, and so worked through some of that. But what ended up happening is we actually got in front of Houston Methodist and their innovation team is really great, really employee focused, really patient focused. But they wanted us to focus on putting in our mobile platform for the employees because you think about it a doctor or a nurse, 30-minute lunch breaks you don't want them waiting in line for 15, 20 minutes, right. So we saw that as our opening. We knew we wanted to expand here. We have a customer pulling us into this other market, right. So that's how we got started. We built the platform for hospitals at first, but the really cool thing about it is that that same platform applies to every other market in the world, right? Sports is unique. It's a four-hour event, five-hour event. You turn it on, you turn it off. A day or two, a couple days a week, depending on a baseball home stand football once a week, exactly, but a hospital, a hotel, fast food, I mean 365 days a year, sometimes 24 hours a day. So we built this new platform for them. And let's use Houston Methodist as an example. So we've got our mobile at all. And let's use Houston Methodist as an example. So we've got our mobile at all eight of their locations in Houston. We have our kiosks at all eight of their locations, so you can walk up to a coffee shop, order a coffee at one of our kiosks and the barista will make it. You don't have to wait in line and then we're doing some really fun stuff. So, like in the Med Center, we are integrated with a big robot made by ABB Robotics, and this thing makes your food from fresh ingredients to. It actually cooks it, it puts it in a bowl and puts it in a locker for you. That robot didn't have any way to communicate with the guest or for the guest to communicate with the food preparation system, right, which normally is a person behind a counter you talk to Right, and it didn't have any way to communicate with Aramark in the back. Hey, here's the reporting for the day. Here's what I've made. Well, we do all of that, and so we essentially said look, just let's and to oversimplify, just run a line from the robot into our platform and we'll take care of the rest. And that's what we we did. So you can order food from our app and the robot will make your food. It'll tell you when it's ready. It'll tell you what locker it's in. You walk up and you scan a little code we give you, and your locker just opens up, and then we do all the reporting for the customer at the end of the night as well, so they can see what you know delivery or make times were, etc. Now we're getting into delivery. Robotics have the just, so we're controlling that order fulfillment process again from the very beginning to the very end, right, Whether it's a human or a robot. So it's pretty fascinating. Chris: Sounds like I'm still trying to wrap my head around a robot cooking in the kitchen. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Aaron: It's their induction cookers. They look like concrete mixers and so it's tossing these, this pasta or this chicken, and like a concrete mixer and it's cooking it. So it's pretty neat. That's amazing. Chris: So you know clearly. You mentioned AeroMark several times and, based on the story, I can see that they're a key strategic partner for you, as are some others. What are some of the advice you could give others about how to cultivate those relationships that are so central to your business? Aaron: So I mean, Aramark was an obvious one for us in the early days because they were the gatekeeper to a lot of our stadiums. And the other part of that is we knew we didn't want to go door to door knocking on different stadiums' doors. They are in hundreds of stadiums, so build for one major customer, make them happy and they'll sell for you and they'll take you along right, and they'll take us along. That's exactly right. So we were very intent and strategic on a relationship like that and we've worked with Aramark's competitors as well. We work with a lot of them and it's that same mentality, right. But then, you know, we started looking for other partnerships and this was a really interesting one where Comcast Business, comcast Sports Tech, has, or Comcast Business has, a sports tech accelerator and we were asked to join a couple of years ago and we thought we might have been a little too big. We said, well, we've grown, we don't know that we need a tech accelerator. But they said, look, we're trying to give our partners in the space some more developed platforms and their partners are like PGA Tour, wwe, nascar, and so we signed up with. But we were very upfront with them. We said sports is not our focus market anymore. We want to work with Comcast business and they came back to us and said absolutely We'll intro you to the mothership big Comcast, join our sports tech accelerator. So we did, and great relationships out of that right We've. We now work with PGA Tour. We've got some agreements with them, working with them in a few locations, but Comcast Sports Tech did exactly what they said they would and I'll respect them forever for this, because you never know, right, like, do they really have any pull with the mothership Whatever? And so we are now fully ingrained in the Comcast business and what's called Comcast Smart Solutions, where they sell internet right, they sell connectivity and it's a commodity, but what they're using us for and a few other companies are where the value add wrappers right. So we're working with an NHL team. Right now Comcast is going to provide the Wi-Fi, the access points, but hey, guess what NHL team? We also provide mobile kiosk back of house software. There's other companies doing digital signage, iot, and so now they've got this whole ecosystem that they're taking out to their customers and we work with them, not just pro sports, but major franchise chains with 30,000 restaurants, more major hospitals, hotel chains with thousands of hotels, and so now we start going in and we've got this really strong partnership with a major player. And they had a lot of people knocking on the door and we just took the same approach Build, listen to them first, build what they want, build what their customers want, and they'll take you wherever you want to go. So that's great. It's not without its challenges, right. It's a slow process. You're building something for a multi-billion dollar company like a Comcast or an Aramark. You don't get sales overnight. You've got to dig in and you've got to understand that it's going to take time and investment. But when that flywheel gets spinning it's sure hard to slow down. Chris: Yeah, that's great, yeah, but you're right. I mean we talk about it. It doesn't happen overnight. You've talked maybe a little bit about it, but I think we also learned. I'm sure there were some mistakes made, setbacks that you and your team learned from. That also helped you later become as successful as you have been 100%. Anything that comes to mind that stands out as one of the bigger ones. Yeah. Aaron: You know, in software it can be challenging because people, customers, will just say, hey, I want this, I want it to do this, and the proper answer is do you really need it? Do you really need it to do that Other than a? Chris: programmer going sure, I can do that, yeah, and they will right. Aaron: And you could spend all the money you want. And I remember this isn't a major mistake, fortunately. But I remember we were at an NFL team and it was a customer and they said we want the ability for the app to, or the users to, pay with cash. And we're like why do you want to pay with cash? We're digital, we don't need, and they're like we have to have it. You have to have the ability to say this was a cash payment and then reconcile the end of the night. And we were like and this was a week before the season, and so we hired a couple of extra developers, we spent I don't know 50 grand to add this cache functionality. And we go back a week later and we're proud of it and we're like check it out, and you know what the team said oh man, we decided afterwards we didn't need it anyway. I wanted to strangle them. Aaron: I was going man, we jumped through hoops. You could have told us, right, yeah, you could have told us, like, when you decided you made the decision, but here we go and we built it. So you know, in the early days of a company you're really eager to please and you do have to kind of take a step back and say, look, we can't build it all, you'll go broke or you'll build need and you'll never use. That goofy function is still sitting out there somewhere attached to our platform, right just turned off, yeah like an appendix right. We don't need it and it's just there forever. That's probably one of the biggest things we learned in the early days. You know we've learned as well that I mean you've got to keep your head on a swivel for new developments in the market. You've always got to be looking at what's coming down the pipeline. You know we probably erred a little bit and not getting into kiosks earlier. When COVID hit, we thought no one's going to, no one wants a kiosk, they don't want to touch anything. Right, remember the early days we were fogging everything and the reality is kiosks are probably the biggest thing out there right now and it's a natural extension of our platform. We had the time to do it and we're getting in the game and getting in the game a good way and you know, to be fair, it's we're not worried about that first mover advantage. We've got a lot of mistakes from our competitors that we're learning from and gaining ground very quickly. But you do learn to start looking farther down the road. Right, we were maybe looking a year down the road. You've got to be looking two years down the road. What's really coming down? So now, if you look at what we're focused on biometrics, computer vision there's a lot of components that are on our roadmap or on our current integrations that we're building, that you won't even recognize our platform six months from now. Chris: Wow, that sounds pretty cool. Yeah, it's fun. So while we have some time, let's turn and talk a little bit about leadership. As you said, you kind of were the first to really step in full time. You were running a company before. How would you describe your leadership style and why do you think that style has been successful in helping Ravelry grow to the company? It's been. Aaron: Yeah, we like to hire people who take a lot of initiative on their own, who aren't afraid to go out and do something and maybe make a mistake and try it again. So you know, in the startup world or in the tech world there's a and this applies to a lot of places but you know it's hire slow and fire fast. And we hire slow and we'll fire like medium fast. You can't make everybody think they're going to get fired for making a mistake. My leadership style I'm not a micromanager. I very much. When we hire people, I say look, I'm not going to give you a book to tell you how to do your job. We're going to write this book together because we're breaking new ground every day and we're learning something new every day and I'm not going to pretend to know everything. So I'm hiring you because you're smarter than me. Hopefully. You're known for what you do and do it well. And if I'm going to teach you anything, it's going to be how this company operates and where you can find your best fit and your best purpose. You know, if it's a salesperson, where and how do they make their best fit as a salesperson. You know, if it's a salesperson, where and how do they make their best fit as a salesperson. So you know, that's been my style it's give them some autonomy, give them some ability to go out and make it their own and if you hire slow, you've got a good feel for the person, you know what they're going to be capable of and if you're comfortable with them. So that's how I've tried to lead the company. We've got you know, it hasn't always worked we've had people come and we've had people go. And then we've got some people who, just, you know, they grind it out every day for this company and they're always thinking of new ideas and their days. You go, man. You know when is this guy going to leave me? He's so good, he's bound to go find something better. And they don't and they stay and and I think that speaks to the culture and the loyalty and the environment that we've built- Well, that's certainly true, especially for those high performers. Chris: If they're staying, the reason they're staying is because of the team that they feel like they're a part of, which goes to the culture. Aaron: It does. Yeah, it does, and I'll share a little bit more on the intimate side. We're a tech company, right, and you have your ups and your downs you always do and teams come, teams go, covid happens, covid goes away. We've been through times in our history where we, you know, you're strapped for resources, you're strapped for capital, right, because you're raising venture dollars, sure, and we've let people go who have said can we work for free, like, can we still keep doing our job? We know you can't, you know, afford to have this big team. And you know, I mean I get emotional when I think about that. Sure, that we have people and it's been multiple people who've done that and you bring them back. And the goal is to bring them back. And I mean you can't buy loyalty like that. No, that's not something money buys. And so, you know, if we, as we grow, you know I know that would get harder to keep that part of the culture, but man, it's the early days. If you can just capture that magic of the stress and the trenches and have responses like that from all your employees, you know you can go out and teach a pretty good course. Chris: Yeah, yeah, absolutely Well, and get to your point. I think you know one of the goals of a company should be hire really good people, give them good opportunities, autonomy, training so that they become really good so good that they're marketable anywhere else in your industry or others, but also have a culture that's so good they don't want to leave. Yeah, Right, and if you can hit on those two things, man, it's like the key to the kingdom. Aaron: It is, it is and those people are priceless and you know our goal is down the road. If there's a big exit or something like that, I mean loyalty gets rewarded right, and you don't forget those times, because those are meaningful for business owners. Chris: Very good. That's great, man. It's great. What a cool story. I mean like seven years, yeah, it has been. So let's, we'll turn it a little bit on the lighter side. What you know growing up, what was your first job? Aaron: My dad's a large animal vet and so I was shoving the proverbial you know what. So, yeah, I worked at his vet clinic quite a bit, so it was a lot of painting, a lot of fence building a lot of you know cutting hay out in the pasture. Chris: So I was a farm boy. That's funny. So my dad was a primarily large animal and there was a big pile behind the stalls and that was one of the jobs and his partner's sons and I, yeah, I could totally relate. Exactly, that's too funny. Well, you know, not necessarily the best segue from shoveling that stuff, but I'm going to ask you do you prefer Tex-Mex or barbecue? Aaron: oh, tex-mex. All right, tex-mex. Yeah, you know it's. I've lived around the world and I you know, I know it's not exactly true, but I mean, it seems like you can find barbecue or barbecue adjacent foods almost everywhere, man, tex-mex, you just cannot find it. I mean, it's just you. There's tex-mex everywhere, but it's not Tex-Mex unless it's here. Chris: I think that's a pretty true statement. Yeah, and then the last question. I'm curious to know if you could take a sabbatical for 30 days, where would you go and what would you? Aaron: do. Oh man, if I could take a sabbatical for 30 days, you know I would go back. So we spent a lot of time as a family over in Europe and in France and in small towns. So you know there's just a, it's a part of that world. You know, if you asked me where I would go you ask a lot of people where they would go in France they'd say Paris. Paris is okay. I like the small towns, I like the history, the quietness that you get in a lot of those places. You know rivers and streams running through it. So I just found that part of the world to be especially peaceful. And if it's a sabbatical, you know that's where I prefer to be. Good food yeah, can't beat it. Good wine yeah, really good wine yeah, can't leave that part out. Chris: No, not at all. Well, aaron, this has been an amazing conversation, love and your story that you and Marshall and others have created. So thanks again for taking the time. Yeah, appreciate it, chris. Thank you, Special Guest: Aaron Knape.

When you hear university dining, you likely have images in your mind of college students with trays and hand waiting in a line for a meal in a dining hall. You may even think of a food court or a trendy food hall in the cool part of town. But there is so much more happening behind the scenes. Today we will learn about Menus of Change University Research Collaborative, MCURC for short, which is a nationwide network of colleges and universities using campus dining halls as living laboratories for behavior change. The Collaborative's goals are to move people towards healthier, more sustainable and delicious foods using evidence-based research, education and innovation. Our guest today is the Collaborative's co-founder and co-director, Stanford University's Sophie Egan.  Interview Summary I'd like you to tell our listeners a little bit more about the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative. What is it and how does it actually work? The Menus of Change University Research Collaborative was co-founded by the Culinary Institute of America and Stanford University, two divisions there, the Stanford Prevention Research Center and the School of Medicine, and Residential and Dining Enterprises. And that should tell you something is different in our vision, which is that first and foremost, we wanted to break down silos that exist on campuses between experts in food who work in academic realms. So, researchers, faculty who may be studying food, either from one certain discipline or ideally some cases transdisciplinarily, and those who actually feed students, the experts in the dining programs on campus. And Stanford was a good place to co-found this because of this great partnership that already existed between the dining program and between Dr. Christopher Gardner at the School of Medicine. But that model has actually now been replicated. We are at 70 plus institutions, not only across the U.S., but actually increasingly internationally. In addition to fostering that collaboration and breaking down those silos on a given campus, we really wanted to foster collaboration between universities to take what we consider kind of a plug-and-play research protocol. You know, a given design of a study that, as you said, uses campus dining halls as living laboratories and actually replicate research. So that's what we've done. It's been incredibly fun to be part of it from the beginning, and it's been incredibly exciting and impactful because of the approach that we take. We really democratize even what it means to be a researcher, to be involved in research. We have involvement in the collaborative and in research projects from students, faculty, of course, who are critical in their expertise, but also executive chefs, nutrition and sustainability experts. And many other research collaborators who are mission aligned organizations like EAT and REFED and Food for Climate League, who bring their own kind of comparable expertise. And we all work together to shape these living lab studies and then to test those at multiple sites to see if this a more generalizable effect? Or is that something just those west coast schools work for? Or is this only something that, you know, more elite schools where students of a certain demographic really respond? But that's also the beauty is the diversity of the institutions that we have. Geographically, public private, small and large. And we're really brought together by the kind of common language of what's also in our name, Menus of Change. And these are these principles of optimizing both human and planetary health through the food on our plates. And for us really, especially through students, changing that trajectory and cultivating the long term wellbeing of all people in the planet, one student, one meal at a time. Wow. This sounds like a really amazing program. And I love the fact that you're working across different types of universities across the U.S. and even outside. And it does make me believe that the findings that you have are applicable in a broader setting than if one institution does it. I can appreciate the power of the Collaborative. I want to know a little bit more about the impact of the collaborative. What has it been up to this point and in what ways have you seen this collaborative generate new ideas or new research findings? Yes. So, we've got about six peer reviewed publications under our belt with more on the way. Our latest is called the University Procurement and Planetary Health Study led by Dr. Jackie Bertoldo, who was at the Johns Hopkins University and also Stanford Food Institute. But we have a number of academic publications also in the works. And then importantly, we actually have produced 13 operational publications and reports. So, what that illustrates is that we've come to realize that those that are collaborating have different currencies. Publishing in a peer reviewed journal, that's what motivates academic researchers, right? That's what's going to enable them to invest time and resources. Fundamentally, this is primarily something that people do,  in their free time, right? It's a volunteer-based network of over 300 members. But if they're going to work on a project, it has to have some value to their own work. But what has value to those in dining operations is implementable, real, tangible strategies, recommendations, and guidelines that translate 'these are the findings of a certain study into what do you want me to do about it? How do you want me to change my menu, sourcing, the design of the dining hall, the choice architecture, right? The food environment itself. How do you want me to change something in the operational setup?' Maybe, if it has to do with food waste. All of these resources are on our website. We also have three really exciting new projects in the pipeline. So that's our research and publication impact to date. But I should say that importantly, it's much more meaningful to us who take those resources and acts upon them. We know that universities are unique places to conduct research, but our research is not aimed only at the campus dining sector. It's actually offered open source to inform and shape the entire food service industry. We have been thrilled, for example, one of our kind of flagship publications called the Edgy Veggies Toolkit has been implemented and adopted by some of the largest food service companies in the world. Think of Sodexo, Aramark, Compass, who are phenomenal members of the collaborative. Think of corporate dining programs, hospitals, hotels, elsewhere. K 12 environments. And that's, to us, the most important kind of reach is to know that those toolkits, those resources. Edgy Veggies was about how you could simply change the way you describe vegetable-based dishes on a menu, to use more taste focused language, to increase the appeal. We actually demonstrated you can measurably increase selection and consumption of vegetables. So, you can imagine that has applications in public health in countless settings. Even those of us trying to feed our kids. Hey, if I call tonight's broccoli, you know, zesty orange broccoli versus just broccoli, maybe my kid will eat more of it, right? So, it has applications in countless different contexts. Another really big area for us is our collective purchasing power. So, we learned at some point that it's not only that these organizations, the institutions that are part of the collaborative are brought together by a desire to co create research, but it's really that alignment on healthy, sustainable, plant forward future for the food service industry. And so we've actually created this collective impact initiative where it's our combined purchasing power. We've now measurably reduced our combined food-related greenhouse gas emissions. By 24 percent just between 2019 and 2022, and that's across 30 institutions, 90 million pounds of food. I mean, this is a huge outcome for us, and we're not stopping there. We had a goal to reduce by 25 percent by 2030, and now reaching that, we're A, enhancing the target to a 40 percent reduction by 2030. But importantly, we're actually measuring now the uptick in diet quality. So, because human health is equally important to that sustainability part, that University Procurement for Planetary Health study that I mentioned, we're actually able to see that if we are aligning our procurement, meaning what do we buy in the total pounds of an institution and then in the aggregate, right? How plant forward, how healthy and sustainable is that kind of portfolio, that total mix of foods that we're purchasing? And we can actually really increase the diet quality and that kind of average health profile at the same time. So, getting that data layer is really key. And it's the kind of area of impact that has so much momentum and will only continue into the future. Also, lastly, just to say our student engagement numbers have really grown, and that's critically important because educating and cultivating the next generation of food systems leaders. is also core to our work. We have our MCRC Fellows program and that has really grown to have about 30 fellows from a number of institutions all around the country. That's another great way that anyone interested can get involved in. Students are a reason for being. So, it's key that they see these ways to make an impact through their work as well. I am really impressed with the improvements in lowering greenhouse gas emissions or improving sustainability of the dining facilities. How actually did you all do that? I mean, it sounds like you're asking people to report and through that reporting, you see reduction? Can you explain? Coming soon is our 2.0 learnings report that will answer that exact question, but we do have a 2020 version. We call it the early learnings report that shares what it sounds, you know, the early learnings of what works, what doesn't. But what I can tell you can have been kind of the big keys to that success. First, collective target setting. We have been able to welcome institutions that really don't necessarily have the political support, the kind of stakeholder buy in, to make a big public commitment. Some schools do, some institutions do, and that's great. And others, they can sort of take cover, so to speak, in contributing to something where, you know. Their pace of change may be different. And so, it's really kind of contributing to something larger than only their institution, but also having the comfort that it's going to be fits and starts. It may not be linear. It may not be all forward. It might be a little bit backward in terms of the progress trajectory. So that's been really key to having a real diversity of schools where it's not only those that are at the very leading edge. And it's in again, places that aren't as comfortable coming out with a big splashy public wedge. The other big thing that's been key is that we have created a very streamlined framework for data collection. Instead of kind of saying you must submit your data for every single item you've ever purchased, we've on a smaller subset of food categories, where it's easier for them to track, we've created a streamlined and standardized template for them to submit the data, and we also provide individualized reports back to that university. It's confidential. They are the only one who gets it. And that's very motivating because a lot of institutions don't have that resource or that expertise to conduct that analysis to track their emissions year over year. It's almost like getting kind of a free consultancy. But it's what creates that reciprocity where we need their data. We need their collective contribution to the collective effort. And they're getting something out of it because they do have to take the time to find the data and to submit it to us. And then the other thing I think has really been key is, and this was kind of the core concept of collective impact, is continuously iterating. Every year we're listening to those involved in tweaking, you know, how we're asking for the data, how frequently we used to ask for it twice a year, and now it's annually, for example. So always kind of iterating, testing and iterating to make the processes mutually beneficial as possible. And then also keeping the door open for those other institutions to join. It's kind of a cohort effect where we have some institutions that have been part of it from the beginning and others that have only been submitting data for a year and everyone is playing a role. Great. Thank you for sharing that. I want to ask you a little bit more about your other work that you're doing because you're the co-director of the collaborative. You're also the co-director of the Stanford Food Institute. Can you tell our listeners more about that institute and what you're working on there? The Stanford Food Institute was founded by our visionary leader, Dr. Shirley Everett, who's Senior Vice Provost for Residential Dining Enterprises at Stanford. And she really had this vision to bring together an entire community of people to shape a better future of food for the benefit of all humanity and, and really embracing how much food is happening on the Stanford campus. To have the Stanford Food Institute be really this hub and this home for what belovedly we say at Stanford, it's a very decentralized place. There's a ton of entrepreneurial spirit and that's fantastic and should be, but often we don't know what everyone else is doing. So, it's a great opportunity for the Stanford Food Institute to be that magnet and say, come one, come all, whatever student led group, research project, course, event, you know, we want to work with you. So, in practice, what we really do is we work across research, education and innovation to bring together that community and work on this better future. We have a really strong focus on racial equity in the food system, as well as bold climate action. Those are kind of some cross-cutting themes. Our R&DE (research, development, education) core values that have to do with excellence and students first, sustainability, health, deliciousness. All of those things are kind of foundational at the same time. So we actually collaborate with faculty in all seven schools, which is for me super fun because I get to learn about the business dimensions of food and the psychology and social sciences. We have the new Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability that is a very active partner. We have phenomenal partners in the School of Medicine. And when possible, of course, we bring them all together. One really phenomenal culmination of all of those different research efforts is we host something called the Stanford Food Institute Food Systems Symposium, where every year, I like to explain it as a food systems science fair. It's a kind of exhibition style showcase. Researchers get really creative with how they show their work. We had over a hundred researchers at our latest symposium. And it demonstrates that real diversity of disciplines and topics that, that touch food because that's what's so exciting about food. It touches all parts of society. That's one big example. And then we have a number of community partnerships in the Bay Area. One is with the nonprofit Farms to Grow and we're really committed long term to helping support black farmers, not only in California, but sharing our model for increasing supplier diversity and equitable supply chains with other institutions. So those are just two examples, but it's really such a pleasure and an honor to lead the Stanford Food Institute. And as you can likely gather, it's really quite complimentary to the menus of change university research collaborative as well. I am really excited to learn about this symposium. And I got to say, I've worked in land grant institutions before, and I studied at land grant institutions. And so it's interesting to hear of a school like Stanford that is not a land grant. That doesn't have a tradition of agriculture in a narrowly defined sense engaging in this work. I mean, how is it that you're able to find that many people? You said a hundred folks were working on different projects related to the food system. Is it just happening, and people don't necessarily know that it's happening and you're able to bring them together? What's going on there? That's a good question. I don't have a scientific answer. I have a hunch. Anecdotal evidence. We're talking about research here. So, I've got to be clear on my methods for answering. I'll tell you, Norbert, so before I was in this role, one of the things I did was I taught a class at Stanford in the School of Design that was all about food systems careers. And it was essentially a stopgap because there was so much interest from undergraduate students in careers in food systems. But they didn't know what on earth they were going to do to make money, to make a living. How were they going to tell their parents I'm going to use all this money you spent on my degree to do what exactly? There also was just not a clear sense of even what the role types were. What's out there? What's possible? How can I make a difference? And so that class that we co-taught for several years. And I say that because that was just an interesting signal of how many students were interested, sort of, you know, poking at the edges. But a lot of them, to be honest, I call it off ramping. They didn't see the path. They just went the path that was more clear cut. They went to law school or they went to med school. And then they said, ‘well, I'll just like cook at home as a side hobby instead. Because maybe my passion for food doesn't need to be my career.' And so I think what we're really doing with the Food Institute, and there's a number of other kind of similar initiatives, is trying to say, let's try to, you know, address this in a more root cause kind of way. We have something now called the Stanford Food Systems Community, which is just a list serve. And in the fall, we host an event right at the beginning of the year where it's, it's kind of a, again, a come one, come all. We come to the farm, the actual farm at Stanford and have a pizza party and get to know all the different events and things on campus. I think to me, it's, it's a groundswell that's happening nationwide. So, I'm also an author and I've spoken for my books at a lot of universities. And I will often get asked to speak to the career services department. They'll ask me, can you talk about careers in food systems? I've seen this groundswell of interest from students. And then I think a lot of faculty also are really seeing how maybe they study law or a certain dimension. But its kind of either like backs into food or stumbles upon food, maybe. You know, we don't have, like you're saying, we don't have a department in nutrition. I mean, we don't have a specifically food kind of academic framework. But it's more those inherent intersectionalities with food where it's almost in, I think, inescapable to faculty. And then it's really kind of bolstered by how many students are expressing interest. It's something I'm really excited to see where we're in conversations with faculty to do even more to just make students aware of how many classes there are. Because I think sometimes that is the challenge that it's there, but they just don't know how to access it. Right. Thank you for sharing that. And I got to say, I've been taking notes, so I may follow up with you some more later. You've been working with campus food leaders for over a decade now. And you talked about that even in, I guess, in referencing the class as well. What is it about colleges and universities that excite you when it comes to making positive changes in the food system? And you've given me a little bit about that. I'm intrigued to see what else are you seeing? You know, it's surprising. It's the longest I've done something, like a certain one specific role is, is co leading this collaborative. Because I actually co-founded it when I was with the Culinary Institute of America on the other side of the partnership. And I think I have just a deep appreciation, and maybe I like to describe myself as an I realist, idealist mixed with a realist. A realistic view of the potential for universities to be change agents in society. Does it mean they always use that potential? No, but it's there. It's everything from the incubators of new knowledge. They're where new ideas emerge, right? I remember when I first went to the University of Bologna, and it's been there for a thousand years. That's just incredible, right? But it's also a place of growth and expanding your mind for students. Many of these higher education institutions are what's been referred to as anchor institutions. They are huge employers in a region. They are huge thought leaders in a region. They're places of opportunity for all kinds of different things. Whether it's collaborations with private sector and industry, whether it's international kind of tourism and exposure, I mean, so many different possibilities there. And I think the other big thing is that, and I should just say on the anchor institution point, it's the, all that purchasing power too, that I mentioned right there. Very streamlined, fairly agile decision making. I'm sure someone on the podcast is going to say, you think Higher Ed is agile, you know. There's bureaucracy, I know, but I just mean compared to some other food service companies or industries where it's really hard to make changes within campus dining, in particular, you do have a fairly sizable, you know, amount of purchasing power that can have fairly quick, they can be early adopters and they're known as early adopters. The food service industry really looks at what's campus dining doing. That's the tip of the spear. That's a signal of the trends to come. That's a signal of what are going to be the new norms. And the last thing is that we really embrace the fact that students in college, this is this unique period of identity formation. They're figuring out their relationships to food. What is the role that food is going to play in their lives? What do they value? How does that get reflected through food? How does that make them feel? How do they perform academically, physically, et cetera? And of course, for community and belonging, coming together, breaking bread, et cetera. We really love this stat where we've seen that in a given year, we have 4 million meals across the collaborative. But it's not just the meals that these students eat when they're on our campuses. It's the billions of meals they will go on to consume in their collective lifetimes, and when they go on to be decision makers and parents and in the other future realms. And again, that shaping formative opportunity. There are many reasons, I guess, that I've been motivated and I think the potential is still just tremendous. I'm excited for all that's ahead. This is great. And I love the idea and the recognition that this is this formative time for students. That their taste, which may have been shaped, of course, from home, but are being transformed in the dining halls. The place where they're learning to step out and make decisions about food in a way that they couldn't even in high school. I really appreciate this idea and this opportunity. And I appreciate the sort of seriousness that you take at approaching this issue. I have to say, as someone who's related to or connected to a policy center, I am intrigued to think about what kind of policy initiatives, federal, state, even university, do you see coming out of the work of the collaborative? Well, you know, it's really exciting when there is, again, I mentioned that our schools are both public and private, right? So, policy has so many opportunities to kind of shape, again, that social or political will that the decision makers administrators, dining directors may have to pursue something. So, you know, the University of California has been part of the collaborative, most of their campuses have been part for a very long time. And it just is a good example, I think to me, where in that state, there is so much support from the governor's office for farm to fork, local procurement, direct procurement, supplier diversity, regenerative agriculture, climate friendly and plant forward meals in public schools, in K 12. It's that sort of enabling environment, I think, that policy can create and also learn from. So, if it sees constellation of institutions, making a bold move or all aligning on the same kind of, you know, targets or metrics, that can give them the wind at their backs to pass something that maybe applies to all publicly run institutions. Or all food vendors in their state. For example, I would love to see more policy efforts on data and reporting. As I shared with you about collective impact, we're really proud of what we've done, but this is all voluntary, right? We're just choosing to measure this and hold ourselves accountable and keep striving. But I think at some point if it becomes required, you could have more resources in these institutions being brought to do that hard work that is required. I mean, it's not only, you know, sharing with us, but then it's analyzing your menu. What were the strategies that led to that biggest reduction? How did the student feedback go? Working with suppliers is a huge area that Stanford's really excited to have begun, but it takes time. It's, and we need more support, more capacity to do that. I could envision that if there were more requirements kind of coming from policy for some of that tracking and disclosing. And an example that gives me reason to think that's possible is again in California. Something called SB 1383 requires Institutions like ours and all others to disclose their food donation amounts. And I think that's a really interesting example again of measuring something. Bring a measurement requirement from policy to something that maybe everyone's already been doing because it was just best practice, or something that they wanted to know for themselves again that more voluntary. I think there's a lot of opportunities to do more of that. And I would love to see more of those state and regional policies, but also some of these kind of best practices emerge from some of these states and counties that become perhaps nationwide. You know the old saying, if you don't measure it, you can't change it because you don't know. And I love the fact that the collaborative sees itself as a place to prototype, to figure out how do we collect these data. How do we make it less burdensome? Because if you can figure those things out, then I can imagine allowing others to replicate that. This is a great test bed for what policies could look like by the work that you all are doing, it sounds like. And I think that's a really important point because I think the fear would be that policies get created in a vacuum, right? Where you just say, we're going to require you to disclose XYZ crazy detailed things that either an entity doesn't know how to get, can't get, or it costs them thousands and thousands of dollars to collect, or something along those lines. And so, really marrying feasibility, sort of what measurement tools exist how is the kind of dynamic between humans in your environments and those technology tools? I mean, food waste measurement right now is an area that we're really focusing on that because AI and there's a huge opportunity to kind of reduce the burden on staff. But so far, it's been difficult for pretty much every food service operation, including campuses, to get really high-quality food waste data. Even though they may have these tools. And it often has to do with how difficult, how much time it requires staff. I think it's really key that policymakers really, yeah, work with institutions like ours. We love to be, as you said, that kind of prototyping place to find the right balance of rigor and frequency and volume of data with, again, kind of labor and financial constraints and operational realities. And for us, it's also critically important to keep in mind the student experience. How do we not do so many research projects in a four walled space so that we forget this is their home. This is where students eat and live every day. It can't only be about us getting as much data as possible, of course. It's just really accounting for all those variables in the equation. I appreciate this. And I swear, Sophie, we could talk forever. Let me ask you one last question. And I think this is a good place for us to come to an end. What are the different ways people can get involved in the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative? Excellent. Well, please do. So first, the easiest thing is just check out our website. Everything that we create is open source. As I mentioned, it for sure can be applied in university settings, but it pretty much across the board can be applied in a number of other settings. Food service, for sure, but also there's a lot of, whether it's prepared foods at retails, other settings in general. Check out moccollaborative. org in particular, our resources and research. The other way is if you're affiliated with an institution, if you're an academic researcher, and you can get in touch with us to find out about. Or you can become what we call a member institution where dining services and at least one academic researcher are involved. Then you're actually part of all that data collection kind of effort. I think the other biggest area is if you have students who are interested, if once you become a member institution, as I mentioned, there's tons of opportunities to get involved in shaping research. But also in the educational side, which is through our MCRC student fellows program. So those would be some of the big ones, and we always love feedback, too. Tell us how you're utilizing the resources and how we can continue to identify gaps in the research agenda that we are uniquely positioned to help fill. BIO Sophie Egan, MPH is the Director of the Stanford Food Institute and Sustainable Food Systems at R&DE Stanford Dining, Hospitality & Auxiliaries, where she is Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative. She is also the author of How to Be a Conscious Eater (Workman, 2020)—named one of Bon Appétit's “Favorite New Books for Climate-Friendly Cooking and Life”—and the founder of Full Table Solutions, a consulting practice that's a catalyst for food systems transformation. An internationally recognized leader at the intersection of food, health, and climate, Sophie is also a contributor to The New York Times Health section and Director of Strategy for Food for Climate League. Previously, Sophie served as the Director of Health and Sustainability Leadership/Editorial Director for The Culinary Institute of America's Strategic Initiatives Group. Sophie's writing has been featured in The Washington Post, TIME, Parents, The Wall Street Journal, Bon Appétit, WIRED, EatingWell, Edible San Francisco, FoodTank, and Sunset. She is a member of the Food System 6 Advisory Board, James Beard Foundation Sustainability Advisory Council, and the Food Tank Academic Working Group. She holds a BA with honors in history from Stanford University; an MPH with a focus on health and social behavior from UC Berkeley; and a certificate from the Harvard Executive Education in Sustainability Leadership program.

On this episode, Melanie Hunter from Aramark joins the show to talk about all the opportunities they provide early talent. We learn about the company culture, hear feedback from former interns and more.

Things aren't as majestic as usual these days in Yosemite National Park. Sure Half Dome and El Capitan are still stunning, but Bloomberg reports issues with hospitality are piling up to the point it's becoming dangerous for visitors and park workers.  The blame seems to be pointed at Aramark, the private contractor that runs the developed portions of the park. The National Park Service's latest evaluation of Aramark's service said they're "extremely concerned that the years of neglect in maintaining assets has directly impacted visitor safety. They're particularly concerned about the state of the Wawona Hotel and The Ahwahnee Hotel, National Historic Landmarks."  For more on the conditions in the park, KCBS Radio anchor Patti Reising was joined by Laura Bliss, the Bloomberg reporter who has written all about the issues. This is The State of California.

Wir sehen im frühen Handel an der Wall Street eine Beruhigung und Gegenbewegung. Die meisten Quartalszahlen dämpfen das Geschrei um eine Rezession. Aramark, Caterpillar, CSX, Palantir und Uber profitieren alle von den Quartalszahlen. Avis Budget verfehlt die Ertragsziele, wobei das Management Zeichen einer Erholung sieht. NVIDIA erklärt heute Morgen in einer Pressemitteilung, dass die Nachfrage nach Hopper sehr stark sei, und dass die Produktion von Blackwell im zweiten Halbjahr ausgeweitet werden soll. Es kursieren seit Tagen Gerüchte, dass sich die Markteinführung von Blackwell um einige Monate verschieben wird. Den Punkt hat NVIDIA offengelassen. Abonniere den Podcast, um keine Folge zu verpassen! ____ Folge uns, um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben: • Facebook: http://fal.cn/SQfacebook • Twitter: http://fal.cn/SQtwitter • LinkedIn: http://fal.cn/SQlinkedin • Instagram: http://fal.cn/SQInstagram

Werbung | Sichere dir jetzt einen kostenlosen Jahresvorrat Vitamin D3 & K2 und 5 praktische AG1 Travel Packs GRATIS und informiere dich auf https://www.drinkag1.com/wallstreet zu den gesundheitsbezogenen Angaben. Hole dir AG1 im Abo nach Hause, ganz ohne Vertragslaufzeit. Daten der Studienergebnisse liegen dem Unternehmen AG1 vor, 2023. Werbung | EXKLUSIVES NordVPN-Angebot ➼ https://nordvpn.com/Wallstreet Teste es jetzt risikofrei mit einer 30-Tage-Geld-zurück-Garantie! +++ Alle Rabattcodes und Infos zu unseren Werbepartnern findet ihr hier: https://linktr.ee/wallstreet_podcast +++ Ein Podcast - featured by Handelsblatt. Wir sehen im frühen Handel an der Wall Street eine Beruhigung und Gegenbewegung. Die meisten Quartalszahlen dämpfen das Geschrei um eine Rezession. Aramark, Caterpillar, CSX, Palantir und Uber profitieren alle von den Quartalszahlen. Avis Budget verfehlt die Ertragsziele, wobei das Management Zeichen einer Erholung sieht. NVIDIA erklärt heute Morgen in einer Pressemitteilung, dass die Nachfrage nach Hopper sehr stark sei, und dass die Produktion von Blackwell im zweiten Halbjahr ausgeweitet werden soll. Es kursieren seit Tagen Gerüchte, dass sich die Markteinführung von Blackwell um einige Monate verschieben wird. Den Punkt hat NVIDIA offengelassen.

It's week four of our Treasury Career Corner LIVE feature series! In this episode recorded LIVE in Chicago at the Windy City Summit conference I sat down with two incredible treasury professionals who each share their expertise and insights on their successful treasury careers.Our two esteemed guests are: Kerri Howard, Treasurer at Aramark Raquel Alvarez Mateos, Treasurer at KearneyIn this episode, Raquel and Kerri discuss their career journeys in treasury, sharing valuable insights and advice for those looking to excel in the field. They emphasize the importance of education and certification, as well as the power of networking and building strong relationships. They also highlight the significance of finding a company culture that aligns with your values and being present in the moment to seize opportunities.Kerri Howard:Kerri Howard is the Treasurer at Aramark who proudly serves the world's leading educational institutions, Fortune 500 companies, world champion sports teams, prominent healthcare providers, iconic destinations and cultural attractions, and numerous municipalities in 18 countries around the world with food and facilities management.Kerri started her career in Treasury as a summer intern and progressively increased her responsibilities over a 30 plus year career; primarily focused on talent development, building new teams, deleveraging and process and cost improvements. Raquel Alvarez Mateos:Raquel is the Treasurer at Kearney, responsible for the global bank relationship management, debt management and short-term forecasting. Raquel has over 25 years of experience gained in chemical, insurance, manufacturing, and advisory services working in USA, Ireland and Switzerland. In her previous roles, she was responsible for liquidity management, establishment of money market investments program, cash flow forecasting, and bank relationship management. She has been a key participant in the implementation and upgrade of TMS, divestitures, and a financial deleveraging plans.Key Takeaways:The importance of education and certifications in treasury careers.The power of networking and building strong relationships in the field.The significance of finding a company culture that aligns with your values.The value of being present in the moment and seizing opportunities.The importance of self-awareness and authenticity in leadership roles.If you'd like to get in touch with Kerri, you can connect with her via her LinkedIn ProfileIf you'd like to get in touch with Raquel, you can connect with her via her

Randy Carr is President and CEO of World Emblem, the largest emblem and patch producer in the world. The south Florida-based company produces 250 million products per year including embroidered patches and emblems for sports headwear, footwear, sports garments, uniforms, and other apparel. Mr. Carr has made a significant impact on the embroidery industry by investing in the latest equipment and state-of-the-art technology. With 1,000+ employees and an impressive lineup of over 1,450 cutting-edge embroidery machines., World Emblem is able to manufacture and deliver large-scale projects in as little as 24 hours to clients including New Era, Aramark, Cintas, Perry Ellis, and Levi's.  Under his leadership, World Emblem is also committed to sustainability and utilizes resource-saving materials and methods including LED lighting, translucid roof panels, pollutant-free Madeira premium threads, and lean manufacturing to minimize waste and maximize productivity. Mr. Carr has been CEO of World Emblem for more than 20 years. He began his career at the family-run company as an apprentice to his father Jerold Carr, who started the company in 1993.  

Billy goes Bluegrass Justin stopped drinking We might be going to India, but probably not Billy got called the F word by a crazy trans person Howard Eskin has been barred from Citizens Bank Park for the remainder of the Phillies season after an investigation found the longtime Philadelphia broadcaster made an unwanted advance toward a female Aramark employee in May. A tourist from Arkansas is suing a Las Vegas stripper for $38.5 million after he says she tricked him into thinking they were in an exclusive, romantic relationship for 10 years. Donald Trump just challenged Joe Biden to a charity golf match for $1 Million and gave him TWENTY strokes

How are recent FBI arrests in Philadelphia possibly connected to ISIS? What's behind the abrupt closure of OCF Coffee House? Could rowdy teens ruin your summer on the Jersey Shore? Matt Leon and KYW reporters catch you up on all that and more of what happened in Philly this week. 2:07 Alleged terrorists arrested in Philadelphia 7:17 OCF Coffee House closes after workers begin efforts to unionize 12:20 Sports complex workers protest at Aramark headquarters 18:19 Teen lawlessness prompts action down the Shore 23:41 One year since the I-95 collapse, new information and how local businesses are recovering 30:21 Giant spiders are flying into South Jersey To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For a full transcript of this episode, . The episode today is somewhat of a follow-on to the show with Lauren Vela, which was about employer inertia. If we're talking about inertia, though, we'd be remiss not to get a little circumspect about the whole affair and subject some other stakeholders to our microscope. One of these stakeholders is EBCs (employee benefit consultants), practice leads, and brokers, which AJ Loiacono talked about in to some extent; so we can check that box at least for now. That leaves TPAs (third-party administrators), ASOs (administrative services onlys), and health plans. And this hotbed of inertia is what I talk about today with Elizabeth Mitchell from PBGH, the Purchaser Business Group on Health. Similar to earlier shows, one disclaimer is that I am using the TPA and ASO terms sort of interchangeably here. Again, TPA is third-party administrator, and ASO is administrative services only, which is generally the term used when an insurance carrier offers services to a plan sponsor, like a self-insured employer. And these services don't include insurance, because … self-insured. So, the services are administrative only. One point to make clear before we dive in, this conversation is not about these carriers/payers/health plans in general and what they may or may not be doing. This conversation is very specifically focused on how well are those entities helping jumbo employers deploy their health benefits. And first we talk about the role of a TPA or ASO, both in terms of what a jumbo employer might want them to be doing versus what they are often actually doing. Spoiler alert: What they are often actually doing is acting like a full-on health plan and charging as such, even if the health plan part is not what the self-insured employer wants or needs, especially when somebody figures out exactly how much additional is getting charged for those ancillary health plan services. Listen to the show with Justin Leader () for a bead on just a piece of the how much additional that gets baked into the weekly claims wires many self-insured employers get. Bottom line, right now, there's a gap in the market. What is needed are indie TPAs who are effective and efficient and not owned by a health plan because, if history is any predictor of the future, the second the TPA gets owned by a health plan, the TPA sort of ceases to be a TPA and becomes a health plan—with all the attendant bells and whistles that, a lot of times, an employer can't opt out of. And also, the whole not sharing data becomes a thing, both cost data and also quality data. Now, just because there's a gap in the market, does that mean all jumbo employers are paralyzed into inertia? Well, it makes it harder, for sure. But it's also a reason to start figuring out how to solve for a problem when it has as many zeros at the end of it as this problem has. Have you seen these lawsuits popping up all over the place and just the numbers that are involved? Aramark's lawsuit against Aetna is just one example. Not to single out just this one, but in the interest of time, let's talk about this one. Aramark, a big employer, alleged that since 2018, Aetna has taken more than $200 million from it to pay for medical services that should not have been paid out and retains millions of dollars in undisclosed fees. Mark Flores about this one the other day. Also, there was that Cigna lawsuit where an electrician's union health plan was surprised to learn that the fees charged by Cigna had risen from around $550,000 in 2016 to $2.6 million in 2019. That was from a New York Times . For more on stuff like this, follow Doug Aldeen and/or Chris Deacon on LinkedIn. They're a great resource. I'd also listen to the “Who's Suing Who?” episode with Chris Deacon, which was . Because of all of this, the conversation today with Elizabeth Mitchell pretty quickly gets into the shift toward direct contracting between employers and providers to improve access quality and outcomes. If you can't beat them, get ruthlessly practical is my takeaway. I have to say, I truly admire some of these HR folks and their leadership willing to do what it takes on behalf of protecting the people that work for them. Now, important side note: There are certainly some health plans at least trying here, so I don't want to imply otherwise. There are some interesting initiatives that are afoot at, I'm gonna say, usually regional health plans. Elizabeth Mitchell has talked about some of these and made this clear also elsewhere. Lastly, if you aren't familiar with the CAA, which comes up in the episode today, there's a show () on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which is what CAA stands for. Elizabeth Mitchell, my guest today, currently serves as the president and CEO of the Purchaser Business Group on Health. PBGH members are really focused on innovating and implementing change. We talk about some of this innovation and implementation on the show today, and it is very inspiring. Stay tuned on this topic, given just the absolute need for TPA services like we discuss in the show that follows, and given the smart, innovative, action-oriented people who are affected—1 plus 1 equals … yeah. Stay tuned. Very, very lastly, I just want to give a shout-out and thanks to Brad Brockbank for posing some great questions, which I pretty much turned around and asked Elizabeth Mitchell in this healthcare podcast. Also mentioned in this episode are ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and . You can learn more at and by connecting with Elizabeth on . You can also watch a on success with direct contracting.   Elizabeth Mitchell, president and CEO of the Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH), supports the implementation of PBGH's mission of high-quality, affordable, and equitable healthcare. She leads PBGH in mobilizing healthcare purchasers, elevating the role and impact of primary care, and creating functional healthcare markets to support high-quality affordable care, achieving measurable impacts. Elizabeth leverages her extensive experience in working with healthcare purchasers, providers, policymakers, and payers to improve healthcare quality and cost. She previously served as senior vice president for healthcare and community health transformation at Blue Shield of California, during which time she designed Blue Shield's strategy for transforming practice, payment, and community health. Elizabeth also served as the president and CEO of the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI), a network of regional quality improvement and measurement organizations. She also served as CEO of Maine's business coalition on health, worked within an integrated delivery system, and was elected to the Maine State Legislature, serving as a state representative and chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. Elizabeth served as vice chairperson of the US Department of Health and Human Services Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee, board and executive committee member of the National Quality Forum (NQF), member of the National Academy of Medicine's “Vital Signs” Study Committee on core metrics, and a Guiding Committee member for the Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network. She now serves as a board member of California's Office of Healthcare Affordability. Elizabeth holds a degree in religion from Reed College and studied social policy at the London School of Economics.   06:48 What is the overarching context for health plans in healthcare purchasing? 09:00 with Olivia Webb. 11:44 Why is it important to reestablish a connection between the people paying for care and people providing care? 14:07 What are the needs of a self-insured employer when managing employee benefits? 19:41 Is it doable for employers to set their own contracts? 22:11 Is transparency presumed? 23:25 Will the new transparency upon us actually expose wasted expense? 27:45 “This is not about individual bad actors. … The systems … that is not aligned.” 29:32 Are there providers who want to work directly with employers? 32:46 Why is it important that incentives need to be aligned? 34:25 Why is the quality of care even more important than transparency? 36:29 with Rik Renard. 38:08 What's missing from the conversation on changing health plans?   You can learn more at and by connecting with Elizabeth on . You can also watch a on success with direct contracting.   @lizzymitch2 of @PBGHealth discusses #TPA and #healthplan inertia on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #digitalhealth #healthcareleadership #healthcaretransformation #healthcareinnovation   Recent past interviews: Click a guest's name for their latest RHV episode! , , , , , , , , ,

The National Parks Service is planning to terminate its contract with Aramark, the company that manages lodging, food and other services at Crater Lake under the name Crater Lake Hospitality. The announcement comes after the company received the lowest possible annual rating from the park service last year. Since Aramark took over in 2018, annual reports have documented fuel leaks, sewer overflows, incomplete maintenance projects, food safety issues and more in the park. Unsafe and rodent-infested employee housing has also been a major concern.  Roman Battaglia has been covering this issue as a reporter for Jefferson Public Radio. He joins us with more details on what the reports show and what’s next for the park.

There is trouble at one of the most beloved natural attractions in Oregon and all of the Pacific Northwest.Busted buildings. Hazardous spills. Injuries and allegations of sexual assault. Years of mismanagement by Crater Lake Hospitality, a subsidiary of Aramark, the corporate behemoth hired by the National Park Service in 2018 to operate concessions at Crater Lake National Park, has endangered the park's employees, visitors and pristine natural environment, a new investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive has found. On the latest Beat Check, Oregonian/OregonLive reporters Shane Dixon Kavanaugh and Jamie Hale discuss those findings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

341: This week we get into literacy concerns for ESL students, attempts to excuse micro- and macro-aggressions, common phrases teachers use—and wish they could use, the potential ousting of Aramark, and more! Patreon: www.patreon.com/classroombrew  Instagram: www.instagram.com/classroombrew/  TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@classroombrew Email: classroombrew@gmail.com

In this episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg, “The Restaurant Guy,” and Jimmy Frischling, “The Finance Guy,” are joined by Herb Ring, National Foodservice Director of The Hershey Company.Herb shares how he got his start working in his family's restaurants before transitioning into foodservice sales roles at companies like The J.M. Smucker Company. Twenty years ago, Herb moved his family to Hershey, Pennsylvania, to take on a role heading up foodservice sales and marketing at Hershey. He talks about major foodservice customers like Dairy Queen using nostalgic ingredients like Twizzlers for milkshake straws, the importance of data and chopped candy in driving Hershey's explosive growth, and more!Key Takeaways[00:08 - 03:17] Introducing Herb Ring, National Food Service Director of Hershey[02:47 - 03:39] An opportunity to work at Smucker[03:41 - 05:51] Moving to National County, and working with Aramark[05:50 - 06:37] The first thing Herb sold for Hershey's was their chocolate syrup[06:38 - 08:18] Moving to Hershey, Pennsylvania for work. Realizing it was a great place to raise a family, and connected to major hubs like Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington DC[08:20 - 10:34] How Herb helps food service clients avoid the sandpits of business[10:58 - 15:19] How Hershey's is using technology and innovation to drive better decision making. Using data, selling goods as ingredients vs just candy bars, and having connections across the food industry[15:28 - 18:36] Limited time offers and how customers are incorporating Hershey's products into their line of nostalgic desserts and alcoholic drinks[18:45 - 22:27] Reflecting on four years of the podcast and 156 episodes, Hospitality Hangout podcasting frequency shifting to weekly,[22:32 - 24:49] Spice is Right, the price of a wing combo meal at Wingstop[24:49 - 28:44] Branded Quickfire with Herb Ring

Robin Zbytek from Aramark in Denali joins Jennie to talk about all the logistics of how to plan a trip to Denali National Park on your own if you are not part of a tour group or cruise tour.Reservations for Denali Campgrounds, Bus tours, Transit but and Denali Park VillageJennie's Denali Planning GuideGet Jennie's Alaska Travel planners and pre made itinerariesBook a trip planning session with JennieGet Jennie's weekly Alaska Travel tips in your inboxFollow Jennie on InstagramLet Jennie plan your trip for you!Music credits:  Largo Montebello, by Domenico Mannelli, CC.

As we approach a Cyber Monday which is projected to hit a new spending high this year, the conversation around technology continues to get louder. Joining Rob this week is Aramark's Vice President Digital Innovation and creator of Emerge, Peter Czimback.Peter introduces Emerge and talks about the importance of keeping the consumers at the center of everything as you approach your technology. “At the end of the technology there's one thing that always happens. Someone's touching it - humans” he says.Rob and Peter discuss the notion of technology replacing labor. They argue technology is meant to enhance labor and when used correctly, should actually encourage more job opportunities. Technology frees employees to focus on the service.The conversation moves into several interesting technologies and gadgets available for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Projection devices look to be a popular gift - something somebody would purchase for someone else, and maybe not themselves. Wearable devices like glasses are still of interest but are not as advanced (yet) as someone may expect.Tune in and get the scoop on popular consumer technology and maybe ideas for your own Black Friday and Cyber Monday purchases.Guest: Peter Czimback, Vice President Digital Innovation and creator of Emerge at Aramark

(00:21) Asit Sharma and Dylan Lewis discuss: - How Kelloggs became Kellanova and what to make of its cereal spin-off WK Kellogg.  - Food service company Aramark spinning out its uniform business Vestis and why one might be more interesting than the other for investors. - The traps to avoid when looking at spin-outs.   (15:51) Ricky Mulvey and Bill Mann check in on Costco – the business, its potential, and its new food court offerings.  (27:05) The Motley Fool Money team goes out into the field to taste test Costco's new roast beef sandwich, mango smoothie, and strawberry ice cream.  If you're looking for investing ideas, we're offering Motley Fool Money listeners a discount on our flagship service, Stock Advisor. To learn more head to fool.com/mfmdiscount Companies discussed: K, KLG, ARMK, VSTS, COST Host: Dylan Lewis Guests: Asit Sharma, Bill Mann, Ricky Mulvey, Sierra Baldwin, Mary Long Engineers: Dan Boyd 

Episode 342: Kurt Krause currently serves as the President and CEO of Visit Norfolk, joining in 2019. He is responsible for directing the effort to improve the quality of life for all residents through the economic and community benefits of tourism. His history in the hotel industry spans over 37 years, including 21 years with Marriott International, eight years with Aramark, and four years with Gold Key PHR. Arriving in Norfolk in 2014, he led the pre-opening efforts of Hilton Norfolk – The Main, followed by re-opening the historic Cavalier Hotel and Cavalier Beach Club in Virginia Beach. As well as his career in the hotel industry, Kurt served our Country initially as a Loaned Executive for the Transportation Security Administration. As a founding member of the largest start-up of any private or public organization, he was specifically responsible for many of the consumer-oriented deliverables. For his effort in the participation of founding the agency, in addition to the consumer element, he was recognized with the Department of Transportation Distinguished Service Medal by Secretary Norman Minetta in 2002. Kurt then joined his alma mater, Virginia Tech, as Vice President of Business Affairs; responsibilities included Facilities, Personnel, VT Police Department, Department of Environmental Health and Safety Services, Office of the University Architect, and Real Estate Management. On the personal side, after enjoying 20 years of playing amateur baseball (2003-2023), winning two national championships, Kurt found enjoyment on stage, participating in the Hampton Roads Dancing with the Stars, performing with the Virginia Opera, and with Hurrah Players in Annie (2018) and Dames at Sea (2019). On this episode of Destination on the Left, I talk with Kurt Krause about how Visit Norfolk is revisiting a successful collaborative campaign from 2020 to see how they can apply those learnings to new need areas. He shares more about the “City with Bite” and how it has led to engagement with the local community in addition to visitors. Kurt also highlights current plans to tell the authentic history of Norfolk through a program called Pathways to Freedom, which tells the story of the Underground Railroad, recognizes the harrowing experiences of those who sought freedom, the individuals and institutions that aided them, and the historical locations that played a part in their journey.   What You Will Learn in this Episode: What Visit Norfolk is doing to break through the noise of a crowded travel and tourism market, including a collaboration with Virginia Beach that generated $6 million of hotel business in the summer of 2020 How can we apply insights gained during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep us moving forward as DMOs in new periods of need Why those that keep their marketing going and continue connecting with their audience, even when times are tough, recover faster when a crisis hits How the “City with Bite” series started, how they produce and market it, and how they envision making it financially sustainable Kurt shares one of the projects that Visit Norfolk is proud of right now, including how they recognize the city's problematic history and sensitively tell the authentic story of enslaved people in the area The “City with Bite” Initiative Kurt discusses the often overlooked but crucial role residents play in destination marketing. It's not solely about attracting out-of-town visitors but also engaging the locals in the activities and experiences the city offers. He shares more about the “City with Bite” initiative, a restaurant series now in its third season, which was invented to motivate residents to patronize local eateries again. The “City with Bite” series has rejuvenated the local culinary scene and enhanced residents' understanding and appreciation of the visitor economy. One distinctive feature of the “City with Bite” series is the inclusion of restaurant customers in their episodes. They are invited to share their experiences, reminiscences, and thoughts about the highlighted restaurants, fostering a deeper connection between the local community and the city's gastronomic landscape. Sharing Untold Stories Kurt also shares some of the upcoming projects Visit Norfolk is undertaking that he's particularly proud of. For the last two years, the team has been working on a project based on “Pathways to Freedom,” a book by Dr. Cassandra Newby Alexander that narrates the tale of the underground railroad in Norfolk. This venture aims to tell the untold stories of those who braved the perilous journey to freedom, a narrative often eclipsed by more popular accounts like those of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith. Through this project, Visit Norfolk aims to shed light on the harrowing experiences of those who sought freedom, the individuals and institutions that aided them, and the historical locations that played a part in this journey. One of the most fascinating things about this initiative is the use of augmented reality (AR) to bring these historical narratives to life. For example, the technology can help recreate the imagery of the tunnels under St. Mary's Basilica, where the enslaved were known to escape. It can also show places such as the slave jail or warehouses that no longer exist. The goal here is to foster an understanding of the city's history and how it has progressed, not perfectly but significantly, towards becoming a diverse and inclusive community. Resources: Website: www.Visitnorfolk.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisitNorfolkToday Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visitnorfolkva/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/VisitNorfolkVA Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/VisitNorfolkVirginia When This Is Over – VisitNorfolkVA – YouTube Together At Last, Norfolk-Virginia Beach – YouTube Together At Last Review The City with Bite: https://www.citywithbite.com/brothers/ Last Stop to Freedom We value your thoughts and feedback and would love to hear from you. Leave us a review on your favorite streaming platform to let us know what you want to hear more of. Here is a quick tutorial on how to leave us a rating and review on iTunes!: https://breaktheicemedia.com/rating-review/

On today's Hard Factor…..Aramark apologizes after offering students chicken and waffles with watermelon for dessert for Black History Month (00:48:37). Google launches a competitor to ChatGPT, called Bard (00:14:425). In Russia an enraged camel turns on taunting man, tramples him to death in shocking video (00:37:00). Watch Full Podcasts on Spotify and YouTube + Get Bonus Podcasts via Anchor and Patreon NEW “CREAM OF THE CROP” & “CUP OF COFFEE IN THE BIG TIME” MERCH IS OUT AT STORE.HARDFACTOR.COM (00:02:20) - How to support the show ☕ Cup of Coffee in the Big Time ☕ (00:03:40) - Fun Fact: Jaromir Jagr scored his 1,099th goal (00:05:30) - Leeds united manager sacked (00:07:58) - Joke of the day: Chinese spy balloon (00:08:52) - Turkey-Syria: More than 20,000 dead in large earthquakes, WHO estimates (00:14:25) - End of humanity: Google launches ChatGPT rival called Bard + AI is taking over everyone's jobs

Aramark Serves Chicken, Waffles & Watermelon At Nyack Middle School For Black History MonthSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.