Podcasts about food institute

Colleen Kavanagh, CEO of Zego, shares how she's leveraging a $3 Million USDA grant to expand Zego's capacity and enhance the U.S. gluten-free grain supply chain through the acquisition of a processing facility. She talks about the importance of listening to farmers, explains why Montana oats are the cream of the crop, and shares how she's helping build the future of purity verified and nutrient dense foods. Discover how her inclusive approach supports U.S. farmers, reduces costs for brands, and promotes a better food future for all.Key Topics:Zego Foods and CIVC Montana's acquisition of a processing facility in MontanaThe expanded capacity and cost reduction for her brand, Zego FoodsHow she's helping other brands save up to a $1 their retail priceThe importance of listening to farmers and customers before defining services, pricing, and processesSecuring and then re-securing the $3M USDA grants for expansionSupporting U.S. farmers and brands in gluten-free grain processingHow Colleen is using AI to be more confident and efficient in her businessHow the new business model helps Zego Foods lean into its missionZego's Purity Verified commitment and expansionPartnering with Edacious to measure nutrient density of regenerative grainsSound bites:“If we can decrease a brand's cost by say 25 cents at the mill between co-packing and milling, that saves them a dollar on price point on the shelf.”“We have developed a new way of pricing organic grain so that it is a lower price add-on compared to conventional to really encourage brands to go organic.” “The rug was ripped out from underneath us. So by providing that transparency into what was happening with us on the ground and what it meant for other people, it gave people like OTA and CCOF the information that they needed to then go and tell those stories on our behalf in DC.”“Hulless oats are higher in protein and fiber and iron. Those oats only like to grow in arid climates. So Montana is perfect. We're high, we're dry. We have the right growing season.”“Vertically integrating has been fascinating and I have learned so much by listening. I came into this not knowing very much about farming, milling, equipment, or B2B sales for that matter.”“I just listened to their problems. And that's how I got to learn more and more about just how challenging it is, what we're asking them to do and what we really need to do to support their business if we want them to support ours.”“Zego Foods at its heart is 51 % for-profit company and 49 % advocacy organization.”“We test for about 500 different pesticides, and for mycotoxins, gluten allergens and the big four heavy metals. All of that is traceable.”Chapters:03:00 Introduction and Guest Background05:51 Winning the USDA Grant for Grain Expansion09:16 Challenges of Growing Gluten-Free and Organic Crops12:29 Lower Margins and Volume Strategies15:40 Implementing Vertical Integration in Grain Supply20:51 Supporting Farmers and Building Relationships24:27 Dealing with Weather and Supply Risks33:11 Montana Oats and Impact of Growing Conditions37:01 Working in Harmony with Nature46:06 Future of Purity Verification and Industry Data53:38 Favorite Snacks and Food Innovations54:03 Life-Changing Books and Learning61:40 What a Better World Means to Colleen01:03:28 Closing Remarks and Final ThoughtsLinks:Colleen Kavanagh on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/zegofoods/Zego Foods - https://zegofoods.comZego Foods on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/zego/Zego Foods on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ZEGOFoods/Zego Foods on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/zegofoods/Zego Foods on X - https://x.com/ZegoFoodsZego Foods on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9caEodIwrGchJ8wsSZ4UdA…Uncommon Business, Automate to Accelerate Program - https://theuncommonbusiness.co/Edacious, Nutrient Density and Toxicity Testing - https://www.edacious.com/……Brands for a Better World Episode Archive - http://brandsforabetterworld.com/Brands for a Better World on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/brand-for-a-better-world/Modern Species - https://modernspecies.com/Modern Species on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-species/Gage Mitchell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gagemitchell/…Print Magazine Design Podcasts - https://www.printmag.com/categories/printcast/…Heritage Radio Network - https://heritageradionetwork.org/Heritage Radio Network on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/heritage-radio-network/posts/Heritage Radio Network on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRadioNetworkHeritage Radio Network on X - https://x.com/Heritage_RadioHeritage Radio Network on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/heritage_radio/Heritage Radio Network on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@heritage_radio…The Food Institute - https://foodinstitute.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kristin Fracassi, founder & CEO of Root & Splendor, and Alecia Nelson, the COO, share the origin story of a premium non-toxic laundry detergent and stain remover - developed by a mom of four who went down a rabbit hole on natural product ingredients and didn't like what she found. Kristin talks about working with formulation chemists and enzyme scientists, the moment when lab results confirmed her product matched the efficacy of big-name brands, and why full ingredient transparency is a non-negotiable for the brand. Alecia shares what it's like to join a brand she watched grow from the dream stage, and what's on the horizon with a new kitchen product line built to the same uncompromising standards. They wrap up by reflecting on how Naturally Network has opened door after door after door.Takeaways:Root & Splendor makes premium, fully non-toxic laundry detergent and stain remover formulated with 100% plant-based ingredients, scented with natural essential oils, and priced at about 33 cents per load.Kristin started the brand as a mom and homesteader, not an entrepreneur, after discovering that many "natural" products still contain harmful ingredientsRoot & Splendor is one of only a few laundry brands to achieve EWG Verified status, a third-party certification from the Environmental Working Group.Five years of R&D with formulation chemists and enzyme scientists resulted in a product that matches the efficacy of major conventional brands without any harmful ingredients.Their packaging delivers an 800% reduction in carbon footprint compared to conventional alternatives.Full ingredient transparency is a core brand commitment with every ingredient is listed on the package along with an explanation of what it does.Kristin describes conscious business as a daily choice because every day brings opportunities to cut corners.Root & Splendor is now expanding into a kitchen product line, holding to the same standards of plant-based formulation, premium efficacy, and sustainable packaging.The brand continues to grow organically through word of mouth from customers who try the product and tell their friends.Winning the Naturally San Diego Pitch Slam was a turning point for the brand, opening doors to other pitch slams, awards, and a deeply supportive network of industry peers.Sound Bites:"I was willing to sacrifice efficacy for safety, and then I did a deep dive into the ingredients and learned that a lot of natural ingredients are still not safe.""We formulate for safety and efficacy. Every ingredient is safe for people, pets, the environment, and fabrics.""I had no intention of starting a business, but once I realized we had something truly different, I wanted to bring it to everyone.""There are a million ways to cut corners as a business owner. Every day I choose to stay true to our values and our standards.""The consumer is really smart. They're educated. They know what they're looking for. The greenwashing in this space, it's pretty wild.""There's no reason to sacrifice safety or efficacy. You can have both.""This wasn't developed in a boardroom. This was developed by women, for women.""Don't ever give up on a stain."Links:Alecia Nelson LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alecialnelson/Kristin Fracassi LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinfracassirootandsplendor/Root & Splendor Website - https://rootandsplendor.com/Root & Splendor LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/root-and-splendor/people/Root & Splendor on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/rootandsplendorRoot & Splendor on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rootandsplendor…Naturally Network: www.naturallynetwork.org…Brands for a Better World Episode Archive - http://brandsforabetterworld.com/Brands for a Better World on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/brand-for-a-better-world/Modern Species - https://modernspecies.com/Modern Species on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-species/Gage Mitchell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gagemitchell/…Print Magazine Design Podcasts - https://www.printmag.com/categories/printcast/…Heritage Radio Network - https://heritageradionetwork.org/Heritage Radio Network on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/heritage-radio-network/posts/Heritage Radio Network on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRadioNetworkHeritage Radio Network on X - https://x.com/Heritage_RadioHeritage Radio Network on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/heritage_radio/Heritage Radio Network on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@heritage_radio…The Food Institute - https://foodinstitute.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Val Emanuel and Rebecca Caputo, co-founders of Rif Care, share the story behind their brand, the first period care company to make products from hemp fiber and what it took to build that supply chain from scratch. Val and Rebecca talk about what conscious business really means in the feminine care space, where greenwashing is rampant and efficacy can't be sacrificed for sustainability's sake. They dig into the barriers they pushed through with scouring manufacturers, connecting dots across countries, and even how to deliver their first products themselves. We also zoom out on the broader women's health movement gaining momentum in CPG, and why they believe that when women are healthy, the planet is healthy. They wrap up by reflecting on the Naturally Network minority-owned fellowship and how the cohort they went through didn't just open doors, they became family.Takeaways:Rif Care makes period care products out of organic cotton and hemp fiber - pads, period underwear, tampons, and thong panty linersThey were the first company to make period products out of hemp fiber, pioneering a supply chain that didn't exist when they started.The hemp supply chain was built brick by brick, including connecting their manufacturer in one country with a hemp supplier in another just to get their first prototypes made.Hemp proved to be an ideal material — abundant, fast-growing, and sourced from upcycled fiber, making their supply chain both resilient and sustainable.Conscious business for Rif Care means efficacy first — a period product has to actually work and be made with the best materials possible.The period care industry has a significant greenwashing problem, and Rif Care's commitment to transparency is a direct response to that.Val and Rebecca see women's health as one of the most exciting and underserved frontiers in CPG — from PMS to menopause — and actively partner with and amplify other brands in the space.Women still receive only 3% of venture funding, yet Val and Rebecca see enormous opportunity for investors, partners, and brand ambassadors in the women's health space.Through the Naturally Network minority-owned fellowship, Rif Care learned how to build sales decks, talk to retailers, and develop distribution channels that helped them reach and maintain the number one spot at Erewhon.Sound Bites:"We're going to walk the walk. We're going to talk the talk.""There were people trying to make hemp feminine care for 10 years and we got a sample in like two weeks. It was completely a paper wall.""I don't drive a truck, you know? We had to learn how to drive a U-Haul to pick up our products and deliver them to distributors.""There's so many more opportunities for companies to fill that gap in women's health.""If women are healthy, the planet is healthy.""The people that we did the Naturally Network Fellowship with are still our best friends. We cry together, we laugh together, and we have kept in touch more than any other accelerator that all of us have ever been in."Links:Val Emanuel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valemanuel/Rebecca Caputo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccamcaputo/Rif Care: https://rifcare.com/Rif Care LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rifcares/Rif Care on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rifcare/Rif Care on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rifcare...Naturally Network: www.naturallynetwork.org…Brands for a Better World Episode Archive - http://brandsforabetterworld.com/Brands for a Better World on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/brand-for-a-better-world/Modern Species - https://modernspecies.com/Modern Species on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-species/Gage Mitchell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gagemitchell/…Print Magazine Design Podcasts - https://www.printmag.com/categories/printcast/…Heritage Radio Network - https://heritageradionetwork.org/Heritage Radio Network on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/heritage-radio-network/posts/Heritage Radio Network on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRadioNetworkHeritage Radio Network on X - https://x.com/Heritage_RadioHeritage Radio Network on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/heritage_radio/Heritage Radio Network on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@heritage_radio…The Food Institute - https://foodinstitute.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This conversation explores the critical issues surrounding seed sovereignty, the threats posed by UPOV, and the collaborative efforts to promote food integrity and indigenous seed saving through the 'Free the Seed' campaign. Megan Westgate of Non-GMO Project and Lauren Cardeli of A Growing Culture talk about how they came to work together on this issue and share insights on the importance of biodiversity, community-led seed libraries, and the power of storytelling in transforming the food system. They then share how you can get involved in the campaign and join their learning journey. Key Topics:UPOV treaty and its impact on indigenous seed savingFarmers being put in jail for saving their own seedsThe importance of biodiversity and seed diversityHow Non GMO Project and A Growing Culture came together to build this campaignThe difference between seed vaults/morgues and community-led living seed libraries4 sessions of the Free The Seed learning journeyThe role of storytelling and narrative in food activismStrategies for engaging brands and communities in seed sovereigntySound Bites:“Humans have the ability to imagine the end of the world easier than the end of capitalism.”“[Those kinds of seed libraries are] what I call a seed morgue, because that's where seed goes to die.”“Living seed libraries exist through community mechanisms and community ownership where those seeds are being saved and adapting and growing and living throughout.”"It's illegal to save seed in many countries.""Seed saving is essential for human survival.”“Life is regenerative inherently.”“Think about what does ‘right relationship' look like for me and for my business.”“Food should nourish life.”“Our national identities are stories, our faiths are stories, our belief systems are stories. That is the power of narrative.”"We shouldn't be scared of them, they should be scared of us. Because the reality is that every dam will be broken by a heavy rain."Chapters:03:00 Introduction to Food Integrity and Sovereignty04:02 Understanding UPOV and Its Impact12:53 The Importance of Seed Diversity22:53 The Role of Seed Libraries33:03 Building Relationships in the Food System42:57 The Free the Seed Initiative43:25 Exploring Seed Power and Policy47:39 Engaging Brands in the Learning Journey49:08 Challenges and Opportunities in Food Sovereignty58:05 The Role of Storytelling in Food Integrity01:04:20 Building Community and ResilienceLinks:Megan Westgate on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganethompson/Lauren Cardeli on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/loren-cardeli-5754b828/…Free The Seed - https://freetheseed.org/UPOV Convention - https://www.upov.org/Food Sovereignty Movements - https://foodsovereigntymovement.org/Seed Libraries and Community Seed Banks - https://seedfreedom.info/seed-libraries/…Non-GMO Project - https://www.nongmoproject.org/Non-GMO Project on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/nongmoproject/Non-GMO Project on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nongmoprojectNon-GMO Project on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nongmoproject/A Growing Culture - https://growingculture.org/A Growing Culture on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/a-growing-culture/A Growing Culture on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AGrowingCulture/A Growing Culture on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/agrowingculture/A Growing Culture on X - https://x.com/agcconnect…Brands for a Better World Episode Archive - http://brandsforabetterworld.com/Brands for a Better World on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/brand-for-a-better-world/Modern Species - https://modernspecies.com/Modern Species on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-species/Gage Mitchell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gagemitchell/…Print Magazine Design Podcasts - https://www.printmag.com/categories/printcast/…Heritage Radio Network - https://heritageradionetwork.org/Heritage Radio Network on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/heritage-radio-network/posts/Heritage Radio Network on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRadioNetworkHeritage Radio Network on X - https://x.com/Heritage_RadioHeritage Radio Network on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/heritage_radio/Heritage Radio Network on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@heritage_radio…The Food Institute - https://foodinstitute.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Gagan Levy discusses his book 'Start Your Own Damn Cult,' exploring how ancient yoga principles can be applied to leadership, business, and building authentic movements. The conversation covers the eight codes derived from the eight limbs of yoga, practical applications for leaders, and the importance of play, integrity, and systemic thinking in creating regenerative impact. Gagan's shares examples of movement building led by his agency, Guru, and talks about most surprising challenges he's faced leading his agency for the past 17 years. We then wrap up by talking about how we all need more compassion for ourselves, each other, and the planet in order to build a better world.Key Topics:The inspiration behind 'Start Your Own Damn Cult'Personal journey of writing the book and overcoming challengesThe eight codes derived from the eight limbs of yogaApplying yoga principles to leadership and businessThe role of integrity and do no harm in building movementsThe importance of play and joy in serious workSystemic thinking in regenerative food and business movementsExamples of movements embodying the principlesThe challenges and opportunities of leading a creative agencyUsing AI and culture-centered design for marketingSound Bites:"Culture can't spell cult without culture."“You think about the physical movement side of yoga, but a lot of folks don't know that there's actually eight limbs of yoga.”“I couldn't stop writing for four days. It flowed through me. I literally felt like I was a vessel and it was pouring, spirit was just pouring through.”“I started to see people be more innovative when they were more playful.”“We're catalyzing cults from the inside out. We're helping them come into alignment with all the stakeholders in a flow state, and then we can amplify that.”“AI is totally disrupting creative work, you know, writing, designing, ideation. It's disrupting the whole industry. It's a really juicy moment and it's causing us to polish the mirror and evolve.”“I'm a surfer and one of the most important things to me is how we take care of our oceans.”“A better world, to me, means one where we have more compassion for ourselves, for each other, and for the planet.” Lessons to Action:Reflect on your own leadership using the eight codesIncorporate play into your work processUse AI insights to understand cultural subgroupsPractice integrity and do no harm in your businessChapters:03:00 Introduction to Gagan Levy and His Work06:01 The Inspiration Behind 'Start Your Own Damn Cult'08:55 The Eight Codes: A Framework for Conscious Leadership11:51 The Yamas: Ethical Foundations for Business15:02 Cultivate Codex: Integrating Yoga Principles into Leadership18:07 The Flow of Writing: From Inspiration to Structure20:56 Case Study: Regenerative Organic Certification Movement38:19 Catalyzing Change Through Collaboration41:07 The Power of Play in Serious Work51:12 Navigating the AI Disruption01:03:15 Personal Insights and RecommendationsLinks:Gagan Levy on LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/gagan-levyStart Your Own Damn Cult (Book) -https://www.weareguru.com/cultstarterGuru - https://www.weareguru.com/Guru on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/weareguru/…Ram Dass - Be Here Now - https://www.amazon.com/Be-Here-Now-Ram-Dass/dp/0517543052…Brands for a Better World Episode Archive - http://brandsforabetterworld.com/Brands for a Better World on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/brand-for-a-better-world/Modern Species - https://modernspecies.com/Modern Species on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-species/Gage Mitchell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gagemitchell/…Print Magazine Design Podcasts - https://www.printmag.com/categories/printcast/…Heritage Radio Network - https://heritageradionetwork.org/Heritage Radio Network on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/heritage-radio-network/posts/Heritage Radio Network on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRadioNetworkHeritage Radio Network on X - https://x.com/Heritage_RadioHeritage Radio Network on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/heritage_radio/Heritage Radio Network on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@heritage_radio…The Food Institute - https://foodinstitute.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jason Schwartze, founder of Moonglade Craft Soda, shares the decades-long journey from a kitchen obsession with perfecting ginger beer to a freshly launched line of certified organic farmers market-inspired craft sodas. He talks about his background as a park ranger and agricultural inspector, how that shaped his passion for regenerative farming and ocean health, and why joining 1% for the Planet felt less like a business decision and more like an extension of who he already was. Jason digs into the innovations that made Moonglade possible, from solving the carbonation problem in organic beverages to discovering a mushroom fiber extract preservative that keeps his sodas shelf stable. He wraps up by inviting the community to seek out products that are real. And to trust that when something comes from a family and a farmers market, it probably is.Takeaways:Moonglade Craft Soda is a family business out of Oceanside, California that got its start at farmers markets about ten years ago.The brand just launched four certified organic RTD cans, farmers market inspired craft sodas, with roughly half the sugar of conventional soda.Jason's background in agriculture, and as a park ranger, directly informs his commitment to supporting farmers and regenerative practices.Moonglade is a 1% for the Planet member, with a focus on two causes: supporting organic and regenerative agriculture, and keeping plastics out of the ocean.A key innovation for the brand was solving the carbonation loss problem that usually plagues natural sodas.Moonglade uses a natural mushroom fiber extract as a preservative that keeps the product shelf stable without affecting flavor.Jason credits Naturally Network with helping him solidify his growth strategy giving him the clarity and confidence he needed to move forward.Conscious business is a personal ethos for Jason, not just a marketing strategy.Sound Bites:"I basically became obsessed with trying to find a better ginger beer.""It can't be forced, it can't be contrived. What I'm doing is not contrived. It is who I am.""I probably would have given up if the iterative process wasn't a thing. Every time I do something, I have to keep going because it's so much better.""Nobody wants a flat root beer.""If it came from a family and a farmers market, it's probably pretty real.""She just gave me some real clear goals and strategy that I felt like I'd never had before and just gave me a ton of confidence. Without Naturally Network, we wouldn't have had that."Links:Jason Schwartze on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-schwartze-9057b12a3/Moonglade Craft Soda: https://moongladesoda.com/Moonglade Craft Soda on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moonglade-craft-soda/people/Moonglade Craft Soda on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoongladeCraftSodaMoonglade Craft Soda on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moongladesoda/...Naturally Network: www.naturallynetwork.org…Brands for a Better World Episode Archive - http://brandsforabetterworld.com/Brands for a Better World on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/brand-for-a-better-world/Modern Species - https://modernspecies.com/Modern Species on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-species/Gage Mitchell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gagemitchell/…Print Magazine Design Podcasts - https://www.printmag.com/categories/printcast/…Heritage Radio Network - https://heritageradionetwork.org/Heritage Radio Network on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/heritage-radio-network/posts/Heritage Radio Network on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRadioNetworkHeritage Radio Network on X - https://x.com/Heritage_RadioHeritage Radio Network on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/heritage_radio/Heritage Radio Network on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@heritage_radio…The Food Institute - https://foodinstitute.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Scott Zimmerman, CEO and founder of Loli's Foods, shares the story behind his brand of clean, fresh, and functional sauces, dips, and dressings and why manufacturing locally in Southern California isn't just a values choice, it's a competitive advantage.He discusses how self-manufacturing gave Loli's the control they needed to source the right ingredients and build deep relationships with regional retailers. Scott talks about the innovation happening on the outer perimeter of the store, where fresher, cleaner products are finally getting the shelf space they deserve, and shares his vision for a food system built around real ingredients and regional supply chains. He wraps up by talking about the role Naturally Network has played in Loli's journey and why finding community might be the most underrated strategy in the CPG playbook.Takeaways:Loli's Foods makes clean, fresh, and functional sauces, dips, and dressings, including classic flavors and just launched a couple of new recipes.The brand is named in honor of Scott's grandmother Loli, and that family legacy shapes every ingredient and sourcing decision they make.Loli's manufactures their own products in Pasadena, CA, which gives them full control over ingredient quality, supplier relationships, and product freshness.No manufacturer could meet their standards for clean, fresh, and functional, so they built it themselves.The biggest growth opportunity Scott sees is the outer perimeter of the store, where consumers are increasingly seeking fresh alternatives to shelf-stable products.A more regional, localized food system, similar to the European model, is Scott's vision for where food innovation should head.Scott credits Naturally Network as a key catalyst for Loli's growth, having won the Pitch Slam in 2024.Finding community as an entrepreneur isn't just good for business, Scott calls it "healthy therapy".Sound Bites:"Being conscious of what you put into your body, using the best ingredients for the people you love, is synonymous with how we do business.""It really helps early stage to be able to hold on and control that quality control on the product, especially how we feel when our grandma's name is on the bottle.""You can get the same price product that is two years old on a dry shelf for the same price over at fresh that's a highly better quality product.""I tell everybody on the team or anybody I bump into that we wouldn't be here without Naturally Network.""The business is hard enough and the industry is hard enough. So if you can find community, it's such a weight off your shoulders.”Links:Scott Zimmerman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-zimmerman-08436285/Loli's Website: https://eatlolis.com/Loli's on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatlolis/Loli's on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatlolisLoli's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/loli-s/…Naturally Network: www.naturallynetwork.org…Brands for a Better World Episode Archive - http://brandsforabetterworld.com/Brands for a Better World on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/brand-for-a-better-world/Modern Species - https://modernspecies.com/Modern Species on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-species/Gage Mitchell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gagemitchell/…Print Magazine Design Podcasts - https://www.printmag.com/categories/printcast/…Heritage Radio Network - https://heritageradionetwork.org/Heritage Radio Network on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/heritage-radio-network/posts/Heritage Radio Network on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRadioNetworkHeritage Radio Network on X - https://x.com/Heritage_RadioHeritage Radio Network on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/heritage_radio/Heritage Radio Network on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@heritage_radio…The Food Institute - https://foodinstitute.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Discover the inspiring story of Audra Query, founder of Girl Meets Dirt, who transitioned from a Wall Street career to building a seasonally rooted, award-winning preserves business on Orcas Island. This episode explores her journey of intentional living, embracing seasonality, and balancing entrepreneurial ambitions with a meaningful lifestyle. We talk about the benefits of doing things the hard way, the challenges of running a business on an island, and resisting the pressure to scale. Enjoy!Key Topics:Audra's transition from a Wall Street career to rural entrepreneurshipThe importance of seasonality and place in food business storytellingHow her upbringing and background shaped her values and business approachChallenges of building a business on a small island and strategies for resilienceBalancing motherhood, personal values, and business growthThe role of intuition, openness, and serendipity in entrepreneurial successFuture aspirations: scaling versus maintaining mission-driven qualityLessons learned from market research, community support, and mindful scalingThe significance of storytelling, terroir, and authenticity in premium food brandsInsights for entrepreneurs seeking to create resilient, meaningful businesses Sound Bites:“I had what I call an accidental career on Wall Street that lasted for 10 years.”“I looked at [my mentor] and despite my admiration I said, I don't want that life.”"There's no such thing as work-life balance. There's a pendulum, and it swings."“I needed to carve a path for myself that accommodated my values.”“He actually said, how about the islands? Why don't we move there? I was like, yes, but who are you and what did you do with my husband?”“I see this lovely little fence garden and six garden beds and the wheels start turning“The origins of Girl Meets Dirt was my personal story and journey of getting my hands dirty and teaching myself how to grow things. It started with seeds and vegetables, which I then started preserving. Then one fruit tree yielded 150 pounds of plums and things changed.”“I'm a storyteller, a writer. That's where my real heart and soul is. And I thought, there's a really special story to tell here about terroir and rootedness and seasonality and sense of place.”“We're still doing things the hard way, you know, making things in six copper pots on an island and each jar ships via the ferry. It's very difficult to run a business on this island.”"Part of our operational strategy is in harvest we take in all the fruit and then we prep and freeze it. Then we can cook off throughout the year so that we're busy, and we can also respond better to demand.”“I think it's challenging for us though as a CPG brand and the expectations to scale. I know how to do it, but I've resisted it this whole time because I want to see how far I can get doing it the way that I'm doing it, which is highly attuned to my mission and my morals.”“Keep doing the same thing, that one thing until you cannot possibly do it any better.”“If I start to think it doesn't seem possible, I'm actually drawn to it even more.”Lessons to Action:Focus on doing one thing well and optimize itTrust your journey and listen to your intuitionBuild a business that aligns with your values and lifestyleTimestamps: 03:00 - Introduction to Audra Query and Girl Meets Dirt's story05:25 - From Wall Street to Orcas Island: making a pivotal life change08:08 - The influence of mentorship and the realization to pursue purpose12:00 - Embracing seasonality and place in food production15:38 - The journey of buying land and starting a garden20:32 - Personal story behind the genesis of Girl Meets Dirt25:27 - Navigating challenges of island business and seasonality31:21 - Community support, wholesale growth, and local connections34:44 - Motherhood, business expansion, and balancing priorities39:45 - Unique challenges and strategies of island entrepreneurship45:21 - Future growth plans, ambitions, and the question of scale50:30 - Overcoming industry pressures and staying true to mission57:08 - Favorite foods, recipes, and inspiring books61:37 - The importance of ingredients, flavor, and authenticity64:49 - Vision for a better world through shared food and communityResources & Links:Links:Audra Query on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/audra-query-9920064/Girl Meets Dirt - https://girlmeetsdirt.comGirl Meets Dirt on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/girl-meets-dirt/Girl Meets Dirt on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/girlmeetsdirt Girl Meets Dirt on Instagram - https://instagram.com/girlmeetsdirtGirl Meets Dirt on X - https://x.com/GirlMeetsDirtGirl Meets Dirt on Vimeo - https://vimeo.com/girlmeetsdirt…Messy Confiture by Christine Faber - https://www.amazon.com/Messes-Confiture-Christine-Faber/dp/…Brands for a Better World Episode Archive - http://brandsforabetterworld.com/Brands for a Better World on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/brand-for-a-better-world/Modern Species - https://modernspecies.com/Modern Species on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-species/Gage Mitchell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gagemitchell/…Print Magazine Design Podcasts - https://www.printmag.com/categories/printcast/…Heritage Radio Network - https://heritageradionetwork.org/Heritage Radio Network on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/heritage-radio-network/posts/Heritage Radio Network on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRadioNetworkHeritage Radio Network on X - https://x.com/Heritage_RadioHeritage Radio Network on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/heritage_radio/Heritage Radio Network on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@heritage_radio…The Food Institute - https://foodinstitute.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

American companies are increasingly skipping traditional price hikes on goods in favor of new surcharges and fees added to checkout screens and monthly bills—often far less visible—as a way to pass rising prices onto consumers amid surging inflation. Key Facts Restaurants, hotels, airlines, retailers and other businesses are increasingly breaking price hikes into separate line items—often labeled as a “fuel surcharge,” “service fee” “processing fee” or “resort fee”—that allow them to preserve advertised prices but still pass inflation-related price increases on to the consumer.  Often these costs only show up on a final bill or check—separate from the original, advertised price. One of the most common examples is a credit card use surcharge—used by one-third of American small businesses—which see companies try to recoup the fees charged to them by credit card companies by hitting customers with a 2% to 4% fee if they use a card instead of cash.  More than 15% of restaurants nationally also now tack on extra fees to the bill at the end of a meal, according to the National Restaurant Association, with some adding credit card surcharges while others opt for automatic gratuity or vague “service charges” to help cover increased supply costs or employee wages.  Airlines advertise ticket prices without including hidden taxes, fees and charges—that can increase ticket prices by roughly 20% at checkout—and carriers like American, Alaska, Delta, United and Southwest this month announced they were hiking the price of baggage fees by $10 per bag to cover Iran war-caused jet fuel increases. Grab, a Nasdaq-listed rideshare and food delivery company that operates in Southeast Asia, told customers it will implement a fuel surcharge through May 31 and Uber Australia said it will introduce a temporary 5-cent-per-kilometer fuel surcharge starting April 15. What To Watch For More price hikes or fees for consumers as businesses themselves fall victim to new surcharges. Amazon has added a 3.5% fuel surcharge for its third-party sellers. UPS, FedEx and the USPS have implemented their own fuel-related price hikes, ranging from 3.5% to 8%, since the Iran war spiked energy costs. Experts have said those logistics companies have little choice but to offset the skyrocketing costs of gasoline and diesel, and as many as 30 to 40% of Amazon sellers subject to the new surcharge will pass it directly on to consumers, a supply chain expert told the New York Post. The owner of Ash & Erie, a small men's clothing brand, told the Wall Street Journal the fuel surcharges are like “tariffs 2.0” and said he'll likely have to raise prices to make up for them. Similarly, fresh food distributors are billing restaurants and grocery markets to make up for the rising price of diesel, which could soon get passed along to shoppers and diners. Grocery prices will rise 2% in the next few weeks, according to The Food Institute. Contractor Plus, a management app designed for contractors and businesses like plumbing and electricians, is advisingits clients on how to add fuel surcharges directly to invoices. Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and Amazon have all started offering fuel price relief options for its delivery and rideshare drivers, the New York Times reported, and that could soon turn into a surcharge for riders or delivery recipients. When the war in Ukraine caused gas prices to jump in 2022, Uber and Lyft added surcharges directly to customers. Will The New Fees Ever Go Away?  Probably not. Often, a fee gets introduced to solve a seemingly temporary cost problem but then becomes permanent, even after the original justification fades. Restaurant service fees, for example, were born amid higher prices and fewer sales during the pandemic but many stayed around when costs dropped. Airline checked baggage fees were introduced during the 2008 oil price spike, when jet fuel costs surged, but didn't disappear once fuel prices stabilized. Rental car companies added "temporary" surcharges after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to offset falling travel demand and pay for added airport security and facility costs, but they stuck around after the travel industry recovered. Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian recently implied airfares likely won't go back down even if oil prices drop, instead saying the lowered fuel costs would "certainly help us boost our margins this year and clearly into next year as well." Read the full story on Forbes: By Mary Whitfill Roeloffs https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/04/13/here-are-the-hidden-fees-for-food-flights-more-youre-paying-because-of-the-affordability-crisis/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

American companies are increasingly skipping traditional price hikes on goods in favor of new surcharges and fees added to checkout screens and monthly bills—often far less visible—as a way to pass rising prices onto consumers amid surging inflation. Key Facts Restaurants, hotels, airlines, retailers and other businesses are increasingly breaking price hikes into separate line items—often labeled as a “fuel surcharge,” “service fee” “processing fee” or “resort fee”—that allow them to preserve advertised prices but still pass inflation-related price increases on to the consumer.  Often these costs only show up on a final bill or check—separate from the original, advertised price. One of the most common examples is a credit card use surcharge—used by one-third of American small businesses—which see companies try to recoup the fees charged to them by credit card companies by hitting customers with a 2% to 4% fee if they use a card instead of cash.  More than 15% of restaurants nationally also now tack on extra fees to the bill at the end of a meal, according to the National Restaurant Association, with some adding credit card surcharges while others opt for automatic gratuity or vague “service charges” to help cover increased supply costs or employee wages.  Airlines advertise ticket prices without including hidden taxes, fees and charges—that can increase ticket prices by roughly 20% at checkout—and carriers like American, Alaska, Delta, United and Southwest this month announced they were hiking the price of baggage fees by $10 per bag to cover Iran war-caused jet fuel increases. Grab, a Nasdaq-listed rideshare and food delivery company that operates in Southeast Asia, told customers it will implement a fuel surcharge through May 31 and Uber Australia said it will introduce a temporary 5-cent-per-kilometer fuel surcharge starting April 15. What To Watch For More price hikes or fees for consumers as businesses themselves fall victim to new surcharges. Amazon has added a 3.5% fuel surcharge for its third-party sellers. UPS, FedEx and the USPS have implemented their own fuel-related price hikes, ranging from 3.5% to 8%, since the Iran war spiked energy costs. Experts have said those logistics companies have little choice but to offset the skyrocketing costs of gasoline and diesel, and as many as 30 to 40% of Amazon sellers subject to the new surcharge will pass it directly on to consumers, a supply chain expert told the New York Post. The owner of Ash & Erie, a small men's clothing brand, told the Wall Street Journal the fuel surcharges are like “tariffs 2.0” and said he'll likely have to raise prices to make up for them. Similarly, fresh food distributors are billing restaurants and grocery markets to make up for the rising price of diesel, which could soon get passed along to shoppers and diners. Grocery prices will rise 2% in the next few weeks, according to The Food Institute. Contractor Plus, a management app designed for contractors and businesses like plumbing and electricians, is advisingits clients on how to add fuel surcharges directly to invoices. Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and Amazon have all started offering fuel price relief options for its delivery and rideshare drivers, the New York Times reported, and that could soon turn into a surcharge for riders or delivery recipients. When the war in Ukraine caused gas prices to jump in 2022, Uber and Lyft added surcharges directly to customers. Will The New Fees Ever Go Away?  Probably not. Often, a fee gets introduced to solve a seemingly temporary cost problem but then becomes permanent, even after the original justification fades. Restaurant service fees, for example, were born amid higher prices and fewer sales during the pandemic but many stayed around when costs dropped. Airline checked baggage fees were introduced during the 2008 oil price spike, when jet fuel costs surged, but didn't disappear once fuel prices stabilized. Rental car companies added "temporary" surcharges after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to offset falling travel demand and pay for added airport security and facility costs, but they stuck around after the travel industry recovered. Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian recently implied airfares likely won't go back down even if oil prices drop, instead saying the lowered fuel costs would "certainly help us boost our margins this year and clearly into next year as well." Read the full story on Forbes: By Mary Whitfill Roeloffs https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/04/13/here-are-the-hidden-fees-for-food-flights-more-youre-paying-because-of-the-affordability-crisis/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What will value really mean for food and beverage in 2026? On the latest episode of Retail Sound Bites, Barry Thomas and Rachel Dalton sit down with Brian Choi, CEO of The Food Institute, to unpack the forces reshaping the industry, including deeply value‑obsessed consumer to the rise of challenger brands and experience‑led innovation.

This week's Open Mic guest is Alison Bodor, president and CEO of the American Frozen Food Institute. Bodor says AFFI is pleased with the call for more whole and nutrient dense foods in the new dietary guidelines because frozen foods offer exceptional food quality, nutrition and less food waste. She explains other advantages of the frozen category and why AFFI is hopeful for a new farm bill with opportunities for frozen foods. Bodor also shares industry concerns over a patchwork of state regulations on food labels and food packaging.  

In the first Food for Thought Leadership episode of 2026, hosts Chris Campbell and Rebecca Fryer lead an editorial roundtable focused on the 2026 food industry outlook. They are joined by The Food Institute's Kelly Beaton, George Hajjar, and Anna Kinder to unpack early signs of a potential foodservice rebound, the rise of fiber as the next major wellness focus, and how GLP-1 medications are reshaping consumer behavior, menu strategy, and product innovation across the food industry. The discussion dives deeper into 2026 food industry trends influencing culture and consumption, including the continued growth of non-alcohol beverages, increasing demand for clean labels and transparency, and a consumer redefining value through the lens of price, quality, and convenience. Global flavors remain a key driver, evolving toward hyper-regionality and third-culture cuisine as consumers balance authenticity with experimentation. Rounding out the episode, the team explores how 2026 food industry trends are accelerating change in technology and retail. Artificial intelligence and automation are moving from experimentation to essential tools for efficiency and food safety, while private label and challenger brands continue to reshape retail shelves. Together, the episode delivers a clear, forward-looking perspective on the forces shaping the food industry in 2026.

Kelly Beaton from the Food Institute joins Amy & JJ to talk about food trends in the restaurant industry. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Food for Thought Leadership, Food Institute vice president of content and client relationships Chris Campbell sits down with Barry Thomas, senior thought leader at Kantar, to unpack the rapid rise of agentic AI — a new class of AI systems that don't just generate information, but take action on behalf of the user. Thomas explains why agentic AI represents a foundational shift in how consumers discover, evaluate, and shop for products. He explores how AI-powered shopping apps, answer-engines, and agentic browsers are reshaping the digital journey, and why businesses should prepare now for changes that will accelerate through 2026. The conversation also dives into how this technology impacts retailers, CPG manufacturers, and foodservice operators — from the rise of metadata marketing and AI-optimized product visibility to the growing influence of user-generated content in agentic shopping environments. Thomas outlines the challenges ahead: data governance, shifting retail media dynamics, consumer trust, and the delicate balance between authenticity and automation. With younger demographics adopting AI at record speed, the companies that invest in upskilling and AI-readiness today stand to gain the strongest competitive advantage tomorrow. More About Barry Thomas: Barry is one of Kantar's foremost global commerce experts with a distinguished history of serving customers, partners, and people throughout his more than 30 years in the retail, food service, and FMCG industries. His 25-year career with The Coca-Company featured landmark achievements in the areas of customer leadership, customer marketing, ecommerce, innovation, consumer insights, category management, and future strategies. Before joining the Coca-Cola system, Barry worked for Pfizer (formerly Wyeth-Ayerst) for seven years in commercial, customer, marketing, and insights roles. Barry earned a bachelor's degree in business from the University of North Florida and an MBA from Mercer University. He is currently on the advisory boards of the Digital Marketing Institute, George Washington University Digital Marketing Program, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. More About Kantar: Kantar is a data and evidence-based agency providing insights and actionable recommendations to clients, worldwide. We combine the most meaningful attitudinal and behavioral data with deep expertise and technology platforms to track how people think and act. To learn more, visit https://retailiq.kantar.com/.

Join host Cherryh Cansler as she sits down with Brian Choi, CEO of The Food Institute, to tackle the biggest challenges facing restaurants in 2026. With consumer sentiment at 50-year lows and economic uncertainty looming, Brian shares his Wall Street expertise and food industry insights on how fast casual brands can thrive. Discover why going back to basics, leveraging social media, and embracing global flavors are key to success. Learn about emerging trends from West African cuisine to GLP-1-friendly menus, plus practical strategies for managing rising costs while keeping customers excited about your brand.#FastCasualNation #RestaurantIndustry #FoodTrendsGet Your Podcast Now! Are you a hospitality or restaurant industry leader looking to amplify your voice and establish yourself as a thought leader? Look no further than SavorFM, the premier podcast platform designed exclusively for hospitality visionaries like you. Take the next step in your industry leadership journey – visit https://www.savor.fm/Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory

The agency-brand partnership axis is evolving really fast as the cost of creating video content plummets with AI. Brands got in earlier on distributing social content from their own desks in the 2010s, but now they can create and distribute at scale with decent quality and much faster than any contract agency. Listen to my take. Read more in my recent piece at the Food Institute. Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.com Please send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com

What does it take to lead innovation for some of the world's most beloved snack brands? And how do you balance creativity, technology, and sustainability to shape the future of food? In this episode of Food for Thought Leadership, The Food Institute's Rebecca Fryer sits down with Dr. Deepali Palta, vice president of Global R&D, Innovation, and Sustainability at Kellanova, for a deep dive into the science, strategy, and spirit driving the next generation of food innovation. Dr. Palta shares how her leadership philosophy—rooted in curiosity, courage, and connection—guides her team to reimagine iconic brands like Cheez-It and Pringles for a global audience. She discusses Kellanova's mission to unite innovation and sustainability, its “CBT” framework (Consumer, Business, and Technology), and how responsible use of digital tools and AI is transforming how food companies innovate. Additionally, the pair explores what it means to lead with purpose in a rapidly changing industry—balancing data with human insight, honoring brand legacies while embracing disruption, and building a more connected, sustainable future for food worldwide. More about Dr. Deepali Palta: Dr. Deepali Palta is Vice President of Global R&D Innovation & Sustainability for Kellanova, previously Kellogg Company.  In this role, Dr. Palta drives a science and technology-led agenda with her team to deliver consumer-centric top and bottom-line innovation pipeline while advancing Kellanova's packaging sustainability agenda forward. She joined Kellanova/Kellogg in November 2021. Since then, she has led the Wellness agenda and Global Value Transformation agenda delivering both in-year savings and robust pipeline for the future. Prior to joining Kellogg, Dr. Palta worked with PepsiCo for 14 years. During her tenure, she worked across multiple geographies (North America, Europe and Africa) and multiple brands to support and lead R&D strategy, product development, and packaging sustainability. Her last role took her to UK where she led the West Europe Regional Snacks R&D and was accountable to deliver $2.7 Bn Snacks portfolio across 16 countries. She is an executive advisor for Women of Kellanova business employee resource group committed to co company's vision of gender parity. She is a STEMinist and serves on the board of Illinois Science and Technology Coalition to cultivate innovation and technology-based economic development in Illinois. She holds M.S. in Engineering from IIT Delhi and a Ph.D. in Polymer and Material Science from Georgia Tech. More about Kellanova: Kellanova is a leading company in global snacking, international cereal and noodles, plant-based foods and North American frozen breakfast, with iconic, world-class brands. Kellanova's strategy pushes us to pursue differentiation in everything we do. It drives us to continuous improvement and more impactful ways of winning. And it focuses us on delivering our commitments to our investors, our suppliers, our customers, our communities and our employees. Learn more here: https://www.kellanova.com/

This Episode is Sponsored by: City National Bank Consumer demand for chicken is rising at home and away from home, but how can a company leverage this demand? City National Bank's Eric Viergutz steps in as guest host and interviews Wayne-Sanderson Farms CFO T.J. Wolfe on how feed prices, pathogenic diseases, and even air fryers are impacting the U.S. poultry industry. More About T.J. Wolfe: T.J. Wolfe serves as Wayne-Sanderson Farms' Chief Financial Officer, overseeing the company's consolidated financial planning activities and information technology functions. His focus is on the efficient allocation of capital across the production infrastructure, risk mitigation strategies for the company's commodity portfolio, and the advancement of digital technology platforms and capabilities. T.J. and his team partner with each of the company's business units to provide financial insights and enhance the value offered to customers. Joining the company as CFO in 2023, T.J. brings nearly 25 years of strategic, operational, and compliance experience in both the U.S. and Europe, having worked with large companies such as Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola. Prior to joining Wayne-Sanderson Farms, he served as CFO of Kimball International, Inc. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame and earned his Master of Business Administration from Emory University. Additionally, T.J. holds several professional accreditations, including Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. More About Eric Viergutz: Eric Viergutz is a managing director with City National Bank's Food & Beverage Group. Based in Atlanta, GA he supports food and beverage executives with a variety of financing solutions and industry intelligence. Working with City National's team of experts, he provides the bank's full range of financial solutions to food and beverage businesses nationwide. Mr. Viergutz has more than 10 years of financial services and business advisory experience and has also served in various corporate finance and strategy roles over his career. Prior to City National, he served as senior vice president for Truist Securities' Food and Beverage Investment Banking team. Mr. Viergutz earned his bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Florida and his MBA from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. Active in the community, he spends time coaching youth basketball and volunteering with Youth About Business and United Way of Atlanta. More About City National Bank: City National Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada since 2015. RBC's Market Cap of $181 Billion is one of the Top 15 largest global banks with $1.7 trillion in assets and Moody's/S&P Ratings of Aa1/AA-. As a subsidiary of one of the largest and strongest financial institutions in the world, City National Bank offers a unique combination of highly personalized services with a full range of tailored financing solutions. CNB's Food & Beverage Group is a national vertical that supports owners and c-suite executives and is a proud sponsor of the Food Institute. Learn more at http://cnb.com/foodandbeverage.

Consumers are craving both comfort and innovation — but how can food and beverage leaders strike the right balance? And what does that mean for brand collaborations? Menu Matters vice president Mike Kostyo joins Food Institute vice president Chris Campbell to discuss the push and pull between nostalgic favorites and bold new product launches in this inaugural episode of Food for Thought Leadership, The Food Institute's podcast featuring insights from the executives shaping the future of food. From menu innovation to shifting consumer values, the discussion explores how brands can stay relevant without losing their heritage and strategic insights designed to help executives navigate today's fast-changing marketplace. More about Mike Kostyo: Mike Kostyo is the Vice President of Menu Matters, a food industry consulting firm based in Chicago. Kostyo was a recurring guest on Fusion TV's “The AV Club Show”; has been featured on NBC Nightly News, WGN Radio, CBS Radio and Gimlet Media's “Why We Eat What We Eat” podcast; is regularly featured in newspapers and magazines; speaks at numerous conferences across the country annually; and was a judge on Food Network's “Eating America.” He has a master's degree in gastronomy from Boston University, plus certificates in the culinary arts, baking arts, wine and artisan cheese production. He is also a freelance writer, serves on the board of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, and is on the advisory committee for the Arkansas Food Innovation Center at the Market Center of the Ozarks. Follow Mike on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrkostyo/ More about Menu Matters: As avid cooks, restaurant-goers—and, yes, perpetual networkers!—our work is driven by a genuine interest in the creators and consumers who shape the world of food. So rather than deliver sterile data or impersonal insights, we strive to understand the deeper social, economic and cultural trends that drive noteworthy shifts in our industry. Whether speaking at conferences, traveling to the hottest culinary markets or investing in long-term relationships with business leaders and tastemakers, the real value of our services is rooted in our insatiable curiosity for all things F+B. We meet clients with the same people-first perspective, seeking to understand the operational concerns and stakeholder structures that influence their unique decision-making processes. Serving as an organic extension of their in-house teams, we partner closely with individuals across various fields of expertise to generate impactful solutions and identify new opportunities. By looking at business challenges from these diverse perspectives—and within a broader socio-cultural context—we can more effectively empower clients to implement innovative strategies that challenge the status quo. Learn more about Menu Matters here: https://www.menumatters.com/

Show notes: (0:00) Intro (1:17) Sherry Shaban & her journey from injury to wellness leader (2:39) How returning to movement healed chronic pain (4:22) Her wake-up call from diet hopping to disordered eating (6:12) Knowing what and understanding behavior is key (9:19) Subconscious beliefs, fear, and why we self-sabotage (17:39) Emotional eating, childhood trauma & patterns to look for (20:52) Uncovering limiting beliefs (24:52) How hypnotherapy works and why it helps (28:48) Why crash dieting doesn't work and what to do instead (35:46) Sherry's rules for losing weight (39:44) Food pairing and hormone-friendly meals (45:54) Where to find Sherry, her programs & free resources (48:34) Outro   Who is Sherry Shaban?   Sherry Shaban is a Certified Athletic Therapist, Osteopath, and Hypnotherapist with over 25 years of experience in the health and fitness industry. She is the founder of the Make Peace with Food Method and the Make Peace with Food Institute for Behavioral and Subconscious Transformation. Sherry is passionate about helping people heal from chronic dieting, disordered eating, and trauma by addressing the nervous system, subconscious beliefs, and hormone regulation.   She is a former CrossFit gym owner and has worked with thousands of clients worldwide through her coaching programs, retreats, and workshops. Sherry also hosts the popular Make Peace with Food Podcast, where she shares insights on emotional eating, behavior change, and mind-body health. Her mission is to help people break free from food obsession, reconnect with their bodies, and create lasting change from the inside out. Connect with Sherry: Website: https://www.sherryshaban.com/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/makepeacewithfoodofficial FB: https://www.facebook.com/MakePeaceWithFoodOfficial   Get the free guide: https://www.sherryshaban.com/hormonereset   Tune in to her podcast: https://fallinlovewithfitness.com/ Links and Resources: Peak Performance Life Peak Performance on Facebook Peak Performance on Instagram

In this special summer bonus episode of The Food Professor Podcast, Michael LeBlanc sits down with Brian Choi, CEO of The Food Institute, for a candid conversation recorded live at the SIAL Canada show. Born in Calgary and now based in New York, Brian brings a unique global perspective on food, trade, and the evolution of consumer behavior.Brian shares the remarkable story of how he acquired the Food Institute in January 2020—mere weeks before the pandemic upended the world. At that time, the Food Institute was a dated print publication struggling to remain relevant. Within two weeks of acquiring the business, Brian devised a three-point turnaround plan and secured early investment, transforming the brand into a digital-first media, data, and advisory company serving clients across food manufacturing, retail, and foodservice. Today, the Food Institute offers proprietary real-time analytics—drawing from menu data, retail insights, and social listening—akin to a Bloomberg terminal for the food industry.From there, the conversation shifts to the pressing challenges shaping the global food landscape. Brian breaks down the impact of U.S. tariffs on food and beverage markets, noting how they have eroded trust in trade relationships and forced companies to reassess strategies. He explains that unlike the pandemic, where leaders expected a “return to normal,” today's tariff-driven environment represents a systemic shift. Companies must now prepare for lasting volatility, requiring a new generation of leaders skilled in scenario planning, geopolitical awareness, and rapid adaptation.Brian and Michael explore how these trade disruptions may push Canada to diversify away from its overwhelming reliance on U.S. markets, drawing comparisons to Australia's successful diversification strategy. They also discuss the challenges of expanding into complex regions like India and Europe, and the critical need for stronger public-private partnerships to strengthen global trade relationships.Looking to the future, Brian reflects on where he would invest $20 million in the Canadian food sector. His answer? Areas that blend health, wellness, and innovation, particularly cleaner ingredients, nutraceuticals, and underutilized natural resources such as berries rich in antioxidants. While he expresses caution about the long-term implications of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, he acknowledges their disruptive influence on consumer eating habits and the opportunities this shift may create for food companies. The Food Professor #podcast is presented by Caddle. About UsDr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph's Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. Google Scholar ranks him as one of the world's most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Lancet, The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.Dr. Charlebois sits on a few company boards, and supports many organizations as a special advisor, including some publicly traded companies. Charlebois is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Business Scientific Institute, based in Luxemburg. Dr. Charlebois is a member of the Global Food Traceability Centre's Advisory Board based in Washington DC, and a member of the National Scientific Committee of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Ottawa. Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.

This Episode is Sponsored by: City National Bank Several economic headwinds indicate the consumer is being financially stretched, but we all need to eat – so what are consumers actually buying at the grocery store? Nik Modi of RBC returns to The Food Institute Podcast to discuss channel differentiation, consumer product selection, and other macro trends. More About Nik Modi: Nik Modi is a Managing Director at RBC Capital Markets, where he has responsibility for coverage of Beverage, Household Personal Care, Packaged Food and Tobacco industries. The companies under Nik's coverage total over $1 trillion in combined market value. Nik has consistently been ranked as one of the top analysts across the consumer space by Institutional Investor's All Star Analyst Survey. He has also been top rated across various analyst polls, including The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and Forbes. More About City National Bank: City National Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada since 2015. RBC's Market Cap of $174 Billion is one of the Top 15 largest global banks with $1.1 Trillion in assets and Moody's/S&P Ratings of Aa1/AA-. As a subsidiary of one of the largest and strongest financial institutions in the world, City National Bank offers a unique combination of highly personalized services with a full range of tailored financing solutions. CNB's Food & Beverage Group is a national vertical that supports owners and c-suite executives and is a proud sponsor of the Food Institute. Learn more at http://cnb.com/foodandbeverage.

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Andy is president of Gellert Global Group. The company imports more than 5,500 unique food items from more than 60 countries and is one of the largest food importers in the world. Gellert Global Group is home to 12 companies, led by Atalanta, the largest privately-held food importer in the U.S.Gellert Global is a third-generation family-run business. The Gellert Global Group comprises many of the leading North American food-importing companies and has been importing food products for over 100 years. The combined revenues of the Group exceed $1.7 billion.The Gellert Global family includes Andy's sister, brother and cousin. Andy's father and uncle are also part of the company. Andy's father, George, was recently inducted into the New Jersey business hall of fame. Gellert Global's goal is to be a part of every food and beverage experience. Andy and his team use a variety of factors to determine which products and brands to partner with, including trends and the needs of customers. QUOTES “Some of these family businesses and you hear about fighting and people not getting along. I think we're successful because we keep growing and there's enough things for everyone to do and for everyone to bring value.” (Andy) “You want (joining the family business) to happen organically. It's a fun business. There's opportunities for (family) to join if they want. There's no obligation to come in. We'd like them to come in, but we don't want to make a rule that they have to come in.” (Andy) “Network is important to my father. I learned that from him early on. Being a part of YPO (Young President's Organization), I love leveraging my network. I like investing in early-stage CPG's and helping and leading them to other opportunities.” (Andy) “We don't want to lose direction. We're very big and we're happy where we are but we're not in a rush to get to two billion. We're going to get there smart. If it means pairing down and doing SKU rationalization to be more profitable, all the better.” (Andy) “It's really all about efficiency. As you get bigger you can be more efficient, but you have to be diligent.” (Andy) “We're an importer of products so our products are expensive already. We're always looking for ways to (save). You always have to turn over rocks to look for more opportunities.” (Andy) “I love eating. I love food experiences. I love being surprised. I like going to a chef and saying ‘Just surprise me. Just give me what you do best.'” (Andy)  TRANSCRIPT 00:00.45Andy GellertBye. 00:01.87vigorbrandingHey there, welcome to Fork Tales. I’m ah Michael Pavone, and I’m happy to really get a chance to talk to a good friend of mine. ah Today we have Andy Gellert here. He’s a good friend I’ve known for and respected for a long, long time. Andy’s the president of Gellert Global Group, one of the largest food importers in the world. ah They import more than 2,500 product lines from more than 60 countries. Andy, thank you so much for being here. 00:27.05Andy GellertMike, always a pleasure, always great seeing you, and nice seeing your smiling face, and I love hanging out with you. We’re always having a lot of fun together. 00:34.39vigorbrandingYeah, absolutely. You know, if they if they have music for this in the beginning, you know, I was going to, I was going to change up our, our forktails music and have a little. 00:41.11Andy GellertListen, I don’t like to brag about my my my my my my my my my beautiful voice. where You saw me on stage with Welcome Pepper a long time ago. I hung that up a long time ago. 00:52.98Andy GellertI got straight into the food business, Mike. I can’t cant just think my life away, you know? 00:54.81vigorbrandingYeah. The little salt and pepper in the beginning of this thing i gets us off on everything and everything. The thing is, Andy, I have known you for a long time, but I love doing these interviews because I always learn more. so it’s like I might have seen you over the years at these shows and get to hang out and you know have a drink together, but you know when you’re digging a little deeper about the family business and about the food industry and and all of that, it’s just I’m always blown away. and your Your company and your family, which is the company, is absolutely amazing. 01:21.57vigorbrandingSo tell us a little bit about Gellert Global Group and know what they do. 01:24.57Andy Gellertbut i mean like Next year we’ll celebrate our 80th birthday and we’re very excited. and As I said, you know I’m third generation and I live i live food. It’s a passion of mine. I love all aspects of the food industry. and you know like My grandfather started this in 1945. 01:46.38Andy Gellertimporting meats from Eastern Europe and seafood. We’ve grown and got other lines of businesses in. We’re selling food service, retail, manufacturing, cruise line. 01:57.56Andy GellertWe’re now involved in, you know thanks to YPO, I’m i’m involved in the franchise business. By the end of the year, we’ll have 55 guys. Thanks to our good friend Dan Rowe. 02:05.09vigorbrandingWow. Yeah. 02:07.17Andy GellertWe’re introducing their first one. And you know we invest in food businesses and it’s just, ah We’re all about food. I tell everyone I hit my belly, it’s this is R and&D. 02:17.29Andy GellertThis is R and&D. I mean, 02:20.68vigorbrandingThat’s fantastic. Now, you know, I know family owned, super important. I know you treat everyone like family because I’ve seen you around ah customers, employees, the whole thing, but your dad, he is an older gentleman, but still very much involved in the business. Is that correct? 02:35.09Andy Gellert86. I went to his house to play tennis at 6 o’clock in the morning today. We play with people from our company. He loves it like he’s, my mom goes away for the summer. 02:45.63Andy GellertHe’s having, ah lot this summer is incredible. He’s 86. Every, twice a week, he has people from the company come over and have dinner and just different groups of people. 02:52.74vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. 02:53.86Andy GellertAnd and he loves what he does. It’s it’s it’s really it’s really an honor to to to work with him and and watch him. he loves He loves his suppliers. 03:04.49Andy GellertWe love our bankers. We love our employees. It’s all about, you know, yeah he’s all, he’s all about people. And it’s really great. 03:11.81vigorbrandingYeah. 03:12.97Andy GellertI said this summer at the fancy food show, he was honored with a lifetime achievement award. And it’s such a good honor to see him up there and enjoying all the success of the role we’ve done together. 03:22.47vigorbrandingWell, it’s so well deserved. He deserved that honor. The company’s amazing. But you should give him a break. I mean, I think you you put sneakers on him. 03:28.24Andy GellertHe loves, 03:28.57vigorbrandingi had He had sneakers on in the booth to run around. I mean, you know. 03:32.00Andy Gellertyou know, listen, like I said, he works out before we play tennis in the morning and He’s all about the next activity and what we’re doing next. So, you know. 03:39.84vigorbrandingThat’s it’s fantastic. how many So how many members of the family are currently working in the company? 03:45.07Andy GellertSo today we have my sister, my brother, and my cousin in my generation. And my cousin who, my other cousin who runs the Five Guide business. And then I have my father and my uncle. 03:56.25Andy GellertSo there’s, you know, three, six of us, you know. 03:58.55vigorbrandingthat’s great 03:59.47Andy GellertAnd we’re getting ready for the third generation. 03:59.41vigorbrandingand look 04:01.81Andy GellertHopefully, you know, there are nine kids in the next generation. Hopefully one of them or two of them will come in and we’re we’re excited. It’s all about, you know, we love what we do and there’s a lot to do. 04:12.31Andy GellertAnd, you know, some of these family businesses, you know, the family, you hear about them and they’re fighting and they’re not getting a along. 04:18.50vigorbrandingThat’s 04:19.38Andy GellertI think we’re being successful because we keep growing and there’s enough things that everyone can do and everyone brings value that no one’s stepping each other’s toes. 04:25.06vigorbrandinggreat. 04:27.57Andy GellertWe’re all different, we but we appreciate each other’s opinion and listening to each other. We argue, but, you know, we all, we we get her off our chest and we move forward. You know? 04:36.10vigorbrandingWould you go out and play tennis, right, and solve it over the own tennis court? 04:37.88Andy GellertExactly. We stopped it on the court. We stopped it on the court. 04:40.98vigorbrandingSo you the kids, are are they are they interested? are they old not I don’t know how old they are. Are they old enough to be getting close? 04:47.10Andy GellertSo I think um my daughter my daughter is a social worker therapist. I don’t think she’s going to come in, you know. But my, you know, my other two ah potentially will come in. 04:57.29Andy Gellertone One probably more likely than the other. 04:57.44vigorbrandingMm-hmm. 04:59.68Andy GellertOther is in the real estate industry. And then my sister’s kids potentially were there and my brother’s kids were a little bit younger. So I definitely think at least three or four will come in for the next generation. But in the meantime, we keep growing and getting bigger and and looking at opportunities and we have fun. Why why are we doing it? 05:17.12vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. Well, so in in your situation, I mean, we’re we’re of a generation, you and I, I’ll say that, like, did you, did you have a choice or did you always know that this is what I’m going to do or I want to do it? Or did you, did dad put a little pressure on you and say, Hey, look, you know, you got to do your thing. 05:32.22Andy GellertI did everything wrong in the family business. youre They all that go out and get the outside experience. And I came right in. 05:38.08vigorbrandingyeahh Yeah. 05:38.43Andy GellertAnd it was difficult. I’m not going to say it was a piece of cake. And my brother was a lot. 05:41.30vigorbrandingYeah. 05:44.06Andy Gellertyou know He went to business school. He went to law school. He worked in private banking. And then he came in. So it it made a lot of sense. And my sister, the same thing. yeah I did everything wrong but it’s good to know, it’s good to do it because then you know you’re not going to repeat it. 05:57.78Andy GellertSo you know my son who who definitely looks forward to maybe joining one day says he want he wants to spend three or four years you know the outside and coming in. 05:58.16vigorbrandingYeah. 06:05.42vigorbrandingyeah 06:08.26Andy GellertHe says he doesn’t like his boss I’m like that’s good get used to it. you Get used to it better than me you know. 06:12.52vigorbrandingGet used to it, right? 06:17.21vigorbrandingWell, you know, that’s I had the same rule with my girls. I mean, I don’t know that they’ll ever want to come into it. Why would anyone would go to an advertising agency or come into a marketing firm? But if they would, I said they had to work somewhere for two years and get one promotion. 06:28.93vigorbrandingAnd thankfully, they’ve both been doing that. 06:29.31Andy GellertYeah. 06:31.08vigorbrandingIn fact, they’ve been doing it for a while now, so maybe they’re not interested. So ah they may have dodged the bullet or maybe I have. But I just think our generation was one of those things where, you know, yeah, go do what you want to do, but you’re coming into the company kind of thing, you know. 06:43.02vigorbrandingI started my own business, I didn’t go to my dad’s company but I mean it was one of those things where I just think a lot of folks, it was just I guess different. ah Now I think with, I’ll say with my daughters and probably your kids like go out and do your thing and if you’re interested talk to me, don’t you know, don’t don’t not talk to me about it but you know, no pressure, that kind of thing. 07:00.05vigorbrandingYou know, it’s just a little different. 07:01.20Andy GellertYeah you want it to happen organically and you know listen he he comes around a lot of the meals and the family all gets together and a lot of time is talking about work so he’s interested and you know he spends weekends he came to the fancy food show they all came I can see what’s going on and it’s it’s a fun business so I think there’s opportunities for them in the future if they want but there’s no pressure we’re growing we we have a lot of we’ve done a great job of hiring a lot of outside ah you know ah 07:03.16vigorbrandingYeah. 07:19.45vigorbrandingYeah. 07:30.22Andy Gellertah you know professionals to help us run the business and they don’t have to come. re We’re doing well and you know they’re all going to enjoy the from the fruitfuls of the business as as it as it gets bigger but there’s no obligation for them to come in. We like them to come in but we don’t want to make a rule if they have to come in. 07:48.07vigorbrandingYeah, but on that note, and we’ll jump in more about the business, but on the family side, you mentioned earlier that we’re both in YPO. And we both know that a lot of YPO businesses are family owned businesses. And there’s there are challenges, right, with being family owned and led. I mean, you know, what, you know, can you talk a little bit about that? 08:05.93Andy GellertListen, it’s hard, but thank God for YPO. To me, it’s one of the best opportunities of my life. I really enjoyed all the people like yourself and getting involved in the Food Network and my New Jersey Forum. 08:23.49Andy GellertThese guys are my board of directors and my own personal board of directors. 08:26.70vigorbrandingyou 08:28.15Andy GellertThey really helped me grow. where you know where I was i was being stubborn, they told me to relax, where I was not being aggressive enough, they pushed me. And it’s just been a great environment for me to to prosper as a leader because of YPL. 08:43.66vigorbrandingThat’s great. When I know your food and beverage form or that group and boy, you know, I can’t believe you learned anything from them. So ah you guys have a group of, you guys have ah ah a group of, uh, of, uh, cherished individuals, yeah characters. 08:49.65Andy GellertThank you. 08:56.99Andy GellertWe’ve got a great group and we’ve been together for over, you know, some of us back almost 16, 18 years and it’s great. 08:58.20vigorbrandingYes, you do. 09:03.87Andy GellertI love seeing the guys and we don we try not to miss meetings and and we’re supportive of each other. 09:06.99vigorbrandingYeah, it’s cool. Yeah, I’ve had a couple of them one here, so it’s ah it’s been great. They’re they’re they’re like the characters, that’s for sure. So yeah and you mentioned your father got an award at Fancy Food. I was there at Fancy Food this year, and what it’s a great honor. He’s also a member of the New Jersey Business Hall of Fame. 09:24.61Andy GellertYeah, please listen, though we it’s not easy. I think we’re the 11th largest privately held business in New Jersey. We’re very proud of that. and we you know it’s We work hard and he deserves to be honored for what what what he’s accomplished. 09:39.11vigorbrandingYeah. i mean so As I was saying earlier, you know I get to meet folks and we get to see you know different folks at different shows. and i had i i mean I knew you ran a great, important company. I had no idea the size and scale. so you know on Your vision is to be a part of every food experience. and you know Well, I will say that sounds like a really you know audacious goal, right? But with your company, you kind of are. i mean you have you have you have You have a franchise, you have you import your frozen food, you have CPG, you have a private, I mean, it’s it’s incredible. 10:13.44vigorbrandingCan you talk a little bit about the breadth and the different companies within your organization? 10:15.87Andy GellertI mean, it’s exciting and I think we’ve grown over the years through acquisitions. I think the last 18 months we made three acquisitions. We’re probably closing on one the next month and have two on the table that we’re looking at. So growth is, you know, we’re always looking at mergers and acquisitions. And we like to say, listen, private equity, if you’re a family business, you want to stay apart, you know, how enjoy the ride, take some money off the table and join our family instead of private equity where they 10:44.81vigorbrandingYeah. 10:45.10Andy Gellertchange your business up and listen if you want to cash out you can always cash out but if you want to enjoy the ride a little bit longer and take some money off the table we’ve been very successful about people wanting to join a family business and ours is that we’re like a large very large family business so we get to a lot of opportunities to look at business deals. 11:05.69vigorbrandingYeah, and you know, ah your your ah passion for the business and your your love of people, it sort of precedes you. Like I’ve always seen that about you, your energy and i it’s not, it’s not, it’s not artificial. 11:18.40vigorbrandingYou do that. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen you at the booth when I’m standing walking the shows and stuff. And it’s, ah it’s really kind of ah really cool. And I’m sure that’s a compliment to your father and and I’m sure your whole family’s like that. But you do treat everybody like family. 11:29.62vigorbrandingAnd I think that’s ah admirable. 11:30.12Andy Gellertbut You know, network is always um is important to my father. I learned that from him early on. And being part of YPO, I love leveraging my network and not for myself, but helping people. 11:39.05vigorbrandingYeah. Yeah. 11:41.20Andy GellertI like investing in early stage CPGs and helping these young people and watching their passion and, you know, leading them to other opportunities. I love putting two people together and let let them prosper. 11:53.58Andy GellertIt’s it’s really a ah pleasure of mine, you know, watching that happen. 11:58.17vigorbrandingYeah, well, and that’s, that leads to success, right? 12:00.84Andy GellertIt’s really pure joy. 12:00.82vigorbrandingYou know, you help people out. 12:01.68Andy Gellertat You’re 100%. 12:01.74vigorbrandingYeah, absolutely. So, and I will say, ah you know, I’ve been informed with you and you were a treasure and valuables all get out. And the amount of people you know, and and the connections you have are second to none. 12:14.02Andy GellertWell, 12:14.00vigorbrandingAnd you know, 12:14.46Andy Gellertwe do have a good friend in LA who like to compare. 12:16.32vigorbrandingokay 12:17.18Andy GellertMy good friend, our good friend Clara, who probably knows one more than I do. 12:20.44vigorbrandingyeah hey 12:22.30Andy Gellertjob 12:23.31vigorbrandingheard I would always keep score when we’d be talking, like who knew who or who knew the other person better or whatever else, but I will say, yeah I’m excited for you to be on here because I know my podcast now will be, I’ll rival the the football games, you know the upcoming football games for for for viewership because because of you. 12:34.55Andy GellertYeah. 12:38.34vigorbrandingSo I just, I appreciate that. So, but but back when companies, though you have frozen, you have CPG. can you Can you talk a little bit about the different types of of ah products? 12:46.45Andy GellertYeah, so we’re in the frozen fruits, frozen vegetables. You know, we just actually, a few years ago, we invested in a company called Cafe Spice. I made him join YPO and they make ethnic meals. um I just, you know, we did ah the Bloomberg of Food, the Food Institute, 13:04.37Andy GellertWe made a minority investment in there. 13:04.43vigorbrandingYep. 13:06.90Andy Gellertwere you know We do a lot of different retail, private label, manufacturing. We’re just trying to leverage all the everything on a plate. look at you know we’re We’re looking at an olive business, a rice business. There’s so many opportunities out there. We just want to add on to our great team here. We’ve got great people. 13:27.64Andy Gellertah We have great sales people, great buyers, and you know, finance. And we just, we can do some more. So we’re looking for more opportunities. 13:33.69vigorbrandingMm hmm. That’s great. Do you need an ad agency? I’m just kidding. 13:37.95Andy GellertWe’ve said, a lot of us not our own brand. We do have some brands that we, that are ours. 13:43.18vigorbrandingYeah. 13:43.84Andy GellertAnd we bought, we bought two brands from, from UNFI, Mountain Vicos that was owned by UNFI and Sonoma Cheese. 13:48.53vigorbrandingMm hmm. 13:52.16Andy GellertSo we do, we do work on our brand. So we, you know, we and um we have a marketing department. 13:54.60vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. 13:56.46Andy GellertWe got a, get you more engaged, Micah. 13:58.46vigorbrandingThere you go. 13:58.78Andy GellertI’ll get to that. 13:59.35vigorbrandingHey, I’m always here for that. That’s awesome. 14:01.26Andy GellertFor even your Philly cheesesteak, we’ll have a meeting, you know, that’s all I need. 14:03.59vigorbrandingYou got it. Hey, that’s done. No no no problem there. So when you’re when you’re building and you’re always looking for these new new products or companies, ah yeah what when you want to import them, what what factors are you looking at? 14:15.50vigorbrandinglike I mean, obviously you you go to need a lot of things, there but you’re in so many different places. What what is it that you’re you’re kind of like, what’s on your checklist at the top of the checklist? 14:23.65Andy GellertSo we want to look at something that makes sense. so if you know We love the the old math, one plus one equals four. So we want to find efficiencies. Maybe they’re doing the same thing we are, but they have a big they have a big finance team that we don’t really need going forward. 14:38.14Andy GellertOr maybe they’re in one segment of the business where we’re not in. 14:42.04vigorbrandingUh-huh. 14:42.16Andy GellertSo we try to really identify where we can do the math where one plus one equals four and five. 14:47.91vigorbrandingRight. 14:48.70Andy Gellertyou know we don’t want to doesn’t that A copycat doesn’t really help sometimes, but if they have a you know a big ah big staff on the some redundancy there, then it could make sense. 14:54.08vigorbrandingUh-huh. 14:58.10Andy GellertOtherwise, it could be a whole new field that we can add to our already you know deep bench of of products that we do. So we don’t have a playlist of what we’re looking for. We just look at different opportunities and see if they make sense. 15:11.27Andy Gellerti mean like Just like building a network, we love looking at decks and looking at opportunities or 15:16.32vigorbrandingMm hmm. 15:16.75Andy GellertWhy are companies for sale? Why aren’t they aren’t? And a lot of times, i likeck listen, this is going to go to private equity. We’re not going to need a bit because we know we’ll be blown out of the water. 15:25.59vigorbrandingright Yeah. Yeah. that makes That makes a lot of sense. So, I mean, obviously, and you know, I kind of had this philosophy as well in the business. It’s like, you’re opportunistic. You know, you’re not saying I’m looking for this exact thing. 15:36.91vigorbrandingIt has to be this big, that, you know, that that category doing that thing. It’s sort of like, Oh, here’s an opportunity. Hmm. This fits or no, it doesn’t fit. Or, Hey, this can enhance that. 15:43.96Andy GellertYeah. 15:44.95vigorbrandingAnd if we do this, maybe we can go here. And so I’ve always looked at that. It’s kind of fun to do it that way. I kind of always. 15:50.32Andy GellertIt’s not a good idea. You’re looking under the rug and see what’s there and putting that puzzle together because like I said, a big company that’s competitive in mind, it’s going to go for a lot more for private equity. 15:51.60vigorbrandingYeah. 15:54.65vigorbrandingYeah. 16:03.40Andy GellertI don’t even want to play in there. I don’t have private equity money where I could afford to strike out. 16:05.38vigorbrandingRight. 16:10.74Andy GellertI want to make sure these are successful acquisitions and they fit in them all. 16:15.96vigorbrandingYeah, and you make a really good point because we’ve seen, you know, I’ll say, and um I know you’ve seen for sure, but in my business with CPG and in the restaurant side, private equity will come in and they, I’m not gonna say they don’t care if they fail, but they they know it’s a numbers game. 16:31.27vigorbrandingThey know that all aren’t gonna pan out. So they make these investments and then they they do their, they they they they apply their playbook and then, you know, if it’s like baseball. if they They hit three out of, ah if they hit three out of 10, they feel like they’ve done something and and you probably have financially, but 16:40.88Andy Gellertyeah 16:44.73vigorbrandingThe other seven are just left to the wayside. 16:46.68Andy GellertExactly. And and they’ve, you know, they can afford to do that. We really don’t want to do that. 16:49.73vigorbrandingYeah. Yeah. 16:51.36Andy GellertAnd we don’t want to, we don’t want to lose direction. 16:51.34vigorbrandingNo. 16:53.42Andy GellertI mean, listen, and we like, you know, we’re very big and we’re happy wherever you are, but we’re not in a goal to rush to get to 2 billion. 17:00.89vigorbrandingRight. 17:01.14Andy GellertWouldn’t get there smart. And if it means paring down and skew rationalization to be more profitable, all the better. 17:06.88vigorbrandingMm hmm. Do you find yourself doing that a lot? Do you do you have to go in there and and do skew rationalization or? 17:12.64Andy Gellertall the time, all the time, we really, you know, skew rash, customer rationalization, and we’ll bundle a bunch of customers and give them to a bigger customer just to make sure our warehouse is more efficient. 17:13.21vigorbrandingYeah. 17:16.68vigorbrandingYeah. 17:21.11vigorbrandingYeah. 17:23.25Andy GellertIt’s really all about efficiency. I mean, as you get bigger, you could be more efficient. 17:24.87vigorbrandingYeah. 17:27.21Andy GellertAnd, but you have to be diligent and skew rationalization, customer rationalization, people rationalization, you know, rationalization as well. 17:32.84vigorbrandingYep. 17:35.97Andy GellertYou know, it’s important. 17:37.23vigorbrandingYeah. And that’s that’s such ah’ such an interesting point because I think, you know, and I’ll say i’ll say in my own experience, you know, i in our holding company, we have several different marketing companies and I’m always afraid to let customers go. 17:48.21vigorbrandingLike, oh, though no, that we can do it for them. Sometimes it’s not good business, right? And sometimes you have to make those tough decisions and, you know, it’s it’s hard to let employees go, but it’s it’s hard for you to let, or I’ll say for me, to let a piece of business go, a paying customer. 17:52.67Andy GellertYeah. 18:00.83Andy GellertYeah, ah it’s, you know, you don’t like the same thing. But, but you got to look at it like, you know, you still have another 300 other employees out there that you want to do for the better the of the group. 18:07.78vigorbrandingRight. 18:10.14vigorbrandingRight. 18:10.45Andy GellertSo it makes sense to let someone go or let a customer go in order to be more efficient for everyone else. 18:10.42vigorbrandingThat’s right. 18:17.54Andy GellertSo it’s hard. 18:17.83vigorbrandingyeah 18:19.55Andy GellertAnd initially, it’s hard. But over time, you realize It’s a better decision and to be you know to be more efficient and just try. 18:27.95vigorbrandingAbsolutely. So I mean, one of the things that, you you know, we have the two agencies, we have quench, we have, ah which is CPG food and beverage, we have a vart of Vigor, which is ah ah restaurant marketing. and you you You cover them all because you’re in franchise with five guys, you’re in, you know, in the CPG world. um You know, it’s it’s sort of like, it’s hard to keep track of everything. How do you manage it all? I mean, I know you have different folks, but you’re sitting up there, are you just pulling up a different P and&L for each of these business units every two days? or 18:56.16Andy GellertI mean, we’re on ah basically a lot of these Zoom calls and just listening in and we just had one a few minutes ago, you know, we do a lot of nut and dry fruit business and we’re working on getting bigger in the bakery in the in the supermarket. 19:09.09Andy GellertSo how could we be, you know, and and we sat down today and we talked about all of our items and they all fit in the bakery. bill We’re selling very little of the bakery. So it’s an untapped market and it gets everyone excited. 19:21.02Andy GellertAnd we sit down and f throw things at the wall and see what sticks. 19:24.19vigorbrandingThat’s great. 19:24.58Andy GellertAnd we’re kind of fun. like we just said hey You know, we do this item, this will be good for, and I just, I love sitting in these meetings and just, you know, throwing out ideas. 19:32.21vigorbrandingThat’s great. That’s great. Very cool. Well, I know at Quench, you know, the CPG side, we would do to learn, to understand the industry. You know, we started the agency in food and beverage. 19:43.65vigorbrandingIt’s like, you can’t just say you do advertising and marketing food and beverage. You have to have an expertise. We’re going to hire people from the CPG world. But then what we did was we created a food and beverage trench to learn what was going on. 19:54.01vigorbrandingRight. And the first year we’ve done them for 15 years. You know, you’ve probably seen me speak on them at different events. 20:00.02Andy GellertYeah, are you do a great job. I love hearing your updates on the YPO conferences and you really got a pulse of what’s going on in the industry. 20:07.49vigorbrandingYeah. would So we we would do that. just We did it actually just for our own edification, just to learn. And then when we did it, we said, well, let’s let’s just give these away. So we do them every year. We give them away, fast companies written about them and all that. Do you use trends ah for your business to for like that next big thing? 20:21.92vigorbrandingOr is it more of truly just looking at the pieces and moving things around on the board? 20:26.18Andy GellertWe look at trends, we look at pieces, you know, we lot of our a lot of our suppli customers say, we like this item, can you go out and find it for us? And we got people or, you know, and in some cases we do a lot of business, some of our our customers say, here’s an item, you know here’s the supplier, you know, you’re you’re a great importer, we want you to import it for us. So it just, because we’re a trusted supplier, we’re good at logistics, they actually given us business to to handle. 20:53.89Andy GellertAnd it’s it’s exciting. And then we take that business and look at other opportunities as well. 20:59.70vigorbrandingHow is there anything are you doing anything in the beverage side is it mostly all just food? 21:01.22Andy Gellerte 21:04.27Andy GellertNo, I mean, we the beverage side we have, so we, Cipriani, you know, the so we we handle all their CPG items. 21:09.46vigorbrandingMm-hmm Okay Mm-hmm 21:13.80Andy GellertSo they make a the bulini mix, non-alcoholic bulini. So we’re slowly getting it. That’s our beverage and, you know, we’ll see where that takes us. but That’s new space for us. 21:24.96Andy GellertAnd we’re doing it on the retail side. Now we’re looking to try to listen to all the beverage distributors we don’t really touch on. So we’re getting a ah handle on that business as well. 21:31.95vigorbrandingMm-hmm. Yeah. 21:34.96Andy GellertSo that’s the only part of beverage. know I’m an investor in a few CPG, like Ollie Pop and Lemon Perfect, a few others. 21:40.57vigorbrandingMm-hmm. 21:43.06Andy GellertBut but not I think that’s a tough space. But I think we’re we’re getting our feet wet with this Trippiani land. 21:48.39vigorbrandingSee, that’s interesting. 21:48.67Andy GellertWe’re very excited. 21:50.05vigorbrandingYou’re 11 perfect. We just took over their space in Atlanta. They’re headquartered in Atlanta, yeah. 21:53.76Andy GellertOh, 21:54.76vigorbrandingAnd we just took over their space. They went ah they went all virtual, so yeah. 21:58.07Andy Gellertyeah. Yani went to Cornell with me. 22:00.32vigorbrandingYeah. Oh, is that right? 22:00.83Andy GellertYeah, yeah he’s a you should get him on your podcast. 22:03.45vigorbrandingWell, I’ve met him, he’s a great guy. 22:05.26Andy GellertI he’s Mr. Energy. It was his birthday this week. 22:06.69vigorbrandingOh my gosh. 22:07.72Andy GellertSo I just I love that guy. 22:08.28vigorbrandingIs that right? I will reach out to him. Yeah, i we you you can you can appreciate this, Andy, you know me pretty well. 22:11.20Andy GellertHe 22:15.37vigorbrandingSo i’m goingnna I was gonna sublease his his office, right? So you know it’s a real estate deal. I’m gonna sublease it, we’re gonna move from one ah ah one office to this other office. So I talked to him and he was like, he was going 180 miles an hour and it was great and all that. 22:29.28vigorbrandingAnd I was like, I really like this guy. And I’m like, 22:31.92Andy GellertHe’s an infectious personality. 22:32.86vigorbrandingYeah. 22:33.53Andy Gellertyou 22:33.75vigorbrandingAnd I’m like, you know, johnny i said hey if you want, I mean, I’ll, I’ll do the deal here with you, but if you want to stay, like, you know, I mean your energy and what you’re, you’re in the beverage, that’s what we do. 22:44.21vigorbrandingI mean, you can stay, you know, like if you have meetings here and like your, if your people come in, like it’s a big enough space for all of us, I’m not asking for anything on the other side. 22:46.07Andy GellertYeah. 22:51.86vigorbrandingah You can stay. I mean, I just i thought energy, you know, creates more energy. So, and we talked about that, but then he was like, you know, isn’t that crazy? 22:57.60Andy GellertThat’s so funny to know that guy. I met him at Expo West. And he had a small little table. 23:03.20vigorbrandingYep. 23:03.40Andy GellertAnd I’m like, wow, this guy’s this guy has a firecracker. 23:07.14vigorbrandingYeah. 23:07.31Andy GellertAnd I’m like, um’m I’m supporting you. 23:09.42vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. 23:09.51Andy GellertAnd it’s a great story. 23:11.92vigorbrandingThat’s very cool. That’s the end goes to show you know everybody that’s amazing to me amazing. That’s funny. 23:17.14Andy GellertTake that, Clara. 23:21.03vigorbrandingI’ll make sure we tell her that. 23:22.87Andy Gellertbut 23:22.95vigorbrandingSo, all right, now I’m gonna bring up something, I guess negative or whatever, but inflation. Inflation is, ah you know, is it affects every industry, especially food. 23:28.56Andy GellertIt’s tough. its you know 23:30.55vigorbrandingYeah. how How much of an impact has that had on you guys? 23:32.99Andy GellertThat’s a very important product. 23:33.03vigorbrandingand 23:34.29Andy GellertSo our product are expensive already. And so it’s tough. We have to find you know so you know find other opportunities. That’s why we invested in this cafe spice that makes meals. 23:44.93Andy GellertSo maybe we make things more efficient for more of our customers and look at other opportunities. Maybe so source something that’s coming from Europe, getting it from South America. And and we’re always looking for ways to skin. 23:59.19Andy GellertWe started importing French fries from Belgium. to the East Coast because it’s it’s more effective and looking at opportunities like that. and Now we’re looking at opportunities in India. You always have to turn over rocks, look for more opportunities. It’s scary. 24:14.30Andy Gellertand it’s it’s you know the It’s all the news, the the price inflation. So we’re always looking for newer opportunities to try to make things better for our customers. 24:25.43vigorbrandingAnd being a global you know accessing globally with conflict and things like that, I mean obviously that’s affecting everything. i mean are you having are you ah is there um Is there ever a chance where one area of the business is sort of shut down or hey we can’t get this from there? 24:40.46Andy GellertYeah, things happen all the time. I mean, you know, when the Ukraine war first started, you know, it was it was a big factor because happened old Europe was tough. 24:42.39vigorbrandingIt’s crazy. 24:51.28Andy GellertAnd then when there was a ah big problem of freight from the from from Asia, supply chain issues from COVID. I mean, we’ve we’ve seen them all, Mike. 25:00.35vigorbrandingcrazy 25:01.71Andy GellertAnd now ah there’s an impending dock strike that’s going to come. So that’s going to affect from Maine all the way to Texas. 25:07.59vigorbrandinghear about that? 25:09.05Andy Gellertand 25:09.51vigorbrandingYeah. 25:09.86Andy GellertThat’s really making us very nervous and our customers nervous. 25:11.55vigorbrandingOh yeah. 25:12.86Andy GellertSo, but we, you know, we do the best we can and we keep fighting every day, you know, get up, get up and play some tennis, you know. 25:13.80vigorbrandingWow. 25:18.34vigorbrandingYes, I was gonna say, you get played tennis and smile and have a positive attitude and that’s the secret sauce. 25:23.15Andy GellertYou just got to, you know. 25:25.04vigorbrandingYou know, and I do love because every time I’m talking, I think, I think you always say, yeah, I played tennis with my dad this morning and you know, family businesses, there’s so many family businesses that end up like not talking to each other and you hear all the the generational strife or the the falling apart. 25:37.72vigorbrandingThe fact that you you still hang with your dad, my dad was my best friend. So that’s just so near and dear to me. It’s incredible. I think that’s so awesome. 25:43.18Andy GellertWell, today is a little, today is a little flat with him. I showed up at his house at 10 to 6, pouring rain, and the the match was canceled. So I had to wake up for nothing, and I’m a little annoyed. 25:50.67vigorbrandingah Oh boy. 25:53.10Andy GellertBut that doesn’t matter at all. 25:55.76vigorbrandingI hope you don’t ever let him win. 25:57.56Andy GellertWell, i I’m his partner. He doesn’t move very well, and people, no one was allowed to drop shot him, you know? 25:59.16vigorbrandingOkay. 26:04.11Andy Gellertget Everyone starts booing, whoever dropped off him. 26:06.88vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. 26:07.02Andy GellertBut it was an accident. They’re like, no, you know? He’s got a bunch of rules, you know? 26:11.16vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. It’s his own tennis game, right? It’s his own. 26:13.99Andy Gellerttheel game is his ze tennis game 26:16.17vigorbrandingThat’s fantastic. So, if I if i may ask, and I know if there’s something you can’t say, that’s fine, but what’s what’s next for Gellert Global? I mean, what is anything new on the horizon, anything exciting you could talk about? 26:23.54Andy Gellerti We’re looking at more opportunities. you know we will be like We have such a great team. We have such great suppliers, such great employees, such great customers. We just want to keep doing what we’re doing and look for more opportunities. And if it makes sense to to make an acquisition, we’re going to do it. 26:40.44Andy Gellertand uh, it’s, it’s fun. You know, I mean, you know, just look at my cousin and the five guys, we were like 12, five guys. Now this year, by the end of the year, we’ll have a hundred. I mean, it’s just, uh, opportunistic and good people and growth to move forward. 26:50.43vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. 26:57.42vigorbrandingYeah. And, and Dan Rowe, as you mentioned, he’s a king of a guy and he, he was actually on the podcast and he, he’s, he’s fantastic. 27:00.10Andy GellertYeah. 27:03.17vigorbrandingSo that’s good company right there. 27:05.70Andy GellertYeah. Yeah. We were at a YPL event and he’s like, and we’ we’re looking My cousin at the time had a bunch of cinnabons and we’re looking for our second concept and we’re at a YPO in DC. 27:11.89vigorbrandingUh-huh. 27:15.43Andy GellertHe’s like, Andy, come try this concept. And I took a bite of the five guy burger. I’m like, this is like a, like the, when you taste a cinnabon for the first time, it’s wow factor. 27:23.93vigorbrandingRight. Yeah. 27:25.78Andy GellertI called my cousin and the next thing we know, we you know we’re down there signing the deal. So it was, it’s been a great journey. 27:30.70vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. Yeah. Fantastic. Very cool. All right. So now I asked this question. I have one last question, right? And this probably, well, I don’t know if it’ll be easy for you, but it’s not like you have to say, you can’t say five guys. 27:41.96vigorbrandingSo I have to fill it out there. So, but if you have one final meal, what would you eat and why, and I’m going to say this too. 27:48.70Andy GellertLike, that’s the hardest thing because I love. 27:48.90vigorbrandingAnd and and who with, I want to know who with. 27:52.53Andy GellertThat’s like the hardest question anyone can ever ask me. I love like, it’s like, we I think I told you was before we started out that you was open with my son and my wife and there’s so much food options. 28:00.19vigorbrandingYeah. 28:04.26Andy GellertI had a headache. I couldn’t find what to get. Would I get to the Korean bowl or the palette for the steak sandwich? or or the fancy chicken with truffles, the dumplings. 28:15.10Andy Gellertyou know i’m like I almost get a headache, I can’t even decide. 28:15.19vigorbrandingyeah 28:19.04Andy Gellertso back It’s impossible. I just i love eating, I love food experiences, I love being surprised. I like going to a chef and say, just surprise me. 28:29.38Andy Gellertonly even Just give me what you you you do best and let me try it. 28:29.31vigorbrandingYeah. 28:33.30Andy Gellertand and you know it’s really i can’t i There’s not one meal that I have to have. i 28:39.23vigorbrandingYeah. 28:40.25Andy GellertI love a good sandwich. I love a good burger. I got a good steak. I like Italian, French, Spanish food, everything. 28:45.72vigorbrandingYep. ah You know, it’s funny. i I’m the same way. I’m lucky. I can eat anything. Like I don’t get nothing. I don’t have any allergies. I don’t get sicker. But you know, if I have a go to at a certain thing at a certain place, i will I’ll have a go at my go to. 28:56.26vigorbrandingBut nine out of 10 times when I go to a restaurant, like whatever the chef wants to make, because I figured he’s gonna put his heart and soul on it. 28:56.44Andy Gellerte 29:00.90Andy GellertYeah. 29:02.21vigorbrandingRight. If it’s, if I’m asking him his opinion. 29:02.59Andy Gellertbut i agree yeah if if if If they put it on the menu and then they’re behind it, I would take their recognition and set something I really want. 29:05.89vigorbrandingYeah. 29:09.81Andy Gellertso My father, yeah. 29:10.21vigorbrandingRight. That’s right. That’s right. You nailed it. And I love the fact that you mentioned the U.S. Open and there was somebody there at the U.S. Open that had better seats than you, which was your. Of course, yeah. 29:21.87vigorbrandingAndy, you know, I love being with you. I love talking to you and I appreciate your time. ah Just thank you so much for being on Fork Tales. 29:28.25Andy Gellertah mike First of all, congratulations to you and the organization you built and you’ve always been You’re always smiling, too. i mean actually That’s why we like each other so much. 29:36.16vigorbrandingYeah. 29:36.89Andy GellertWe’re always smiling. Have a good time. And your trends are amazing. And I really enjoyed seeing you and doing this with yourself. 29:43.81vigorbrandingfantastic well thank you so much 29:45.78Andy GellertAll right? 29:46.39vigorbrandingtake care 29:46.78Andy GellertTake care. Bye. 29:47.78vigorbrandingright 30:07.41vigorbrandingFantastic. 30:11.01vigorbrandingWell, thank you so much. Take care. 

Restaurant results for the second quarter weren't stellar, but people still need to eat. Are they turning to their refrigerators, or are restaurants still on the menu for consumers? Circana Senior Vice President David Portalatin joined The Food Institute Podcast to discuss the makeup of the current restaurant customer amid a rising trend of home-centricity. More about David Portalatin: David Portalatin is a trusted industry advisor who works closely with leading food manufacturers and retailers as well as foodservice distributors, manufacturers, and operators. He shares data and deep expertise on how U.S. consumers eat and drink, their attitudes and motivations, their personal characteristics, and their use of restaurants and other foodservice outlets. Portalatin is also the author of Circana's Annual Report on Eating Patterns in America, a compilation of food and foodservice research. Previously, Portalatin was Circana's analyst in the convenience retailing, automotive aftermarket, and motor fuels industries. Before joining the company in 1999, he held various positions in foodservice wholesale distribution and convenience retailing. Portalatin is a frequent speaker at food and foodservice industry events, corporate conferences, and executive meetings. A recognized industry thought leader, his comments have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and many other national media outlets. More about Circana: Circana is a leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior. Through superior technology, advanced analytics, cross-industry data, and deep expertise, we provide clarity that helps almost 7,000 of the world's leading brands and retailers take action and unlock business growth. We understand more about the complete consumer, the complete store, and the complete wallet so our clients can go beyond the data to apply insights, ignite innovation, meet consumer demand, and outpace the competition. Learn more at www.circana.com. Sign up for The Food Institute's free newsletters: www.foodinstitute.com/newsletters.

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.

U.S. grocery retailers are facing regulatory scrutiny on pricing, ever-increasing shrink and a financially-stretched consumer, but how can they adapt to these new market pressures? Supermarket Guru Phil Lempert joined The Food Institute Podcast to discuss the Kroger-Albertsons merger, the rise of private label and more. More about Phil Lempert: For more than 25 years, Phil Lempert, an expert analyst on consumer behavior, marketing trends, new products and the changing retail landscape, has identified and explained impending trends to consumers and some of the most prestigious companies and trade associations worldwide. Known as The Supermarket Guru, Lempert is a distinguished author and speaker who alerts customers and business leaders to impending corporate and consumer trends and empowers them to make educated purchasing and marketing decisions. Phil Lempert was one of the pioneers of the new information media, founding SupermarketGuru.com in 1994. The website is now one of the leading food and health resources on the Internet, visited by more than 9 million people each year. SupermarketGuru.com offers original video and editorial content on food and retail trends, food and beverage product ratings, analysis of trends in food marketing and retail, and features health advice, nutrition news and many other resources to empower both the food industry and consumers. Phil is the founder and editor of The Lempert Report and SupermarketGuru.com and the founder of the Retail Dietitians Business Alliance which was acquired by the Association for Retail and Consumer Professionals in 2022. He has been profiled and interviewed by scores of publications including USA Today, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Newsweek and Ad Age, and is interviewed by hundreds of publications each year. He is also a columnist for Forbes.com, Category Management Association, The Robin Report & ARC Health & Wellness Community and host of Retail Radar. Learn more: https://www.supermarketguru.com/ Sign up for The Food Institute's Retail 360 Newsletter: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/cIOL5ME/FIRetail360

This Episode is Sponsored By: The International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA) In this episode of The Food Institute Podcast, IFDA President and CEO Mark S. Allen discussed the pressing challenges and innovative solutions in the foodservice distribution industry. Allen delved into topics such as labor shortages, transportation issues, technology advancements, and the importance of industry events like IFDA's Solutions Conference. More About IFDA: The International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA) is the premier trade organization representing the $382 billion foodservice distribution industry and the 431,000 people it employs. This industry ensures a safe and efficient supply of food and products to more than one million restaurants and foodservice outlets in the U.S. every day. For more information, visit www.www.ifdaonline.org. To learn more about IFDA and the foodservice distribution industry, visit https://www.ifdaonline.org. For media inquiries, contact Rob Vernon at RVernon@ifdaonline.org / (703) 532-9400 To learn more about IFDA Solutions Conference, visit https://www.ifdaonline.org/events/ifda-solutions-conference/. More About Mark S. Allen: Mark S. Allen is President and CEO of the International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA), a McLean, Virginia based trade association that advocates for the $380 billion foodservice distribution industry. Allen oversees IFDA's day-to-day operations, including all initiatives in education, research and government affairs. He also serves on IFDA's Board of Directors, which is composed of the presidents and CEOs of 27 leading foodservice distribution companies. Allen holds a B.S. in Marketing and Economics from the State University of New York at Oswego and a M.B.A. from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. His current/past leadership roles include: Board member of The Food Institute; Board member of the Institute for Distribution Excellence; Chair of the NAW Association Executives Council; Board member of the National Association of Wholesaler Distributors; Member of the GS1-US Foodservice Executive Leadership Council. Allen resides in Leesburg, Virginia with his wife and three sons. Subscribe to IFDA's Newsletters: https://www.ifdaonline.org/ifda-newsletters/

This Series is Sponsored by BMO In the seventh and final episode of the “Foodservice Gamechangers” series, US Foods SVP and chief merchant Dave Poe connected with special guest host and Food Institute advisor Pat Mulhern to discuss Poe's 26 years at US Foods. Poe shares thoughts on leadership styles, merchandising strategies, and the challenges emerging for the food industry associated with labor issues and inflation. More about Dave Poe: Dave Poe is SVP & Chief Merchant for US Foods which is a Foodservice distributor serving well over 200,000 customers across the country. Dave is a seasoned Foodservice veteran with over 25 years of Merchandising experience within Distribution and Non-Commercial. He currently serves as SVP, and Chief Merchant for US Foods, responsible for ensuring our product value proposition exceeds our customers expectations, while overseeing our Category Management Function and our Specialty Manufacturing businesses. Dave spent 17 years at US Foods developing his Merchandising skills before spending some time with Premier (Healthcare GPO) helping to lead their Foodservice sourcing efforts. He rejoined US Foods in 2016 holding a number of senior level Merchandising roles since his return. Dave's experiences have helped build a broad skillset in Category Strategy, Contract Management, P&L Improvement, and Customer Satisfaction focused on competitively priced, high quality, consistent products. Dave holds a BS in Finance from the University of Maryland Robert H Smith Business School. He is married with 2 young boys that love to play Baseball and Soccer, so he spends a lot of his weekend time on the sports fields in the Chicagoland area. More about US Foods: US Foods is one of America's great food companies and a leading foodservice distributor, partnering with approximately 250,000 restaurants and foodservice operators to help their businesses succeed. With 30,000 employees and more than 70 locations, we provide our customers with a broad and innovative food offering and a comprehensive suite of e-commerce, technology, and business solutions. Learn more at: https://www.usfoods.com/. Thanks to Our Sponsor: BMO Whether you're a producer, processor, retailer or distributor every company throughout the food continuum needs a financial partner that understands the factors that impact their business. From emerging consumer trends and industry consolidation, to commodity fluctuations and economic cyclicality, BMO's Food, Consumer, and Agribusiness Group understands the issues affecting your company and are dedicated to serving the entire food industry – from farm to consumer. To learn more about how they can help, visit commercial.bmo.com/food.

This Series is Sponsored by BMO In the sixth episode of the “Foodservice Gamechangers” series, Performance Foodservice SVP of procurement Scott Barnewolt joined Food Institute advisor and special guest host Pat Mulhern to discuss the accelerated pace of change in the post-pandemic world. Additionally, the pair discuss the challenges and benefits of working from home, and how artificial intelligence may impact the foodservice industry in the years to come. More about Scott Barnewolt: Scott is graduate of the College of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois, earning a bachelor's degree Marketing in 1987, he was a 4-year starter on the baseball team as a Pitcher. His college career included being named Team Captain, Conference MVP, and 2-time NAIA World Series participant. He is also a graduate of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Kenan Flagler Business School Executive Program. His foodservice distribution experience spans 35 years. His professional experience in the foodservice industry has included Buyer, Regional Buyer, Corporate Product Manager, Regional Sales Manager, National Marketing/Procurement Manager, Corporate Senior Category Manager, Corporate Category Director and Vice President of Procurement. Past employers include Kraft Foodservice, Riceland Foods, Jennie-O Foods, and Alliant Foodservice. He is currently Senior Vice President of Procurement for Performance Foodservice Corporate. His tenure with Performance Foodservice is over 23 years and resides in Manakin Sabot Virginia a western suburb of Richmond Virginia with his wife Kay. Scott has been married for 35 wonderful years to his wife Kay and his family includes their son, Bryce (26) graduate Virginia Tech University May 2020 currently living in Charlotte NC working in the residential mortgage industry. Their daughter Meredith (23) graduate of Virginia Tech University in May 2023 and is a Civil Engineer for Dewberry Civil Engineering in Fairfax, VA. Scott is originally from Chicago land area and a big Chicago Sports Fan. He enjoys spending time with his family, playing golf, exercising, watching sports and is a car enthusiast. More about Performance Foodservice: As one of the largest foodservice distributors in the nation, commitment to quality ingredients, personalized customer service, and on-time deliveries form the core of our service. Learn more at: https://www.performancefoodservice.com/. Thanks to Our Sponsor: BMO Whether you're a producer, processor, retailer or distributor every company throughout the food continuum needs a financial partner that understands the factors that impact their business. From emerging consumer trends and industry consolidation to commodity fluctuations and economic cyclicality, BMO's Food, Consumer, and Agribusiness Group understands the issues affecting your company and are dedicated to serving the entire food industry – from farm to consumer. To learn more about how they can help, visit commercial.bmo.com/food.

Todd Baker, Gordon Food Service EVP of North American merchandising, joined Food Institute advisor and special guest host Pat Mulhern for the fifth episode of the “Foodservice Gamechangers” series. Baker shares insights about his leadership style, how to best build supplier relationships, and how to learn from employees within your organization. More about Todd Baker: Todd Baker is the Executive Vice President of North American Merchandising for Gordon Food Service, a foodservice distribution company with operations in the U.S. and Canada. Todd provides strategic leadership for category management, direct and indirect procurement, brands, marketing, and merchandising operations. He began his career at Gordon Food Service in 1992 as a Sales Representative in Grand Rapids, Michigan, followed by several leadership roles in marketing and procurement in the U.S. Todd also served on the GFS Canada leadership team as Senior Manager of Marketing and Procurement before becoming the leader of North American Merchandising. More about Gordon Food Service: For 125 years, we've delivered the excellence, expertise, and quality products our customers need to design successful food operations and experiences. We've grown to become the largest family-operated broad-line food distribution company in North America by upholding the same business approach since 1897—being passionately committed to the people we serve. Learn more at: https://gfs.com/. Thanks to Our Sponsor: BMO Whether you're a producer, processor, retailer or distributor every company throughout the food continuum needs a financial partner that understands the factors that impact their business. From emerging consumer trends and industry consolidation to commodity fluctuations and economic cyclicality, BMO's Food, Consumer, and Agribusiness Group understands the issues affecting your company and are dedicated to serving the entire food industry – from farm to consumer. To learn more about how they can help, visit commercial.bmo.com/food.

This Series is Sponsored by BMO In the fourth episode of the “Foodservice Gamechangers” series, Sysco SVP and chief merchandising officer Victoria Gutierrez joined Food Institute advisor and special guest host Pat Mulhern to discuss the importance of fostering a growth mindset and embracing digital transformation in the foodservice distribution industry. The duo also discussed the need for adaptable problem solving and resilience in the workforce. More about Victoria Gutierrez: Ms. Gutierrez has served as Senior Vice President, Chief Merchandising Officer since August 2022. Previously, she served as Vice President of Category Management after joining Sysco in July 2021. Prior to joining Sysco, Ms. Gutierrez was a Partner with the Boston Consulting Group (“BCG”) from September 2014 to June 2021, serving as a lead member of BCG's Retail, Large Scale Change and Operations practices, as well as a firm expert in transformation management, merchandising analytics, and private brands. Before joining BCG, she held several positions in the beverage industry as a certified sommelier and entrepreneur. Ms. Gutierrez holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management and a B.S. with Honors from Northwestern University. More about Sysco: We build relationships through quality products, intelligent systems, and an extraordinary community of associates. We want to be your most valued and trusted business partner, investing in your success with fresh ideas to grow your business. Learn more at: https://www.sysco.com/. Thanks to Our Sponsor: BMO Whether you're a producer, processor, retailer or distributor every company throughout the food continuum needs a financial partner that understands the factors that impact their business. From emerging consumer trends and industry consolidation to commodity fluctuations and economic cyclicality, BMO's Food, Consumer, and Agribusiness Group understands the issues affecting your company and are dedicated to serving the entire food industry – from farm to consumer. To learn more about how they can help, visit commercial.bmo.com/food.

This Series is Sponsored by BMO In the third episode of the “Foodservice Gamechangers” series, Independent Marketing Alliance president and CEO Rob Mould speaks with special guest host and Food Institute advisor Pat Mulhern about selecting and managing suppliers, and the need for more suppliers in certain categories. The pair also discusses how leadership styles have adapted to a changing workplace, and the need for purposeful and proactive leadership in the foodservice distribution workplace. More about Rob Mould: Rob Mould believes in fostering a strong, collaborative company culture focused on people and solutions that deliver outstanding results. He was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, and attended Washington and Lee University for his undergraduate education. He later attended the University of South Carolina where he earned an M.B.A. Rob spent 20 years in the grocery retail industry focused on category management and all merchandising elements followed by eight years in foodservice. He began his career in private brands and moved into category management working for various top tier grocery retailers, spending the last ten years in senior level positions in center store and produce. Rob Mould joined Independent Marketing Alliance (IMA), a foodservice buying group headquartered in Houston, in 2015 as its President and CEO. The primary company focus is “exclusive brands” or “private brands”, but a total category growth mindset is the goal. More about Independent Marketing Alliance: Independent Marketing Alliance (IMA) is an exclusive network of the highest producing foodservice distributors, delivering better business through its exclusive alliance. For over 20 years, members have benefited from expert category and supplier management, exclusive brands marketing, business planning, quality assurance, and more. Learn more here: https://imafoodservice.com/. Thanks to Our Sponsor: BMO Whether you're a producer, processor, retailer or distributor, every company throughout the food continuum needs a financial partner that understands the factors that impact their business. From emerging consumer trends and industry consolidation to commodity fluctuations and economic cyclicality, BMO's Food, Consumer, and Agribusiness Group understands the issues affecting your company and is dedicated to serving the entire food industry – from farm to consumer. To learn more, visit commercial.bmo.com/food.

In this episode of a, host Russ Perry is joined by Ivonne Kinser, Founder and CEO of Vantage Creative Group. Together, they discuss Ivonne's journey to becoming the "Avocado Queen," how to conquer fear and overcome creative paralysis, and the importance of embracing your true creative self.

This Series is Sponsored by BMO In the second episode of the “Foodservice Gamechangers” series, special guest host and Food Institute advisor Pat Mulhern welcomed Dot Foods president George Eversman to talk about his career journey and leadership style. Additionally, the pair discuss workforce management strategies and supply chain logistics for the foodservice distribution industry. More about George Eversman: George Eversman is President of Dot Foods. He came up through the business in both Sales & Business Development. In George's 30 year career with Dot he has spent time in managing various aspects of Dot's retail and foodservice businesses. George has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Iowa, and an MBA from Arizona State University. George's family consists of wife Michelle, and 4 children ranging in age from 26 to 15 years old. His two older children now reside in Austin and Dallas Texas respectively, while his two younger daughters are still at home in Quincy, Illinois. More about Dot Foods: Robert and Dorothy Tracy founded our company in 1960, with big dreams of starting a family business and streamlining the food supply chain. Sixty years later, we make more products more accessible to more people than ever before. We do this by purchasing large quantities of product from the supplier and storing it in our 13 distribution centers across the country. Our distributor and food processor customers then order our food and non-food items in less-than-truckload (LTL) quantities, which we deliver in as little as two to four days. Our business model, the talents of more than 4,000 employees, and the Tracy family's ownership have helped our company become the largest food industry redistributor in North America. But even more importantly, the dream that took shape all those years ago is still driving our partners' businesses forward. Learn more at: https://www.dotfoods.com/. Thanks to Our Sponsor: BMO Whether you're a producer, processor, retailer or distributor every company throughout the food continuum needs a financial partner that understands the factors that impact their business. From emerging consumer trends and industry consolidation, to commodity fluctuations and economic cyclicality, BMO's Food, Consumer, and Agribusiness Group understands the issues affecting your company and are dedicated to serving the entire food industry – from farm to consumer. To learn more about how they can help, visit commercial.bmo.com/food.

In the first episode of “Foodservice Gamechangers,” Food Institute advisor Pat Mulhern speaks with UniPro Foodservice CEO Bob Stewart who shared his thoughts on the foodservice industry's future, including the impact of consolidation and succession planning. Additionally, Stewart emphasizes the importance of hard work, technical skills, and networking. More about Bob Stewart: A seasoned executive with 38 years of diversified experience in professional services, retail, manufacturing and distribution. His distribution experience included 20 years at US Foods. Bob began his professional career as a CPA in Pittsburgh, PA and worked several years in the Audit Departments of Deloitte and Grant Thornton. Joining Kraft Foodservice in 1991, Bob advanced at both the local operating plant and HQ levels where he held roles as a SVP of Finance and Operational Strategy, CFO of US Food's North Region, VP of Purchasing and Marketing, Reg. VP of Finance as well as a Division President. Bob also led US Foods large-scale business transformation project to redesign and functionalize parts of the business. Bob has been the CEO of UniPro since 2015, leading the cooperative through an organizational rebranding and resurgence, significantly increasing Member and Supplier participation and engagement. He is a native of southwestern Pennsylvania, has six children and now resides in Atlanta with his wife Maria along with their seventh child, Missy the English Bull Terrier. More about UniPro: With 460 members with over 1,000 locations, UniPro Foodservice, Inc. is the largest foodservice distribution cooperative in the United States. They provide nationwide access to exclusive purchasing opportunities with the country's premier suppliers. Learn more: https://www.uniprofoodservice.com/

Corn stocks, poultry flocks, and highly-pathogenic avian influenza - what does the U.S. agricultural system look like amid inflation and other headwinds? Wells Fargo Chief Agricultural Economist Dr. Michael Swanson discussed specialty crops, grain plantings, and what to expect in the growing year to come. More About Dr. Michael J. Swanson: Michael Swanson is an agricultural economist and consultant for Wells Fargo, the largest commercial agricultural lender in the U.S. since 1997. Based in Minneapolis, his responsibilities include analyzing the impact of energy on agriculture and strategic analysis for key agricultural commodities and livestock sectors. His focus includes the systems analysis of consumer food demand and its linkage to agribusiness. Additionally, he helps develop credit and risk strategies for Wells Fargo's customers, and performs macroeconomic and international analysis on agricultural production and agribusiness. Michael joined Wells Fargo in 2000 as a senior economist. He received his undergraduate degrees in Business Administration and Economics from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. He received his Master's and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota. Prior to working at Wells Fargo, he worked for four years at Land O' Lakes, a large national dairy cooperative based in Minnesota. Before working in the dairy processing business, Michael lived in South America for four years working for Cargill. His first position was with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad as transportation systems analyst. More About Wells Fargo: Wells Fargo has been the nation's leading agricultural lender among commercial banks for 25 consecutive years, according to Top 100 Farm Lenders (FDIC – 4Q 2020). Wells brings farm-to-fork expertise to our clients in the agribusiness, food, beverage and hospitality industries with bankers who are passionate and knowledgeable about the industries, provide strategic products designed to mitigate industry-specific risk, and provide a full suite of services for businesses of all sizes. To learn more about Wells Fargo, please visit: https://www.wellsfargo.com/com/industry/food-and-agribusiness/ To learn more about Food Institute membership and The Food Institute Report: https://foodinstitute.com/joinfi/ https://foodinstitute.com/report/

The latest Food Institute news podcast touches on the potential impact of a TikTok ban on the food and beverage industry.

Kristie Middleton is  vice president of business development for Rebellyous Foods where she and her team help institutions add more plant-based options to their menus. Kristie's also the author of MeatLess: Transform the Way You Eat and Live—One Meal at a Time and a long-time animal advocate. Rebellyous Foods has created novel manufacturing technology in order to make plant-based chicken more affordable to the masses. Mainly targeting food service providers such as universities and school districts, Kristie, who is Vice president of business development at the venture capital funded company, uses her experience from her days at The Humane Society to ensure that this product is a clean and price comparable product in those markets.A great episode for those interested in all things plant-based meats and how to scale a company providing this type of product to the masses. Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:Kristie Middleton: MeatLess: Transform the Way You Eat and Live—One Meal at a TimeIn a recent interview with The Food Institute with Christie Lagally 50% of all meals served in Sodexo university settings will be plant-based by 2025Request For Proposals for something called Mock2Josh Balk episode on our podcastAG funder interview re continuous process vs batchingPodcast: Business for Good (start-ups)Food BizWiz by Aly Ball about getting food start-up products into retailRebellyous Foods Hiring(00:00) START(04:23) ABOUT REBELLYOUS FOODS(09:31) PATENTED EQUIPMENT(16:47) EDUCATING THE CONSUMER(22:12) A GOOD APPROACH MAKES A DIFFERENCE(28:24) THE MOCK 2(34:53) ADVANTAGES TO COMPANIES FOCUSED ON PROFIT(45:46) OTHER AREAS THAT NEED INNOVATION(51:38) MOMENTS THAT INSPIRED CAREER CHANGE(01:02:31) FOCUS ON THE MISSION(01:06:05) CLOSING QUESTIONSIf you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - we would really appreciate it! Likewise, feel free to share it with anyone who you think might enjoy it. You can send us feedback and guest recommendations via Twitter or email us at hello@howilearnedtoloveshrimp.com. Enjoy!

Non-alcoholic beer has been on a tear since 2017. That's when Heineken and an unknown brand, Athletic Brewing, appeared on shelves to shake things up. The latest Skate Ramp brand has crossed $100M rapidly, but will it journey at high speed toward $1B and truly impact the beer industry? I share an excerpt of my thoughts recently written in detail for The Food Institute. Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.com Please send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 2453: Dr. Jenny Brockis explores the profound impact of diet on mental health in her article on DrJennyBrockis.com. She emphasizes that depression is more than just a brain disorder and is interconnected with our gut, immune, and endocrine systems. By adopting healthier dietary habits, like a Mediterranean-style diet and reducing ultra-processed foods, we can not only improve mood but also reduce the risk of depression. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://drjennybrockis.com/2023/10/27/can-changing-your-diet-make-you-feel-happier/ Quotes to ponder: "Dietary intervention can improve mood." "Depression is now considered a whole-body disorder because of the interconnection between our brain, gut, immune, and endocrine systems." "The microbiome is dynamic, and the balance of good and bad bacteria is changed by what you eat." Episode references: The Mood and Food Institute at Deakin University: https://www.deakin.edu.au/business-and-community/donate/stories-of-giving/the-dkin-difference-2021/food-and-mood Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 2453: Dr. Jenny Brockis explores the profound impact of diet on mental health in her article on DrJennyBrockis.com. She emphasizes that depression is more than just a brain disorder and is interconnected with our gut, immune, and endocrine systems. By adopting healthier dietary habits, like a Mediterranean-style diet and reducing ultra-processed foods, we can not only improve mood but also reduce the risk of depression. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://drjennybrockis.com/2023/10/27/can-changing-your-diet-make-you-feel-happier/ Quotes to ponder: "Dietary intervention can improve mood." "Depression is now considered a whole-body disorder because of the interconnection between our brain, gut, immune, and endocrine systems." "The microbiome is dynamic, and the balance of good and bad bacteria is changed by what you eat." Episode references: The Mood and Food Institute at Deakin University: https://www.deakin.edu.au/business-and-community/donate/stories-of-giving/the-dkin-difference-2021/food-and-mood Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The foodservice industry has had its fair share of twists and turns the past few years, but where is it headed in 2024? Lizzy Freier, Director, Menu Research & Insights at Technomic joins The Food Institute Podcast to talk restaurant traffic, international cuisines, LTOs and more. More about Lizzy Freier: Lizzy leads menu research at Technomic, tracking and analyzing both current and predictive trends. Although her focus is on commercial food, beverage and adult beverage trend- and data-tracking at independent, emerging and top chain restaurants, she has also analyzed noncommercial, convenience-store and global trends. Over her decade at Technomic, she has contributed to a plethora of content. She's been interviewed by various media outlets, ranging from BBC News to The Wall Street Journal to Forbes. She has also established numerous products for Technomic, including the Emerging Eats newsletter, On the Menu Trends webinar and Food Flash infographics. Lizzy has presented at dozens of large industry events in the U.S. and abroad, including the National Restaurant Association Show; The Culinary Institute of America's cuisine summits; RCA Conference; VIBE Conference; Winsight's Restaurant Directions; Clean Label Conference; National Coffee Association Conference; and Technomic's Foodservice and Adult Beverage Planning Program events. Learn more about Technomic: https://www.technomic.com/ More from the Food Institute featuring Lizzy Freier: https://foodinstitute.com/focus/is-america-ready-to-embrace-african-cuisine/

Chicago-based Foxtrot Market and Dom's Kitchen and Market — both upscale supermarkets with food service — will join forces. Reset talks with Virginia Lee, a market research expert and Food Institute writer, about what the merger means. To explore our full catalog of interviews, head on over to wbez.org/reset.

The latest Food Institute news podcast touches on TikTok's burgeoning e-commerce business.

The latest Food Institute news podcast touches on the return of the bird flu in America.

How can a dairy operation balance the ESG demands of consumers while still creating delicious cheeses and ice cream? Tillamook County Creamery Association executive vice president of stewardship Paul Snyder joined The Food Institute Podcast to discuss the brand's sustainability goals, its Oregon-based history, and the company's expansion to the U.S. East Coast. More About Tillamook County Creamery Association: The Tillamook Way is a way of life—the way our farmer-owners have done things since 1909. We cared for our farmer-owners, who cared for the land, which sustained healthier cows, which provided better milk. And better milk made better dairy products. It's a simple recipe that we've followed for over a century and it has never failed. More About Paul Snyder: Paul Snyder joined the Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA) in 2019, as Executive Vice President of Stewardship. In this role, Paul leads several functions including corporate responsibility, sustainability, community engagement, corporate communications, government affairs, farm services, and co-op member relations. Before joining TCCA, Paul served as Global Vice President – Corporate Responsibility at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), based in Atlanta, Georgia. In that role, Paul co-led IHG's global corporate responsibility function and directly oversaw sustainability strategy and execution for the company's nearly 5,200 hotels worldwide. Additionally, he directed the company's Americas Public Affairs activities, its U.S. based Foundation and several community-based and diversity-focused initiatives. He also held various other leadership positions during his time at IHG in development, operations, marketing, and brand management. Prior to joining IHG, Paul worked at Marriott International in the company's Brand Management, Development and IT departments. He started his career in the hospitality industry with Winegardner & Hammons, Inc. as a line level employee at a Holiday Inn hotel and was promoted into managerial positions in both the Food & Beverage and Rooms departments. In addition to his role at TCCA, Paul currently serves on the board of directors for Newtrient, an organization that partners with dairy farmers, technology providers and other stakeholders to help them make informed decisions regarding manure management opportunities and challenges. Additionally, he serves on the Advisory Committee of Oregon's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Program 2021 Rulemaking — a new Climate Protection Program to limit greenhouse gas emissions from some of the most significant sources in Oregon. Prior to relocating to Oregon to join TCCA, Paul was a committed community leader in Atlanta, having served on the Boards of the Georgia Center for Non-Profits, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Opera and the Metro Atlanta Chapter of the American Red Cross. He also led the Marketing efforts for the Atlanta chapter of Conscious Capitalism. Paul earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature at Lawrence University and an MBA at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management. Learn more about Tillamook: https://www.tillamook.com/ Learn more about the company's sustainability goals: https://www.tillamook.com/stewardship Sign up for Food Institute's free newsletters here: https://foodinstitute.com/newsletters

Brian Choi is the Managing Partner and CEO of The Food Institute. For over 90 years, The Food Institute has been the best “single source” for food industry executives with a daily email reach of over 100,000. Join Bob and Brian as they discuss the impact of inflation, the recession, and innovation on food manufacturers and retailers.

Returning to the podcast in this episode is Marina Marchese. Marina is back from a recent trip to Italy taking advanced courses from the Food Institute there in both learning, and teaching the skills necessary to claim the title of Connoisseur. Marina is in charge of The American Honey Tasting Society, an organization designed to teach people the intricate skills necessary to become a honey connoisseur. She is also a Member Italian Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey. Marina and Kim Flottum published The Honey Connoisseur book looking at the major honey plants of the world, plus an introduction to Marina's Honey Tasting Wheel, a tool used to describe, and define the intricate flavors of the honeys of the world. Tasting and experiencing the differences in honeys is a learned skill, something all of us can do, with just a little practice and technique. As a beekeeper, you should know how to describe the taste of your honey – whether you sell it to the local packer, the farm market or on a stand in front of your house. Listen today! What's your favorite honey taste like? We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website. Thank you for listening! Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:  American Honey Tasting Society: https://www.americanhoneytastingsociety.com/ Marina's Honey Connoisseur Website: http://www.honeysommelier.com  Beekeeping Today Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beekeepingtodaypodcast Honey Bee Obscura: https://www.honeybeeobscura.com ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode!  We welcome Betterbee as sponsor of today's episode. Betterbee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, Betterbee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their support. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening!  Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC Copyright © 2023 by Growing Planet Media, LLC