Podcasts about regrained

In this episode, we dive into the prominent role of circularity in the new B Corp standards with Nellie Cohen, creator of Patagonia's Worn Wear project, and Dan Kurzrock, CEO of Upcycled Foods. Nellie and Dan share strategies for transforming waste into value across diverse industries like textiles and food. We also highlight how smaller companies and service-based businesses can integrate circularity more deeply into their operations. Tune in today!Show Notes: https://go.lifteconomy.com/blog/circularity-lessons-patagonia-upcycled-foods-nellie-cohen-dan-kurzrockSupport the showWe want to hear from you! Email us at beyond@lifteconomy.com with requests for content, suggestions for future guests, and feedback about our episodes.

I'm joined by Daniel Kurzrock, the cofounder and CEO of ReGrained, a company that is solving food waste by taking spent beer grain and transforming it into a nutritious flour-like powder that can be incorporated into any carb-based product. Daniel learned how to make beer as a freshman in college. But every time he produced a batch, he was left with huge amounts of what he thought looked like oatmeal. That's when he realized there was massive opportunity here to change how the brewing industry deals with food waste, and his passion for upcycling food was born.   We're discussing the practical challenges ReGrained faced regarding processing and packaging, how they've overcome them, and Daniel is detailing how ReGrained is helping other companies use their product innovation as a force for good by incorporating upcycled ingredients.   Get full show notes and more information here: https://sensiba.com/resources/?post_types=podcast

This episode features a conversation between Phil Dillard, Founder of Thruline Networks, and Dan Kurzrock, CEO and Co-Founder at Upcycled Foods Inc. and ReGrained.Upcycled Foods, Inc. powers the B2B upcycled food economy with product development expertise, cutting-edge technology, and a growing portfolio of ingredient solutions. With its innovation hub – the Upcycled Food Lab – the company leads the way for food makers as the go-to development partner.With a mission to better align the food we eat with the planet and people we love, ReGrained is an upcycled ingredient company and innovation partner that works with great companies to close the loop with better foods for you and the planet. As you can tell, Dan spends most of his time championing upcycled food and the circular economy. Outside of that, you can find him conducting part-time gravity research on a mountain, nerding out with great books, or jamming to great tunes.In this episode, Dan talks about the importance of upcycling food, regenerative agriculture, and the circular economy.—Guest Quotes“For the first few years, there was a lot of awareness building around what food waste is, what upcycling is. I used to give a lot of talks at places like industry trade shows and used to have the room raise their hand if they've heard of upcycling. There used to be like one or two people in the audience. Now, it's almost everybody.” - Dan KurzrockEpisode Timestamps(01:59) Dan's vision at Upcycled Foods(06:56) Product life cycles and supply chain(10:24) Dan's background and path to entrepreneurship(18:05) Creating a patent and expanding the startup(24:52) Enabling innovation for B2B customers(29:50) Measuring impact over time(37:21) The future for Upcycled FoodsLinksDan Kurzrock's LinkedInUpcycled Foods IncPhil Dillard's LinkedInThruline Networks

FoodTech Junkies travels to California to speak with food waste hero and upcycling pioneer Daniel Kurzrock. Ten years ago, out of a passion and a hobby, he co-founded Regrained, now Upcycled Food Inc, a company that makes nutritious and delicious upcycled ingredients. To further the movement, Dan co-founded the Upcycled Food Association, a non-profit focused on reducing food waste by growing the upcycling food economy. Today we will discuss the importance of circularity, regenerative approaches, and business models for people and the planet and the enormous market opportunity of upcycling overall. Join us and dive into Dan's world to learn more about how he turns waste into gold. About Dan Kurzrock Dan is the Founder & CEO of ReGrained, the leading innovation platform for upcycled food. The company specializes in using patented technology to create novel ingredients from previously overlooked and undervalued supply chains. In partnership with food makers, we develop new food products and menu items featuring certified upcycled ingredients. Dan is also a founding officer of the Upcycled Food Association and Upcycled Food Foundation, and can often be seen pioneering the movement on the frontlines. He's a thought leader on the upcycling food movement, often a featured speaker at industry conferences and sought after by the media. He earned his bachelors from UCLA, where underage homebrewing started it all, as well as an MBA in sustainable business from Presidio Graduate School. About Upcycled Food Inc Upcycled Foods Inc. powers the B2B upcycled food economy with product development expertise, cutting-edge technology, and a growing portfolio of ingredient solutions. About The Upcycled Food Association Through research, strategy, networking, and policy advocacy, Upcycled Food Association is building a food system in which all food is elevated to its highest and best use. UFA is comprised of Members and Associate Members from around the world.

“As a planet, we should be eating all the food we're producing.” -Daniel Kurzrock   One of our favorite inspiring changemakers, Daniel Kurzrock, is in the house! It's been a while since we've had the pleasure of hearing from him and the exciting developments at  ReGrained.   In this episode, Daniel shares the new products they've launched, new partnerships they've made, and new projects they're working on. Of course, the conversation will not be complete without a discussion on upcycling.   We know that our food system is broken. Yet, until now, we're still doing just enough to keep the problem at bay. We're not just talking about how it's made up of huge corporations who care more about their bottom line than they do about the food we eat. But, we're also looking at how this affects our health and our environment.   We need a better food system in order to build a better world. If we want to create a sustainable world that supports us all and doesn't leave anyone behind, then we have to start by changing our approach to food production and consumption. With upcycling, we can help reduce food loss and conserve resources in a fun and exciting way, while also being intentional about what we eat and the impact it has on the environment.    Listen in as Justine and Daniel explore bigger opportunities available to us in the upcycling arena. Daniel also shares their approach and methods to impact the food industry on an individual and industry level, how certification gives broader meaning to upcycled food products, and how we can go beyond what we know today to be guilt-free.   If you want to learn more about Daniel and the mission of ReGrained, you can check our past conversations with him here:    How to Build an Organization for a Healthier and More Sustainable Food System   EI UPDATE SERIES: ReGrained's Recent Partnerships & New Product Launches Meet Daniel: Daniel Kurzrock is the Co-founder and Chief Grain Officer/CEO of ReGrained and a founding executive board member of the Upcycled Food Association. ReGrained is an ingredient platform and packaged foods innovator that specializes in upcycling overlooked and undervalued ingredients. Dan is also an entrepreneurial systems thinker and loves tackling seemingly intractable problems through creative entrepreneurship and cross-sectoral collaboration. Through ReGrained, he has become a thoughtleader about food waste business models, "edible upcycling" and the circular economy for food.   Website  Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Connect with NextGen Purpose: Website Facebook Instagram  YouTube Linkedin Episode Highlights: 01:30 A Huge Opportunity in Food Waste 06:26 The Regrained Pledge 12:27 The Regrained Approach  17:26 Upcycling Going Bigger 

Phil Saneski has worked in Michelin-Star and James Beard Award finalist kitchens. He led the launch of the Research Chefs Association Upcycled Foods product development student competition--the world's first event focused on manufacturing byproducts. His curiosity about ingredients historically considered “waste,” and his passion for formulating delicious products led him to be VP or Product at ReGrained, an innovative upcycled food start-up helping to change the way the world thinks about “waste” ingredients. Phil has spoken about upcycled foods at numerous local events as well as SXSW, New Products, Cereal & Grains Association, and Stanford Design Thinking conferences. After Regrained, Phil moved on to product development for CCD Innovation, a chef-driven food & beverage consultancy in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now Phil is the Culinary Manager of Farming Hope, a culinary job training non-profit that uses recovered food to train Apprentices experiencing major social and economic barriers to employment. He believes in a more equitable food system that uses ingredients that already exist in our supply chain and that neither food nor people should ever go to waste. Phil looks for any reason to do a collaboration popup, too. Show Notes: http://myfoodjobrocks.com/247Phil  

Food waste is a huge issue. Dan Kurzrock figured out a way to take the grains from beer making and repurpose them into foods. Tasty foods, too. Find the show note's page with link mentioned here culinarylibertarian.com/199 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/dannreid/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dannreid/support

While not a brand new concept, upcycling food is being better-defined and called out as a solution to the 30%-40% of food that goes to waste each year. Dan Kurzrock of Regrained and the Upcycled Food Association, shares his journey and vision for reducing food loss. Mason & Jess also tease their brand new project that incorporates upcycled food! Show Notes - https://www.mostlygreen.life/podcasts/what-is-upcycled-food-and-why-should-you-care --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/amostlygreenlife/message

In today's episode, we speak with Breyn Hibbs, Head of Social and Environmental Impact at Take Two about the complexities of calculating and communicating positive impact.Take Two is an upcycled food company that makes barley milk out of the spent grain from beer brewing. Check out their website: https://taketwofoods.com/Connect with Breyn Hibbs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/breyn-marr-hibbs-4031508/We also mentioned in this episode:ReFED Insights: https://insights.refed.org/Regrained: https://www.regrained.com/Upcycled Food Association: https://www.upcycledfood.org/-Check out our new impact workshop, Exponential Good: https://www.evolvecpg.com/brand-impact-workshop-exponential-goodAs an ever-evolving show, we also love feedback. Send us your thoughts or ideas for who we should talk to next to evolve@modernspecies.com

We talk Bay Area, upcycling, rescuing nutritious grains, selling the ingredient vs creating own products, and email marketing.

We talk with Dan Kurzrok the Chief Grain Officer (CEO) and cofounder of Regrained. We learn all about how to eat your beer and the power of spent grains from the brewing process. Find Regrained at- https://www.regrained.comFind Puratos at:@PuratosUSA- Twitter@PuratosUS- InstagramFind Braden at:@BakerBrayBray47- Twitter@Pastry_Chef_BrayBray- Instagram

Recycle, Reduce and Reuse. These were the solutions to environmental problems banged into my head from school, and Captain Planet. But, as technology and creativity progress, new solutions are now available to us. My next guest teaches us about a new solution and how beer can protect our planet, even during snack time. The Good Beer Matters Podcast comes to you with support from BreweryDB.com, your digital destination for brewery experiences! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jeremy-storton/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jeremy-storton/support

After getting sober in 2015, today's guest, Kelsey Moreira, set off on a journey to make the world a little sweeter by starting Doughp Legit Cookie Dough, a company that makes edible, bakeable, and ridiculously tasty cookie dough. You'll hear about Kelsey's lifelong interest in marketing and how her ambition drove her to use alcohol to relieve stress before reaching a turning point that changed sobriety from a ‘should' into a ‘must'. Her huge life change left her with the capacity to pursue a new endeavor, and she began baking as a hobby until her entrepreneurial spirit led her to transform it into a business and pitch it on Sharktank to find an investor. Doughp has an ecommerce segment, as well as physical stores in San Francisco and the Las Vegas strip, which Kelsey chose because of her focus on addiction recovery. We explore the power of the message behind the brand to grow a community, and Kelsey reveals more about the non-profit piece of the company, donating one percent of total sales to a different organization each year, with She Recovers as this year's non-profit. Kelsey shares plenty of actionable advice with listeners today, and points us in the direction of her podcast, Soberpreneur, where she interviews innovative business owners who have recovered from addiction. We hope you tune in to be inspired by this force for good today!  Key Points From This Episode:Kelsey's company, Doughp, and the edible, bakeable cookie dough products they make.Their focus on addiction recovery and mental health, sparked by Kelsey's journey to sobriety.The brownie cookie dough Doughp produced with Regrained flour and other partnerships.Kelsey's lifelong interest in marketing and how she worked at Intel from the age of 16.How she came to rely on alcohol to relieve the stress of building a career in tech marketing.What she learned from Intel's focus on doing good by fighting online harassment.Kelsey's journey to sobriety and the turning point that took her from ‘should' to ‘must'.Her nickname, Monsterbaby, and the sweet tooth that led her to baking after she got sober.How her entrepreneurial spirit and love of baking sparked the start of Doughp.The best way to consume Doughp cookie dough: half baked.Flaxseed as a substitute for eggs, allowing you to eat the dough raw.How Kelsey pitched to go on Sharktank and ended up being chosen to appear on TV.What it was like to appear on Sharktank and how questions about health arose.The investor that came through shortly after and how they made it onto the 500 list. Her two locations in San Francisco at Pier 39 and on the Las Vegas strip.Why she chose to set up a store in Las Vegas; a hotspot for addiction. How the message behind the brand has changed lives and built a community.Doughp online, Doughp stores, and stocked at convenience stores.7-Eleven's Brands with Heart campaign focusing on mission-led companies.Kelsey's actionable tip: the Hatch Restore light clock's wind down routine. Her podcast, Soberpreneur, where she interviews recovered business owners.Links Mentioned in Today's Episode:Kelsey Moreira on LinkedInKelsey Moreira on TwitterDoughpShe RecoversThe Hatch RestoreTiny HabitsThe Big LeapSoberpreneur Podcast

 “Let's remember how valuable our food and our resources are, and put it all to best use for creating delicious food to feed people.” -Daniel Kurzrock   Episode Description: You're in for a yummy treat! Audience favorite Daniel Kurzrock, the Co-Founder and Chief Grain Officer/CEO of ReGrained has returned to give us an update on the new products at ReGrained and dive deeper into upcycling. Daniel, a co-Founder of the Upcycled Food Association, joined us as our guest on S2 Ep6 of Essential Ingredients, where he talked about how to build an upcycle company.  ReGrained's story started with two college friends trying to make their own beer. The grains they used in brewing initially ended up in a dumpster until they discovered they could use them to bake bread. Little did they realize they were up to something bigger! Grains from breweries are packed with proteins, prebiotics, and micronutrients. Soon, ReGrained's SuperGrain+ was born. From this discovery, ReGrained was able to leverage it further by making innovative and savory treats that “align the food we eat with the planet and people we love.” (ReGrained's mission)    In this episode, Daniel shares a guest update on all the recent happenings at ReGrained, including new and exciting partnerships and products that bring upcycled food to the next level!  Learn about the benefits of upcycling and the growing number of companies changing the future of food through this system. If you are looking for a crouton alternative, soup topper, or puffed chips you can snack on, ReGrained introduces the world's first puff snack powered by Supergrain+. This innovation proves that there is a tasty way to reduce food loss. Tune in and discover five bold and fun flavors that will hook your tastes buds!    Tap into the upcycled food opportunity; be an Upcyclist! Stay tuned to find out how you can be a CERTIFIED Upcycle Company.     Connect with Daniel: Daniel Kurzrock is the Co-founder and Chief Grain Officer/CEO of ReGrained and a founding executive board member of the Upcycled Food Association. ReGrained is an ingredient platform and packaged foods innovator that specializes in upcycling overlooked and undervalued ingredients. Dan is also an entrepreneurial systems thinker and loves tackling seemingly intractable problems through creative entrepreneurship and cross-sectoral collaboration. Through ReGrained, he has become a thought-leader about food waste business models, "edible upcycling" and the circular economy for food.   Website  LinkedIn Instagram Twitter Facebook   Connect with Justine:  Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn   Connect with NextGenChef: Website  Facebook  Twitter  Instagram  YouTube NextGenChef App (Apple) NextGenChef App (Android)  Episode Highlights: 01:09 Regrained Updates  07:12 Tap Into Common Sense Kitchen Wisdom 14:28 Powered by Upcycled Products 17:25 Regrained Puffs with Fun Flavor 19:34 The Upcycled Food Association

Daniel Kurzrock first became interested in upcycling when he first started making bread for his friends using the spent grains from his home brewed beer. This hobby eventually led him to realize that beer brewing industry, as well as many other industries - had many food by products that could be turned into consumable food. Listen as Daniel and I talk about the journey for ReGrained and the growth of the upcycled food industry. via Knit

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement, we're joined by Daniel Kurzrock, Co-Founder & CEO at ReGrained. Dan shares how he was first introduced to the problem of food waste. When he brewed his own beer back in college, Dan did a great job recognizing the environmental impact of food waste and ReGrained was born out of the desire to try to address this problem. He talks about how, as a company, they've taken a leadership role in the upcycling movement by giving talks, releasing content, and highlighting landmark research on this subject. He also shares some of the great opportunities for companies to differentiate their products by using upcycled ingredients, and also how companies can unlock additional lines of revenue by reviewing the byproducts of their production process.

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement, we're joined by Daniel Kurzrock, Co-Founder & CEO at ReGrained. Dan shares how he was first introduced to the problem of food waste. When he brewed his own beer back in college, Dan did a great job recognizing the environmental impact of food waste and ReGrained was born out of the desire to try to address this problem. He talks about how, as a company, they've taken a leadership role in the upcycling movement by giving talks, releasing content, and highlighting landmark research on this subject. He also shares some of the great opportunities for companies to differentiate their products by using upcycled ingredients, and also how companies can unlock additional lines of revenue by reviewing the byproducts of their production process.

On the cusp of Earth Day 2021, we’re joined by Caue Suplicy, the founder and chairman of Barnana, which markets premium snacks made from upcycled bananas.  Founded in 2012, Barnana uses slightly overripe bananas that would otherwise be discarded to produce dried banana bites, tortilla chips and cookie brittle, which are sold at major retailers nationwide including Costco, Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, Kroger, Safeway.. Meanwhile, as a founding member of the Upcycled Food Association, Barnana is leveraging its experience to support new and emerging upcycled CPG concepts.  In an interview featured in this episode, Suplicy spoke about the company’s development and evolution, including how the company analyzed consumer demand to better understand how to market and promote the brand/product. He also explained the company’s strategy for sourcing and utilizing sales data, why hiring from within has benefited the brand and how he has navigated the industry as an immigrant founder. Show notes:  0:38: What Millennials Really Think About Sustainability, Gluten-Free Faves & RayFC -- BevNET reporter Brad Avery made a guest appearance in the the opening banter, which included a discussion about how millennials perceive sustainably-minded brands, how the team is gearing up for BevNET & NOSH Virtually Live, Ray’s embrace of gluten-free brands (along with a chicken sandwich cheat) and interesting products that have tickled our fancy of late. 26:02: Interview: Caue Suplicy, Co-Founder/Chairman, Barnana -- Suplicy spoke with Taste Radio editor Ray Latif about Barnana’s recent label revamp and new mascot and how it ties into the company’s partnership with EarthDay.org. He also discussed Barnana's recent alignment with almond-based dip brand Bitchin’ Sauce, how the company’s first intern became a co-founder and the elements of its simple and easily understood message about mission and values. Later, Suplicy explained how Barnana’s consumer research strategy has evolved, how data impacted its selling story and pitch to retailers, being mindful about when to launch new products and how his Brazilian heritage factored into the company’s development. Brands in this episode: Barnana, ReGrained, Forager, Uglies Snacks, Imperfect Foods, PathWater, Coca-Cola, Rudi’s Bakery, Egglife, OMG...It’s Gluten Free, ZenB, Wet Hydration, Vegan Rob’s, Pirate’s Booty, NUGGS, Raisels, Akeso Water, Death Wish Coffee, Bitchin’ Sauce, Zico

Dan Kurzrock is the CEO of ReGrained. Just like the name "ReGrained" suggests, they turn beer waste into food. Their motto? Eat Beer!

“Create a movement that's bigger than yourself. It starts by having a team that can create a place for people to come, to be drawn to, and then bringing them together to do something that is really powerful.”  - Daniel Kurzrock    Could upcycling food be the most promising solution to reducing food waste? This week, we sit down with upcycling pioneer Daniel Kurzrock, CEO and Co-Founder of ReGrained. Daniel relates how his simple hobby of brewing beer turned into a greater purpose. As an organization, their goal is to bring together companies and people who are passionate about food-system level solutions. Daniel also talks about promoting the best use of ingredients, market failures, misconceptions about expiry dates, and collaboration.  If you are an entrepreneur, farmer, chef, or consumer wanting to be a part of this movement, this episode will surely resonate with you. Press the play button and listen to Daniel's advice on building an organization that unites with a single message and purpose.      Connect with Justine:  Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn   Connect with NextGenChef: Website  Facebook  Twitter  Instagram  YouTube NextGenChef App   Episode Highlights: 04:30 Brew Your Own Beer 09:11 Upcycling Ideas 14:32 Working With Chefs 21:10 Upcycling At Home 24:59 Upcycled Food Association 31:36 ReGrained 37:02 Creativity In Action

Today, you will hear from Daniel Kurzrock, CEO and Co-Founder of ReGrained, an ingredient platform, and packaged foods innovator, that specializes in upcycling overlooked and undervalued ingredients.In this episode, Dan explains how ReGrained works with brewery partners to rescue the grain after they have extracted the sugars needed to make beer, using this byproduct to create upcycled nutrition bars, puffs, and premium ingredients. Find out about the scale of the food waste issue and the exciting opportunities available in upcycling to put food to its best use – feeding people! Dan believes that we can create real and effective change through creative thinking and acting on our ideas. Listen until the end to hear a simple process you can use to find upcycling opportunities in your business today!Key Points From This Episode:Hear a brief introduction of Dan and his work, and how upcycling combats food waste.Dan shares some of the numbers on food waste and explains why it is such a big issue.Exciting opportunities in upcycling and putting food to its best use; feeding people.The concept of creating products out of waste isn't a groundbreaking one; think of whey, a byproduct in the cheesemaking process.Dan explains how this business was borne from a college hobby of home brewing beer.Hear about ReGrained's basic business model; from beer to CPG products.The differences between upcycling, recycling, and downcycling in terms of food.The market opportunity in reducing food waste due to an increase in consumer interest.Why upcycling food is the ultimate intersection between sustainability and health – and, done well, it's also very tasty!ReGrained's vision is to work with other companies to create more upcycled food products.Choosing to engage in upcycling is 100% within your control to reduce your carbon footprint.Other examples of upcycling; including root-to-stem or nose-to-tail culinary trends.Dan reiterates that upcycling isn't a new concept; food has always been like this!The issue with labeling a product “waste” and how ReGrained has gotten around it.Dan names some of his upcycling contemporaries, like Spare Food Co or Pulp Pantry.Utilizing cascara or the coffee fruit and leaf from the plant, rather than just the bean for coffee.Similarly, the cacao fruit can be used for a range of products, not just the seeds for chocolate.How Toast Ale brews craft beer with surplus fresh bread that would otherwise be wasted.Dan's tip for those looking to get into upcycling: stop thinking about it and just get started!How upcycling presents opportunities to break down traditional silos within companies.Creating shared value between ingredient companies and food companies.How upcycling creates economic value for suppliers by buying ingredients that would otherwise be wasted.Advice for upcyclers to overcome future&

WBZ's Jordan Rich talks with Matt Robinson of matts-meals.com about ReGrained beer snacks.

Dan is the Co-Founder and Chief Grain Officer of ReGrained, a mission-driven ingredient platform that leverages technology and culinary science to transform beer waste into food. Dan is an entrepreneurial systems thinker and loves tackling seemingly intractable problems through creative entrepreneurship and cross-sectoral collaboration. Through ReGrained, he has become a thought-leader about food waste business models, "edible upcycling" and the circular economy for food. ReGrained has:-Forbes 30 under 30: Food and Beverage (2018) -Won Slow Money NorCal's Food Funded Pitch Competition (2017) -Finalist at FoodBytes! (2016) -Finalist at SXSW Eco-Reuse and Recycling Sector (2016) -Burt's Bees Natural Launchpad (2016) -Won a sustainable innovation award at Sustainable Brands 2016 and was selected for Burt's Bees Natural Product Launchpad. Dan holds an MBA in Sustainable Business from Presidio Graduate School and a BA in Economics from UCLA. More on ReGrained: ReGrained better aligns the food we eat with the planet we love. They are an ingredient platform created to promote an innovative model of food production that they've coined as “Edible Upcycling.” Powered by patent-pending technology, they reimagine perceived ends as beginnings by finding nutritious food streams that are currently being treated as inedible and render them into delicious and healthy food. They rescue these overlooked but awesome ingredients and put them back to work. Their goal: To improve the way we value food and the resources that support all life Their initial focus: Upcycling the nutritious grain created every time that beer is brewed. In the U.S. alone, billions of pounds of this latent supply chain are available every year. Brewing beer processes the sugar out of the grain. This gives them optimal access to protein, fiber, and micronutrients. They upcycle this grain into ReGrained flour. They incorporate this sustainable, delicious, and nutritious ingredient into every ReGrained product, starting with SuperGrain+ Bars wrapped in innovative 100% backyard compostable packaging. Their mission doesn’t stop at waste ─ they are a Certified B Corp and support environmental conservation and social impact through 1% for the Planet. About Our Partner This episode is also brought to you by Hawke Media. Hawke Media is a full-service Outsourced CMO based in Santa Monica, CA, providing guidance, planning, and execution to grow brands of all sizes, industries, and business models. Hawke Media was recognized by Inc. as the country’s fastest-growing marketing consultancy and is proudly one of Glassdoor’s “Best Places to Work”​, 2019 #893 on the Forbes 5000 list, UpCity Top Los Angeles Digital Marketing Agency. Hawke’s collaborative process, à la carte offering, and month-to-month fee structure give clients the flexibility they need to boost digital revenues and marketing ROI. Hawke Media The company has serviced over 1500 brands of all sizes, ranging from startups like Tamara Mellon, SiO Beauty and Bottlekeeper to household names like Red Bull, Verizon Wireless and Alibaba. Listen to our interview with Erik Huberman, Founder and CEO of Hawke Media, in episode 23 of the Just Go Grind Podcast. Connect with Daniel Kurzrock and ReGrained ReGrained - https://www.regrained.com/ Invest in ReGrained - https://wefunder.com/regrained Wefunder discount through Just Go Grind - https://wefunder.com/raisemoney/justgogrind Some of the Topics Covered by Daniel Kurzrock in this Episode What ReGrained is doing to build a more sustainable food system Why Dan decided to tackle this problem How Dan turned his idea into a real business Why Dan didn't drop everything to go all-in on ReGrained right away How ReGrained was acquiring customers early on Why Dan wanted to be an ingredient company The insights gleamed along the way when trying to market ReGrained and the problem with their early slogan of "Eat Beer" How ReGrained Supergrain+ came about What upcycling is and why it's important The Upcycled Food Association and why Dan helped create it Doing research with the USDA Dan's experience raising capital for ReGrained and why they chose to do equity crowdfunding through Wefunder How Dan has gone about building his team at ReGrained Books that have been impactful for Dan How Dan recharges outside of work Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

In this week's episode, I am going to talk to Dan Kurzrock. He's the founder of an innovative company that takes the used grain from breweries called ReGrained. We will talk about him and his company and all about the things we can do to up-cycle your grains and re-use them. Links: Daniel Kurzrock Instagram's account-https://www.instagram.com/dkurzrock/ Daniel Kurzrock LinkedIn's account- https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielkurzrock/ ReGrained website - https://www.regrained.com/ ReGrained Instagram's account - https://www.instagram.com/regrained/ The website is now live! Check out more detailed show notes and images at https://homebrewingdiy.beer Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/homebrewingdiy Try BrewFather for free: https://brewfather.app/?via=homebrewingdiy Scrubber Duckys: https://www.scrubberduckys.com/store/c1/WWW.SCRUBBERDUCKYS.COM The Brew Bag: http://www.brewinabag.com/?aff=26 Social Follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram: @homebrewingdiy Email feedback to podcast@homebrewingdiy.beer Music: Intro Music: SUNBIRDS by BOCrew (c) copyright 2012 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/BOCrew/38854 Ft: THEDEEPR / THECORNER / feat : FORENSIC Not enough Horsefeathers by Fireproof_Babies (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/Fireproof_Babies/13115 Ft: duckett, kulimu Paper Planes – Durden ft. Airtone by DURDEN (c) copyright 2016 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/DURDEN/55041 Ft: Airtone Brewfather ad Music: Kalte Ohren by Alex (c) copyright 2019 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/AlexBeroza/59612 Ft: starfrosch & Jerry Spoon Scrubber Duckys Ad Music: Music: Jeff II – Liquid Demons Link to the song: https://youtu.be/UkRIKiBJ5Oc --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/homebrewingdiy/support

Dan Kurzrock is the Co-Founder and CEO of ReGrained. Dan spent his free time in college brewing his own beer. After he was finished with each batch, he was blown away with the amount of grain was left over. For every 6-pack he brewed, he had almost a pound of grain that he would throw in the trash, a by-product of the brewing process. Overtime, he grew uneasy with how much waste the process was creating and wondered if there was a better way to utilize the grain. He started taking the leftover grain and used it to bake bread. He would then sell the bread and use the proceeds to fund his beer brewing hobby. Quite the operation. His first idea, naturally, was to start a brewery that was also a bakery, so he could do both at scale. But as he started talking to all the new microbreweries that were popping up in 2009 and 2010, he realized this was a much bigger opportunity than he thought. And that's how ReGrained was born.Today at ReGrained, Dan and his team have a lot in the hopper. They've created a patented technology, process and machine to upcycle wet beer grain into their powerful SuperGrain+. This stuff is no joke as it packs 3.4x more fiber than normal whole wheat flour, with added prebiotics and as much protein as almond flour. Today, they use Supergrain+ across two business segments. First, they make their own puffs and bars that they sell to customers directly on their website and in stores. They also have a wholesale business, where they sell the SuperGrain+ directly to other food companies that use it in their products. Tune in to hear Dan's story!As a special offer, Dan is giving our listeners 15% off everything on their site. Just use code "FounderPod15" at checkout.EPISODE TOPICS: (2:42) ReGrained snapshot today(4:30) Supergrain+ nutritional value(8:04) Background and ReGrained founding story(12:41) Grain treatment process(18:07) Growth timing(21:49) Supply penetration(25:42) Creating a new market(27:39) Upcycling education(31:54) Food waste is a huge problem(36:23) Prioritization(39:15) Corporate Innovation(44:42) Hiring(48:17) Mentor/investor advice(52:12) Advice to younger self(54:39) Market Trends(56:45) Learning & resources(58:55) Dan's startup manifesto (1:01:53) Dan's founder nomination ReGrained - regrained.comFollow Dan (@dkurzrock) on Instagram // LinkedInFollow ReGrained (@regrained) on InstagramDan's learning and resource recommendations The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com Follow The Founder (@founderpodcast) on Instagram // LinkedIn // Twitter // Newsletter

Learn more about RegrainedSupport the show and get on monthly mentorship calls with Fabian. Join here.Full Transcript:F Geyrhalter:Welcome to the show, Dan.D Kurzrock:Hey, thanks so much for having me here.F Geyrhalter:Yeah, absolutely. We talked about this a little bit before we hit record, but today's June 1st. We're still in a pandemic but as of this past weekend, the majority of cities in the US is taken over by rightful necessary protests, but also by looters and riots. And we see our cities on fire. I had a very late night monitoring downtown Long Beach, which is where my office is located which has been an epicenter of violence and looting last night. Jessie, our creative lead, is already out there helping the community in the clean up. You Dan are based in San Francisco and the company is in Berkeley and that is another hotspot up in San Francisco in Oakland. And I was even debating if given the circumstances, we should postpone our interview, but we both decided early this morning to power through despite the lack of sleep and the craziness unfolding in front of our eyes. How was your night North? Are the ReGrained plant and offices, is everything still intact?D Kurzrock:Yeah. I mean, like a lot of folks, time are troubling in general. Physically been in pretty insulated from this whole thing with shelter in place. And actually my grandma basically lives with us right now, so I've been really careful about going out, but it's very troubling. I don't have a lot of words for it, but still situation wasn't... This is kind of the culmination of a lot of complicated factors leading up to it, so I hope we are taking an opportunity to wake up. And I hope we can emerge from this in a better place than it feels like we are right now, but still glad to be here with you.It's good to have distractions and good to keep moving the positive things forward that we can in the world. I always try to focus on what I can control and even within this business that we're building, but it doesn't always feel like we can control everything within that even. So really looking forward to taking some time and chatting with you about brand and about purpose and take an action.F Geyrhalter:Absolutely and that's why I'm so glad to have you on today too because you crafted a brand that actually creates positive change in this world. And there's always time to talk about that. It's my personal passion and that's why I'm doing what I'm doing because I for one believe that business as a whole will change fundamentally over the next decades for the better. And you guys are part of that change in your own small ways as you said and they can become rather big in a snowball effect. So you guys used to brew your own beer, which is a strange beginning to someone who's changing the world. So you used to brew your own beer, even under age I heard, but we're not going to talk about that.D Kurzrock:Yeah. A lot of good ideas... A lot of good ideas start over a beer.In our case... Just for everyone listening, my name is Dan Kurzrock, I'm the co-founder, CEO of a food recycling company called ReGrained. What we do is we tackle food waste, so we identify overlooked, undervalued ingredients that are kind of hiding in plain sight. The food system closed the loop on those. So what we do is primarily right now, we take the grain from the beer brewing process. To make beer you use a lot of malt, just basically like sprouted barley and you take the sugars from that. You extract them as a liquid, that's what ferments and becomes beer. Can spoil [inaudible 00:05:06]. And there's another part of the process there.But as it relates to the barley itself, once the sugars have been extracted from it, there's still the physical grain. It's soaking wet, but it's got a lot of fiber, it's got a lot of protein, it's got prebiotics. There's a lot of really good stuff in there that currently goes to lower use. And so what we've done is built the business around applying this new processing technology. We actually have a patent on it and we can create a flour or a powder and be able to think about it that can be incorporated into new food product development. And so what we're doing is the solution that helps the food system do more with less.It reduces waste on one end and feeds people on the other end. And through R&D, we actually discovered that our process doesn't just work for the billions of pounds of grain from the beer industry, but can also be used to apply for other streams. Like think pressings from juice or the leftovers from milking of almonds or oats and there's a lot of opportunity that is being left off the table. And so we've built this business to be a platform to close that loop. And we have a consumer brand, which I imagine we'll spend some time speaking about here. And then there's also a B2B side of what we do, where we actually partner with other brands. We sell them the ingredients and we help educate and activate the world, the market to reduce waste, which is one of the most pressing solutions to climate change out there.F Geyrhalter:Absolutely and let's talk about the actual consumer brand for a second. So ReGrained you started coming up with this process and you applied it I assume to a lot of different foods to see... No pun intended, but what sticks? Where it actually works the best and you came up with these bars in the beginning. And how did this evolve? How did that start? How did it turn from two guys in a kitchen exploring how to utilize what you just realized, to actually being carried in stores?D Kurzrock:Yeah. It's how do you go from idea to product? So for us, actually the first thing that we ever made was bread. And so I was making beer every week as a college student and I'd have actually about a pound of grain for every six packs. So if you can visualize it, we were brewing five gallons of beer at a time, it's a third of a keg. We'd do 20 to 30 pounds of grain every time we made a batch of beer and then I would turn around and take that grain and use it to make loaves of bread and then sell those loaves of bread in order to buy more ingredients to brew more beer. That was really the origin of this that they got us asking the bigger questions.Then realized there's this huge opportunity here not just with our own brewing operation, but with all the other breweries that are out there. This is 2010, 2011 right when the craft beer boom was starting to happen. I think it was last year, more than two new breweries on average opened per day in the US and a lot of them were opening in cities. And so we thought what if we came up with a way to basically take the supply at scale and do something more with it. And the problem was when we knew we wanted to do ingredients, but we figured we couldn't get other companies probably to buy our ingredients before we proved that people would buy products that were made with them.And so the bread was great, but it takes a long time to make. And the shelf life is very short. And again remember we were 20 years old at the time working in a home kitchen and we had a lot of bars. And we figured we can make these by hand. We can cut them into pretty even rectangles, we can package them. The first packaging was literally Ziploc bags. I was like a [inaudible 00:09:09] dealer. The second packaging was hand sealed compostable packaging and it was just a way to commercialize the idea.I don't think of it as a Trojan horse for what we were actually trying to work towards. And it's funny because if I could go back, just want to clear on that. And I'll tell you about, I'd love to say about our other products that we just launched because it was the absolute opposite way of developing products that the bar was. We brought these to the market because we could do it pretty quickly and we could generate revenue in the short term. And it was something that enabled us to actually take action on our idea and the bars are great, but the bar category as we later learned is highly competitive and we didn't know.We've had some success in getting it to stores. We're in about 2000 stores now, but we've also now launched a new product which is this puff chip. It's a salty snack and that product, what we did is actually took a huge step back and applied everything that we knew about our ingredient, how it could be used and really tried to I guess bridge that gap between what can we do and what should we do. And developed a product for a need in the market, whereas the first line, these bars was really just the first commercialization of a concept if that makes sense.F Geyrhalter:It was a proof of concept. Totally. This is interesting, but it sounded to me like the bigger vision has always been to turn ReGrained into a platform to use your ReGrained super grain as an ingredient that can be used in all kinds of other products from all kinds of other brands. But now you're still pivoting your consumer brands as well. So you're doing both parallel right now.D Kurzrock:Yeah. So the consumer brand... That's correct about the big vision and part of that is if we were to do even like 100 million sales with our consumer brand, we'd still only work with a handful of breweries. There's just so much supply that's out there. So to make the impact that we want to make and to address the market opportunity in the most meaningful way possible, we have a very clear strategic vision for how this thing scales. And a lot of really active partnerships in development with leading in some cases, multinational food companies that are in development with us on different things.But the consumer brand is something that allows us to not only generate cash in the short term. Sales cycles for ingredients are very long, but also the test messaging, which gets to your point about the branding. So we continue to evolve our consumer brand because it helps us in real time better understand how the market responds to this new idea about recycling. Early on for example, we put the tagline, eat beer on everything.F Geyrhalter:Yeah. I think I remember that because I did some research on some of the past interviews with you and that was still a thing. And I think even naming wise, not only the tagline, but naming wise, I think you used beer type names for each one of the bars. Which was most probably confusing because it didn't taste like beer.D Kurzrock:Yeah. It actually ended up confusing, but we learned. It did a really good job though by getting attention. It created this cognitive dissonance that kind of made people go, "What? Eat beer?" And we then could earn the opportunity to explain what we're actually doing. We later learned through testing that while it was catchy and made for a great t-shirt, it confused people and we've obviously had a lot of opportunities like that to use our brand as a way to test different approaches that we can then pass on as learning to our platform partners.F Geyrhalter:So let's talk about this a little bit more because when we met, I thinks it's been... I believe it's been over a year ago, we tried our best to keep scheduling this and then we finally made it, but your brand was still in that specific weird zone where it was a little bit rough around the edges where you try to get attention to basically do an elevator pitch rather than do the big consumer push. When did you start actively investing in branding and would you do it earlier or later with your next start up?D Kurzrock:Well, we have always invested a lot of time at least in branding, although we were young and relatively inexperienced at first. I mean the first labels we made ourselves using PowerPoint or Publisher or something like that. And then we did engage a kind of a pretty common actually because of how young we were and we started. We had talented friends and so the first few versions of the product that I worked with a graphic designer friend who did it just for the portfolio and out of generosity. And then when we made the jump from eat beer to this super grand plus somewhat of a nutritional, the pluses by the way I know it's a mouthful, but it enables us on the nutrition facts panel to use the plus like you use an asterisk for organic, for up cycled.So we can say, "Hey, these ingredients are upcycled actually on the ingredient panel." So there's a layer of branding thought that went into that, but it was very iterative I guess and that each change for several years was incremental really. And what you're referring to now is if you go compared to when we met to what we look like now, I mean the whole brand got that was a revolution, not an evolution and that was definitely more of an investment in both time and financial capital to do. And we still I mean, we do everything super lean.I think really depending on the goals of the company, like what my next company is to your point, if there is a next company a lot depends on what the model and the goals are, but I do really believe that branding is something that's really important because it's the way that you are able to earn the opportunity to tell everybody about what you're doing. And so with our rebrand this revolution that we're discussing, we incorporated all of our learnings leading up to that.One of the big thematic ones is that while sustainability is arguably our biggest value proposition for what we're doing. It's one of the most important things to us at least from a values perspective. We don't believe that sustainability is necessarily a reason for purchase as much as a reason for loyalty. And so what we did is we nodded to it with our logo, it has an arrow which is for ReGrained inside and also for upcycling. The new tagline is eat up, which has a few layers and meaning including eat upcycled, but is a very vibrant, fun packaging that is really flavor forward and lifestyle forward. And we also developed a logo for upcycling.It is on the front of the pack and it's in the center of the package, but it's at the bottom. And so what we did here is try to create a brand that would be compelling on its own if there wasn't anything else there to talk about from a sustainability perspective. And then to use that as hook for the things that we really believe will make people loyal in a long term around upcycling and things like that. So we've put a lot of... We put a lot of thought into it and it's super fun. For those of you who are listening, please check us out, regrained.com would be a good place to see the branding. It's very different than what else is out there and we're proud of it and hope that it does harness enough that opportunity to have those meaningful conversations with consumers about impact and about the choices that we all make every day and what those can can net for society and the planet.F Geyrhalter:And it's really nice to have seen that change over the last year. I wonder as a consumer who might've been loyal to ReGrained the bars, and now they see this huge shift in what the company, how the company looks, how the brand voice has evolved, how the product is suddenly a very different product. Are you keeping tabs on your consumers that you had for a couple of years and are they evolving with you? What is your feedback? I'm always curious about that when a brand pivots so much like yours has.D Kurzrock:Yeah. I mean, we were still early enough in our journey that our loyal group of consumers they've definitely stayed with us. And if anything we've widened the tent and made what we're doing more appealing to more people. I also think it's worth talking about that. One of the reasons why we did such a... I always wanted to do this radical rebrand. Not always, but it had been something that I realized that every time we're doing packaging stuff, we were just kind of making incremental changes and it's scary to make a huge overhaul like we did. And in our case, it was triggered or catalyzed depending on how you look at it, by a need to reintroduce the product because we actually had a failure.We were commercializing a compostable package. So plastic packaging, let's say we can have a whole podcast episode about this. That's a huge issue, single use, it's petroleum based, landfill bounds, non-recyclable because of its multiple layers of multiple materials that can't be separated and if they could be, most of them aren't recyclable anyways. And so we were trying to do something from the beginning we were using planet friendly plastic packaging, which for flexible films, compostable is the best way to go. But our product was actually going stale in the distribution trucks before it even got to the store. And so we basically had to do its called a voluntary product fall. We don't use the R word recall because it wasn't a recall, but it was a huge challenge.And we believe that we needed to reintroduce the product as well because there were people that they didn't have an unsafe experience, but they had a bad experience essentially because obviously we were just trying to do the right thing. We made a values based choice to try and do that, but we also realized,... We ultimately realized we were trying to do too much at the same time. We kind of had to slow down the speed up. Again, it's not going to be its own podcast, but that's another. It's relevant to the branding discussion because there was this. It definitely helps us feel more comfortable making such a big jump because we also wanted to reintroduce the product.F Geyrhalter:Absolutely. And it's a huge part of a lot of rebrands and I actually prefer if a client comes to me for a rebrand when they have a huge change. May that be a huge change in direction of the company, a huge change in the product. It pivots and may there have been something negative happening and they want to change that rather than saying we want a new logo because we look stale. I'd rather have the product go stale and you pivot than only the visual change because I mean it needs to have, there needs to be a bigger message behind a rebrand so that the consumer feels like there is something changing and I can feel it, I can read it, I can sense it rather than just I'm confused why is it suddenly looking so different.I'm sure that your brand story and what you're doing as a company is affecting your company culture and if I may call it HR because I know there are people actually working. I mean this is not happening out of nowhere when you're actually producing a product. Does it make it easy to hire people if they understand how you would use waste? Is that a big magnet for you? Especially in San Francisco right where hiring is difficult even though you're not necessarily a tech company. So you're hiring very different kind of people, but does that become a big magnet for the company?D Kurzrock:Yeah. It always has been both for talent and also for press if I'm being honest. The fact that what we're doing is different in so many ways and it's got this cool hook that everyone can feel good about. And I think the most important thing of it is that our mission is very understandable and approachable. No one is in favor of food waste and also even just look at our beer angle. Beer is one of the world's oldest beverages, it's one of the most popular in the world. It's consumed in massive quantities everywhere and a lot of people don't think about the fact that beer is an agricultural product, but it uses a lot of grain to produce it. And it's something that's really, I guess quick and easy to educate someone.Like you know beer, do you know beer only has four ingredients? Do you know that the biggest ingredient used by volume is the grain and that only the sugars from that grain end up in the beer? Well, we take everything that's left and we put it the best use. We create really innovative ingredients and products and we're trying to do this thing that is really easy to get behind I think and that's part of what energizes me too. It's like I know that what we're working on is real. I know that it's good. Fundamentally it's just simple idea but it is pretty universally attractive I think. And I just of course hope that we can pull it off and bringing in the right people is the way to do that because that's...F Geyrhalter:Absolutely.D Kurzrock:Personal note.F Geyrhalter:And I guess the next question would be why are you located in San Francisco?D Kurzrock:I'm from here.F Geyrhalter:That's how easy it is?D Kurzrock:Yeah. It happens to be a great place for startups and innovation, but not so much for food [crosstalk 00:25:13]. Help you with very low margin business. It's a very expensive place to live. Now, it's not like I moved here to start this. This is my hometown. This is my community.F Geyrhalter:Makes a lot of sense.D Kurzrock:[crosstalk 00:25:25] my co-founder and that's why we're here.F Geyrhalter:And I'm super interested seeing how after this pandemic there has been this talk about Silicon Valley and San Francisco now that everyone can work from home, how does this going to change the city? Because people start to actually leave because they have amazingly paid salaries and they might just buy a ranch in Montana and happily worked for Google. So I'm super interested to see how that's going to change San Francisco and the whole landscape. It's totally off topic but it's very interesting.D Kurzrock:Maybe it'll make it... Maybe it'll make it affordable to possibly buy a home here someday. We'll see.F Geyrhalter:How about that. You stay behind and you should be the role model for that. You know what you just said before, we talked a little bit about your mission, which is deeply ingrained in your company and you don't have to write out your mission, you don't have to write out your vision, you don't need to say, "Here are our core values." Because everything is so deeply-D Kurzrock:Yeah. We do that anyways because its good exercise, but I get your point.F Geyrhalter:... good. And I'm glad to hear that you still do that, but it is fantastic because it so much part of what you're actually offering. There are two numbers that I want to voice to our listeners because I think it's so amazing. In your TEDx talk, you said that we humans waste 40% of all edible food and that to me is just mind blowing. And that only 60% of what we eat actually goes into the human body and 40% goes somewhere else. And the other step, if I want to call that is and I heard that somewhere else and I think it was you who said that too, that only 10% of the ingredients used in the beer making process actually end up in any pint of beer. I hope I didn't misquote you on both of those, but that is amazing.D Kurzrock:Yeah. And all these statistics they're obviously documented, but they're ultimate... I think they're most useful when they're seeing this as like here is sticks and as a way to think about the issue in a more macro sense. So with food waste, ReFED is one of the best resources to look this up. R-E-F-E-D. They did a massive economic and environmental quantification of the food waste problem and that's where that 40% statistic comes from. What's kind of crazy about that is not only the fact that it's like leaving the grocery store with five bags and dropping two in the parking lot on the way to your car. It's that measure actually underestimates the total opportunity as it relates to upcycle because just like with anything that is measured, there has to be a definition, parameters for what is being measured as food waste and food loss.And what upcycling is doing is we're challenging that very definition by saying so what if we're counting wheat that's grown in the field, why are we not counting barley just because it's already been used to brew beer? There's still nutrition that is there. It just requires some innovations and processing and also on the culinary product development side too. And so we actually co-founded an organization called the Upcycled Food Association. It's a nonprofit dedicated to the upcycling piece of the food waste, the food waste movement. And food waste I hinted at this earlier is...So there's another great report that has come out called Project Drawdown and it's a solution focused report that's basically takes a look at all the different potential solutions to achieve and dry down in the atmosphere and reduce just mitigate, but actually reverse the climate change and it's effects. And it ranks through solutions in terms of what's most effective in pressing and food waste is this is right at the top of the list along with... When you combine it with having a more plant based diet, it's not only one of the most impactful solutions against climate change, but it's also something that is in our direct control as consumers.Not all of it. Of course there's systemic issues that drive a lot of these things, but one thing that we all do universally as humans every day is we eat. And we make choices about what we eat and how we eat it and that's something that we really try to champion. ReGrained is bringing another level of consciousness to those choices and to the impact that we can make with them. And so that's part of what we're doing. And the thing is when you're trying to communicate, when you're trying to educate the world, not all of this stuff is going to sit on a package and it's also hard to visualize.So what does 40% of all food look like? What does that mean? 10% of the ingredients used to grow end up in beer? And we also worked at communicating this using other [inaudible 00:31:21] if you also felt like for example, to produce one six pack of beer, just the grain in it takes the equivalent of over 300 gallons of water, which is about... Which is about a two hour shower.F Geyrhalter:Yeah. Mind blowing.D Kurzrock:For one six pack and that grain is just being used today for its poured sugars. And so what we do by sharing things that as I was trying to say, well, isn't it common sense that we should try and rescue that what's left from going to lower uses and put it to its best use at the top of the food recovery hierarchy and feed people.F Geyrhalter:Absolutely and this brings me back to the idea of the platform. So how are... You're basically running two companies in parallel, plus a nonprofit, right?D Kurzrock:Well...F Geyrhalter:Unless that overwhelms you.D Kurzrock:I mean [inaudible 00:32:25] we co-founded a nonprofit. I'm on the board. There's a CEO for that, I'm not [crosstalk 00:32:32]. So the Upcycled Food association. And then ReGrained as platform I mean that you could argue that it's maybe three companies in one, but the strategy is so integrated that it doesn't feel that way. Everything that we're doing affects the whole platform, but I get what you're saying. I mean, it's hard enough to start a consumer packaged goods brand.It's hard enough to try and start an ingredient company or to develop processing technology and the way that we've been able to do a lot of those is also through strategic partnerships pretty early on. We've worked with the USDA to develop our technology for example. We've got a really cool group over there that's focused on healthy processed foods and there's an old story in there about how we met up with USDA and the work that we did together. And that's the reason why we have technology is because of the product of that relationship, not because we're PhDs because we worked with experts.And so we're really trying to do a lot, but it's all very both complicated and simple [crosstalk 00:33:45]. What we're trying to do is do more, we're trying to do more with less. We're trying to help run a system whose system does more with less. Our mission statement you brought that up earlier, is to better align the food we eat with the planet we love and everything really fits under that call to action.F Geyrhalter:And first of all, that's a great statement and it totally connects the brands. So the problem if you would run three different brands to do slightly different things, then it becomes problematic. But if all three brands are perfectly aligned around the same vision and maybe not the same vision, but well the overarching vision for sure, but the underlying mission then certainly everything is much more connected and easier to run because there's no confusion if anyone sees any of the other brands or companies that you're running.Looking back on ReGrained as a consumer product, what was the one big breakthrough moment where you felt like now we're actually a brand, now we actually did it. I don't know which store you would have been in the beginning, maybe whole foods or wherever it was. Was there a moment that you remember where you just sat back with your co-founder and you're like, "I think that's it. I think we're actually making it into a real brand right now."D Kurzrock:No, I can't pinpoint one moment like that. I mean it's has just been almost 10 years since this first entered my brain. We've been building a thing and a lot of times it feels like we've gone through periods where it feels like we're taking two steps forward, one step back. There's periods where it feels like we're taking one step forward, two steps back. You know those periods where it feels we're taking one step forward and one step back and just staying in the same place and that's a tough one. I think most recently though, with the launch of this last product because we actually launched it in March right when the pandemic was... Or at least the lockdown from the pandemic was starting to take hold, which affected retailers.We're still not on the shelves of any stores because they're all still focused on keeping up and not putting new products on the shelf. That'll come later in the year hopefully and so we had to pivot to direct consumer channel. I was super nervous we'd be sitting on a warehouse of product that we couldn't sell because our retail entries are going to go out. And instead we sold through two production runs in a very short amount of time. And I'm seeing really exciting growth on that and part of that experiences is, a huge part of that experience has been enormously stressful and a lot of fun, but it's also been great like we're doing something here, something's working. We're creating a product that people want and that feels good.F Geyrhalter:And if you can point to one thing that made that work, I mean, obviously that's a huge struggle. You thought you had your sales channel all figured out, you have the product ready to be basically shipped and suddenly you have to... Suddenly everything goes online, you're turning into an e-commerce brand. You need to unload this product quickly and make people aware of the product at the same time. What made it work? How did you do that?D Kurzrock:Well, I think it's about building for resiliency from the beginning. And so even though e-commerce wasn't our biggest channel, we had the infrastructure for e-commerce in place and not just e-commerce, but direct to consumer [inaudible 00:37:43]. One of our best partners is a company called Imperfect Foods. They do grocery delivery, also very mission aligned. Incredible company for anyone listening, Imperfect Foods, go look them up. They deliver nationally. We were able to just put more emphasis on these channels that were already, that already existed as opposed to having the world fall apart and saying, "Oh, crap, got to build a website that can take orders now. Got to find a marketing partner."So I think the choices actually has to happen really early on when you say how do I build a resilient business? And part of that, a big part of that is having diversified revenue streams. Another way that we thought about this relatively earlier on is the food service channel was something and especially being in the Bay Area, being able to sell products to tech companies that stock their break rooms with snacks. It's an incredible sales channel, a great way to diversify against retail.Guess what right now doesn't exist. May as well not exist. And so if we were over-indexed as a business towards those channels, that would be also very... So we tried to set up diversified revenue streams from the beginning and I think that is what enabled us to respond. I wouldn't say proactively because it was still catalyzed by this outside force, but we were able to respond with resilience. And not even head start and I don't know if we'll totally get into this, but our capital strategy as well has followed a similar philosophy.F Geyrhalter:Well, I think it's the age old wisdom that myself actually did not know when I started my company and I failed miserably because of that too, is not to put all eggs into a basket. I mean, we had one very large client and we moved very quickly forward with that client. I grew tremendously the company and then something happened and the client left. There was a dispute, there was someone that I fired that they hired and it was really ugly. And suddenly that client was gone and it's this lesson that I think all of us learn in the first years of our business. For me sadly, it was in my first decade of my business. To diversify, to make sure that what you offer, that you offered in very different ways, in different channels to make sure if anything happens, you can pivot to another channel, so it's a big-D Kurzrock:I'm sorry. I'm sorry to hear that you went through that, but I'm sure it helped [crosstalk 00:40:45] get to where you are.F Geyrhalter:... that's how it works. That's how it always works. In business, you have to like you said, it's the two steps back. There was definitely 10 steps back at some point which was really exciting in the pivot and I'm in such a good place now because of that. We're coming slowly to an end. A couple of more questions that I do have on my mind. The first one I always believe that it's important for a company to understand what their DNA is. And when I work with my clients, I try to define it more and more so that at the end of our session and that sometimes a full day session, that we can actually describe the entire brand in a single word.Like Everlane, for instance, is all about transparency, Zappos might all be about service, but if an entire company can just focus on this one word that they themselves feel like they can own within their own space, what would it be for ReGrained and the conglomerate of companies of ReGrained? What could be one word that could describe the brand?D Kurzrock:Well, kind of two words, but it's the same word twice. One thing that comes to mind is just win-win. What we're doing is creating solutions that solve for multiple things at the same time and create shared value. What I almost said was just upcycling, but that's a little too I think on the nose for the question and [inaudible 00:42:39] requires. I recognize that, but that's [inaudible 00:42:46] just off cuff [crosstalk 00:42:48] question.F Geyrhalter:I liked that especially because you know I've done this show for a while now. I'm up to 50 guests or so, and they are a lot of words that keep coming up. Rightfully so like empathy or things like that and win-win is at first. Even though a lot of companies do similar endeavors like yours where it is for the greater good and there's definitely more people winning than only one. Lastly, what is exciting you the most about the future of ReGrained? What are some things that you're doing right now that you can talk about that really get you excited?D Kurzrock:Yeah. There's a lot of really exciting things fortunately. One of the phrases that's been said a lot right now with everything that's going on, I think it has its roots in politics and I don't know who said it first. It's definitely overset right now, but there's this idea of never wasting a good crisis. And as a food system, this pandemic I think was about a wake up call in a lot of ways, and it's also created some fundamental shifts in buying behavior. And I really believe that it creates this opportunity for us to decide together how to emerge stronger from this whole thing.I think upcycling and food waste is really high on the list of concepts that should take off. I mean, there's could have been a lot of ways this whole thing it's been a super acute shock to the system. And it's also kind of a dress rehearsal for some of the impacts of climate change like disruptions in supply chain and so on. And so I'm really excited by some of the work that we're doing with our partners and the products that we're developing, one of them is going to hit the market later this year. That is kind of powered by ReGrained concept and we are very excited for those things now, for essentially the market.The other thing that I'm really excited about it as the Upcycled Food Association right now. We just released the first official definition of food upcycling or edible upcycling as we call it as ReGrained. And then the next step that I'm just so pumped about is a process for defining standards against which to certify products as Upcycled. And that type of well, the branding exercise too. And then as a way of communicating values to the market, I think that there's first to pull the thing off in the way that we wanted that this is a really important milestone. It's a [inaudible 00:45:58] thing that's going to happen this year too and I'm very much excited about that.F Geyrhalter:That is amazing. And that actually ties in nicely into my last question where people can go to regrained.com I assume. That's where they can find you, that's where they can look at your products with your story, learn more about upcycling etc. But what are some ways that you feel people could upcycle more in their own lives when it relates to food, but maybe overall. I think what you said was really poignant. I think it was really important and I do think that there's going to be a huge shift now. And you are kind of at the forefront of the all of this. Besides your product, what are other ways that people can easily start shifting their mindset?D Kurzrock:Yeah. And just be clear, we also really hope that our products are actually just a way to get people's attention, to get them to also start asking those questions themselves. The fact that you got there, with this questions is great. We actually on our website, we have a blog called the upcyclist and on it there's some recipes and things like that. One of the things that I've been saying a lot recently is that I really feel that this new environment for food consumption that we're in with shelter in place and with more people ordering online and eating in and things like that.It's actually a really good opportunity for people to waste less food at home. And to look at it because it's a pain to go to the grocery store right now and it's also a risk. And there's the perception of the risk versus the actual risks and ways to mitigate and things like that too, but the net is that you want to go to the store less right now. And so how do you stretch things longer? And it's a lot of ancient wisdom, these aren't new ideas. It's like if you kind of [inaudible 00:48:06] chicken and you roast it, you have roasted chicken one night and then maybe the next night you used the...F Geyrhalter:Chicken soup.D Kurzrock:The leftovers to make... Soup would be the third thing, the second thing could be like tacos or enchiladas or something and then soup. So how you do the most with what you have when you're trimming vegetables and things like that for stir fries whatever. Can you save the scraps and make something. You can make stock, or there's different way, lots of little tips and tricks that you can do at home. One of my favorite tips for wasting less food at home, it's just an extra simply just two organizational points. One is meal plan. Again, if you want to go to the store less, that's helpful anyways. Plan out your meals, you're less likely to waste when you have a plan. Have a plan and stick with it.For two [inaudible 00:49:01] and so in the fridge, if you could just have one drawer that is a use first drawer and for things that are starting to go bad, put them in that drawer, and then you know when you get there instead of saying what do I want for dinner? The question is what do I have for dinner? What can I make with what I have? And just kind of little shifts like that can have a really big impact in food waste. Put the half of the problem actually happens at home. So if we want to take action on food waste, it's not just about eating upcycle and facilitating food donations and things like that. Also let's be smarter and more efficient with our own purchasing and consumption. Let's get creative, it's fun, it's food, it [crosstalk 00:49:46] can be delicious.F Geyrhalter:And I mean what you just said, a lot of people right now I mean we're moving from the pandemic I guess via riots now into a depression. I mean, yay all us, but we're in a place right now where there is a ginormous amount of Americans at least that are deep in poverty or that they suddenly have to be extremely frugal. So on the one hand, that is definitely something that they are now forced to do and on the other hand, all of us should wake up to that. And I think what you said is exactly true.People are waking up now because they don't want to go out more and they start seeing, "Oh my God, how much do we actually waste?" And a lot of people hoard it. So they've got a full fridge for a family of 10, but they are only two people living in an apartment and they are [crosstalk 00:50:37].D Kurzrock:Yeah. And that's the other side of it. It's how do we also not waste more? And this and so now I've got all kinds of plastic concerns and things like that, but I just hope we do take the opportunity to emerge stronger from this and a lot of this is just common sense. Vegetables are also cheaper than meat and wasting less food, waste less money. And so that's just like there is alignment here between what's good for people and what's good for the planet and I hope that we really lean into that.F Geyrhalter:We're all slowly waking up. It takes a lot I guess for all of us to wake up, but here we are one step at a time. Dan, thank you so much for your time to talk about ReGrained, to talk about the platform that you're building, the nonprofit that you are building, about upcycling altogether and about your entrepreneurial journey. I think it was inspirational on many more levels than just the brand story. So we really appreciate you taking the time on a crazy Monday morning.D Kurzrock:Yeah. My pleasure man. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me on. It was an energizing conversation.F Geyrhalter:Absolutely. Thanks for being here. I appreciate it. We talk soon then. 

This week in natural brands and the sustainable marketplace. Regrained was founded when 2 friends saw how much grain was wasted every time they home-brewed beer. A decade later, they're startup jedis, working with Big Brands and forging ingenious partnerships to address the climate crisis at huge yet hidden scale. How? That grain is now a branded ingredient in their Regrained snacks and soon much more.David MEETS Goliath, baby. Learn:- Why their product line is a proof-of-concept experiment, even though it's in 1500 doors- The surprising tech partner they cold emailed to get patented IP- Why their compostable packaging didn't work the first time- How used grain can be more valuable than virgin - Why hot dogs aren't upcycled - How he got on stages from TED to Iceland.This startup will make you rethink the blueprint - whether you're a startup, a supply chain partner or at a major player.Join us each week for our hot takes on the latest in natural, conscious, sustainable and better-for-you brands, marketing, retail, startups and more. Support the show (http://ecoecho.substack.com)

After developing a proprietary technology for turning spent brewing grains into a food-safe flour called SuperGrain+, Daniel Kurzrock and Jordan Schwartz founded ReGrained. The company uses the flour in its line of branded snacks that includes nutrition bars and puffs. In this episode of Since Sliced Bread, Mr. Kurzrock shares the challenges they’ve faced not just creating ReGrained but also developing a supply chain that aims to close a food waste loop.

Did you know that it takes 1 lb of grains to make 1 six-pack of IPA beer? And although many breweries donate their leftover grains to farms for feed, much of it is left unused. This food waste is often full of nutrients, and with the right technology could be turned into a superfood. This week on Beyond the Shelf, we spoke with Daniel Kurzrock, the Co-Founder and CEO of ReGrained. He shared with us not only how his company partners with breweries to turn leftover grains into delicious snacks, but also how their patented technology could revolutionize food waste throughout the entire industry.

Daniel Kuzrock took a hobby and turned it into something transformative. While brewing beer in college, Daniel realized that it seemed unfortunate to waste the grain byproduct. Together with his ReGrained co-founder, Jordan, they have since upcycled 261,963 pounds of grain, an amount equivalent to the mass of a blue whale. Join us as we talk with Daniel about finding new ways to minimize food waste in our system, the packaging challenges he faced, and his trip to Italy where he was judged on the merits of how upcycled grains could be used to make pasta.

“Dan is the Co-Founder and Chief Grain Officer of ReGrained, a mission-driven ingredient platform that leverages technology and culinary science to transform beer waste into food. Dan is an entrepreneurial systems thinker and loves tackling seemingly intractable problems through creative entrepreneurship and cross-sectoral collaboration. Through ReGrained, he has become a thought-leader about food waste business models, "edible upcycling" and the circular economy for food.” “ReGrained rescues the nutritious grain created every time beer is brewed. Powered by patent-pending tools and culinary creativity, [they] elevate this overlooked but awesome ingredient to the hero status it deserves with [their] award-winning upcycled nutrition bars, puffs and premium ingredients.”  In this episode, we talk about the food waste problem, this no-brainer solution, Dan's journey in mission-based entrepreneurship, the challenge of perishable sustainable food packaging and what's next for REgrained. ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Find the show notes here ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ *** SOCIALIZE WITH US *** Website Instagram Facebook Twitter YouTube

If you haven’t listened to episode 200 part 1, you can find it at myfoodjobrocks.com/200Wow So the past three weeks looked like this: I drove from Sacramento to Texas, met some friends in Los Angeles and Phoenix, and then flew to New York. Met up with my friend David Despain in long Island and then the next week, had an orientation in New York with my Friday getting familiar with the brand new Food Labs in Austin Texas, in the SXSW Center, my new home. There’s a ton of things planned, and I am thrilled to see what happens. For the second part, you’ll get a lot of the same as part 1. You’ll get aspiring new companies, inspiring past guests and everything in between. You can find timestamps on who’s on this section at our shownotes: myfoodjobrocks.com/200Wow2 So enjoy this live recording of the 200th episode at My Food Job Rocks. Thank you Alyssa Pizzaro from the San Francisco We Work Food Labs for the space. If there are any audio quality hiccups, let me know but keep in mind, that some things are out of my control because it is a live recording. But first, here’s a note from a guest who couldn’t make it because she was in another state, Katie Jones from the Food Heroes Podcast. [Timestamp: 1:40] Eleana Hsu – Koji Related Food Products [Timestamp: 3:25] I met Elana the week before this event at a house party hosted by Phil Saneski and friends. Elena will be leaving her job soon to start her own Koji company. Learn a  bit about the Koji world, where it comes from and what common foods it grows on. Learn also how to make your own and the types of experiments to explore further than soy sauce. My Food Job Rocks – You have to do what you love Sohail Nadepour – A La Carte Connections [Timestamp: 14:20] I met Sohail through a mutual friend, a college friend who’s not even in food science. Ken just happened to be in the same company as Sohail and one day they talked about passions. Sohail told him about food science and the first thing that popped up in Kendall’s head is me! After helping Sohail network, he ended up working for Rachel Zemser which is allowing him to start his food science career. Sohail is a really awesome example that it just takes one person to change someone’s life for the better and it makes me feel amazing. This short segment is the sole reason why I love doing the podcast and talking to people so that they too can have a career in food. My Food Job Rocks – Despite having the temptation to eat my products, I get to be creative. Amanda Drexler – Product Developer at CCD Innovation [Timestamp: 3:25] Next up is Amanda Drexler, an alumni from Cal Poly who just graduated this year. Amanda works at a consulting firm in Emeryville and for her first job, she’s gotten a lot of interesting projects. Because she's fresh out of college, I thought it would be a great opportunity to ask how she got her job. We give a shoutout to one of our favorite Cal poly professors too My Food Job Rocks – I can see a product from the first stages to the end Lauren Joyner, Founder of Loca Foods [Timestamp: 30:15] We catch up with Lauren Joyner and a lot of things have happened since about thirty episodes ago. Lauren found a manufacturer, will be launching a new formula, and Loca is growing. It’s so exciting seeing your friends grow so fast in this industry. Lauren also brought a friend, Lindsey, founder of Food-La-La who made these really interesting savory macarons. They are artistically made very well and the flavors are extremely well balanced. We do a live audio tasting with these macarons and they are really good. My Food Job Rocks – Connecting with people in the space that care deeply in what they’re doing Rachel Zemser – Consultant at A La Carte Connection [Timestamp: 38:55] We also catch up with Rachel Zemser, who had a kid! And now she’s learning a ton on taking care of a little human. The great thing about Rachel is that she can control her schedule. Well, sorta. Rachel also announces that she’ll be on TV in the very near future, which is super exciting. My Food Job Rocks – Every job I’ve ever had as a food scientist was fun and exciting Ellice Ogle – Food Safety Consulting Tamdem Food [Timestamp: 45:50] I think I met Elice at an IFT event, but not sure. I see her often in a variety of events in the San Francisco area. She’s a hustler, for sure. Elice recently started her own company and I asked about how she likes it so far. Lots of talk about startup life here My Food Job Rocks – I love food and meeting people who love food Darryl Neal – Podcast Host of Beer Talk Now [Timestamp: 49:00] I met Darryl at an IFT event. Definitively. I had such a good talk with him the first time I met him, he took me out for beer and we talked for hours. At the end of the night, he wanted to do a podcast and started…6 months later! But every time I met him, it reminded him to start step by step. Eventually, he started Beer Talk Now and it’s so amazing seeing his creativity flourish because of this little project. Darryl also had a kid! So congrats to Darryl! My Food Job Rocks – It’s fun to see people get engaged in food safety. Phil Saneski – VP of ReGrained [Timestamp: 55:30] Last but not least, is Phil Saneski, who’s been in two episodes, one where he was an intern at Rachel Zemser’s company and then last year with ReGrained! Phil and I have helped each other out throughout the years, with business, charity events, and other super fun stuff. Phil has been one of my greatest supporters and one of my best friends throughout my time doing My Food Job Rocks and I can’t thank him enough for his support. With some final introspection thanks to Phil’s question, I think this is the perfect ending interview for the night. My Food Job Rocks: Self-explanatory I’ll be taking a creative break from the podcast and will start again with episode 201 at the end of the month. Regarding the future of My Food Job Rocks, all I can say is that I’m seeing the end. I love podcasting, but I think theirs is much more to do than just My Food Job Rocks. There are many many other projects I want to explore using this platform. Because I don’t want to be known as the guy who does My Food Job Rocks, but perhaps the food scientist who does podcasts. But who knows? Like I told Phil, I don’t like to think that far. If I thought far, I would have never have ended up with a  podcast, or starting a company, or working in a beautiful building in Austin, Texas but I’ve learned that doing these things have made my life exciting! I’m just an average person with an average podcast but the people I’ve helped are special to me and perhaps that’s all you need to do something great. Again, I can’t thank you enough for listening to My Food Job Rocks. Whether you’ve consumed all 200 or just this episode, it really means a lot to me that you chose this podcast to listen to. Thanks for joining us, I’ll see you next time on My Food Job Rocks  

Food waste and recycling are both hot topics. A big part of that is reducing and then finding new uses for “waste”. Edible upcycling in an ingenious way to convert discarded bi-products and convert them into a new high fiber high protein food ingredient

Dan Kurzrock didn’t set out to change the world — he just wanted to drink free beer. But a college hobby of selling bread made from the spent grains of his homemade brewing hobby turned into a life’s mission: to improve the value of food. Dan is the CEO of Regrained. Regrained rescues the nutritious grain created every time beer is brewed, and upcycles it into Supergrain+ flour, which is the foundation of a line of food products they sell online and across the nation.Dan joined us to talk beer, upcycling, running a business, and why sometimes you have to make small compromises for the greater good of your mission. Can’t miss moments from the showYou’ll never guess how many pounds of spent grain the brewing industry generates yearly. Hint: It’s in the billionsLearn why choosing a clever name, like Supergrain, makes all the difference when upcycling food.Dan talks about why he made the conscious effort of slow-growth for Regrained, rather than jumping in with two feet from the start.Dan talks about the lessons he learned when trying to use compostable packaging vs. plastic. Links to things we talked aboutLearn more about Regrained at regrained.comRegrained’s article on their struggle between compostable and plastic packagingReilly shared that he admires Food Writer Michael Ruhlman a ton.Dan’s go-to karaoke songs are Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” and “Wagon Wheel” by Old Crow Medicine ShowDan counts Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, as someone he looks up toWe have more on Dan on our website, including the video version of this episode. Got input, comments, questions, or advice? Email us at feedback@unwastedpodcast.com. Like what you heard? We'd love for you to share it with friends, and, of course, give us a review!Theme Music by: JK_Production007 / Envato Market

Philip Saneski is the VP of Product and Commander-in-Chef of ReGrained, a mission-driven brand ingredient platform that connects urban craft breweries to sustainable food systems. Philip’s culinary background in Michelin-Star and James Beard Award finalist kitchens was succeeded by working with food entrepreneurs' concept to commercialization at a product development consultancy, where he also led the launch of the Research Chefs Association Evolution of Food Waste product development student competition. His unique food background, involvement with non-profit impact organizations, curiosity about ingredients historically considered “waste,” and passion for formulating delicious products at scale make him a natural fit for ReGrained. As Commander-in-Chef, he oversees production, innovation, sourcing, culinary operations, food science and every opportunity to do a collaboration dinner popup. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/futurefoodshow/support

Twenty-five years ago, after Mei Xu emigrated from China to the U.S., she loved going to Bloomingdale's to gaze at their housewares. She eventually started making candles in her basement with Campbell's Soup cans, an experiment that led to the multi-million dollar company Chesapeake Bay Candle. PLUS in our postscript "How You Built That," we check back with Dan Kurzrock and Jordan Schwartz, who turned up-cycled beer grain into a snack bar called ReGrained.

We face some unprecedented challenges today related to how we grow, produce, distribute and consume food. Changing climatic conditions, population growth and decades of unsustainable growing practices are leading to growing consumer demand for higher quality provenance and production practices and healthier food options. Entrepreneurs are at the forefront of this movement to design a food system that is focused on the health of people and planet. Join Presidio Graduate School for a conversation led by Renske Lynde, CEO of Food System 6, a Bay Area based non-profit organization that supports mission-driven entrepreneurs who are developing innovative solutions to some of our greatest food system challenges. Renske will be joined in conversation with Jordan Schwartz, co-founder and chief grainmaster of ReGrained; Andrew Falcon, CEO of Full Cycle Bioplastics; and Christine Su, CEO of PastureMap. Together they will discuss the ways in which their innovative solutions are remaking the food system as we know it. Come prepared to be inspired by these entrepreneurs and to learn how you too can become part of the good food revolution. MLF Organizer: Elizabeth Carney MLF: Business & Leadership In partnership with Presidio Graduate School Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did a college hobby become a full-time weapon in the fight against food waste? ReGrained's Daniel Kurzrock joins host Amy Koonin via Skype to chat about how his super idea became a super grain! A certified B Corporation with social and environmental missions, ReGrained bars are the ultimate in edible upcycling. This truly unique business model and bar allow consumers to have their beer and eat it too. Kurzrock's sustainable snack is quickly taking over the game and we're just "hoppy" to be along for the ride!  

Philip Saneski, VP of Product at ReGrained – exploring the overlap between product management in food and other tech spaces.Resourcesregrained.comideo.orgalibouzari.com/ingredientfoodbusinessnews.netfoodtechconnect.com

In this episode, we chat with Dan Kurzrock, the CEO of Regrained, a company that is working hard to find sustainable solutions for food waste and packaging waste. If you've been frustrated with the non-recyclable and non-compostable food packaging winding up in your garbage, this is the episode for you.   In this episode we discuss: Why finding a sustainable food packaging solution is so complex How compostable food packaging works The issues we may not realize with compostable food packaging What innovative solutions are being worked on right now How consumers can get more involved in the fight for sustainable food packaging   Show notes: Regrained OSC2 Packaging Collaborative Elk Packaging

The CEO and co-founder of the mission-driven food startup that makes flour and snacks from the grains used to brew beer has issued a challenge to companies like PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay to share their resources to tackling the dire global plastic crisis.

The CEO and co-founder of the mission-driven food startup that makes flour and snacks from the grains used to brew beer has issued a challenge to companies like PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay to share their resources to tackling the dire global plastic crisis.

A passion for beer led to a patented technology for rescuing spent grains that could revolutionize the food ingredient supply chain. In this podcast, Dan Kurzrock of ReGrained talks with editor Karen Butler about upcycling, and the joys and challenges of creating planet-conscious products.

It’s been 2 years since Phil reached out to me when I was just starting My Food Job Rocks. After an interview, of course, we kept in touch. Through his period as the President of the RCA student association, to his job search, where he ended up in the famed upcycling startup, ReGrained. Who just got funded $2.5 million dollars last month. Moving back to California for my own startup, I kept on running into Phil because of the work we do at Kitchentown, a sort of shared production space for many startups. Seeing him zoom back and forth with his ReGrained swag, I wanted to interview him again, since so much as changed. I have this interview across the street at their warehouse, where ReGrained stores all of their products. Phil and I discuss the startup life and the challenges and rewards that come from it. One huge discussion that comes up is on how to use your mentors and resources to fill in what you don't know. After all, your friends have decades of experience and know what they're doing, unlike us. This is an amazing episode for food scientists who want to get into entrepreneurship. We as scientists think we really have to know everything to make the jump, but Phil and I are two examples on that there are ways to get through the parts you don’t know, with a little help from your friends. Lot’s of name dropping in the episode, but we’ve got you covered on the show notes. Sponsor - FoodLabelPro.com Is your product packaging compliant with the new FDA rules?  The compliance deadline is January 1st, 2020. At FoodLabelPro.com we will upgrade your current panels for only $50. FoodLabelPro.com also provides package and claim reviews, laboratory analysis, shelf life testing, printer/graphics services, and menu analysis.   We are your one-stop shop for food packaging: FoodLabelpro.com. Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business. Show Notes Kim Schaub - Peas On Moss Phillip Saneski Episode 17 ConAgra Hannah Dresden and Hailey Bell - CuliNex Karen Diep - Beyond Meat ReGrained – Upcycling bar Editor’s choice of Supply Side West ReGrained’s Seed round of 2.5 million Barilla Pasta Equity Based Crowdfunding Campaign – 700 supporters. $700,000 Elliot Begoun from the Intertwine Group Kim Shaub Ali Bouzari - Speaker at the RCA Catherine Proper - RCA Larry Tong Sr. Scientist at McCormick Spices RCA board What does Innovation mean to you?: How can we turn historically wasteful ingredients to a new supply? We need to streamline better Ethan Brown-CEO of Beyond Meat: Sometimes people want innovation on their iPhone, they don’t want it in their mouth. Woodside, CA called the Village Pub Garde Manger - Protector of Salads AQ 7th and mission in San Francisco Modern California in 2014 Granada Bistro Bob’s Walbread in Los Alamos Rachel Zemser Research Chef Association Food Waste Production Development Competition Griffith Foods Foodbytes Terra Accelerator North taste Ingredients (Sea Food Concentrates) Open IDEO Food Waste Alliance Rockafeller Foundation Waste with Anthony Bourdain Phil and Dan met in IDEO Jordan Schwartz Danielle Gould – Food is a labor of love. When she tasted a food, it tasted so good then she sees the founder and she’s like “oh wow” Why does your food job rock?: We’re one of the companies who are promoting upcycling in beer grains and we are making good food and great impact Forbes 30 under 30 Food Trends and Technology: Plant-Based Protein Innovation Onion article Nut Sweat One thing in the food industry you’d like to know more about?: The regulatory. Especially for a waste ingredient How do you set up a sensory panel?: Talk to your flavor house Savannah GA has a restaurant called The Gray that has Grits like risotto Cheese cake dish with beat 3 ways Sorrel – fruit shaped like a heart Climate Action Summit Ali Bouzari book: Ingredients You can find me at Phil@regrained.com and also on linkedin

Dan Kurzrock is the Co-Founder of ReGrained. ReGrained leverages technology and culinary science to transform beer waste into food. They call this edible upcycling. I was surprised to learn that only about 10% of the ingredients used to brew beer end up in your glass. ReGrained takes the spent grain waste from local brewery partners and they build recipes around it with other locally sourced ingredients to craft delicious, healthy, and inherently sustainable foods. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: [1:05] Jeremy introduces his guest, Daniel Kurzrock. [2:30] Daniel talks about the first product he created. [8:30] Venturing into snack bars. [12:45] Daniel talks about all the possibilities available with their experimental flour. [15:00] What is the brainstorming process like for Daniel and his team? [17:30] Connecting with Tom and TerraCycle. [20:00] Daniel talks about the influence of his grandfather. [22:30] Early career interests and the budding entrepreneurial spirit. [30:30] Bootstrapping the business. [33:00] What is equity crowdfunding? Credit investors? [36:30] Daniel talks about expanding the team. [38:50] Connecting with breweries to get their discarded grain. [44:50] How has the process changed over the years? [47:00] What has been the lowest point for Daniel and his business? [48:00] Proud moments in business so far. [50:15] How to connect with ReGrained. In this episode… It seems like every day there is a breaking news story that stresses how fragile our future is due to global warming. What can business leaders do to offer sustainable solutions to the marketplace? On this episode of Inspired Insider, you’ll hear from entrepreneur and innovator Daniel Kurzrock. In his conversation with Jeremy, Daniel opens up about the first product he created, how he got involved with creating snack bars, what they hope to do with their experimental flour, challenges they’ve faced along the way, and so much more. Get a good look at the future of sustainable solutions from Daniel’s expert perspective by listening to this fascinating episode! Don’t you want to be part of a sustainable future? Let’s face it unless we make some significant changes, we are looking at an increasingly dire situation. Thankfully, we have some amazing leaders like Daniel Kurzrock who taking their convictions to the marketplace with helpful solutions! Daniel started ReGrained with his friend and co-founder, Jordan Schwartz with a dream to take discarded beer ingredients and utilize them in a way that was cost effective and appetizing! Since that initial dream, the guys have grown their business and the possibilities with tons of new products coming down the pipeline. What can you learn from Daniel and Jordan’s story? Where do you go to come up with some of your best ideas? Do you have a process that encourages and cultivates creativity? For Daniel Kurzrock, the process starts with going for a bike ride but it doesn’t end there! From dreaming about innovating leftover beer waste to leading a thriving business, Daniel has always had a bit of a creative edge to his thought process. Part of leading that business is making sure that you continue to come up with ideas and innovations that keep the organization on the cutting edge. The last thing a business leader, especially a small business leader can afford to do is to drift into mediocrity! Who had the most impact on your trajectory as a child? Was it your big brother or your hard working mother? Maybe for you, it was the constant encouragement of an uncle or a best friend. Looking back, Daniel Kurzrock is thankful for the positive impact that his grandfather had on his ability to cultivate curiosity. He recalls all the times his grandfather would stop and chase down something interesting or make sure that something wasn’t going to waste. Listening to Daniel talk about his grandfather and his family in general, you really get the sense that it was a group effort to pass on important values that led Daniel to create the organization that is ReGrained. As a business leader, you know that one of the biggest challenges constantly comes back to funding. Established business have to make sure that they are keeping an eye on profits and startups have to make sure they have enough to keep the lights on. It seems that innovation is also needed when it comes to thinking about how startups are funded almost as much as the innovative product they are bringing to market. Daniel Kurzrock and his team at ReGrained have worked hard at making sure they leave no rock unturned or idea unexplored when it comes to funding. In fact, they just recently completed a successful round of equity crowdfunding. This venture allowed Daniel and his team to open up investment opportunities to those who were interested in investing as little as $100. The result from this round of innovative funding netted the company $730,000. Resources Mentioned on this episode Check out the ReGrained website Follow ReGrained on Twitter Connect with ReGrained on Facebook TerraCycle Intro Music by Kidd Russell Sponsor for this episode Rise25 creates 100% outsourced VIP days for software companies and conference organizers to serve their highest level customers. Rise25 VIP Days have a proven track record of helping companies to get more referrals, increase retention with their VIP customers, and get more engaged new customers without adding extra work to that company’s plate. Rise25 partners and collaborates with entrepreneur-focused communities, with particular emphasis on creating events for high volume Amazon sellers, Walmart sellers, multichannel ecommerce sellers, and founders who want to take their business to the next level. Rise25 has hosted VIP events in cities such as Austin, Chicago, Santa Barbara, San Diego, New York, Sonoma, and Las Vegas to name a few. If your company appreciates the value of bringing your highest level customers together to connect and collaborate, you can learn more and contact us to find out if your company qualifies at Rise25.com. Rise25 was cofounded by Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran.

Matt McLean, founder and titular figure of organic beverage company Uncle Matt‘s, is fond of saying that orange juice is ounce-for-ounce the most nutritious beverage on the market. He might be a little biased; after all, orange juice is the brand’s flagship line. There are, however, a few qualifiers to his promotion of orange juice, notably organic sourcing and high quality standards, each of which are rooted in Uncle Matt’s business philosophy. “We want to be consistently great at everything we do,” he said in an interview included in this episode. “We don’t skimp. We don’t cut corners.” Listen to our conversation with McLean in which explains how the company’s commitment to premium sourcing and production has elicited a loyal following, particularly among natural channel consumers. He also discussed efforts to expand brand offerings and evolve its portfolio to reflect consumer interest in fast growing categories, including energy drinks and kombucha. Also in this episode: BevNET editor-in-chief Jeff Klineman offered insight and perspective into Keurig Dr Pepper’s (KDP) $525 million acquisition of Core Nutrition. Show notes: 1:59: Cann You Make This Conference? -- The hosts discussed BevNET and NOSH’s Cannabis Forum, a half-day session that will explore the emerging cannabis market and how it could impact food and beverages business. 11:45: Interview: Matt McLean, Founder, Uncle Matt’s --  BevNET’s Ray Latif sat down with McLean at Natural Products Expo East 2018, where he discussed the origins of Uncle Matt’s and why he launched the business, how the company cultivates consumer evangelists for the brand, the thought process for entering new beverage categories, and the decision to sell the company to Dean Foods last year. 31:35: Analysis: KDP Acquires Core for $525 Million -- BevNET’s Jeff Klineman breaks down the blockbuster deal, including the timing of the acquisition, why Core was attractive target for KDP, what it means for other KDP’s allied brands, and the impact on Essentia, which is rumored to be for sale. Brands in this episode: Regrained, Predator Endurance, Uncle Matt’s, Mountain Dew, Core Hydration, Fuze, BodyArmor, Fiji Water, Forto, Essentia

“Social entrepreneurship isn’t a fad, I think it’s here to stay. I hope if we are successful it will just become business as usual and companies that aren’t doing the right thing will suffer in the marketplace because of it...because as consumers, we give a shit and that’s great.” - Daniel Kurzrock My guest today is Daniel Kurzrock, co-founder of Regrained a company based out of San Francisco, CA. In this episode we cover: The journeys that led Daniel, and his co-founder Jordan Schwartz, to launch Regrained. The trials and tribulations they overcame to develop the product we know and love today. What edible upcycling means. How social entrepreneurship is changing the way business is done today. And, how his experiences at summer camp shaped the life he leads today. Had a great time chatting with Daniel and think you’ll really enjoy hearing his story. Happy listening! Discount code: THEWISECONSUMER is good for 15% off at regrained.com

ReGrained launched their product at scale in January 2018 after multiple iterations of their product (in the crowded bar category) and now are working with other businesses to help them produce/co-brand new products using their production facility and the expertise embedded in their proprietary process.

Today we have Dan Kurzrock who is the Co-Founder of ReGrained. ReGrained leverages technology and culinary science to transform beer waste into food. They call this edible upcycling. I was surprised to learn that only about 10% of the ingredients used to brew beer end up in your glass. ReGrained takes the spent grain waste from local brewery partners and they build recipes around it with other locally sourced ingredients to craft delicious, healthy, and inherently sustainable foods. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: [1:05] Jeremy introduces his guest, Daniel Kurzrock. [2:15] Daniel talks about how connecting with breweries to get their discarded grain. [7:45] How has the process changed over the years? [10:30] What has been the lowest point for Daniel and his business? [11:30] Proud moments in business so far. [14:00] How to connect with ReGrained. In this episode… How in the world can you use discarded grain from breweries for a new and edible purpose? That sounds crazy, right? It’s not! On this episode of Inspired Insider, you’ll hear from entrepreneur and grain upcycling expert, Daniel Kurzrock. In his conversation with Jeremy, Daniel opens up about how he connected with breweries to get their discarded grain, why the process has changed over the years, the lowest moment he’s faced on his journey, proud milestones, and more! You don’t want to miss this great opportunity to learn from Daniel’s innovative approach and compelling story! Did you know that for the longest time many breweries would sell their discarded grain to farmers for animal feed? Then came along the brilliant mind of Daniel Kurzrock and his team at ReGrained who started tinkering with the options that discarded grain provides for human consumption. Since then, they’ve built a thriving business that capitalizes on this discarded grain and repurposes it for use in products like their Honey Cinnamon IPA Immune Supporting SuperGrain Bar. Doesn’t that sound delicious? It’s innovations like this that really highlight the amazing future that entrepreneurs like Daniel have the ability to lead us toward. What can you learn from the ReGrained story? While the life of an entrepreneur is often glamorized, the truth is, it is full of highs and lows along the way. Some highs are enough to fuel leaders to keep going and some lows are jarring enough to make even the toughest leaders throw in the towel. According to Daniel Kurzrock, the lows where fairly minimal on his journey - the lowest point he could think of was ruining batches of upcycled grain which caused delays in fulfilling customers orders. As for the high point, Daniel points to a recent occurrence at an event where he realized how much trust he has in his team to engage the public and educate them on their amazing product line. Hearing from Daniel, you really get the sense that he is proud of ReGrained and what they’ve built - here is to many more years of success! Resources Mentioned on this episode Check out the ReGrained website Follow ReGrained on Twitter Connect with ReGrained on Facebook Intro Music by Kidd Russell Sponsor for this episode Rise25 creates 100% outsourced VIP days for software companies and conference organizers to serve their highest level customers. Rise25 VIP Days have a proven track record of helping companies to get more referrals, increase retention with their VIP customers, and get more engaged new customers without adding extra work to that company’s plate. Rise25 partners and collaborates with entrepreneur-focused communities, with particular emphasis on creating events for high volume Amazon sellers, Walmart sellers, multichannel ecommerce sellers, and founders who want to take their business to the next level. Rise25 has hosted VIP events in cities such as Austin, Chicago, Santa Barbara, San Diego, New York, Sonoma, and Las Vegas to name a few. If your company appreciates the value of bringing your highest level customers together to connect and collaborate, you can learn more and contact us to find out if your company qualifies at Rise25.com. Rise25 was cofounded by Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran.

For many of us, chicken salad is just another sandwich filling, but Stacy Brown turned it into a $75 million business. In 2007, she was a divorced mother of three looking for a way to make ends meet. So she started making chicken salad in her kitchen and selling it out of a basket, door-to-door. She eventually turned that home operation into Chicken Salad Chick, and took her recipes to cities across the U.S. Today, Chicken Salad Chick is one of the fastest growing companies in the country. PLUS, for our postscript "How You Built That," how Dan Kurzrock and Jordan Schwartz up-cycled beer grain into ReGrained nutrition bars.

Daniel Kurzrock co-founded ReGrained, a San Francisco company on a mission to give spent grain a new life by processing it into flour and sustainable snacks. Hear about his journey from home brewer to social entrepreneur, ReGrained's commitment to sustainable packaging, and how his company is helping us drink our beer and eat it too with their innovative approach to reducing food waste. SHOWNOTES: atthetablepodcast.com/20

What started out as finding a way to brew their own beer in college, turned into a delicious adventure of creating their own nutritious and healthy granola bars.  Yes, that's right! Bars packed with protein, prebiotic fiber, and micronutrients from leftover grain. Founders of Regrained, Dan and Jordan, refer to this shift as “Edible Upcycling.”   In this episode Dan shares more about this mindset to food and how Edible Upcyclers look at what is left behind when making their favorite foods and see opportunity. - - - - - For more information on Regrained, visit: https://www.regrained.com/

What started out as finding a way to brew their own beer in college, turned into a delicious adventure of creating their own nutritious and healthy granola bars.  Yes, that's right! Bars packed with protein, prebiotic fiber, and micronutrients from leftover grain. Founders of Regrained, Dan and Jordan, refer to this shift as “Edible Upcycling.”   In this episode Dan shares more about this mindset to food and how Edible Upcyclers look at what is left behind when making their favorite foods and see opportunity. - - - - - For more information on Regrained, visit: https://www.regrained.com/

In this episode, our guest is no other than Cassidy Lundy from Regrained. Regrained is a socially responsible company taking the food industry by storm. Their mission is focused on fighting food waste and just waste in general. They’ve taken edible upcycling to the next level and ensure there’s zero waste in their food production. Cassidy majorly manages the company’s marketing, as well as the e-commerce of the Amazon store, but does a little bit of everything. She shares with us the thought process behind the company’s formation, how she joined in, and most importantly, how they ensure there's zero waste in their company. IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL FIND OUT ABOUT: Cassidy’s position at Regrained. The company’s mission. How the Regrained startup was formed. Cassidy’s entry to the company and how it all began. Why they chose the phrase edible upcycling instead of food waste on their products. Part of Cassidy mission to spread the word about edible upcycling. Feedback Regrained has received from consumers. The amazing upcycled edible flour business. Your opportunity to become an investor. Advice for anyone interested in food waste business. PULLED QUOTES Fighting food waste is as easy as picking up a vegan bar. 1/3 of edible food goes to waste and that doesn’t even include edible by-products like spent grain We use the phrase edible upcycling, It's our way of talking about the process of taking a nutritious by-product such as spent grain and reimagining it. We’re not gonna fight food waste somewhere and then fill up the landfill with something else like our own packaging. LINKS MENTIONED Website: Regrained.com Contact: info@regrained.com Instagram:@ReGrained Twitter:@ReGrained ReGrained's founder Dan at TedTalk:  Have Your Beer and Eat It Too | Dan Kurzrock | TEDxIndiana University   Did you like this? Thank you for listening to this episode! If you enjoyed it, please feel free to share it using the social media buttons on this page. I’d also be VERY grateful if you could rate, review, and subscribe to  Food Heroes Podcast on iTunes. Or, if you use Stitcher, you can leave a review right here. That all helps a lot in ranking this show and would be greatly appreciated. And if you have any comments or questions, leave a comment below! If you need a little help navigating iTunes check out the tutorial I made Here.

Ask most folks in the food and beverage business how the industry has evolved over the past decade and you’ll likely hear the terms “natural, organic, and better-for-you” to name a few. But long before companies embraced the health and wellness fervor that permeates every aspect of the industry today, D'Artagnan Foods co-founder and CEO Ariane Daguin was paving a path for better food. Born into a French restaurateur and food dynasty, Ariane is often recognized as one of the pioneers of organic, free-range chicken in the U.S. and since its founding 30 years ago, D’Artagnan has been committed to sourcing free-range, natural production and sustainable, humane farming practices from small farms and ranches. Despite the industry's overarching tilt toward healthier food production, Daguin is adamant that “it’s much more important to have good food, good tasting food, than food good for you.” In an interview included in this episode of Taste Radio, she noted that for her customers, the priority is “to give them pleasure.” “For me, my upbringing, my culture in Southwest France, the most important thing in life is to enjoy good food,” she said. “I’m not a doctor. I’m not a pharmacist. I’m not there to cure people. It happens to be a lot of time, what’s good for you is good-tasting. And in my business, animal protein, it’s certainly true.” Listen to our full interview with Daguin in which she shares her perspective on organic food and agriculture (“Right now it’s not going in the right direction. There has a been a huge tendency by big ag to dilute the definition of organic.”) and why she believes most fast food is predicated on a “false premise” (“You forgot [you’re paying] for the cost of the medication because you ate that crap.”) Also included in this episode: a conversation with Rao’s Specialty Foods CEO Eric Skae. A longtime veteran of the food and beverage industry, Skae has been the trenches as an entrepreneur and executive over the past 25 years. At BevNET Live Winter 2017, he joined us for a conversation about his career, what’s he learned about the business and how entrepreneurs can best prepare and succeed in the highly competitive industry. And in the latest edition of Elevator Talk, we chat with Doug Valdez, the co-founder of organic wellness shot brand Glide Immunity. Show notes: 1:57: You Fancy, Huh? -- The hosts reminisce about tasty treats and notable potables from the 2018 Winter Fancy Food Show, including Fora Foods’ Faba Butter, Amazing Chickpea spreads, Crave Nuts, Pan’s Mushroom Jerky and Regrained snack bars. 11:24: Interview: Ariane Daguin, Co-Founder/CEO, D'Artagnan Foods -- Daguin is one of the world’s foremost experts on chicken. She’s the owner, co-founder & CEO of D'Artagnan, a leading purveyor of foie gras, game meat, organic poultry, pâtés, sausages and smoked delicacies. D’Artagnan products are sold nationally to upscale restaurants and grocers and the company, which pulls in approximately $120 million in annual revenue, operates a robust direct-to-consumer business as well. We spoke with Ariane about her journey as an entrepreneur, her passion for food quality and efforts to educate consumers about the true definition of “better for you.” 37:57: Interview: Eric Skae, CEO, Rao’s Specialty Foods -- Over his 25 years in the food and beverage industry, Eric Skae has helped grow a number of iconic and early-stage brands alike and is the co-founder of iced tea company New Leaf Brands. In our interview, Skae discussed the importance of working with people that you can trust and how to identifying those folks and why leaning on industry veterans for advice and guidance cannot be understated. 57:41: Elevator Talk: Doug Valdez, Co-Founder, Glide Immunity -- Launched in October 2017, Glide Immunity is a shelf-stable and organic immunity/wellness shot made with oregano oil, ginger, clover honey, lemon juice, and orange juice.

Josh sits down with Regrained founder Kuzrock. Have you ever thought of where the wrapper from your protein bar ends up? Have you ever sat at a bar and pondered what happens to the spent grains after beer is shipped out to bars? Regrained is a snack bar company that is challenging the food industry by completely basing their bars off upcycled spent grains from the brewing industry coupled with wrappers that can break down organically and return to the earth. Those we often enjoy prepacked foods and beverages, it's easy to forget the true life cycle of a product. Regrained was born to remind us of where those products come from and go to, while delivering a consciously made and irresistible snack bar.

Recorded in San Francisco a few weeks back, Josh catches up with Sarah Nathan. She talks about moving to a new city, finding community in the Jewish and Craft Beer worlds, and that if you're selling etched-glass crafts on Etsy you can make more money if you call them Judaica.Sarah has followed her passion to land her dream job as the VP of Business Development and Executive Grain Hawker at ReGrained, a company that harvests grain from urban craft breweries and upcycles it into delicious, nutritious, and sustainable snacks.https://www.regrained.com/

ReGrained co-founders Jordan Schwartz and Dan Kurzrock have the most delicious way to address food waste - and especially grain waste from beer making: eat the grain. As UCLA students, Dan and Jordan wanted access to craft beer, but being too young to hit the local pub at the time, they made their own. Unlike many home brewers who simply sadly discard their spent grains, Jordan and Dan decided to figure out a way to repurpose the ingredients. A new snack food was born, and Jordan and Dan went into the bar business instead of the beer business. Dan and I recorded this episode way back in January, so you'll hear us mention Winter Fancy Food, where they had a booth. You missed them at that show, but you'll get to see them again. Good friend and pastry chef Phil Saneski (and co-founder of the Research Chefs student committee) has since joined their team, so you'll definitely hear from them again. Like the show? Help keep it on the air and sign up to be a sponsor! Check out to get more information. You can also check out The Culinologist podcast series and read our latest articles by  contributors, Anna Chow and Kevin Gorey. Find ReGrained at your local grocer (or request it!) and at

ReGrained co-founders Jordan Schwartz and Dan Kurzrock have the most delicious way to address food waste - and especially grain waste from beer making: eat the grain.  Like the show? Help keep it on the air and sign up to be a sponsor! Check out to get more information. You can also check out The Culinologist podcast series and read our latest articles by  contributors, Anna Chow and Kevin Gorey. Find ReGrained at your local grocer (or request it!) and at

Hate food waste? Us too! Caity and David talk to Daniel Kurzrock, founder of Regrained, at the GFA Mercantile. Regrained picks up the leftover grains from local breweries and uses them to produce an array of edible products such as protein bars. Kurzrock tells the story of how he got the idea for Re-Grained and provides sage advice for others looking to start their own waste stream diversion business.

Dan grew up on the Bay Area Peninsula, and graduated from UCLA with a degree in Economics and a Masters in Sustainable Business from Presidio Graduate School. Dan realized a passion for entrepreneurship early. ReGrained is telling an exciting environmental story, at a time when the food industry is grappling with a mountain of food waste. That's where Regrained steps in. They use the spent grain leftover after the beer development process and repurpose it for food products. The left over spent grain is like an oatmeal and of course it's terribly wasteful to throw food out. Grain is a key ingredient in beer. Typically barley, though sometimes rye or oats. To make beer, the grain gets cracked to expose the starches. It is then steeped in warm water, where the starches start to break down into simple sugars, which become alcohol. This process leaves brewers with huge amounts of leftover grain. “Many of the ingredients used to brew beer do not end up in your glass. That’s not to say all brewers are wasteful. Many, especially within the craft industry, are excellent environmental stewards with a strong dedication to sustainability. However, even the most conscientious brewer can’t help but generate massive quantities of leftover spent grain. The reality is that it takes a lot of barley to produce beer, America’s favorite suds. In the United States alone, approximately 200 million barrels of beer are consumed each year, with an average of 6 billion pounds of grain used by the brewing industry.” ~Regrained "As consumers, we get to decide what matters most through what we choose to buy. Our mantra is simple: “Brew Good. Bake Good. Do Good.” We invite you to join us in refusing to settle for anything less. Have your beer…and eat it too!" ~Dan Kurzock & Jordan Schwartz