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7 episodes with soom foods
5 episodes with soom foods
3 episodes with soom foods
2 episodes with soom foods
2 episodes with soom foods
3 episodes with soom foods
2 episodes with soom foods
2 episodes with soom foods
A recent Linkedin post penned by an executive of online distribution platform Pod Foods ignited a passionate discussion about the limited routes to market for emerging brands and whether things might be changing for the better… or worse. Taste Radio's hosts have their say on the matter. Show notes: 0:35: JacquIC. Mayor Melissa. Peter's Post. Call Her Sir. Church Beer. Hydrate, Then Hike. – Jacqui takes over primary hosting duties while Ray is OOO, and does a damn good job of it. Melissa has a new moniker, and it fits her well. Community Call is, in a sense, casting – email to learn more. The hosts all weigh in on Peter Gialansis's scribe, why UNFI and competing brands may be unfairly cast as the villains and the upside to a long and arduous road. They also share their two cents on Queen B's latest opus and talk about upcoming industry events in San Diego before John presents his spicy mashed potatoes. Melissa then shows a patriotic side and Jacqui explains how she's preparing for a very steep journey. Brands in this episode: Soom Foods, Hotpot Queen, SirDavis, Idahoan, Tapatio, Fly By Jing, Pistakio, United Sodas, Misfit, Only Hydration, Liquid IV
Soom Foods is introducing dynamic tahini flavors to consumers. In this episode, Adam Torres and Amy Zitelman, Co-Founder & CEO at Soom Foods, explore Soom Foods and Amy's plans to continue growing the brand. Follow Adam on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/askadamtorres/ for up to date information on book releases and tour schedule. Apply to be a guest on our podcast: https://missionmatters.lpages.co/podcastguest/ Visit our website: https://missionmatters.com/ More FREE content from Mission Matters here: https://linktr.ee/missionmattersmedia
Soom Foods is introducing dynamic tahini flavors to consumers. In this episode, Adam Torres and Amy Zitelman, Co-Founder & CEO at Soom Foods, explore Soom Foods and Amy's plans to continue growing the brand. Follow Adam on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/askadamtorres/ for up to date information on book releases and tour schedule. Apply to be a guest on our podcast: https://missionmatters.lpages.co/podcastguest/ Visit our website: https://missionmatters.com/ More FREE content from Mission Matters here: https://linktr.ee/missionmattersmedia
Topics Discussed:- The Tahini Table Cookbook- Starting Soom Foods- Personal Growth and Perspective- Setting Aside Time for Proactive Thinking- Taking Breaks and Practicing Yoga- Biggest Celebrations and Challenging Moments- Chocolate Tahini and Israeli Market- CPG Products and Grocery Shopping
Our special guest on this episode is the Co-founder and CEO of Soom Foods. Soom Foods is a purveyor of globally inspired pantry staples with sesame seeds and tahini as the main ingredients. The company was founded by 3 sisters driven by a mission to expand the American palette to exotic and nourishing ingredients. Amy was named Forbes 30 under 30 in 2018 and has been featured in New York Times, Washington Post, Food & Wine, Forbes, Cooking LightTo learn more about Sooms visit here>> https://soomfoods.com/ This podcast is made possible by FoodNiche Inc. a community and consulting firm supporting innovators shaping a healthier and sustainable food system. To learn more about working with the FoodNiche Team visit here>> https://www.foodnicher.com/work-with-us/
Making it to the 10 year mark as a food business is no small feat, and our friends at Soom Foods just passed their 10 year anniversary. Today we are joined by Soom's CEO and co-founder, Amy Zitelman. Amy had just graduated from college when she and her sisters started Soom, and since then, her and her sister Jackie were on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, Soom has been featured by Forbes, Bon Appetit, and The New York Times, and they have grown into the trusted brand for tahini and tahini products. I met Amy at a Mental Health for Founders event that I hosted last year and was so impressed with her calm, steady wisdom, so I was so excited to share her insights with all of you in today's conversation! Make sure to grab Soom products at your local Whole Foods and Sprouts and I've linked a great blog post in the show notes where Amy reflects further on 10 years at Soom.Listen in today as Amy shares about: Starting Soom with her three sisters Why Soom focused on the foodservice channel for the first eight years and what it was like to get started and grow the restaurant channel within foodservice Launching nationally in Sprouts and Whole Foods in the past two years and how they prepared as a business The process of rebranding to prep for retail How Amy navigated having 3 children while growing Soom and her tips for growing a family and a startup at the same time What it's look liked to grow Soom from a financial standpoint from a story that almost bankrupted the business to what it was like to raise outside funds for the first time in 2021 How Soom has used EOS, or the Entrepreneurial Operating System to scale their team and build an accountability chart Amy's tips for staying grounded amidst everything And more! This episode was sponsored by Graphite Financial. Go to graphitefinancial.com/cpgThis episode was sponsored by Kickfurther. Go to https://www.kickfurther.com/startupcpgEpisode Links: Soom website & IG @soomfoods Amy's LinkedIn 10 Years of Soom blog post Entrepreneurial Operating System, Traction book Brands mentioned: Pulp & Wire, Zahav Restaurant Graphite Financial Links Graphite Financial website Download a free financial model template, chart of accounts template, and more here Listen to our episode with Graphite founder, Paul Bianco, episode #96 here. Kickfurther Links: Kickfurther website See how much inventory funding you qualify here Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (14K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi Freitag's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at podcast@startupcpg.com Episode music by Super Fantastics
Amy Zitelman is the co-founder and CEO of Soom Foods, the tahini brand known by every restaurant chef – and now more and more consumers- across the US. On this episode of ITS, Amy and Ali talk about building what you know with what you have, which means taking a real inventory of your resources, skill-sets, and tolerance, then keeping disciplined to scaling that before launching into other categories, channels or products.In the Sauce is Powered by Simplecast.
My first exposure to Eden Grinshpan was a photo on Instagram: she was extremely pregnant and her bare, bulging belly was wall-papered with huge slices of pizza. I instantly wanted to be her friend. Eden is host of Top Chef Canada and author of the cookbook Eating Out Loud, where she shows off her contemporary middle eastern cooking chops with dishes like tahini Caesar salad and Sesame Schnitzel Sandwich with Harissa Honey and Tarter Slaw. Eden is tahini obsessed, so I chat with the CEO and co-founder of Soom Foods (makers of delicious tahini) about the history of the ancient condiment and what to do with the half empty jar in your fridge after using it to make hummus. Follow along on Instagram! Please subscribe to the *new* Your Last Meal newsletter so you can be the first to know about events, giveaways & content only available to subscribers! This episode is sponsored by:Ooni Pizza Ovens!Safe Catch tinned fish! Enter YOURLASTMEAL at checkout for 15% off!Pure Cravings cat food! Enter YOURLASTMEAL at checkout for 15% off! Sena Sea wild, sustainably caught Copper River Salmon. Enter YOURLASTMEAL at checkout for 10% off! Or go to copperriversalmon.org San Juan Salsa! Support the show: http://rachelbelle.substack.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ten years ago, tahini was a rarity on grocery store shelves. But after discovering the versatility of this ingredient, Amy Zitelman and her sisters decided to bring it to the masses here in the United States. Learn more about how they grew their brand Soom Foods through strategic partnerships, contract manufacturing, and omnichannel sales on this episode of the Conception to Consumption (C to C) podcast.
Amy Zitelman is the co-founder and CEO of the premium tahini brand, Soom Foods. In this podcast episode, join Alison and Karin, co-founders of UMAI Marketing, as they chat with Amy about her journey of bringing high-quality tahini to consumers here in the states. Discover how Amy successfully rooted Soom Foods in B2B first, created valuable relationships with chefs and influencers to help spread the Soom word, and how she's been using UMAI's Consumer Goods Growth Course to expand and train her marketing team (we love to hear it!). Sit back and turn the volume up!
Although not particularly new to the US market, tahini has historically been found gathering dust at the bottom of the shelf in the international foods aisle instead of being celebrated in the kitchen for its versatility. Today we are joined by Amy Zitelman, CEO and Co-Founder of Soom Foods, to talk about the various culinary uses of tahini, why she and her sisters started importing it, and the sustainable, regenerative qualities of the sesame crop and supply chain. Tune in to hear from this inspiring entrepreneur who refused to allow the lack of evidence for a thriving tahini market in the US to deter her!Key Points From This Episode:The role of consumer education when introducing products to a new market.Why Soom Foods founders, Amy Zitelman and her sisters chose to import tahini into the US.The rise of tahini in the national consciousness and its culinary versatility.What differentiates Soom from other tahini brands in the US.The importance of quality invariability in the US market.The pros and cons of prioritizing product simplicity.Soom Foods' omnichannel sales approach.The sustainable and regenerative qualities of the sesame crop and supply chain.The advantages of regenerative agriculture.How Amy and her sisters manage the marriage of family and business.How the family dynamic permeates Soom's company culture.Why ignorance is bliss when it comes to starting a business.The fine balance between trusting your intuition and calling on others' perspectives.The value of feedback.Links Mentioned in Today's Episode:Amy Zitelman on LinkedInAmy Zitelman on InstagramSoom FoodsSoom Foods on InstagramThe Green Marketing AcademyModern Species Gage Mitchell on LinkedInEvolve CPGEvolve CPG CommunityEvolve CPG on YouTubeEvolve CPG email
Amy Zitelman is the CEO of Soom Foods, a supplier of globally-inspired pantry foods. The company has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Food & Wine, and Cooking Light. As Soom's strategic leader, Amy utilizes interpersonal communication skills to develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders, manage sales and marketing strategy development, and oversee finance, operations, and logistics. She is the author of The Tahini Table cookbook and, in 2018, was a recipient of Forbes 30 Under 30 for the food and beverage category. In this episode… As a CPG brand, it's central to hone your vision and products for the modern market. So, how can you position your brand as an industry innovator? Brands with products that have a high market value should consider leveraging the food service industry. As a pioneer of tahini, Amy Zitelman partnered with restaurants to launch her brand. This approach provided significant opportunities to generate revenue and diversify her product. When experiencing considerable growth, Amy recommends rebranding to accommodate market changes. It's important to establish yourself in the market first before initiating a rebrand to ensure authenticity. In today's episode of the Brand Alchemist Podcast, Taja Dockendorf sits down with Amy Zitelman, CEO of Soom Foods, to discuss pioneering and diversifying tahini for the modern market. Amy shares how Soom Foods revolutionized tahini, how she marketed her products to the food service industry, and advice for launching a rebrand.
Are you a fan of hummus? Amy and her sisters started Soom Foods to bring the world's best tahini (a key ingredient in hummus) to you. Join me for a conversation as we discuss what it's like building a family business, how they go their start in foodservice working with top chefs, and navigating changing consumer behaviors during the pandemic.Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy, an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great resources and partners to grow their business. Visit us at Foodbevy.com to learn about becoming a member or an industry partner today.
Today's Daf Yomi page, Yevamot 38, insists that even in a patriarchal society, women, too, are entitled to their own property and agency. Amy Zitelman, the CEO of Soom Foods, joins us to talk about the thriving tehini business she launched with her sisters, and how being a female entrepreneur influenced her Jewish growth. What aisle of the supermarket should tehini be on, really? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our team also includes Stephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, Mark Oppenheimer, Sara Fredman Aeder, Robert Scaramuccia, and Tanya Singer. Check out all of Tablet's podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A meal that the Soom Foods family enjoyed in a town tucked against the Mediterranean Sea confirmed that the secret to bringing people together over good food could be a piece of cake. Literally! The ingredient that made the delicious difference in the dessert they shared that night was tahini. In the states, they felt that we had nothing close to the flavor found overseas. Eventually, they learned the magic lay in the Ethiopian sesame seeds used for ages to make the world's best tahini. So Soom Foods crafted the blend that could bring that taste home. Co-founder Amy Zitelman joins Justin to discuss this fast-growing food brand!
In this episode Amy Zitelman, CEO and Co-founder of Soom Foods, joins us in the next episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast. Soom Foods is a sister-owned Tahini products company whose products are used by award-winning restaurants and chefs around the world. Amy has been featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 and is also the author of "The Tahini Table." Amy tells the founding story of Soom Foods, how she and her sisters identified Tahini as an ingredient used heavily in other parts of the world but underrepresented in the United States market. She talks about the challenges and opportunities of selling a less-known category product. She also discusses the early days of loading up her bags with jars of Tahini and cold-calling restaurants. And finally, Amy outlines some of the surprising benefits of targeting wholesale channels first before eventually going direct to consumers. Amy is a great entrepreneur with a lot to share.
In this episode Amy Zitelman, CEO and Co-founder of Soom Foods, joins us in the next episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast. Soom Foods is a sister-owned Tahini products company whose products are used by award-winning restaurants and chefs around the world. Amy has been featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 and is also the author of "The Tahini Table." Amy tells the founding story of Soom Foods, how she and her sisters identified Tahini as an ingredient used heavily in other parts of the world but underrepresented in the United States market. She talks about the challenges and opportunities of selling a less-known category product. She also discusses the early days of loading up her bags with jars of Tahini and cold-calling restaurants. And finally, Amy outlines some of the surprising benefits of targeting wholesale channels first before eventually going direct to consumers. Amy is a great entrepreneur with a lot to share.
Amy & Guy discuss how she & her sisters built the Soom Foods Company. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
There's no place like the kitchen table to bring us together as a family. It was the one spot in the house where we could always agree on one thing: our passion for the foods we loved to make and share. A meal we enjoyed in a town tucked against the Mediterranean confirmed that the secret to bringing people together over good food could be a piece of cake. Literally! The ingredient that made the delicious difference in the dessert we shared that night was tahini. In the states, we had nothing close to the flavor we found overseas. Eventually, we learned the magic lay in the Ethiopian sesame seeds used for ages to make the world's best tahini. So we crafted the blend that could bring that taste home. We think the taste and versatility you'll find in every jar of Soom will draw your family and friends to the table too! Web: https://soomfoods.com Follow: @soomfoods About the show: ► Website: http://www.ashsaidit.com ► Need Goli Gummies? https://go.goli.com/1loveash5 ► For $5 in ride credit, download the Lyft app using my referral link: https://www.lyft.com/ici/ASH584216 ► Want the ‘coldest' water? https://thecoldestwater.com/?ref=ashleybrown12 ► Become A Podcast Legend: http://ashsaidit.podcastersmastery.zaxaa.com/s/6543767021305 ► Review Us: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ash-said-it/id1144197789 ► SUBSCRIBE HERE: http://www.youtube.com/c/AshSaidItSuwanee ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1loveash ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/1loveAsh ► Blog: http://www.ashsaidit.com/blog ► Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/1LoveAsh/ #atlanta #ashsaidit #ashsaidthat #ashblogsit #ashsaidit® Ash Brown is a gifted American producer, blogger, speaker, media personality and event emcee. The blog on AshSaidit.com showcases exclusive event invites, product reviews and so much more. Her motivational podcast "Ash Said It Daily" is available on major media platforms such as iTunes, iHeart Radio & Google Play. This program has over half a million streams worldwide. She uses these mediums to motivate & encourage her audience in the most powerful way. She keeps it real!
There's no place like the kitchen table to bring us together as a family. It was the one spot in the house where we could always agree on one thing: our passion for the foods we loved to make and share. A meal we enjoyed in a town tucked against the Mediterranean confirmed that the secret to bringing people together over good food could be a piece of cake. Literally! The ingredient that made the delicious difference in the dessert we shared that night was tahini. In the states, we had nothing close to the flavor we found overseas. Eventually, we learned the magic lay in the Ethiopian sesame seeds used for ages to make the world's best tahini. So we crafted the blend that could bring that taste home. We think the taste and versatility you'll find in every jar of Soom will draw your family and friends to the table too! Web: https://soomfoods.com Follow: @soomfoods About the show: ► Website: http://www.ashsaidit.com ► Need Goli Gummies? https://go.goli.com/1loveash5 ► For $5 in ride credit, download the Lyft app using my referral link: https://www.lyft.com/ici/ASH584216 ► Want the ‘coldest' water? https://thecoldestwater.com/?ref=ashleybrown12 ► Become A Podcast Legend: http://ashsaidit.podcastersmastery.zaxaa.com/s/6543767021305 ► Review Us: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ash-said-it/id1144197789 ► SUBSCRIBE HERE: http://www.youtube.com/c/AshSaidItSuwanee ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1loveash ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/1loveAsh ► Blog: http://www.ashsaidit.com/blog ► Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/1LoveAsh/ #atlanta #ashsaidit #ashsaidthat #ashblogsit #ashsaidit® Ash Brown is a gifted American producer, blogger, speaker, media personality and event emcee. The blog on AshSaidit.com showcases exclusive event invites, product reviews and so much more. Her motivational podcast "Ash Said It Daily" is available on major media platforms such as iTunes, iHeart Radio & Google Play. This program has over half a million streams worldwide. She uses these mediums to motivate & encourage her audience in the most powerful way. She keeps it real!
Welcome to Anxiously, a new podcast from Tablet Studios. Each week hosts Lisa Sandell and Aimee Friedman grapple with one of their anxieties—from the trivial to the existential—in a humorous and heartfelt way. From germs to mortality, they're tackling it all. They're helped along the way by smart and entertaining guests who offer perspective and advice. This week, Lisa and Aimee are anxious about handling raw chicken, stressed about being bad cooks, and confused about where this leaves them as proud feminists. They're joined by cookbook author Shannon Sarna, who helps them address the many layers of this chicken anxiety, and offers some fun advice for the next time they're in the kitchen Like the show? Send us a note at anxiously@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Instagram @anxiouslypod and on Twitter @anxiouslypod. Our theme music is by Low Cut Connie. Check out all of Tablet's podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. This episode is sponsored by Soom Foods, which makes delicious tahini, chocolate sweet tahini, and silan date syrup. Use discount code ANXIOUS and receive 15% off your first order at soomfoods.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Welcome to Anxiously, a new podcast from Tablet Studios. Each week hosts Lisa Sandell and Aimee Friedman grapple with one of their anxieties—from the trivial to the existential—in a humorous and heartfelt way. From germs to mortality, they're tackling it all, helped along the way by smart and entertaining guests who offer perspective and advice. This week, Lisa and Aimee are anxious about the state of the world. They are joined by novelist Anne Roiphe, who talks to them about learning to handle everything the universe throws your way, about writing angry letters to her relative, Roy Cohn, and about meeting a cute Israeli soldier at the Metropolitan Museum. Like the show? Send us a note at anxiously@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Instagram @anxiouslypod and on Twitter @anxiouslypod. Our theme music is by Low Cut Connie. Check out all of Tablet's podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. This episode is sponsored by Soom Foods, which makes delicious tahini, chocolate sweet tahini, and silan date syrup. Use discount code ANXIOUS and receive 15% off your first order at soomfoods.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Welcome to Anxiously, a new podcast from Tablet Studios. Each week hosts Lisa Sandell and Aimee Friedman grapple with one of their anxieties—from the trivial to the existential—in a humorous and heartfelt way. From germs to mortality, they're tackling it all. They're helped along the way by smart and entertaining guests who offer perspective and advice. This week, Lisa and Aimee are anxious about getting older, and wondering if they're getting less relevant. They're joined by fashion commentator and bon vivant Simon Doonan, who explains that confidence is the secret ingredient to style, praises the virtues of “embracing hagdom,” and suggests that Lisa and Aimee adopt a signature sartorial flourish, like a motorcycle jacket. Like the show? Send us a note at anxiously@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Instagram @anxiouslypod and on Twitter @anxiouslypod. Our theme music is by Low Cut Connie. Check out all of Tablet's podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. This episode is sponsored by Soom Foods, which makes delicious tahini, chocolate sweet tahini, and silan date syrup. Use discount code ANXIOUS and receive 15% off your first order at soomfoods.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Head here for more about Zoe AdjonyohClick here for more about Simply Julia (and here's a free gift note if you're giving Simply Julia as a gift this holiday season!)Head here for more about Soom Foods and their tahini (use the code 'KEEPCALM' for 15% off!)Head here for more about OXO
This week on Unorthodox, one Mark Oppenheimer is not enough. Our first guest is Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who is the state’s first Jewish governor and the first openly gay governor in the U.S. He tells us about his Jewish upbringing, extolls the many virtues of the State of Colorado, and explains why he’s got his eyes on 2022, not 2024. Next we talk to the other Mark Oppenhemer: the South African advocate, podcaster (our own Mark Oppenheimer was a guest on his show, Brain in a Vat), and general Oppenheimer-about-town. He recalls the moment he first discovered that he wasn’t the only Mark Oppenheimer, explains his legal work surrounding free speech, and tells us about the South African Jewish community. Our third guest is Brian Hersch, the inventor of party games like Taboo, Jewish Taboo, and Super Scattergories. His latest game is Boom Again, a trivia game designed for Baby Boomers. He quizzes us on I Love Lucy and The Jetsons, and we find out that Liel might secretly be a Boomer. Celebrate the first night of Hanukkah with Stephanie, Mayim Bialik, and G.L.O.W. star Jackie Tohn at NuRoots’ “First Night” event, Thursday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. P.S.T. Register at nuroots.org/firstnight. Let us know what you think of the show! Send us comments and questions at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave us a voicemail at (914) 570-4869. You can also record a voice memo on your smartphone and email it to us. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, mugs, and baby onesies at bit.ly/unorthoshirt. Sponsors: The Other Israel Film Festival provides an in-depth look into Israeli and Palestinian societies through films and conversations. Films stream December 3 through 10, with daily Q&As and other live events; find the full schedule at otherisrael.org. Soom Foods’ tahini, chocolate sweet tahini, and silan date syrup are the perfect gift to give this holiday season. Head to soomfoods.com and use code UNORTHODOX to get 15% off your first order. American Jewish World Service is fighting poverty and pursuing justice in the developing world. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, AJWS is currently twice-matching all donations; find out more about the organization and make your donation at AJWS.org/unorthodox. Institute for Jewish Spirituality offers Jewish tools to help respond to the anxiety and stress of our times. Join them for ‘Rededication, Resilience and Renewal,’ a half-day online retreat Sunday, December 13. Learn more and register at jewishspirituality.org. Harry’s Holiday Shave Sets make the perfect gift this season. Get 5$ off a holiday shave set at harrys.com/unorthodox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
November 24, 2020 Amy Zitelman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Soom Foods, a leading purveyor of tahini and tahini products in the American market. Soom has been named the best tahini according to industry experts by New York Magazine’s “The Stategist” and has been featured in outlets like New York Times, Food & Wine, and Bon Appetit. In 2018, Amy was named to Forbes “30 under 30” in the Food and Beverage category. She is the author of The Tahini Table - Go Beyond Hummus with 100 Recipes for Every Meal. She also promised to share in the interview some of the magic that might get Soom to meet original revenue expectations for 2020, something listeners of this show know is a rarity.Guest Unsponsor: Base Butter. Grant's Unsponsor: ALMI Apparel. November 20, 2020 Worldwide total COVID deaths: >1,365,000. USA total deaths: >258,000. World's COVID deaths in the USA: 18.92%. Total active world cases: >16.19 million. Total active USA cases 4.56 million. World's active COVID cases in the USA: >28.3%. New US cases per day: 169,813. USA total cases: 12.07 million. % of Americans who have had COVID: 3.63%. USA National Unemployment: 6.9%. Initial unemployment claims filed last week: 742,000. Dow Jones Industrial Average: 29,263
Today on Real-World Branding we have Amy and Shelby Zitelman, Co-Founders of Soom Foods, the trusted tahini brand among James Beard award-winning chefs and home cooks alike. We cover the academic interests and early career experiences that led them to found Soom, the brand story, category dynamics, their day-to-day experiences as a family business, and the impact […] The post Make Room for Soom. – Amy Zitelman, CEO & Co-Founder, and Shelby Zitelman, COO & Co-Founder – Soom Foods appeared first on Finch Brands.
Each year for Yom Kippur, we bring you a special episode all about apology and atonement. (Listen to our previous episodes: from 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015.) This year, we’re focusing on the theme of reconciliation—across the political divide and the religious spectrum, and beyond. Our first story comes from Chris Haugh and Jordan Blashek, two friends who decided to drive across the country together in 2016. Chris, a Berkeley born, Obama-loving liberal, and Jordan, a former marine and proud conservative, were forced to confront their vast political differences as the presidential campaign unfolded around them across the United States. You can read the full story of this and their subsequent cross-country drives in their new book, Union: A Democrat, A Republican, and a Search for Common Ground. Next we talk to Tablet columnist Marjorie Ingall, whose website (and soon to be book) SorryWatch.com chronicles the good, the bad, and the ugly of public apologies. She reminds us how to apologize (there are six steps!), helps us interpret corporate apologies in a year full of them, and reminds us that forgiveness isn’t mandatory. Then we hear from Jericho Vincent, author of the 2014 memoir Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood, which tells the painful and traumatic story of leaving Orthodox Judaism as a teen. Since then, Jericho has been on a long and winding spiritual journey, exploring Buddhism, Sufi Islam, scientific atheism, and ultimately creating an entirely new conception of Judaism—and starting in a rabbinical program. This summer, Jericho struck up a correspondence with Orthodox writer and educator Dovid Bashevkin, whose book Sin•a•gogue: Sin and Failure in Jewish Thought covers many of the areas that have long fascinated Jericho. Jericho and Dovid tell us what their ongoing conversations—about everything from Jewish texts to the ongoing social and political unrest in America—can teach us about reconciliation and rebuilding in today’s stratified world. Finally, our associate editor Robert Scaramuccia tells the story of an offhand joke he made as a teenager at the Boys State summer camp, and how it has haunted (and helped) him ever since. Robert brings us along on his quest to apologize for what he said—once he figures out what exactly that was. Please consider donating to Unorthodox to help us keep making shows like this. Our annual fundraiser is underway, and everyone who gives will be entered into a raffle to spend some virtual time with the hosts. Donate at bit.ly/unorthodox2020fundraiser. Let us know what you think of the show, and share your 5781 resolutions at unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave us a voicemail at (914) 570-4869. You can also record a voice memo on your smartphone and email it to us. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Sponsors American Jewish World Service is the leading Jewish organization working to fight poverty and pursue justice in the developing world. AJWS will triple match any donation made before midnight Sept. 27; go to AJWS.org/unorthodox to find out more about the organization and to make your donation. Soom Foods is the preferred tahini of restaurants like Michael Solomonov’s Zahav. Soom Foods also makes a chocolate tahini spread and silan date syrup. All products are dairy-free, gluten-free, and certified kosher. Go to soomfoods.com and use code UNORTHODOX to get 15% off your first order. PJ Library sends free storybooks to children (newborn to 12 years old), making it easy to start sharing Jewish traditions. Sign up at pjlibrary.org/unorthodox, The Great Courses Plus offers online classes on everything from film to wine, personal finance, and public speaking, from professors and experts in their fields. Start your free trial at thegreatcoursesplus.com/unorthodox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Our Jewish guest is Michael Oren, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. and a former member of the Knesset. He talks to Liel about his new collection of short stories, The Night Archer, plus how writing fiction has long been an escape from his day job in politics. Our Gentile of the Week is political satirist and journalist P.J. O'Rourke. He talks to Mark about his latest book, A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land, plus whether conservatives can be as funny as liberals, and whether gentiles can be as funny as Jews. His question for us: Does the god of the Hebrew Bible have a sense of humor? We're doing our annual fundraiser a little differently this year. We're not looking to hit a specific dollar amount. Instead, we're looking to get as many participants as we can, giving whatever amount they're able. Everyone who gives will be entered into a raffle to spend some virtual time with the hosts. Head to bit.ly/unorthodox2020fundraiser to donate. Tablet Magazine's Fall 2020 journalism program is a paid three-month remote fellowship for 10 aspiring journalists, run by our very own Mark Oppenheimer. More information here; apply by Sept. 11 to fellowship@tabletmag.com. What are your 5781 resolutions? Email us at unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave us a voicemail at (914) 570-4869. You can also record a voice memo on your smartphone and email it to us. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube page! Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, mugs, and baby onesies here. Sponsors: Kol Foods is getting you ready for the High Holidays with kosher and ethically raised meat. Go to KOLFOODS.com and use the code UNORTHODOX0920 to get 10% on your order. Soom Foods is the preferred tahini of restaurants like Michael Solomonov’s Zahav, and their silan date syrup is the perfect addition to your High Holiday table. All Soom products are dairy-free, gluten-free, and certified kosher. Go to soomfoods.com and use code UNORTHODOX to get 15% off your first order. Unorthodox Wines are perfect for Rosh Hashanah—try their Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc or Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Bordeaux blend. Unorthodox Wines are all vegan and certified kosher by the OU. Go to bit.ly/unorthodoxwine and get their wines delivered to you for free, for a limited time. You can also find Unorthodox Wines at a wine store near you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For emerging brands or companies with unfamiliar products that relied on chefs to introduce their food or beverages to mainstream consumers, the shuttering of restaurants during the pandemic has been especially devasting, but, according to the co-founder of the tahini brand Soom Foods, creating a new category and building a successful CPG business is still possible.
This week, an episode all about… food! Listen in as Stephanie tours the Joyva factory and learns about how the Passover jelly rings (and the marshmallow twists, and the halvah bars) get made at the family-run confection company. Then, live from Encinitas, CA, our interview with chef Einat Admony recorded at The Hive at Leichtag Commons. She tells us about her Taim falafel empire, growing up Mizrahi in Israel, and bringing the eggplant dish known as sabich to American diners. You’ve heard us talk about Soom Foods and their tahini-based products, and this week we sit down with Amy Zitelman, who founded the company with her two sisters. (You better believe their parents are kvelling.) Last but not least, Stephanie chats with Pati Jinich [https://patijinich.com/], the host of Pati’s Mexican Kitchen on PBS. She tells us about growing up in Mexico City eating Ashkenazi dishes that incorporated elements of Mexican cuisine, like gefilte fish a la Veracruzana, and why her family’s Yom Kippur break-fasts are unlike anything she’s experienced in the U.S. Tell us what you're doing for this year's Seder. Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Our tour events for April 2020 have been postponed. Stay tuned for updates on rescheduled dates, and join our Facebook group to see much more of us, virtually, in the coming weeks. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here. Sponsors: The Great Courses Plus is offering a free month of unlimited access to their entire library of online courses. Start your free month at thegreatcoursesplus.com/unorthodox. Harry's, a great shave at a great price. Get a free trial set with a 5-blade razor, shave gel, and a travel blade cover at harrys.com/unorthodox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week on Unorthodox: Jewish royal watching, Belgian parades, and more. Liel speaks with Harvard professor emeritus Ruth Wisse about the reissue of her book Jews and Power. She shares her theory about how the impulse to want to be a mensch might be leaving Jews defenseless, why she thinks the Holocaust is being mistaught in American schools, and more. Our Gentile of the Week is Antonia Eliason, an associate professor of law at the University of Mississippi who is running for U.S. Congress as a democratic socialist. She tells us what democratic socialism means, why she thinks her campaign has a shot in a red state, and gives us a bit of background on Jews and socialism. Her Gentile of the Week question is about Tisha B’Av today. Let us know what you think of the show. Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Come see us on tour! March 2 – New York, NY: Stephanie in conversation with Matti Friedman @ 92Y March 6 – Amherst, Massachusetts: Stephanie @ Yiddish Book Center March 12 – Boca Raton, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel March 17 – Long Island, New York: Book talk with Stephanie March 19 – Virginia Beach, Virginia: Unorthodox live show Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here. Sponsors: Get ready for Purim with an order of delicious tahini products from Soom Foods. Head to soomfoods.com and use the code UNORTHODOX to receive 15% off your order. Try the pantry sampler, which includes their tahini, chocolate sweet tahini halva spread, and silan date syrup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week we’re bringing you two interviews from our live show at the Valley of the Sun JCC in Phoenix, Arizona. First up, we get a double shot of rabbinical wisdom from Pinchas Allouche, the founding rabbi of Congregation Beth Tefillah, and Shmuly Yanklowitz, the president & dean of Valley Beit Midrash. They each share the story of their unlikely journey towards becoming a rabbi, and explain how they’re trying to make Judaism accessible to all sorts of Jews today. Our Gentile of the Week is NBA Hall-of-Fame player Paul Westphal. Westphal won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 1974 and coached the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals in 1993. He tells us about his love of Israel, and brings the hosts one of the thorniest Gentile of the Week questions ever. We also have a special treat: Mark and Stephanie’s appearance on Liel’s other podcast, Take One. Let us know what you think of the show! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Come see us on tour! Feb. 20 – New York City: Stephanie in conversation with authors Goldie Goldbloom and Abby Chava Stein Feb. 26 – Naples, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Mark March 6 – Amherst, Massachusetts: Stephanie @ Yiddish Book Center March 12 – Boca Raton, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel March 17 – Long Island, New York: Book talk with Stephanie March 19 – Virginia Beach, Virginia: Unorthodox live show Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here. Sponsors: Send your kids to a Jewish camp this summer! More than 180,000 campers and college-age counselors use the Foundation for Jewish Camp website to find their camp every summer. Go to onehappycamper.org/unorthodox and find the right camp for you. Get ready for Purim with an order of delicious tahini products from Soom Foods. Head to soomfoods.com and use the code UNORTHODOX to receive 15 percent off your order. Try the pantry sampler, which includes their tahini, chocolate sweet tahini halva spread, and silan date syrup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Soom Foods is a certified women-owned, Philadelphia-based company dedicated to introducing globally inspired pantry staples to the American market. Their main product, Soom Tahini is a paste made from 100% pressed and roasted Ethiopian White Humera sesame seeds offering a creamy texture and nutty flavor. The business is family owned and operated by Amy and her two sisters. In this episode we speak with CEO and Co-Founder, Amy Zitelman about all things Tahini and what it was like to start a business while still becoming an adult in her mid-20's. Her story is not only inspiring, but is honest about what it really takes to get a brand off the ground. We talk about what the early days of starting a product-based business are like, what it takes to work with family and start a family at the same time. Follow Amy & Soom Foods:Instagram: @soomfoods @amyzitelmanWebsite: soomfoods.comBuy Product: soomfoods.com/shop/Forbes 30 Under 30: https://www.forbes.com/pictures/5a025b9531358e542c04f012/amy-zitelman-28-l-jackie-/#335e96906e8eAttend Adulting 101: waitamianadultnow.com/eventsWrite in or Ask a Question: info@waitamianadultnow.comFollow Us:Instagram: @WaitAmIAnAdultNowTwitter: @WaitAmIAnAdultWebsite: www.waitamianadultnow.comShelby: @shelby_wildgustSivon: @SivonDemi
This week on Unorthodox, we’re kicking off December with three very festive interviews. First up, designer Jonathan Adler and his husband, three–time Unorthodox guest Simon Doonan. Jonathan tells us about growing up with a one-room shul-house in rural southern New Jersey and how he developed his love for pottery and ceramics at summer camp. Simon talks about his new book, Drag: The Complete Story, and explains how Barbra Streisand became an icon in the drag world and in gay culture more broadly. Next up is Stephen Schragis, whose One Day University offers continuing education experiences across the country. He offers his theories on why Jews love learning for learning’s sake (or at least sign up so frequently for his courses), and tells us about the time he got Donald Trump to lecture to a group of 30,000 people. Finally we check in with our favorite food blogger and TV personality, Molly Yeh, who tells us about her upcoming latke-filled Food Network special, Ultimate Hanukkah Challenge, which premieres Saturday, December 21. (Listen to Molly’s previous Unorthodox appearances here.) Let us know what you think of the show! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Come see us on tour! December 5 – Port Washington, New York: Book talk December 6-7 – Encinitas, California: An Unorthodox Shabbat and Unorthodox live show December 9 – Phoenix: Unorthodox live show December 15 – New Haven, Connecticut: Brunch and book talk December 19 – St. Louis: Book talk January 8, 2020 – Westport, Connecticut: Book talk Copies of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia will be sold and signed at each event. Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here. Sponsors: Our world needs more healing, and our tradition needs more caring and committed leaders. Hebrew College’s vibrant and pluralistic community trains aspiring rabbis, cantors, and educational leaders. Learn more at hebrewcollege.edu/explore. Applications for Fall 2020 are due on January 15, 2020. Soom Foods makes delicious tahini products that are dairy-free, nut-free, gluten-free, and certified kosher. Try the pantry sampler, which includes their tahini, chocolate sweet tahini halva spread, and silan date syrup. Head to soomfoods.com and use code UNORTHODOX to get 15 percent off your order. Adeena Sussman’s Israeli cookbook Sababa is the perfect Hanukkah gift for the foodie in your life. Named a best Fall 2019 cookbook by The New York Times and Bon Appetit, Sababa shares the vibrant flavors of Israeli home cooking. Get a copy of Sababa online or at your favorite bookstore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Figuring out how to compete in a new, or underdeveloped, food or beverage category is a challenge -- especially if you’re a disruptive natural foods business determined to shake things up! Today on the Real Food Brands Podcast, host and Brand Strategist Katie Mleziva takes us back to revisit a great episode with Amy Zitelman, Co-Founder and CEO of Soom Foods, to talk about how they build relationships with influencers like food bloggers and top chefs to create excitement for a relatively underdeveloped category in the US. When thinking about marketing it can be easy to put selling your product as the focus. However, as Soom Foods has shown, by going a step further and focusing on building strategic but genuine relationships, successful promotion comes as a natural byproduct! The original episode covers a lot of great topics about Soom Foods’ marketing tactics, but we also have an update from the team about how things have been going since we recorded the episode and what marketing tactic is really working well for them to build relationships today. In This Episode: How Amy and her sisters started Soom Foods How Soom built awareness for tahini, a relatively unknown product in the US market Why it’s important to have a diverse team with complimentary skill sets How to find and build genuine relationships with influencers, including bloggers and award winning chefs How Soom utilizes user generated content (recipes) in social media How to build associations with adjacent food categories to bring awareness to your own product How demos can help build your brand even if store traffic is slow that day Why Amazon can help small food businesses build an online presence How the Soom team uses social media to build something meaningful beyond sales What single # skyrocketed their visibility on social media Resources: Soom Foods Website and Instagram Real Food Brands Marketing Roundtable Facebook Group Real Food Brands website (download your Brand Checkup Scorecard here) Chef Michael Michael Solomonov — Zahav restaurant and cookbook
In today’s episode, I chat with Shelby Zitelman, co-founder and COO of Soom Foods. Shelby is my former boss (!), and someone who I consider to be a mentor, so it was a delight to chat with her about how she built her tahini brand, Soom Foods, over the past five years, including educating people on what the heck tahini is! We also discussed her recent shift in roles at the company, stepping down from CEO in order to prioritize her family. In this episode, we discuss: Shelby’s career journey and how it lead her to start Soom Foods with her sisters Her experience pivoting into the food space with no experience How Shelby and her sisters built Soom Food’s marketing strategy, including some early endorsements from celebrity chefs Why sourcing of the product was so important to Shelby and her sisters and their first trip to Ethiopia to source sesame How sesame is actually grown and harvested How Soom Foods grew their the consumer base and educated the consumer How the perception of tahini has changed since she started Shelby’s thoughts on influencer marketing and the role of social media in her business Shelby’s favorite ways to eat the products Shelby’s experience with entrepreneurship and the lessons she has learned What is it is like to work with her sisters and how they set their roles as well as boundaries How and why Shelby recently decided to shift her role to part time The balance of working motherhood, especially as an entrepreneur How to handle chaos at work Shelby’s advice to new entrepreneurs Mentioned in this episode: Intentional Performers Podcast by Brian Levenson How to not always be working by Marlee Grace All the deets: Grab some tahini (discount code MEDIUMWELL) or silan date syrup over at Soom Foods Follow along with @soomfoods on Instagram (if you send them a message for Shelby, they will get it to her!) Tag me (@saraweinreb) and Soom Foods on Instagram with your favorite takeaways from the episode!
There is no journalist I would rather talk to about Italy—and, really, talk about food in general—than Katie Parla. Her mind, her spirit, her willingness to drive around the wonderfully off-the-grid cow towns of Calabria for the sake of a book project. It’s all really special. In this episode, we talk about her decade-long obsession with the Italian South (and how this is a different thing entirely than “southern Italy”).We discuss her visiting places in Italy that “haven’t seen the Google van” and how her new cookbook, Food of the Italian South, documents it all through a really smart and articulate selection of recipes and stories. Also, Parla debunks a big myth surrounding Italian wedding soup. And that is: Most Italians wouldn’t be caught dead serving soup at a wedding. So where does its name come from? There is a story!Later on I catch up with Amy Zitelman of the remarkable Philadelphia company Soom Foods. She and her two sisters make what many (this writer included) consider to be the best tahini available in the United States. Her story about the rise of tahini in American restaurants is fascinating. And she gives some great advice about how to cook with it at home.
This month, we’re breaking down the age old stereotype of Jewish anxiety, followed by a conversation about the rise of antisemitism in Europe with Israeli reporter Eldad Beck, and finally we’re honoring Jewish Disability and Awareness month by paying tribute to three amazing Jews with physical handicaps who have made incredible achievements in their communities.We also had the honor to sit down with Shelby and Amy Zitelman, two of the three sisters behind the company Soom Foods, to talk about they turned their passion into a business, the partnerships they've built with Philadelphia chefs and restaurants and a million uses for tahini.All products are available at soomfoods.com or on Amazon. Check them out on instagram @soomfoods.
This month, we’re breaking down the age old stereotype of Jewish anxiety, followed by a conversation about the rise of antisemitism in Europe with Israeli reporter Eldad Beck, and finally we’re honoring Jewish Disability and Awareness month by paying tribute to three amazing Jews with physical handicaps who have made incredible achievements in their communities.We also had the honor to sit down with Shelby and Amy Zitelman, two of the three sisters behind the company Soom Foods, to talk about they turned their passion into a business, the partnerships they've built with Philadelphia chefs and restaurants and a million uses for tahini.All products are available at soomfoods.com or on Amazon. Check them out on instagram @soomfoods.
On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, “open sesame” to tahini, the principal product behind Soom Foods sister-owned company creating pantry staples. Shelby, Jackie and Amy (Zitelman), source their single-origin sesame seeds from Humera, Ethiopia, process the paste in Israel, and after nearly 6,000 miles of transport, their premium Soom tahini (& chocolate sweet tahini halva spread) condiment, find their way to Philadelphia, and then into our homes and hearts. Of course, you can make hummus with a spoonful of Soom, but tahini is an indispensable in pantries, for vinaigrettes, sauces, spread on toast with honey, baked into banana breads, falafel sandwiches, and even chocolate chip cookies. So, try some Soom, and you'll see the power of sesame! The Food Seen is powered by Simplecast.
Well, this is something new! In today's episode, I chat with and then am hypnotized by Jessica Geist, a Subconscious Psychologist. Yes, I said I was hypnotized, and you can be too through this episode if you choose to! Jessica helps women "own their worth and increase their wealth" using a variety of modalities including coaching and hypnosis. After discussing her work and learning more about hypnosis, Jessica hypnotizes me live on the podcast in which you too can participate in (if you choose!). In this episode, we discuss: What is hypnosis and the history— science behind it + not just woo woo Jessica's multifaceted approach in supporting women to unblock the things holding them back Why coaching only gets you so far What stops women from getting what we want How we can reprogram subconscious beliefs I participate in a LIVE, on air hypnotalk (hypnosis exercise!) starting at 40:40 which you can choose to join along in to increase my self worth All the deets: Jessica's free 20-minute transformational hypnosis recording for bulletproof confidence (Jessica recommends listening to it daily for 21 days). Jessica is currently enrolling Worth to Wealth, and leading a women's leadership "hypno-retreat" in Asheville NC, April 4-7th! Details on her website. Tag me (@saraweinreb) on Instagram with your favorite takeaways from the episode and if you tried the hypnosis! This episode is generously sponsored by Soom Foods. Use code MEDIUMWELL at checkout for 10% off your entire order!
When you go on a journey to improve a skill, there are likeminded people who will support you, and there are people who will do the same as you. You either choose to treat them as competition, or treat them as cohorts. Over the past two years, I’ve communicated and even worked with people who have their own interview podcasts. These podcasts follow the same vein as My Food Job Rocks. Interview food experts and chronicle their life, advice and predictions. However, each podcast I’ll be sharing is focused on a specific type of the food industry. From Research Chefs, to Clean Meat Scientists. Some of these podcasts I am proud to say, credit My Food Job Rocks as a source of inspiration. Others, I’ve had the pleasure to help improve their podcasting craft. I do this because I can’t tell everyone’s story, and everyone’s story needs to be told. By having a support network which motivates people to share the stories in the food industry is very important to me. And hopefully, by the end of this series, you might also take on the reigns of a podcast. I’ll be keeping their guests a secret, but here is who will be on in the next 5 weeks: Paul Shapiro and Toni Okamoto – Business for Good Podcast As many know, Paul Shapiro has been not only a guest on My Food Job Rocks, but also has been my business partner for more than…half a year. Paul and his soon-to-be wife Toni Okamoto (who runs the very popular platform Plant-Based on a Budget) decided to do this small venture called The Business for Good Podcast, a podcast that focuses on the buisnesses and people who are doing good in the world. Though the podcast is not just in the food industry, there are some great gems in regards to how food business is impacting the world. Paul and Toni are both influential figures in the plant-based and animal welfare movement and use their connections to bring in awesome guests. This Wednesday, we’ll be launching their episode with a guest that’s pretty famous around these parts. Kim Schaub from Peas on Moss Kim and I started our platforms at the same time. We actually met in a facebook group called Podcaster’s Paradise, an online course which helps build your own podcast. We had one mutual connection, another guest, Andrea Zeng, who worked under her. Kim created the Peas on Moss Podcast, a podcast that has different types of guests which mainly focusing on R+D and innovation. There are also many Research Chefs and regular chefs on the show, so if you are into that field, Kim goes more in-depth on that. Peas On Moss still regularly launches episodes and the guests are always insightful with a slight entrepreneurial flair. I usually see Kim in almost every expo and we have a good time just chatting over good food. Lin Carson from Bakerpedia Past guest and sponsor Lin Carson created the Bakerpedia platform through her own sweat and blood and has built it into a fully sponsored masterpiece which houses a wiki that has all the baking knowledge in the world. And this is not just the simple stuff like gluten or ascorbic acid, but maybe you want to know what’s diastatic malt or how garbonzo bean flour acts in your product. Their podcast Baked In Science takes on multiple formats. They not only do interview podcasts, but they also do Q and As, and more technical focused podcasts. I’m always amazed on how much content, from writing to podcasts, the Bakerpedia team dishes out. Katie Jones from Good Food Heroes Podcast Katie Jones has a pretty amazing story. She got laid off after an acquisition, traveled around the world in an RV car, then decided to go into copywriting for the food industry. I met Katie through her content on LinkedIn and she was very engaging the way she talks with her peers on the platform. Much better than me engaging on LinkedIn posts. So Katie decided to start her own podcast and I had a hand in helping her a bit set up the format. Her podcast interviews food businesses that have a bigger mission. Whether that’s food waste or ethical sourcing, that’s what she loves to do and that’s what she focuses on. If you’re into learning more about food businesses that are mission-driven, then this podcast gives great insights on how it works. Katie Mleziva from Real Food Brands Podcast Katie is a food brand consultant with whom I also met on LinkedIn. I think it first started when we coincidentally launched Carrie Arndt’s podcast on the same week. We’ve had some over lap in guests ever since including the executive team from Soom Foods. Katie generally focuses on branding and not only does she bring in some really awesome guests with practical advice, but she herself does solo episodes that talk about the tactics in branding. Alex Shirazi from the Cultured Meat and Future Food podcast Paul shared with me an interview that Alex did with Lisa from Stray Dog Capital. This was episode 4 out of 4, but seeing his guest list be top GFI brass and Paul himself, I wanted to reach out and help him with his podcast, because I didn’t like his design or audio quality. Surprisingly, he was happy to take my advice and even better, I was able to meet him during the food funded event and we’ve been friends ever since. Alex Shirazi is what I’d call a cultured meat enthusiast. He’s a managing director at a software development firm at his day job. Not a scientist or CEO, but he cares so much about the topic, he not only did a full-fledged podcast where he interviews CEOs of cultured meat companies, but he also did a full-on symposium in the heart of San Francisco on a small budget and impressive marketing. I was honored to be a moderator at one of the panels, and I can’t thank Alex enough for giving me opportunities to publically speak in Boneville Labs and Indiebio. I love the topic of cell-based meat. Everyone knows this but if you really want to learn more about the many companies behind it, Alex’s podcast has some really impressive guests from all over the world. If I were to map it out, My Food Job Rocks is considered a broad podcast. It’s a podcast about career advice and showcasing the food jobs that are present today. The podcasts listed here are part of this, but are much more specific and also have their unique twist on things, and maybe you want that type specificity in your podcast library. And if there isn’t a podcast that fits your need, perhaps this will show you the opportunity to create your own.
This week I chat with Ali Shapiro, a Holistic nutritionist, integrated health coach and rebel with a serious cause, Creator of Truce with Food. Ali has her own unique approach to health (which she call's "not your parents' healthcare) which looks at the root cause of our behaviors, befriending your inner protector, and simplifying to the core of your needs. She is a refreshing and different voice in the wellness space, one that asks you to dig deep to be your healthiest, most truth-aligned self. In this episode, we discuss: How change is a health tool How to redefine your inner critic as a protector How to recognize behaviors that are sabotaging our goals Why connecting to nature and getting sunlight is so important The importance of simplicity in our health and why you may not need to take a bunch of supplements How to reduce stress by recognizing your emotional patterns How to recognize and honor your inner needs All the deets: Find Ali on Instagram at @alimshapiro Check out Ali's course, Truce with Food. Registration is open January 21-28 for the only time this year! Take a listen to Insatiable, Ali's podcast Tag me (@saraweinreb) and Ali on Instagram with your favorite takeaways from the episode This episode is generously sponsored by Soom Foods. Use code MEDIUMWELL at checkout for 10% off your entire order!
Allie Mahler is the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Sharehold, a design & innovation firm that helps communities and organizations transform themselves. Allie is an expert in all things community including building community, fostering community, and transforming community, and this episode is a deep dive into all of the above. In this episode, we discuss: What is community and why is it important? How Allie got started in community design and built a career around it How connecting to clients is simply connecting to people How the meaning of community is changing The benefits and pitfalls of online community How we are more connected but lonelier than ever How to find and/or build your own communities Our experience facilitating a retreat together All the deets: Find Allie on Instagram at @alliemahler Find Allie’s work: Sharehold // Community x Design, and this helpful article that describes her work Tag me (@saraweinreb) and Allie on Instagram with your favorite takeaways from the episode This episode is generously sponsored by Soom Foods. Use code MEDIUMWELL at checkout for 10% off your entire order!
I’m so excited for you to listen to today’s episode with Hilary Pearlson, Founder of The Dreamerie, Breathwork Teacher, & Intuitive Guide. This episode is broken down into two parts: the first hour, I interview Hilary about her journey to where she is now, her work, and how she structures her life to support her health and wellbeing. In the second hour, we flip the microphone and Hilary takes me through one of her clarity sessions, helping me to uncover some of my blocks, advising me on simplifying, and more. We discuss: How Hilary’s health journey led her to where she is today Her journey from fashion to health and wellness Her business, The Dreamerie, and what she does on a day to day basis How to find lessons in challenges Preventing burn out Hilary’s advice on how I need to get organized and simplify How to break the stories we tell ourselves How to figure out what is right for our wellbeing and build our own routines All the deets: Follow Hilary on Instagram at @the_dreamerie Check out The Dreamerie where you can read Hilary’s blog or sign up for one of her sessions Tools Hilary recommends (she outlines a lot of them in this blog post as well): Get organized with Asana, learn about the Pomodoro technique, try her free Kundalini kirtan kriya This episode is sponsored by Soom Foods. Use code MEDIUMWELL for 10% off your entire order. www.soomfoods.com Tag me (@saraweinreb) and Hilary on Instagram with your favorite takeaways from the episode
This week on the podcast, we’ve got a fellow work wife on—her name’s Amy Zitelman, and along with her sisters Shelby and Jackie, she runs Soom Foods, source of the creamiest, dreamiest tahini we’ve ever tasted. She’s sharing hard-earned wisdom on starting a business and genius ways to use the little sesame-seed paste that could. Oh, and we’ve got the last Alex update of 2018, and he’s bringing big news! P.S. Make like Claire’s unborn son and get your hands on these Candylab toy cars (big kids love them, too). Score yours for 10% off with the code AFEWTHINGS.
A lot happened this year. I started a company with two amazing people, I moved to Sacramento, I reconnected with old friends and I made new ones. So some updates for My Food Job Rocks. Lots of fun things happened this year. I was able to talk to some really amazing guests that made its mark in the food science community. I would say the past 100 episodes focused much more on innovative technologies, and startups, as well as having even better technical people on the show, in all sorts of disciplines from blockchain to clean meat. This was also the year where half of my guests weren’t people I had to hunt down and beg to be on the show. A big chunk of this years’ guests were actually from PR firms! And there were some really cool people. Susie Fogelson from the Food Network, Alan Reed from the City of Chicago, Claudia Sidoti from Hello Fresh, and so many more awesome people were pitched to me and I learned so much from them. However, this podcast has gotten a bit tough to manage. On the article, a Better Bet, I sprinkled throughout the article that the point of My Food Job Rocks was to develop a network so I could have the resources needed to create a great company when I was 30. However, things happened 4 years earlier and I’m now co-founder of a rising startup. The podcast’s initial purpose is done, so what now? I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t know. I still have a lot of fun doing it, and I find the learning experience like a routine. For me, it’s like jogging, or reading, or stuff like that. I learn and take away so much. Especially interviewing these CEO’s, I can now ask questions that are stumping Better Meat Co. For example, I asked Shelby Zitelman from Soom Foods and Sara Polon from Soupergirl, “how did you get your first sale?” And their answers were so good, I clipped them for our Smart Snack Bites (add bites). I learned a lot from that question, no one really expects their first sale, but when they do, it’s such a memorable experience. So what does that mean for next year? No idea actually. I’ll still be maintaining the blog, because it’s an outlet for me to talk, and it’s an outlet for me to share. Share my challenges and share my story so others can not make the same mistakes I did. Recording and writing helps me think clearer, talk better, and show people I’m a legitimate person, so I keep on doing it. We have a survey launching this week. It’s not about improving stuff, well it is, but the questions will be focused more on content variety. What do you want me to talk, or write about in the future? Who do you want me to interview? What would you want a T-shirt about Food Science to say? Stuff like that. I also find the My Food Job Rocks blog as great way to give food industry professionals an opportunity to write and show what they’re made of, and the growth of the people who have wrote for My Food Job Rocks has made me so proud. Veronica Hislop still writes, Julia Lamphear who wrote the Why Series, has her own Non-Profit, Faseeh Rahman who participated in our Food Science Global event is now posting food safety clips on LinkedIn and is getting so many opportunities! Carrie Ardnt, our latest guest poster used to just post her amazing packaging analysis posts on linkedin and they’d be swallowed in the abyss, but I wanted them to be achieved because they have value. These posts do so well on social media. Giving people who want to write the opportunity to write and see how their work is helping people is very valuable. If you’re interested, you know where to find me. However, I’m a tough boss because I want you to fall in love with writing on a consistent basis. What’s also nice is that my articles are actually being found in google. My name is also googleable, which definitively means I’m the best Adam Yee on the internet, right? Anyways, a handful of articles get a dozen views daily. Did I expect these articles to be searched so much? Sorta, I had a good hunch about them. Basically, here are the top 5 articles on My Food Job Rocks Food Science vs Nutrition Why You Shouldn’t Be a Food Scientist. What is Food Science, a Beginner’s Guide Resume Tips for Beginning Food Scientists The Graduate Student Series If you like stats like I do, I’ll have you know that David Despain’s podcast about being a CFS is actually the most viewed shownotes. Dr. Gabriel Keith Harris’ has the most downloads. In certain periods, Veronica’s articles also get a lot of views. For instance, this month, the Cotton Candy article is very popular. A couple of months back, Banana was trending and a couple of months before then, peanuts. The fruits of My Food Job Rocks’ labor has bore its benefits, not just in credibility. Heck, I think it saved me from a dark time when all of my friends left me in Phoenix. I have an article on Friday that’ll explain all of that. Many know the lessons of being consistent, and My Food Job Rocks is proof that if you do something everyday for two years…you’ll get better at it. But more importantly, people will respect you for it. Being consistent allowed me to get speaking gigs. Not just in IFT, but in San Francisco, and soon, perhaps some other conferences in the works. This was a lot of work, putting one block at a time, every week until it’s finally building to something pretty cool. To end on this, I wanted to talk about skills. Particularly, 5 of them These 5 skills are designed to get you through a startup, but now that I’m reviewing them, these skills will help you in any aspect of your career. As I think about these skills, these skills allowed me to excel at my last job, and is proving their worth at Better Meat Co. If you want to rise to the top, or want to survive the startup world, I suggest working on these skills. We’ll be analyzing why they’re important, and how you can get better at them. Top 5 Skills Autonomy Autonomy is the ability for you to confidentially do your job and deliver results without the help or permission of your equals or superiors. This is a very tough skill to master as it requires a lot of confidence in your craft. In school, you had to ask permission to do something, all the way to perhaps college. I would even guess that people who are We all go through this slope when it comes to acquiring a new skill. According to Wikipedia, we call this the four stages of competence. I actually learned about this when scanning through the brochure at my last job where it talked about how to sell nutrition products to your friends and family. The four stages are: Unconscious incompetence The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognize their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage. The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.[5] Conscious incompetence Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, they recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage. Conscious competence The individual understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.[5] Unconscious competence The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become "second nature" and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. The individual may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned. Everyone deals with this when it becomes a skill. Yet learning how to be automomous this can become a problem, A bad boss who helicopters around you can traumatize you into always asking your superiors if your option is the right option to do. A bad boss can really affect your career just because they can cripple your ambitions. You never know if what you do is right and it really affects your psyche. It’s a really terrible thing. The best way I found to solve this is to read books about this type of stuff. Reading helps you understand different perspectives. In many books, the saying “It’s better to beg for forgiveness then ask for permission”. What helps in this regard is to publish or ship something on your own. By creating something where you can give out or even better, sell on your own will give you more confidence in terms of doing work. What giving out or selling something does is validates that what you do is valuable to whomever you’re giving it to. Knowing you have full control over what people find valuable, and not your superiors makes your job a lot easier. Resourcefulness Phil Saneski and I have had a great talk on the power of resources. The podcast has also given me a very powerful resource pool and I’ve used some of my guest’s services and products to get work done at the startup. Using your resources is directly connected to how well you network. As many know, networking is an art and takes time to cultivate, but the benefits is like your garden actually growing food for you to eat. Podcasting, or in general, interviewing, is the ultimate networking tool because you cater to two people in particular: the people you’re interviewing have a close connection to you and if it was a good, legitimate interview, they remember that. But also the people who read or listen to your stuff. Yet let’s look at this through a microscope. With podcasting I learned how to cold call people to get on the show, advertise on social media, leverage and work together on other networks to amplify value on both sides, learned how to not be afraid of my own voice, to be consistent and deliver value every single week. Those are the skills, the crevices that get filled when you do a podcast and all of it, helps with being resourceful. Humility Back in college, I had a huge ego. I didn’t want to be wrong, and I made people cry. It took a lot of time working with different people to slowly break that down. Working in the multicultural center chipped it down, working with young, high school educated workers in the factory chipped it down, supervising coworkers who were older than me and were in a company longer than I was chipped that down. My coworkers are sometimes very surprised when I admit I’m wrong when the data shows that I’m wrong. Humility is a vital skill, and it requires a great amount of confidence and self-awareness for it to actually work. When you’re humiliated, shame or the perception of shame overwhelms you and you are paralyzed, or worse, you make things worse. Working on being shameless improves so many things. When shame stops affecting you, two things happen: you can share everything, and you have the vision that surpasses you being right or wrong. In the grand scheme of things, does your opinion matter? This is a big question. Nobody wants to look incompetent, or weak, or embarrassed, but everyone’s gone through this before. You won’t ever be fired for admitting your wrong if no damage has been done. In most cases, you’ll be thanked for your humility. Training for humility is hard, but it of course, involves risks. Failing high risk generally builds up humility but only if you can reflect on why your call was a bad one. I was fortunate enough for my CSO at Isagenix to throw me into very high risk situations. Sometimes, they didn’t work out the way I planned, so I reviewed what went wrong and tried again. Having a sort of Nihilistic or Stoic mindset when it comes to humility also works wonders. Reading books from Ryan Holiday, or Seth Godin helps wonders in understanding Humility. Understanding humility will help you put yourself out there more, and will allow you to sympathize with anyone. Curiosity This is a skill that always pops up on almost every interview with a passionate food scientist. They are generally curious on how things work. But on this episode, I want to emphasize the importance of learning the whole process. For the food industry, that means learning literally everything. This was resonated from Alan Reed from the Chicagoland Food and Beverage Network. This guy got an MBA and did marketing, but he was so interested in the whole process, he recently took a role of Executive Director. Will Holsworth started in Pepsi, where Pepsi knows the importance of knowing the whole process and many food companies develop leadership programs to explore the whole process. Maybe you don’t have the luxury to do this, but that doesn’t matter. You can still talk to your colleagues about learning what’s going on. You can still force yourself to attend meetings that bridge the knowledge gaps. You can still listen to My Food Job Rocks podcasts to see a glimpse of the day in the life of what goes in your food. Curiosity killing the cat is a threat. It doesn’t work anymore because now, the floodgates on gaining knowledge is now infinite. Even if someone will harm you for their knowledge, there are many ways to get around it, connect the dots, and create a different recipe. Secret formulas don’t make sense any more because brand is associated with flavor. Who cares if your product tastes like Coca Cola or your product tastes like KFC’s chicken? Will coke or KFC lose market share because you found their formula? Maybe 50 years ago, but now, their brands are so strong, it doesn’t matter. Instead, what if you just learned the process, or how the flavors work in products and make your own masterpiece? This takes curiosity to dive in and find our how to do things. Curiosity isn’t about copying products, it’s about discovering systems. Curiosity allows you to connect the dots and create innovation for the sake of innovation. Craft There is a difference between treating your profession as a job versus treating your profession as a craft. Treating your profession like a job is just doing the same thing, waiting to just be done, get money and spend it on whatever. And the cycle repeats. Treating your profession as a craft means that you want to improve the work you do enough where people will notice and love what you do. A job is a cyclical process, you do things for the sake of compensation, and that’s fine. A craft is like a spiral. You do things, but every day, every week, or every iteration, you want to improve. Making your job your craft delivers a lot of things that help see your life as a bit more palatable. For one, you deviate from the fact that you aren’t doing it for the money anymore. Most artists don’t do things for the money, you don’t have to either. Perhaps the payoff of improving your craft is appealing. That one day, you will get what you deserve through hard work and improvement. But most of all, improving on your craft gives you a sense of purpose. By slowly imporving what you do to make people’s lives’ better, for a chance to be the best of it is a very satisfying goal, that gives your life meaning. It’s a blessing if your job and your craft is one and the same, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, I would say that if it wasn’t for podcasting, I wouldn’t have ever made food science my craft. Podcasting allowed me to dive deeply into this meta-learning state, reading more about the art of crafting. Now both food science and podcasting are a craft to me, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Having a craft means having a goal where you will keep on improving it until you get to that goal, and then achieve a bigger goal. For podcasting, it was “make 6 episodes”, then “get sponsors” then “get 100 episodes”, and now, “get 300 episodes”. For Food Science, I started my job in a granola bar factory. The goal was to “get a product development job”, then it was “make really good products”. Then it was “start your own company”, now it’s “make an impact”. All of these skills can be cultivated all at the same time very easily. All you need to do is start something you’re passionate in. Someone last week came up to me and talked about trying to change the healthcare system. Instead of drugs, he wants turmeric, medicinal mushrooms, etc to solve our health problems. He mentioned in his question to the speakers “when can something like turmeric-mushroom mix, be sold in the stores instead of drugs?” Afterwards we talked, he said that he knows that our healthcare system is a big problem. I told him if he wanted to fix it, of course, he did. After I told him the story of the podcast, and the Better Meat Co, and how that all got started, all I said was “If you can’t sell your own turmeric-mushroom mix, what makes you think you have a shot of changing the healthcare system?”. People have the power to change things, but sometimes the problem is so big, nobody starts. This is the current issue with climate change. We’re getting close, we need more help. So finally, this is the final ask. You might be able to work for 8-12 hour a day, but afterwards, you have 8-12 hours to make an impact. You just have to start something. A blog, a podcast, an event every weekend, a food stand in a farmer’s market. Elon Musk said it takes 80 hours to change the world. There was a lot of backlash from his post, but I am a firm believe you have to work hard to make an impact. So do more than the 100 people I’ve interviewed. A lot of people don’t make an impact in their life. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, there are many people like you. But for those who do want to leave an impact, we need you. We need more heroes. And we’re all here, happy to support you. And I'll be so happy when I can say "Welcome to the community"
Amy Zitelman, Co-Founder of Soom Foods, joins the Real Food Brands Marketing Podcast to discuss building awareness and trial of the tahini category in the US market. In This Episode: How Amy and her sisters started Soom Foods How Soom built awareness for tahini, a relatively unknown product in the US market Why it’s important to have a diverse team with complimentary skill sets How to find and build genuine relationships with influencers, including bloggers and award winning chefs How Soom utilizes user generated content (recipes) in social media How to build associations with adjacent food categories to bring awareness to your own product How demos can help build your brand even if store traffic is slow that day Why Amazon can help small food businesses build an online presence How the Soom team uses social media to build something meaningful beyond sales What single # skyrocketed their visibility on social media Resources: Soom Foods Website and Instagram Real Food Brands Marketing Roundtable Facebook Group Real Food Brands Chef Michael Michael Solomonov -- Zahav restaurant and cookbook
Soom Foods started 5 years ago, with one of the Zitelman sister’s boyfriend, introducing them to their family’s Tahini in Israel. One taste of this Tahini, convinced the sisters that it had to go to the United States, no matter what. 5 years later, chefs and influencers alike love the stuff, and it’s now popping up in East Coast whole foods stores. I personally got a ton of value from Shelby’s interview because as I started Better Meat Co, we are running into a lot of the same situations Soom Foods ran into. The questions I ask are quite timely, and hopefully, they’ll help you understand the complexities of a food business. I appreciate Shelby’s honesty in the interview and we go into things such as the risk of marketing campaigns, the complex sales channels of the food industry, and a lot of talk about the health perspectives of this seed based butter. About Shelby Shelby is the CEO & Co-Founder of Soom Foods, and is the oldest of the three Soom sisters. Inspired by her entrepreneurial family, Shelby graduated from the Wharton School with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Management. Shelby is responsible for developing the company’s strategy, managing the finances and accounting, managing the team and overseeing contractor relationships. She spends her downtime exploring kid-friendly Philadelphia with her husband, Dan and their two sons, Malcolm and Julius. 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 When someone asks what you do for a living, what do you tell them?: I am a tahini saleswoman, I’m a food importer and distributor. I’m the CEO of Soom foods What does CEO mean to you?: I’m the captain of the ship and I direct where the ship goes. What’s the best part about being a CEO?: I love the opportunity to be a CEO What is something surprising to you about food?: The marketing costs were surprising. Especially in retail. Slotting or Coupons are also a surprising thing The return on marketing campaigns are a gamble, but it works when it works Advocacy and trusted influencers helped a ton for our business Describe the steps to where you are today: I studied entrepreneurship, went into venture capital (Ops) and then worked in a non-profit. My middle sister Jackie dated Omri, who’s family owned a tahini operation. Eventually, I asked to sell this amazing product over to the US. My two sisters and I started the business and we all have important skillsets It took us two years to get the tahini to the United States and that was a huge amount of work figuring it out No Business Plan Survives First Impact Is a business plan useful?: Yes, it provides a general framework What’s special about your Tahnini?: We get our sesame seeds from Ethiopia. The oil to meat ratio makes for a great butter What do people use the tahnini for?: Mostly hummus, however, drizzled on roasted vegetables or eaten with yogurt. We also have squeeze packs and they work great in trade shows and in portion control Do you label an allergen for tahini sauce?: Yes, seeds. We receive positive affirmation for being an alternative to peanutbutter or almond butter What is the most important skill you can have when starting a company?: Know who and when to ask questions. Due diligence and surrounding yourself with people you can count on How did you get your first sale?: We knew a chef and wanted some advice. So we had him evaluated the product, he tried it, and he instantly bought it. We can solve a lot of pain points using our tahini, especially on improving tahini output Why does your food job rock?: I really believe in what we’re selling is a good product. It’s so rewarding hearing our customers love our product. Tahini Sauce Chocolate Tahini Silan – Date Syrup What are the negative feedback you’ve gotten in your product?: Calories and fat. For us, we realize we can’t be everything to everyone. Any positive feedback from the keto community?: Not yet, but we are hoping to get more people to use tahini. We’ve worked with Keto bloggers and put our products in Keto boxes. Sometimes we get black specs in the product, and we have to explain to the customer that it’s natural What is the biggest problem in the food industry right now?: Food Waste and Supply Chain. One of the hardest thing for me to do is to throw away products. Even though we see poor people who can’t afford our food Sarah Ramirez Blockchain What is one thing in the food industry you’d like to know more about?: the economics of a grocery store. How can they afford what they do? How are your online sales?: 80% of our revenue is food service, 20% is retail 15% Ecommerce, 5% Retail. We ask ourselves why do retail? Good distribution. JUST Foods Retail has a powerful brand effect Favorite Quote: You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take – Wayne Gretski Favorite Book: To Kill a Mockingbird Favorite Kitchen Item: A corkscrew – for opening wine! Advice for anyone starting a food business: Retail and grocery stores are not the only way to sell food. Healthcare for instance, is its own world. How do you like working with your sisters?: Love it, we have different skill sets. We’ve all messed up and just said how we can fix it. Where can we find you for advice?: Online, or Amazon.
Three sisters out of Philadelphia — Jackie, Shelby, and Amy Zitelman — started Soom Foods. Their goal? To make tahini a staple in American pantries. But to start, they began with chefs. Who are your early adopters and how can those customers become your biggest brand advocates? How do you know when to diversify your sales channels? Tune into this episode of The Tidbit to learn the Soom story with CEO, Shelby Zitelman.
Shelby Zitelman and her sisters Jackie and Amy run Soom foods. Based in Philadelphia they import tahini from Israel that is made from single origin sesame seeds sourced in Humera, Ethiopia. While finishing a business degree Shelby was visitng her sister in Israel and met her then boyfriend (now husband) and got her first real taste of tahini that he was making. Why wasn't this quality of product available in the US? this simple question launched Soom, who now have expanded their line to include a chocolate tahini spread as well as Silan, a date syrup. Tune in to hear how this company got started, what it's like working with your family, and where tahini goes in the supermarket. Feast Yr Ears is powered by Simplecast.
What's your biggest struggle with your business? Is it managing cash flow? Is it customer related? How do you educate customers about your product or service and what's the best way to communicate with them and get feedback to foster authentic relationships? Maybe it's a combination of these questions, and you want to make yourself known in the market. Today's guest and Tahini queen Amy Zitelman is the VP of Business Development and Co-Founder of the certified women-owned brand Soom Foods. Soom Foods speaks to the versatility of tahini by offering unique products and recipes to make tahini a staple food product in America. Tune in to hear how three sisters and one boyfriend developed a brand of love for food, family, and community. In this episode you will… Hear how her understanding of market and customer changed over five years Learn ways to educate customers when your product isn’t well-known Know about metrics of returning customers Uncover the benefits of working with resellers on Amazon Discover different ways to manage cash flow Find out ways to stay focused during the day INSIGHTS: “I would say the lack of strategy created our strategy. Because once you go out there and realize what’s working and what’s not, it really helps define the strategy better than making these assumptions; because you have the product and it’s a real-life experience.” Amy Zitelman “The challenge with selling to restaurants is you need several restaurants to want to buy your product or already be buying your product before a distributor will pick it up. That involves not only selling to the restaurant but delivering to it.” Amy Zitelman “I’d say that was one of the biggest challenges at first, the operations and the supply chain, just doing it easier. It was not easy at first.” Amy Zitelman “What we’ve been trying to prove for the past five years is that tahini is good for more than just hummus.” Amy Zitelman “Restaurants influence retail these days.” Amy Zitelman “What's amazing about the restaurant industry, and especially chefs these days, is that they’re celebrities and that kind of was brought into a wider scope of just finding the influencer for your product.” Amy Zitelman “At the end of the day the best thing that’s ever influenced our online sales has been traditional press.” Amy Zitelman “Our main goal is to create sincere relationships with people...Our press has been organic and it really led to our success. It’s the only thing we have been able to see a significant return on investment from.” Amy Zitelman “The best ways we’ve been able to generate sales is through authentic relationships.” Amy Zitelman “What's really great about these resellers are these are people that really understand the algorithms and ways to make Amazon more successful for a company, much more than we could’ve by just having the product up and hoping people would search for it.” Amy Zitelman “After the first three years we went back and we looked at where we were spending our money and we projected out our budget based on experience.” Amy Zitelman “Take a deep look at what is the most important thing for you to do to get more business and invest in that heavily.” Amy Zitelman RESOURCES: Soom Foods Website Soom Foods Facebook Soom Foods Instagram Soom Foods Twitter Soom Foods Pinterest “Presence” by Amy Cuddy
038 | Shelby Zitelman Goes From Wharton to Ultimate Sales Success Shelby Zitelman, inspired by her entrepreneurial family, graduated from the Wharton School with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Management, and has applied this degree to all of her jobs since. As the "brains" of Soom Foods Shelby is responsible for developing the Company’s strategy, managing the finances and accounting, managing the team and overseeing contractor relationships. Have you taken the time to determine your passions? Do those passions align with your values? Right after college Shelby went for a job with Accenture, and was turned down! For most people this would be pretty devastating, but she just looked at it as an opportunity to truly discover what she was passionate about, and then created a life around those passions. Shelby has experienced some pretty major NO’s in her career, from losing a contract with a major salad chain restaurant to losing a bid with a major tahini distributor, but NONE of those NO’s have caused her to waver from her true passions in life! If you’re ready to learn how to honor your passions, download this MUST LISTEN episode of Success Unfiltered! Enjoy, thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Shelby Zitelman for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! P.S. How Do You Sabotage Your Business Success? By undervaluing your products and services. Selling yourself short. And never understanding your TRUE worth. If you’re tired of stress, resentment, and frustration in your business, stop right here. Grab a copy of my FREE guide, “Owning Your Worth: A Guide To Knowing Your Value And Naming Your Price.” And learn how to KNOW, OWN, and ASK FOR what you are worth. Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Shelby. Shelby shares her story of attending The Wharton Business School. The first NO Shelby received was completely unexpected and threw her for a loop, but allowed her to explore what her real passions were. This NO started Shelby on her entrepreneurial path. Shelby shares how she overcame that NO and how she made her first sale. Soom Foods (Shelby’s company) most devastating NO, led them to bigger and better things. Shelby shares the pitch she and her sisters use when approaching new businesses. “We want to make sure that they're not just buying a product, but that they are buying an experience.” ~ Shelby Zitelman Losing a bid for a company that purchases for 500,000 pounds of tahini was Soom Foods biggest blow that was actually a blessing in disguise, and Shelby shares the whole story. Shelby recommends that when you are new to business and young, you take time to learn from the experts . Shelby shares the story of being able to turn away a large distributor that services a huge part of the country because the values of the two companies didn’t align. Soom Foods was able to turn away some of the biggest East Coast retailers who wanted them to make a tahini dip. They did this so they could just focus on their tahini. Shelby shares what she’d tell her younger self. Connect with Shelby: Facebook Twitter Instagram Soom Foods Website How Do You Sabotage Your Business Success? By undervaluing your products and services. Selling yourself short. And never understanding your TRUE worth. If you’re tired of stress, resentment, and frustration in your business, stop right here. Grab a copy of my FREE guide, “Owning Your Worth: A Guide To Knowing Your Value And Naming Your Price.” And learn how to KNOW, OWN, and ASK FOR what you are worth. Music produced by Deejay-O www.iamdeejayo.com
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