POPULARITY
2 episodes with Veggie Grill
3 episodes with Veggie Grill
2 episodes with Veggie Grill
2 episodes with Veggie Grill
4 episodes with Veggie Grill
2 episodes with Veggie Grill
2 episodes with Veggie Grill
2 episodes with Veggie Grill
2 episodes with Veggie Grill
In this episode of Eat for the Planet, Matt de Gruyter, CEO and co-founder of Next Level Burger, discusses the brand's significant progress since 2018, including the acquisition and turnaround of Veggie Grill, its ambitious expansion goals, and the evolving plant-based food landscape. Matt reflects on combating misinformation, balancing operational discipline with a strong work culture, and creating a sustainable, compassionate food system while emphasizing the critical role of leadership and persistence in driving long-term change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dan & Manny recast the 1996 sci-fi action classic Independence Day for the Buzzn The Tower Podcast! This is the wildest ten minutes of podcasting, EVER! Recorded while Dan was eating lunch at Veggie Grill in Santa Monica and Manny was just getting off of work, this is an old school earbuds-for-microphones Nostalgia Test Podcast. Manny expresses some strong love for Ed Harris, welcomes the Buzzn The Tower boys to the 90s, Dan shouts out Jason Mewes as the most underrated actor of the 90s, thinks Independence Day needs to be rated R, and so much more! SUGGEST A 90s TEST FOR AN UPCOMING EPISODE! EP.120 COMING TO YOUTUBE! Some Episode Notes Independence Day (Movie 1996) Cuba Gooding Jr. Will Smith Jeff Goldblum Buzzn The Tower Buzzn The Tower: Recasting Independence Day Jerry Maguire (Movie 1996) Tom Hanks Castaway (Movie 2000) Forrest Gump (Movie1994) Randy Quaid Ed Harris Jim Carrey Liar Liar (Movie 1997) Truman Show (Movie 1998) The Rock (Movie 1996) Jason Mewes Jay and Silent Bob Kevin Smith Dogma (Movie 1999) The Craft (Movie 1996) Fairuza Balk Pulp Fiction (Movie 1994) Robert Loggia Samuel L. Jackson Keanu Reeves Judd Hirsch Janeane Garofalo Reality Bites (Movie 1994) Margaret Collin Sandra Bullock Practical Magic (Movie 1998) Speed (Movie 1994) Matthew Lillard Brett Spiner Scream (Movie 1996) SCL Punk! (Movie 1998) Vivica A. Fox Tisha Campbell Martin (TV Series 1994-1997) Killer Klowns from Outer Space (Movie 1988) Mars Attacks! (Movie 1996) Jodie Foster Mary McDonnell Bill Pullman Contact/Book The Nostalgia Test Podcast! Podcast Guest Appearances Themed Parties Hosting Screenings Corporate Events Reunions Weddings Birthday Parties Trivia The Nostalgia Test Podcast will create a personalized Nostalgic experience for any occasion! Email us at thenostalgiatest@gmail.com or fill out the Google Form below to get the process started. We're open to in-person and virtual events. Pricing may vary depending on the details of your event/party. LET'S GET NOSTALGIC! Keep up with all things The Nostalgia Test Podcast on Instagram | Twitter | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook The intro and outro music ('Neon Attack 80s') is by Emanmusic. The other music ("ABCD") is by Pudge. Any other music you hear, The Nostalgia Test Podcast does not own.
With the news of a blockbuster vegan fast food merger between Next Level Burger and Veggie Grill, Jason and Mike discuss the future of Veggie Grill.
Tuesday, January 16th. In this episode we talk about: Weather report: Next Level Burger acquires Veggie Grill, New Oatly Products, Arizona proposes cultivated meat labeling bill and ban bill Italian Woman is Killed by Tiramisu (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12968319/italian-woman-killed-tiramisu-dairy-allergy-vegan-dessert-served-milk.html) The Top 100 Vegan Cookbooks of All Time (https://vegnews.com/cookbooks/best-vegan-cookbooks) Tune in live every weekday at 11am to watch on YouTube or on Instagram (@plantbasedmorningshow and @nomeatathlete_official), or watch on Twitter or Twitch! Follow @plantbasedmorningshow, @realmattfrazier, and @itsdoughay for more.
Struggling Boston Market is waiving traditional franchising rules, allowing just about anyone to operate under its brand. Veggie Grill has a new owner. And Chipotle's founder is germinating a new concept.
One of the plant-based category's true pioneers recently had to shut down 12 locations. Cofounder and CEO, T.K. Pillan, joins QSR editorial director Danny Klein to discuss the difficult decision, why it was necessary, and how it allows Veggie Grill to be laser-focused on its founding mission. Also, where the category is headed, and what Veggie Grill's menu-driven plan to separate from the pack will look like.
This week Sara sits down with comedian Chris Fleming talking everything from Veggie Grill, Chris Rock at Burning Man, and the unlikely friendship of Sting and Shaggy.Follow Chris at:Chris Fleming (@chrisflemingfleming) - Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chrisflemingfleming/?hl=enTour dates at http://chrisflemingfleming.com/Watch Chris Fleming: HELL Streaming Online | Peacock https://www.peacocktv.com/watch-online/movies/chris-fleming-hell/424ef6af-52b5-32eb-971e-cca03cb41f39Follow Sara Weinshenk @princessshenkhttps://www.instagram.com/princessshenk/Patreon.com/saraweinshenk***ENTER GUEST***Edited By Drew Bockhttps://wwww.instagram.com/drewbockkindofFollow Kim Congdon and Weinshenk's podcast This Bitch subscribe on youtube @ThisBitchPodcastBrought to you by:FLINTTS MINTSSHOP LINK FOR 10% OFFhttps://flintts.com/pages/shenkhttps://ooohyeah.com @ooohyeahsocks - Discount Code: SARA10Studio @mastermyndmediahttps://www.instagram.com/mastermyndm….https://www.mastermyndmedia.com/
Los Angeles-based chain Lemonade has been sold to Elite Restaurant Group. Veggie Grill has closed 12 restaurants. And the Subway sale might be the third largest valuation ever paid for a restaurant chain.
Our vegan hacks talk about the struggling all vegan fast food franchise Veggie Grill. Can this breakthrough vegan franchise survive?
Veggie Grill by Restaurant Technology Guys Podcast, sponsored by Custom Business Solutions
Discover the fascinating journey of Veggie Grill founder and executive chairman, TK Pillan, in this captivating episode of Eye On Franchising hosted by Lance Graulich. Learn how TK Pillan transformed a holistic dietitian's vision into a revolutionary plant-based restaurant concept that has taken the country by storm. Explore how Veggie Grill is optimizing their delivery of delicious, nutritious, and sustainable plant-based food to make the world a better place. Join the plant- TK Pillan's journey from a back-end technology guy to leading the plant-based revolution in the restaurant industry.- The advantages of franchising with Veggie Grill, such as the support and training they provide to their franchisees.- The importance of marketing for restaurant success, including leveraging the local community, having brand assets and programs, and utilizing social media channels.- The power of social media for Veggie Grill and the need KEY POINTS Approximately mentioned @ 00:05:03Seeking franchisees to invest and optimize plant-based food delivery through delicious burgers, sandwiches, salads, bowls, appetizers and desserts. No animal products. Investment requirements, square footage and more discussed. Approximately mentioned @ 00:07:22TK Pillan founded the plant-based restaurant chain in 2006 with a vision of creating a brand that would make plant-based food more approachable and part of American culture, for the benefit of people's health and the planet. Approximately mentioned @ 00:10:42The US is the most obese developed nation in the world, highlighting a need for health and wellness initiatives and business opportunities such as plant-based franchises. Approximately mentioned @ 00:16:35Veggie Grill offers delicious, plant-based dishes that appeal to carnivores and herbivores alike. Popular items include vegan sandwiches, salads, and bowls crafted with imaginative ingredients. Approximately mentioned @ 00:17:08Effective marketing and comprehensive training are essential to the success of Veggie Grill, a restaurant chain specializing in plant-based cuisine. A dedicated team provides resources to franchise owners, ensuring they can deliver the best of the vegan world to customers. Approximately mentioned @ 00:33:04Franchising provides an efficient platform for marketing, as seen in the success of Veggie Grill. Their goal is to sign great franchisees in 2021 and focus on building out locations in various markets in 2024. Have you heard the news? We are officially on YouTube. Come check out a few videos have have and give me a follow!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwoAdrkPZmveJt5AQRDk8WA---Lance GraulichFranchise Consulting Services from ION FranchisingEye On Franchising
This week on the show, we're talking about lunch at Le Botaniste in NYC and eating a ton of vegan snacks that we picked up at Buc-ee's!SHOW NOTESThe move Dave wants to watch is Glass Onion.This week's To-Views was about The Menu.Here's the episode with the news item about Veggie Grill's 4-in-1 location in NYC.News Item: Swiss Court Rules Vegan Meat Labels Not 'Deceptive' To ShoppersThe kettle corn that Becky likes is Boom-Chicka-Pop.The Buc-ee's items we tried were: spicy pickled Brussels sprouts, the cinnamon pecan and the pistachio Nutty Bites, dried mango, Beaver Nuggets.Thank you so much for listening. We record these episodes for you, and we'd love to hear from you. Got a favorite vegan treat that you think we should cover on the podcast? Send your suggestions to talkintofupod@gmail.com! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Andre Menezes is the Co-Founder & CEO of Next Gen Foods. Andre broke a record for plant-based meat companies when his company TiNDLE raised $100 million in Series A funding. Tindle makes a plant-based chicken alternative that's sold around the world and championed by world-class chefs and fast-food chains alike. But more importantly, Andre's personal journey took him from working directly in the meat industry for many years to realizing the problems with that industry and why plant-based meat alternatives are the future of “meat”. It doesn't get more exciting and inspiring than this, so I apologize in advance for nerding out. Highlights: https://rosspalmer.com/andre-menezes ➡️ https://tindle.com/
Jim Kaa is the CEO and President of Polly's Pies. He has spent nearly 40 years in the restaurant industry, formerly working as Vice President of Accounting for The Veggie Grill, Director of Financial Planning and Analysis for Pacific Restaurant Advisors, Director of Accounting for Ruby Restaurant Group, and Director of Finance and Administration for Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Jim Kaa holds a bachelor's degree in Accounting from California State University in Long Beach. In this episode… In this episode of the SpotOn Series, Chad Franzen speaks with Jim Kaa, CEO and President of Polly's Pies, about his experiences going from Director of Finance and Accounting for restaurants like Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and The Veggie Grill, to being CEO and operating all aspects of a restaurant. Jim talks about the unique struggles he's faced, between Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, and the constantly-changing challenges of the pandemic. You'll hear how Jim tackles adversity head-on, with innovative adaptations to stay ahead and keep his restaurants successful.
T.K. Pillan is the founder and chairman of Veggie Grill, the largest 100% plant-based restaurant company in the United States. Founded in 2006, Veggie Grill's mission is to change American food culture for the better. T.K. is also a founding partner of PowerPlant Partners, a growth equity fund investing in emerging consumer food, beverage, and food service companies. Prior to Veggie Grill, T.K. was co-founder of Guidance Solutions, one of L.A's first end-to-end web development and e-commerce systems integration firms which he ran from 1995 to 2004.SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER & STAY UPDATED > http://bit.ly/tfh-newsletterFOLLOW TFH ON INSTAGRAM > http://www.instagram.com/thefounderhourFOLLOW TFH ON TWITTER > http://www.twitter.com/thefounderhourINTERESTED IN BECOMING A SPONSOR? EMAIL US > partnerships@thefounderhour.com
Was it a good idea to record at 11:30pm in a hotel room in Gresham, Oregon? No! Did we redeem ourselves by recording at 10:00am the next day? Not really! We're recording on Easter, and generally have good holidays in our family. Shout out to our youngest listener, and a quick chat about kids books. We discuss our food choices over the weekend. Please visit WOOD VILLAGE BURRITO SHOP if you're ever in the Troutdale area of Oregon. We have some new weed accessories. We have some GET OUT SPOILERS so skip ahead if you're years behind like us. Ira Levin books and movies. What horror movies do we like? Vegetarian burgers and hot vegetarian food. Mary has beef with The Doughboys podcast, because the Veggie Grill mac and cheese is spicy. The insane housing market. What the hell - Mary buys water now? Umpire Pants Out! And Umpire Pants back in, baby! Stay tuned for the last 20 minutes where we get super sloppy. Another review of Get Out? Should Mary and Bill start a movie podcast? We do one hint from Kelley's Hint List then end this shit-show. Umpire Pants Out!
You are in for a treat today. The conversation you're about to hear was one of the most educational experiences I've had since starting the show. T.K. Pillan is not of our industry but that has resulted in him creating a blockbuster concept by taking a different approach to restaurant operations and marketing. Today he unpacks the strategies he used to scale Veggie Grill nationally. For more on Veggie Grill go to https://veggiegrill.com FULL COMP is brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a few hundred employees formed Yelp for Restaurants. Our goal is to build tools that help restaurateurs do more with limited time. ________________________________ CLICK HERE to Chat with Josh Free Download: 5 Steps to Achieve a 15% Net Profit We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting: FULL COMP Restaurant Marketing School The Playbook Industry Town Halls
I'm always impressed by visionary leaders who innovate and transform our industry. In this episode of the Restaurant Rockstars Podcast, I'm speaking with T.K. Pillan Founder and Executive Chairman of the largest, most influential vegan/vegetarian restaurant company in the U.S. His restaurants include The Veggie Grill, Mas Veggies Vegan Taqueria, and Stand Up Burgers. T.K.'s mission is to stop animal cruelty, end world hunger, and improve both the health of the planet and his guests. I've always believed that a great restaurant website draws the customer in, giving them the sights, sounds, and smells of the experience before they even walk in the door. Whether you are plant-based or not, you will be amazed at how delicious their menu items look and how well they are featured. A photo is worth 1,000 words! Listen to this episode as T.K. and I discuss: - Why they focus on a plant-based approach - The reaction and conversion of the public once they try the food and experience his concepts - How menu items are designed for presentation, delicious flavor, and guest satisfaction - R & D and the process they use to select and add new items to the menus - Giving back to the community and environmental causes - Labor challenges and best practices And much more… Innovation is alive and well in our business, and you never know where your next idea might lead. Now go out there and ROCK Your Restaurant! Roger Thank you to our sponsors: The Restaurant Rockstars Academy – The Ultimate Start-up & Management Resource - Everything you need to know to crush it in the restaurant business: https://restaurantrockstars.com/pricing/ Davo – Automate Your Sales Tax. Why not Try Davo FREE for 30 days: https://www.davosalestax.com/
Mary Sasson (Robbie, College Humor) joins the 'boys to discuss D.P. Dough and rowing before a review of Veggie Grill. Plus, another edition of Last Meal. Sources for this week's intro: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/16/opinion/factory-farming-animals.html https://www.livekindly.co/60-of-all-mammals-on-earth-are-livestock-says-new-study/ https://www.ecowatch.com/biomass-humans-animals-2571413930.html https://blogs.anderson.ucla.edu/anderson/2016/03/five-lessons-in-entrepreneurship-from-the-founder-of-veggie-grill-.html https://veggiegrill.com/story/ Want more Doughboys? Check out our Patreon!: https://patreon.com/doughboys See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Please welcome T.K. Pillan, Founder and Executive Chairman of Veggie Grill, a growing chain of plant-based restaurants. Veggie Grill is the largest 100% plant-based restaurant company in the United States. Since founding Veggie Grill in 2006, T.K. has been helping people advance their conscious food journey in an approachable and attainable manner. T.K. Pillan is also the Founding Partner of PowerPlant Partners, which invests in purpose-led companies dedicated to improving humanity and the planet. PowerPlant Partners investments include Beyond Meat, Thrive Market, Ripple Foods, REBBL, Beanfields and Vive Organics.
In this episode we talk to T.K. Pillan Chairman and Founder of Veggie Grill. Veggie Grill is the largest fast casual plant based restaurant chain with 33 locations across the US. They have launched two new concepts which they are planning to role out further this year. The first is 'Stand Up Burger' a traditional burger and shake restaurant and 'Más Veggies Vegan Taqueria' a Mexican delivery and pickup only offering. With all three offering tasty, cruelty-free and sustainable convenience food. We hear more about the growth plans for this year and T.K's own journey to create Veggie Grill. T.K. is also a Founding Partner at Power Plant Partners a VC company that has invested previously in Beyond Meat, Ripple Foods and more recently Miyoko's Creamery and The Coconut Calab. https://veggiegrill.com/ https://www.standupburgers.com/ https://www.eatmasveggies.com/ https://powerplantpartners.co/ About PLANT CEO More people are choosing to follow plant-based diets or are reducing their meat intake. Exciting new startups are developing alternatives to traditional meat, dairy and seafood products, Whether it be food, fashion or health and beauty there are companies that are trying to change the way we consume products whilst reducing the impact on the planet. Hear from some of the inspirational entrepreneurs that are leading the way forward. https://plantceo.com/
Justin Bartek is the Chief Marketing Officer of JINYA Holdings Inc., a group consisting of JINYA Ramen Bar and 3 other world-class ramen brands. Justin is a master marketer with experience as the Marketing Director at the Halal Guys, Veggie Grill, Qdoba, and others. He has also executed over 5000 campaigns for brands such as Domino's and Ace Hardware. On this episode, Justin and host, Zack Oates discuss:The number one goal of restaurant marketersWhat to do with customer data (e.g., send new chicken dishes to chicken lovers)Omni-channelWhere you should start with restaurant marketingIs location that important? (Yes)The importance of convenienceMoreThanks, Justin!
Phil and Jake are joined by returning guest Matt Hock (from Space Cadet & The Explosion) to rank In-N-Out Burger, and word mash-ups aka portmanteaus on the List of Every Damn Thing.Get Space Cadet's record “Lion On A Leash” on Wiretap Records, listen to them on Spotify, and follow them on Instagram (@space_cadet_band). And go to one of their upcoming shows!If you have something to add to the list, email it to list@everydamnthing.net (or get at us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook).SHOW NOTES: In the episode, Phil talks about @tweakseason on TikTok. Phil doesn't have TikTok but he has a summary of @tweakseason's activities on his desk every Monday morning. Here's a youtube compilation it's in the genre of "guy walking around NYC". Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser is a book about fast food in America. We read it a long time ago but we remember it was heavy on the Carl's Jr. One of the last chapters is about how everything they just said about how bad the industry is doesn't really apply to In-N-Out - they pay their workers better, produce better quality food, etc. Shake Shack is a fast-casual hamburger chain based in NYC (which is now nationwide). According to Phil, the burger is better than In-N-Out but it costs three times as much. We mention Taqueria Diana in Williamsburg again. Go there. Dick's is the place where the cool hang out. The swass like to play, and the rich flaunt clout. It's a burger place in Seattle. In an alternate universe it took off in popularity instead of In-N-Out. Sir Mix-A-Lot is a Seattle-based rapper and HAM radio enthusiast. Waffle House is an all-day breakfast chain based in the Southeast. When fights happen at Waffle House, they often end up on social media. Veggie Grill is a vegetarian fast food chain on the West Coast, as well as in New York and Massachusetts. It's pretty much wherever coastal elites like to be, and it's good food. Taco Time is a Mexican fast food chain in the western U.S., but not California. El Pollo Loco deserves to be ranked later. It's Phil's favorite fast-food chain. "Thighvertising" came up in Phil's search for portmanteaus. He admits Jake was right it should be called “adverthighsing”. James Joyce coined the term “Scandiknavery” in Finnegan's Wake'. It's pretty specific but we're looking forward to using it. Phil thinks “pegacorn is” a bad one because "Winged Unicorn" just sounds better. Other portmanteaus discussed include “bodacious”, “throuple”, “guesstimate” and “chillax”. After plugging his own shows, Matt makes sure to plug our good friend Dave Hause's upcoming shows in November. ALSO DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:Jesus Christ * Animal Style * French fries * anti-vaxxers * * Popeye's chicken * Steven Seagal * QAnon * war * the Jersey Shore * Alice in Wonderland * Pompeii * goats * Jessica Rabbit * skorts * jorts * jeggings * Watchmen (TV series) * Below are the Top Ten and Bottom Top items on List of Every Damn Thing as of this episode (for the complete up-to-date list, go here).TOP TEN: Dolly Parton - person interspecies animal friends - idea sex - idea Clement Street in San Francisco - location Prince - person It's-It - food Cher - person Pee-Wee Herman - fictional character Donald Duck - fictional character Hank Williams - person BOTTOM TEN:204. Jenny McCarthy - person205. Jon Voight - person206. Hank Williams, Jr - person207. British Royal Family - institution208. Steven Seagal - person209. McRib - food210. war - idea211. cigarettes - drug212. QAnon - idea213. transphobia - ideaTheme song by Jade Puget. Graphic design by Jason Mann. This episode was produced & edited by Jake MacLachlan, with audio help from Luke Janela. Show notes by Jake MacLachlan & Phil Green.Our website is everydamnthing.net and we're also on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.Email us at list@everydamnthing.net.
By 2050, we will need to increase food production by about 60% to accommodate an ever growing population. The way we make and consume food now, however, is not conducive or a sustainable way to meet these needs. Enter PowerPlant Partners, a firm that is investing in companies and products that will enable us to meet this goal and more! As the Vice President of the Investment Team of PowerPlant Partners, Julianne Hummelberg gives us the inside scoop on the company and these products. A little bit about Julianne: Julianne leads deal sourcing and execution, and helps PowerPlant portfolio companies create and capture value as a board member of portfolio company Veggie Grill and board observer to Zero Egg, Rae Wellness, REBBL, The Coconut Collaborative, OWYN and Jot Coffee. She earned her MBA from Columbia Business School where she was a Venture and Private Equity Fellow and President of the Healthy Living Club. She also holds a BA in Economics from Wake Forest University, where she graduated cum laude, and an associate degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. In her free time, she enjoys being with her rescue dogs August Remington, traveling internationally, HIIT workouts, learning Spanish and contributing as a board member of Synergist Network, a non-profit organization that works towards gender parity in the private equity and venture capital industries. If you are interested in learning more, please visit the website: https://powerplantpartners.co
The Future of Fast Food: Kim Anderson of Plant City and Plant City X, Seth Goldman of PLNT Burger, Eat The Change and Beyond Meat, Zach Vouga of Plant Power Fast Food and TK Pillan of Veggie Grill and Stand Up Burger join me to discuss the changing landscape of fast food...for the better! You don't want to miss this. Subscribe! For plant-based media/branding consulting and public speaking, reach out at elysabeth@elysabethalfano.com. For more information, visit ElysabethAlfano.com.
Our guest this week is Jim Kilby. Jim was a professor at UNLV, has written books on casino management, casino marketing, and casino operations. His career as both a blackjack player, and dealer goes back 50 years.We welcome your questions - send them to us at gamblingwithanedge@gmail.com, or you can find me at @RWM21 on Twitter or https://www.facebook.com/GamblingWithAnEdge.podcastClick to listen - Alt click to downloadShow Notes[00:00] Introduction of Jim Kilby, UNLV professor and former blackjack player and dealer[00:36] Dealing blackjack at 19 years old[03:36] Identifying card counters in the late 1960s and early 1970s[09:07] Playing Blackjack as a Business by Lawrence Revere[13:14] Playing blackjack while dealing, playing conditions[17:35] Private lessons with Lawrence Revere[22:39] Engraved Zippo lighters[25:27] Counting in Panama[26:20] Bob Griffin, playing in Puerto Rico, cruises[30:48] Returning to the casino industry after college, teaching[36:50] South Point Casino January Promotions - $400k Spin to Win [37:20] Predictit.org/promo/edge - place small wagers on various political events, $20 deposit match for GWAE listeners[38:29] BlackjackApprenticeship.com - card counting training site and community[39:08] VideoPoker.com/gwae - Gold Membership offers correction on most games[40:34] Casino Operations Management by Jim Kilby and Jim Fox[44:19] Ace location team at The Dunes[49:56] Team manuals picked up by surveillance[54:06] Recommended - unclaimed money, Veggie GrillSponsored Links:SouthPointCasino.comPredictit.org/promo/edgeBlackjackApprenticeship.comVideoPoker.com/gwae Jim Kilby's Links:Principlesofcasinomarketing.comIntroductiontocasinomanagement.com Books by Jim Kilby https://amzn.to/39GbKShBooks Referenced:Playing Blackjack as a Business by Lawrence Revere https://amzn.to/3qFT7EJCasino Management by Bill Friedman https://amzn.to/35YkrX6Recommended:Usa.gov/unclaimed-moneyVeggieGrill.com
Join Thomas, Teddy and Shy for a healthy(ish) meal! On this episode we ate from Veggie Grill (buffalo wings, spicy chicken sandwiches and some nachos) This is Tomye's first time trying veggie grill (will he approve?) Per usual, go follow us on the DBA instagram and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE8o1GAZCUdSDWe6NeybLcw https://www.instagram.com/dadbodsanonymous_/ https://www.instagram.com/elbrewchacho/ https://www.instagram.com/teddyosuna/ https://www.instagram.com/shayeldupree/ Thanks for breaking bread with us!
This week we catch up with TK Pillan, co-founder of Veggie Grill - the largest vegan and veggie restaurant in the US. TK is also managing partner of Powerplant Ventures. TK has been remarkably consistent over his career in the plant based space - he seems to have a knack for spotting trends early and making great calculated decisions. We chatted about his background as a technology entrepreneur, coming up with the idea for Veggie Grill and scaling it, as well as discussing fundraising and Powerplant Ventures. We hope you enjoy! This podcast is produced by Vevolution and edited by Bridey Addison-Child.
E20: T.K. Pillan is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Veggie Grill, which is the leading 100% plant-based restaurant company in the U.S. Since founding Veggie Grill in 2006, T.K. has been on a mission to help people advance their conscious food journey in an approachable and attainable manner. T.K. concluded that one of the most impactful ways to create a better future was to change consumer habits around food. Today, under T.K.'s leadership, Veggie Grill has grown to 39 locations across California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Washington. Veggie Grill has been credited with creating some of the most iconic plant-based dishes such as the Rueben on Rye and the Santa Fe Chickn' sandwiches. T.K. is also the Co-Founder and Partner at Powerplant Ventures (PPV), a venture capital fund that supports visionary entrepreneurs with world-changing, plant-centric companies delivering better nutrition in more sustainable and ethical ways. PPV investments include Beyond Meat, Thrive Market, Ripple Foods, REBBL, Beanfields and Vive Organics. Prior to T.K.'s work as a food entrepreneur, he Co-Founded Guidance Solutions, one of L.A.'s first e-commerce development firms that was consistently named one of the fastest growing technology companies between 1999 and 2001. He earned an engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from UCLA. TK's LinkedIn Profile:https://www.linkedin.com/in/t-k-pillan-0033b1/ ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/t-k-pillan-0033b1/) Veggie Grill:https://www.veggiegrill.com/ ( https://www.veggiegrill.com/) Power Plant:http://powerplantvc.com/ ( http://powerplantvc.com/) 80/20 Plants:https://8020plants.com/ ( https://8020plants.com/) WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE: ● The single consistent action that helped T.K. go from someone with no food and beverage business or being a vegan, to founding the largest vegan restaurant chain in the country. (39 restaurants and counting!) ● Why it's paramount to get control of your employee turnover. ● The key leadership lesson he learned from surviving the 90's dot com bubble. ● The insecurity he experienced as a child that ended up fueling his success. ● How a few awkward visits to an Ashram as a kid helped shape his career. ● How to use meditation as a success strategy in athletics and business. ● The hard lesson he learned as a fraternity president and multi-sport athlete at MIT. ● Advice for people who realize they may have taken a wrong turn in their career. ● The single mental exercise T.K. does when contemplating if he should take a risk. ● The big health benefits T.K. experienced 30 days after becoming a vegetarian… ABS, lower cholesterol, and improved athletic performance. ● What T.K. sees as his legacy. ● Why self-awareness is the one trait he'd instill in every employee, and what the impact would look like if everyone had it. ● Why he's shifted back to reading physical books instead of the e-reader. ● T.K.'s handy workout tool that helps him stay in shape at home, office, and the road. HIGHLIGHTS: Two reasons for firing people quickly: 1. Sometimes the business landscape has changed where you just need to cut your costs. 2. When you determine someone is not a fit, you have to move on. What benefits TK noticed when he switched to plant-based diet: ● Lost 5-10 pounds within 2 weeks. ● Cholesterol levels down from over 200 to under 140 after 3 months. QUOTES: “ Hire slowly, fire quickly.” “As you get older,...
We are months into the COVID-19 pandemic at this point, and people everywhere are forming new habits—some healthy, some not so much. Consumers continue to look for ways to improve their diet, seeking out alternatives to meat and dairy as a way to complement a healthy and balanced lifestyle. T.K. Pillan is a health and wellness enthusiast on a mission to encourage plant-based eating whenever possible. He founded Veggie Grill, a vegan restaurant chain that makes plant-based eating delicious and accessible while contributing to a healthier and kinder future for the planet. T.K. joins Retail Gets Real to discuss consumer demand for sustainable plant-based dining options and how he's building a healthy food empire. Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.
The Way Forward podcasts thoughtful conversations with the trailblazers who are seeking solutions to all of today's challenges. For this episode, Quinnipiac's Dean of the School of Law Jennifer Brown hosts a conversation with betsy McLaughlin, board member of several companies including Veggie Grill and a former CEO of Hot Topic, and Jack Hitt, food writer and contributor editor to Harper's, The New York Time's Magazine and This American Way. They discuss how the pandemic has upended the restaurant industry's people and establishments, the roles of pickup and delivery and the choices we are making in the food we eat and the ways we cook at home. The Way Forward event series is directed by Karla Natale, and the podcast is produced by Bryan Murphy and is a production of the Quinnipiac University Podcast Studio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode of This Week In Chicken Sandwiches with Big Tim Murphy, Tim hangs out with his friends Caleb & Ben and they talk about pulling a Kramer as a career-ender, racism & ice cream, fake chickin meat, titty bars & comedy fests, Tim's shooting range adventures, the Original Sin of American Slavery, being a Quaker and a conditional pacifist, attending BLM protests in downtown Orlando, and more! Brought to you by Pyrospot Fireworks!
In this episode, Jen talks with Jessica Smith, the Marketing Director at Groundwork Coffee LLC. Celebrating its 30th Anniversary, Groundwork is staying afloat during the pandemic by employing a multi-channel strategy that includes selling its organic coffees in grocery, e-commerce, many foodservice outlets, and in its cafes on the West Coast. Jessica highlights her journey in the restaurant industry, which started in early childhood with lots of nostalgic experiences, at Veggie Grill, and up to her current role at Groundwork. She covers a variety of topics, including the importance of tying a company’s mission to its community, the excitement of brand refreshes and the spark of a DIY culture during the pandemic. Hear about special partnerships and innovations with Chemex and how they're staying entrenched in local communities with multiple give-back, training, and artistic initiatives. Resources & Links: https://www.groundworkcoffee.com/http://www.veggiegrill.com/https://www.aryzta.com/http://www.otisspunkmeyer.com/https://www.labreabakery.com/https://www.valassis.com/
Veggie Grill Co-Founder and Partner at PowerPlant Ventures, T.K. Pillan joins me on the Plantbased Business hour to discuss the growth of Veggie Grill and the vegan fast food arena, the landscape of plant-based mergers and aquisitions and his predictions for the future of plant-based businesses. Tune in and subscribe! More info at ElysabethAlfano.com and Powerplantvc.com
We're continuing with our series of mini episodes helping restaurants through the coronavirus pandemic. With input from operators, vendors, consultants, data analysts, and more, these mini episodes will facilitate incredibly important conversation on how we can collectively survive the coronavirus scare.Next up: Sarah Grover is the interim CMO of plant-based fast casual Veggie Grill. More importantly, she's the architect behind "The Great American Takeout" initiative, which is rallying people to order carryout or delivery from their favorite restaurants on March 24. She shares how the initiative came to be over the course of only a few days, how she and her agency team built it into such a rallying cry for the restaurant industry, and what she hopes it ultimately accomplishes over the long run.For more of QSR's coronavirus coverage, visit QSRmagazine.com/coronavirusQSR Magazine informationFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedInQSRmagazine.com Have feedback or interview suggestions? Email us at sam@qsrmagazine.com.
In todays episode we explore the comfort food LA has to offer. Visiting; Cruzer Pizza, Eat by Chloe, The Dankness Dojo by Modern Times Beer, Veggie Grill, Krimsey's Cajun Kitchen, Seabirds Kitchen and Doomie's Restaurant. Video version; https://urlgeni.us/youtube/JunkLA Go ECO while you travel Keep cup for coffees and smoothies - https://amzn.to/2uY2dp0 Stainless steel straw - https://amzn.to/308pU7E Drink Bottle - https://amzn.to/2u7tPYL Steri Pen - https://amzn.to/3921jHz Bamboo cutlery kit - https://amzn.to/3bavbTd Connect With Me; Instagram & TkTok | @howtotravelvegan & @tomsimak YouTube | http://bit.ly/veganyoutube Subscribe to the podcast: Itunes | https://apple.co/2Xet1KQ Spotify | https://spoti.fi/2Z079TX Stitcher | http://bit.ly/2Xa4VAR Much love,
The Fast Casual Nation podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurateurs who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, host Paul Barron chats with Steve Heeley, the chief executive officer of Veggie Grill. Barron and Heeley discuss the rapid growth of plant-based and the future of the concept.
In this highlight episode culled from interviews with six of the leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs who joined us on the podcast during the second half of 2019, we examine the role that relationships play in the development of great businesses. Our guests include “The Beverage Whisperer” Ken Sadowsky, Whole30 founder and CEO Melissa Hartwig Urban, Grillo’s Pickles founder and CEO Travis Grillo, Veggie Grill co-founder T.K. Pillan, Dogfish Head Brewery founder Sam Calagione and Bev founder and CEO Alix Peabody. Show notes: 1:50: Ken Sadowsky, The Beverage Whisperer -- We kick off the show with Ken Sadowsky, who is affectionately known as “The Beverage Whisperer.” A longtime investor and advisor to many high-profile and category leading brands, including Vitaminwater, Vita Coco, Bai, Hint and Califia Farms, Ken is one of the industry’s best known and most respected insiders. In the following clip, pulled from our interview with Sadowsky in Ep. 174, he explained how he assesses opportunities to align with and invest in early stage brands, how he advises entrepreneurs on packaging and design, and why he warns that indecisiveness can lead to big mistakes. 10:11: Melissa Hartwig Urban, Co-Founder/CEO, Whole30 -- Next up is Melissa Hartwig Urban, the co-founder and CEO of popular 30-day lifestyle program Whole30. Since its launch in 2009, Whole30 has become a cultural phenomenon that has attracted millions of followers, many of whom adhere to its paleo-centric guidelines even after they complete the program. In this clip, pulled from our interview in Ep. 184, Urban explained why most of her work time is spent direct messaging with members of the Whole30 community, the importance of accessibility, and how she’s learned that “you can’t let perfect be the enemy of good.” 20:18: Interview: Travis Grillo, Founder/CEO, Grillo’s Pickles -- We continue with Travis Grillo, the founder and CEO of premium pickle brand Grillo’s. From his humble beginnings selling pickles out of a small food cart, Grillo’s has grown into a nationally distributed brand carried at several major chains and one that generates tens of millions of dollars in sales annually. In a clip from our wide-ranging interview with Grillo, which we featured in Ep. 175, he spoke about why he positioned Grillo’s as a lifestyle brand, how he considers new hires and investment and why he’s just as likely to take advice from a homeless person as he would from a billionaire. 30:42: Interview: T.K. Pillan, Co-Founder, Veggie Grill/PowerPlant Ventures -- We keep things going with T.K. Pillan, the chairman and co-founder of fast-casual restaurant chain Veggie Grill and investment firm PowerPlant Ventures. Thirteen years since opening its first location, Veggie Grill now has 37 stores and is planning to operate 50 locations by next year. In the following clip, from our interview with Pillan in Ep. 188, he discussed the common theme in all of his businesses, why it’s critical for co-founders to have a clear understanding of roles and complementary skill sets, why he described growth plans as “a double-edged sword” and what it means to be “a good investor.” 41:41: Sam Calagione, Founder, Dogfish Head Brewery -- Next we have some words of wisdom from Sam Calagione, the founder of iconic craft beer brand Dogfish Head. We spoke with Calagione in Ep. 189 and in the following clip, he reflected on his experience building Dogfish Head, which in May merged with Samuel Adams maker The Boston Beer Co. in a deal valued at $300 million. He also discussed why “goodness” is a pillar of Dogfish Head’s business philosophy, why he refers to employees as “co-workers” and why he urges entrepreneurs to figure out how “small their businesses can possibly be.” 47:44: Alix Peabody, Founder/CEO, Bev -- Last, but not least, we have Alix Peabody, the founder of Bev, a wellness-focused canned wine brand that aims to change the narrative around how women are projected and perceived by the alcohol industry and redefine traditional ways of doing business in a space long dominated by men. In this clip pulled from Ep. 191, Peabody explained why, despite very challenging times, she never thought to quit, how she made inroads to tech investors and how she attempts to redefine “old school” ways of doing business. Brands in this episode: Whole30, Grillo’s, Veggie Grill, Dogfish Head, Bev
For our seventh episode, vegan-food lover C.W. Moss talks with Chef Kajsa Alger. We hear about her life and work directing culinary at places like Veggie Grill, and how she’s helping Japan get vegan-friendly for the 2020 Olympic games through the Gunma Vegan Project (15:01), the joy of Mad Misha’s intimate dumpling dinner parties (38:05), and how novels sometimes help menus take shape (52:43).
With over 20 years of experience, Mr. Heeley has overseen many leading brands across the fast casual industry. Prior to joining Veggie Grill in 2014, Mr. Heeley was President and CEO of Earl of Sandwich, LLC, an international, high-volume fast casual sandwich brand. During his tenure, Steve spearheaded the company’s 30 percent annual growth. Before his success at Earl of Sandwich, Mr. Heeley served as COO of Au Bon Pain café bakery, led operations for Los Angeles-based The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and served as COO of Baja Fresh Mexican Grill, where he was instrumental in the brand’s growth to over 300 restaurants and the company’s sale to Wendy's International Inc. Previously, Heeley was President and CEO of the San Francisco-based SIMCO Group, a multi-unit restaurant and retail operator. Steve started his professional career at the full service Mexican restaurant El Torito, where he advanced through the ranks at the company to assume a leadership role. In Mr. Heeley’s free time, he likes to spend time with his children, travel while exploring veggie food and culture in restaurants around the world, distance cycling, volunteering with at-risk youth, track racing, real estate investing and fixing.
Michael and Kristel dialogue with T.K. Pillan; visionary behind Veggie Grill -America's quickest growing plant-based casual food chain.
Welcome to Newsworthy Vegan where we give you three vegan news stories every weekday! So if you are a vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian, veg-curious, or a meatless Monday kind of person we have you covered. We deliver the vegan news in a fast, fun, and friendly way. Today we are talking about Kanye West making vegan footwear, Veggie Grill opening up in New York, and Bloomberg feeding its employees more plant-based options. Vegan Shirts Link https://www.amazon.com/Greener-Living-Vegan-Shirts-Women/dp/B07M9ZDWZ5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2DEPQ60DK0SE2&dchild=1&keywords=the+greener+living+vegan+shirts&psc=1&qid=1571536263&sprefix=the+greener+living%2Caps%2C193&sr=8-1 Reusable Silicone Bags Link https://www.amazon.com/The-Greener-Living-Silicone-Storage/dp/B07MLBYD5V/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3JD5S40NE0DK0&keywords=the+greener+living+silicone+bags&qid=1571536347&sprefix=the+greener+living+%2Caps%2C218&sr=8-1
On this episode of The H3 Podcast we discuss Shoenice's epic betrayal, Elon's strange cyberpunk truck, McDonald's fights, Akon memes, Half-Life, Jake Paul crying, Veggie Grill, and a whole lot more! Shoenice slamming mayo - https://youtu.be/csyFHOzqhMk Reddit Meme Album - https://imgur.com/a/AtuVmhO Reddit Meme Album Pt. 2 - https://imgur.com/a/DCEgHxX Guy pulls out raccoon in McDonald's brawl - https://youtu.be/9iKrSMRwU8E McDonald's employee gets thrown through a window - https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/dcxnjz/mcdonalds_worker_gets_thrown_the_window/?st=k3968ozd&sh=79e5621d Elon's truck having it's windows smashed - https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/1197734369500246016 Half-Life trailer - https://youtu.be/O2W0N3uKXmo Chinese cooking video - https://www.reddit.com/r/h3h3productions/comments/dwr70p/my_mans_coming_for_czn/ CZN rip-off - https://www.instagram.com/p/B5IdwSKHBy7/?igshid=1qudm6hodj882 Meth ad - https://youtu.be/7LVcI-DQdYA Jake Paul crying - https://youtu.be/NdviLqijUFw
These days, it’s commonplace to see vegan restaurants in cities across America. Just a few years ago, however, few options existed and the ones that did weren’t very good, according to T.K. Pillan, the chairman and co-founder of fast-casual restaurant chain Veggie Grill. A former tech entrepreneur, Pillan sold his web development company in 2004 and set out to create a destination for delicious vegan food with wide consumer appeal. He and co-founder Kevin Boylan opened the first Veggie Grill location in Irvine, California in 2006 and the store was an instant hit. Thirteen years later, Veggie Grill now has 37 locations and is planning to operate 50 stores by 2020. Pillan is also a partner with Powerplant Ventures, which invests in disruptive plant-centric concepts. In an interview included in this episode, Pillan spoke about his transition from tech to food, how the first Veggie Grill got off the ground and why the company has taken a patient approach to expansion. He also explained why it’s critical for co-founders to be aligned on vision and values, what means to be “a good investor” and discussed the evolution of plant-based food brands. Show notes: 2:44: Interview: T.K. Pillan, Co-Founder, Veggie Grill/PowerPlant Ventures -- NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg spoke with Pillan about his background in business, how he became passionate about food as medicine and the “light bulbs” that led to the creation of Veggie Grill. He also discussed the common theme in all of his businesses, why it’s critical for co-founders to have a clear understanding of roles and complementary skill sets, resolving challenges at Veggie Grill’s second location and why he describes growth plans as “a double-edged sword.” Later, he explained why hiring a CEO was key to managing expansion, why he believes “alignment is 1% and execution is 99%” and how Veggie Grill evaluates brand partnerships. Pillan also spoke about his work with PowerPlant Ventures, opportunities to innovate in plant-based food and his thoughts about Burger King’s plant-based Impossible Whopper. Brands in this episode: Beyond Meat, Follow Your Heart, Daiya, Gardein, REBBL, Ripple, Beanfields, Health Warrior, Impossible Foods
Today’s podcast is a cross between Awesome Vegans and Marketplace. No one has their finger on the pulse of the plant-based food business world like guest, T.K. Pillan! The co-founder of Veggie Grill, T.K. joins me to dish on the numbers and the growth behind the plant-based food businesses and jobs that are gaining traction in the marketplace, including his own. In fact, Veggie Grill just launched restaurant #34 in Chicago this week and is the largest vegan/vegetarian restaurant chain in the U.S. In addition to Veggie Grill, T.K. is one of the partners in PowerPlant Ventures which invests in plant-based businesses, which are enjoying an explosion in growth and start-ups. He is busy to say the least, but this understated guy is as smart as they come. For more information, visit http://powerplantvc.com and http://elysabethalfano.com.
Start a food revolution in your own kitchen! The Eat For The Planet Cookbook features recipes from Beyond Meat, Veggie Grill, nutpods, Next Level Burger, JUST, Tofurky, No Evil Foods. Ripple Foods, REBBL, Milkadamia, Sweet Earth, Fora Foods, Miyoko Schinner, Chad and Derek Sarno, Chef Peggy Chan, Fran Costigan, Jenne Clairborne, Rip Esselstyn, Jessica Murnane + more! More about the Cookbook: https://eftp.co/cookbook Pre-order links: Abrams | Amazon | Indigo | Barnes & Noble | BAM!| Indie Bound | Powell's Books Support the Podcast for as low as $5 per month: https://www.patreon.com/eftp Newsletter signup: https://eftp.co/newsletter More about Eat For The Planet: https://eftp.co/ Twitter: @nilzach Instagram: @eftp.co Facebook: @eatfortheplanet Linkedin: @eatfortheplanet
Steve Heeley, CEO of the veggie-friendly fast-casual chain Veggie Grill, joins this week’s episode of "A Deeper Dive" to talk about the plant-based trend.
The Three Products/Companies Mentioned In Today's Interview and How To Get The Special Listener Discounts: 1) Sunlighten Sauna - Give them a call and mention Learn True Health with Ashley James. They offer financing and have several light therapy systems, including a small handheld device and a portable sauna! Here is the link to the Sunlighten Handheld Device: https://www.sunlighten.com/luminir/?leadsource=LTH&utm_source=LTH&utm_medium=Partner&utm_campaign=LTH 2) The Magnesium Soak! Visit LivingTheGoodLifeNaturally.com and use coupon code LTH for our listener discount. 3) Energy Bits and Recovery Bits Algae! Visit Energybits.com and use coupon code LTH to get 20% off! Buy the Recovery Bits for the detoxifying chlorella! Dr. Joel Kahn: www.drjoelkahn.com Author 5 books all in the shop at my website Clinic www.kahnlongevitycenter.com Sauna Therapy and Heart Health with Dr. Joel Kahn https://www.learntruehealth.com/dr-joel-kahn Highlights: Benefits of sauna therapy Benefits of Magnesium soak Benefits of ENERGYbits and RECOVERYbits Plant-based vegan diet is good for heart health Diet and fitness of mind and body are important The science of light therapy for healing Benefits of Infrared sauna Waon therapy of Japan Importance of light for our health Benefits of near infrared sauna Benefits of red light Photobiomodulation Sunlighten lumiNIR Saunas and weight loss Kahn’s three tips: meditation, organic chlorella, HIIT workout Congenital heart conditions in children and adults People should be concerned about their arteries ARVC heart condition Organ meats and processed fat to heal autoimmune diseases Books and doctors that Dr. Kahn follows Kahn’s homework for listeners In this episode Dr. Joel Khan will share with us his three tips to a good cardiovascular health, the importance of light to our health. Ashley and Dr. Khan will also discuss the science of light therapy for healing and how important diet and fitness for our body is. [0:00] Intro: Hello, true health seeker. Welcome to another exciting episode of Learn True Health podcast. You’re going to love today’s interview with cardiologist, Dr. Joel Khan. He’s a very unique cardiologist. He’s been a plant-based vegan for over 42 years. And he has this unique perspective on the body. He believes the body has an amazing ability to heal itself. And we just need to support it with the right diet, nutrients, lifestyle. And that we can support the body’s ability to heal and prevent disease. And isn’t that wonderful? Don’t you want a doctor that believes that you can be healthy? He shares a lot of great information today. We talked a lot about using heat therapy and the different spectrums of light to help the body heal. And he says so much in such a short period of time. There’s so many details. He opened up so many rabbit holes that I know listeners are going to think to themselves, “Man, I need to get a pen. I got to write that down.” And I want to let you know that we actually transcribe our interviews. We’ve been doing that for the last few months. We hired two wonderful transcriptionists. And we have been transcribing all of the interviews. So a big shout out, thank you to the transcriptionists, who helped us to transcribe. Because our listeners really love going to learntruehealth.com. And then you can click on the episode. And I know that everyone’s been loving being able to have access to all the transcripts. So that when a guest shares so much wonderful information, like telling us about what books we should read, and what supplements we should try, or what lifestyle habits, tips and tricks we should try, we want all the details. And instead of having to listen to the episode two or three times, you can go the transcript and find exactly what the doctor said, which is really exciting. So that is my gift to you, the listener, so that you can make sure that you take all this information and help to transform your life and the health of your whole family and everyone you love. So make sure that you take advantage of our transcripts by going to www.learntruehealth. com. Now, in this episode we mention three things. So I want to make sure that I cover it in the intro. A lot of the discussion is about sauna therapy, specifically using sunlight. And Sunlighten is the only company I have found and I have looked that is ultra low EMF that is non-toxic. And it uses the full spectrum near, mid, and far infrared. So they’re absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend calling Sunlighten and in talking to them about their different systems. They have what’s called the Solo System, which is portable. So you don’t need – if you don’t have a lot of space and you can just tuck it away under the bed or tuck it away in the closet when you’re not using it. That’s a really great solution for those who don’t want the bigger sauna. Which I have the big one, the wooden one, and I love it. Basically, two people can fit in it. It’s kind of like having a TARDIS, for those who know Doctor Who. It does not look very big but two people can fit in it which is really cool. And it has the full spectrum of near, mid, and far infrared. And we’ll get a little bit into that in the show today. The benefits of those different spectrums. If you want to learn more specifically about Sunlighten, I did two interviews. One with the cofounder and one with their manager, Alicia. So Connie Zack being the founder. You can go to learntruehealth.com and you can search in the search bar for Sunlighten or for sauna and find those episodes. And enjoy learning more about why I specifically love Sunlighten as a company when it comes to doing sauna therapy versus all the other companies out there. I’m really sold. I’ve really enjoyed my sauna. And I’ve gotten a lot of great health benefits. It’s helped me with my detox tremendously. It’s helped me with my liver. I had liver problems and it really helped me with that, It helped me with my weight loss. So I feel it is high quality and very effective. So that’s Sunlighten. Give them a call. They give our listeners a great deal. They give us free shipping. And they also throw in something else that’s really cool. And the special kind of keeps changing just depending on what’s going on in the office there. But they always give the listeners a really great discount or really great special. So make sure that you mention Learn True Health with Ashley James so that you get our listener special. Now, we mentioned two other things. One is the magnesium soak. You have heard me rave about it over and over again. And I love soaking in magnesium while in my sauna. You only need a few cups of water in, like, a foot basin. And it is so wonderful. It opens up all the circulation. It really aids in the detoxification and feeding your liver all those wonderful nutrients it needs to help you with detoxification. So it’s a great one-two punch. And then the third thing, are the ENERGYbits. Actually, specifically, the RECOVERYbits, which is chlorella. Chlorella is an algae that chelates heavy metals. And so it’s wonderful to eat before you get in the sauna because it aids in binding to the heavy metals and releasing them from our body. It also helps with melatonin production so that it actually aids in deeper sleep. And I’ve done about five interviews I think on the ENERGYbits. So you can type algae into the search function in learntruehealth.com to be able to listen to those episodes where we talk about spirulina and chlorella and all their health benefits. And it’s just wonderful. You can go to energybits.com and use coupon code LTH to get 20% off. And make sure that you grab a bag of the ENERGYbits for your daytime energy. They’re wonderful. They’re spirulina. They actually taste really good compared to all the other spirulinas out there. They don’t have any of the lead or heavy metals that other companies have been known to have. Because ENERGYbits does very rigorous testing. And they have a pure water source when they grow their algae. So lots of great information that you can learn by going to learntruehealth.com and typing in algae and listening to those episodes. But just try it and see how you feel. Buy a bag of Energybits, buy a bag of RECOVERYbits. And RECOVERYbits is for the detoxification. ENERGYbits is for energy. And they don’t have any caffeine. It’s just all algae. But it delivers to the body all the nutrients that it needs to make energy and support hormone health. And I could go on and on. So you can check out those interviews. But those are the three things that we had mentioned in the episode. And I want to let you know that all three of those things you can get a listener discount for. So to get the magnesium soak, you go to livingthegoodlifenaturally.com and type in the coupon code LTH at checkout. ENERGYbits is energybits.com and type in the coupon code LTH at checkout. And then for your listener discount for Sunlighten, call them up, talk to one of their wonderful salespeople, and mention Learn True Health with Ashley James for the listener discount. And if you have any questions about any of these because I use them all the time and my whole family actually. We soak in magnesium. We eat the ENERGYbits and the RECOVERYbits. And we sweat in our sauna – in our Sunlighten Sauna. And so if you guys have any questions for me and my experience, please email me, support@learntruehealth.com. I’d love to hear from you. Excellent. Enjoy today’s episode and have yourself a wonderful rest of your day. [8:04] Ashley James: Welcome to the Learn true health podcast. I’m your host, Ashley James. This is Episode 383. I am so excited for today’s interview. We have with us Dr. Joel Kahn. He’s an amazing cardiologist. But even more than cardiology. Because I’ve dived into your interviews and some videos, you’re kind of going up against Joe Rogan in a very polite interview. I was waiting for the gloves to come off. It’s very interesting to be a plant-based cardiologist and help people to reverse disease naturally with natural medicine, with food because we can heal the body with food. And that you are surprisingly an expert in so many of these fields. Some of my listeners – so I told them I was interviewing you – said, “I love him. I love his podcasts.” And so I started listening to your podcasts. And it’s amazing just how much you read and how much you share with the listener. So I definitely recommend listeners check out Dr. Joel Kahn’s podcasts. It’s such a pleasure to have you here today. [9:02] Dr. Joel Kahn: Well, thank you. It’s really a nice and sincere. A little different than the standard credential introduction. And that’s pretty cool. Yeah, I call it a p-cast. A little bit different than yours. I would never have stayed doing podcasts for two-and-a-half years if I was taking long periods to interview people. So I just talk for 20 minutes. I teach on some subject. I call it a p-cast. It’s like a P in the pod, as you know from listening. But anyways, enough about that. But I do. At age 60, I have this insane hunger to learn and learn what isn’t whoo as opposed to science. And that can be really tough sometime. If we can acknowledge that there’s whoo whoo advice out there all over the place. [9:45] Ashley James: I like that you brought up your age because if listeners go and check out and saw your videos, they’re going to look at a young man who looks about 40, who is incredibly handsome, has tons of energy, and looks like he could win a boxing match against anyone. Like, you just look so good. And then when you said you’re 60, I’m like, “I really don’t believe it.” So that’s the power of the whole food plant-based diet is we actually become more energetic and look younger and have less disease. [10:16] Dr. Joel Kahn: Number one, you know, you’re just smothering me with kindness. I just told you before we went on, I’m going to be out in Seattle for a high level medical conference in a few weeks. Now we’re going to have to find a wonderful plant restaurant and go celebrate with your husband and all that. But I actually adopted a plant diet at age 18. It wasn’t a master plan. It was in the time that we had Veggie Grill and Beyond Meat and all the movement that’s going on now, good and bad. It was a college reaction to horrible food and a good salad bar. But that was the last burger chicken piece of turkey I ate was 1977. So you know, every inch of augury and other crucial parts of my body have been bathe in broccoli and cauliflower and rubella for a very long time. And I’m grateful that that was kind of a cork and kind of a twist of fate that in a cardiology career couldn’t have been a better plan if I have had the insight. But it was an insight. It was just a quick little college dorm survival play that I just never went back. [11:20] Ashley James: And a friend in college who went raw vegan because he didn’t have a fridge. So he just bought a bunch of fruit, like apples and basically lived on it. And it turned out he became – it made him incredibly healthy. That was like, “Whoa. That’s a really interesting survival mechanism.” At what point in your career as a cardiologist did you realize that how you’re eating was the optimal diet for heart health? [11:44] Dr. Joel Kahn: Yeah, it didn’t take long. I actually got into a quick little program at the University of Michigan [inaudible 00:11:49]. I actually was accepted to med school at 17 or 18. And began some medical courses that early. And I was eating plants. I didn’t talk much about it because there wasn’t really a platform. And I didn’t know it was a therapy. If I had dug a little deeper, but I had no Sherpa to guide me, I could have found Nathan Pritikin in the 60s and 70s. I could have found even a couple older pioneers that I now know and study and respect. But really, I started practicing cardiology. I was like this animal in the cath lab. You’re having a heart attack, you’re having chest pain, I have your balloon, I have your aggressive therapy seven days a week. And three weeks after that, Dr. Dean Ornish, one of the most eminent and deserving of appreciation lifestyle medicine doctors, published a paper. And I mean, I’m three weeks. And this guy that the answer to heart disease is, you know, procedures and balloons. And he puts out data that says you can actually halt and reverse heart disease with a lifestyle that was centered on whole food plant-based. And added two things I love, fitness and mind body, and yoga, socialization. And I said, “Wow.” So I’ve literally taught thousands of patients every month of my career since I begun. And it’s all serendipity. I’m just very fortunate. And I am proud to say I kind of grew up in this movement. But it wasn’t exactly proofed inside. I didn’t have a psychic tell me to do this things. It just played out well. I could have, you know, read a paper about bacon and I would have been just messed up for the rest of my career. But I invested well in the plant-based movement in terms of energy and personal health. [13:32] Ashley James: Well, and it shows. You’re now – is it 42 or 43 years that you’ve now been vegan? And I mean, I am blown away. But there’s the evidence for you. If we eat a whole food plant-based diet, the way down the road we’re going to look younger and feel younger. And there’s so much science now showing that it prevents and reverses disease. So you love diving into all these different topics. And we have some questions from the listeners that we’ll get to in a little bit. But I wanted to dive into this topic of saunas and infrared and red light. Because Sunlighten Sauna – actually Alicia at Sunlighten is the one that hooked us up for this interview. And she said that you are an amazing expert at understanding the science. And I’ve been raving about my experience with my Sunlighten. It has really helped me in my health journey. And also using light therapy like red light therapy. But I don’t understand the science. And so I’d love for you to teach us a bit about it. What made you want to dive into learning about sauna therapy and using these kind of light therapies for healing? [14:36] Dr. Joel Kahn: I took my nutritional knowledge and had my standard cardiology career and did that for a long time. Always offering these patients more than just prescriptions. But about ten years ago, I found a program at a university that you could call Integrative Cardiology. Like some people go back and get an MBA in the weekends at Harvard or whatever. I found the equivalent but it was in my field. But the integrated science based use of food and supplements and stress. And one of the topics was a presentation – several hours – on the science. And I stress, everything I do as odd as it is sometimes, is stimulated when I find that there’s actually science. It’s credible in hopefully multiple studies. So about 30 plus years ago, and I can’t tell you who was the first that had the spark, but in Japan they started applying infrared saunas. So you’ve got your steam sauna at 180 degrees. A lot of health clubs. Some people have that adapter in their shower and they can make it all steamy. You’ve got kind of the dry Tucson, Arizona sauna with a little box in the corner. Some people have that at home. And then infrared, it’s a little different. It looks like the wood box of an Arizona sauna. But in the walls are very special panels, infrared emitting panels. We have our – it doesn’t need to be real science-y. I mean, everybody’s sitting in a room right now that probably has a light bulb that’s emitting a spectrum of light. Some are purple, some are greens, some are red, some are blue, yellow wavelengths that make it look white in that combination. But it turns out that there is a slice of light energy called infrared. And we can’t see it. It’s not a visible light. And these researchers in Japan built infrared saunas. Boxes that have these panels and emit infrared energy. And they would take various – first they did animal studies, which is ultra cool. And the animal study showed a beneficial response to blood vessel function, muscle function, the real basic chemistry. It turns out, we actually have receptors in ourselves. You know, you think we really are more like plants and we think we are like plants. There actually is a very cool science that actually says we’re not so different than the birch tree and the oak tree you might be seeing out a window, perhaps. But anyways, we have receptors in these basic models. And then they started studying sick heart patients in Japan. And these were in academic centers and they published data. You have high blood pressure, you use an infrared sauna. There’s a Japanese word called waon, W-A-O-N. It means healing warmth. And most of the literature anybody could put in their browser, waon, W-A-O-N, therapy and start reading about it. Fifteen minutes in an infrared sauna, usually about 130 hundred or 140 degrees if you give it time to heat up. Then these people would be wrapped up in towels, drink some water, and rest. Because they were not really healthy athletes. They were people with blood pressure and heart damage and heart attacks. And over the course of 10 or 15 years, they showed that blood pressure responded; congestive heart failure, a really serious diagnosis, responded; artery measures showed improvement. They actually have done some modest sized randomized studies. Sick people got infrared saunas, sick people just got standard therapy, there was an improvement in survival and hospitalization. And in Japan, infrared sauna is used as a first line therapy right there with medication or surgery or whatever else you need. But God knows, until those few hours of lectures, I had never heard in any university -and I’m a professor at a university in Detroit – about any of this. And it’s easy. Now, read the literature, read the literature. It was real. And it’s been reproduced. So most of us, thank goodness don’t have bad arteries, don’t have congestive heart failure. Most of us aren’t mice in laboratories. But you know, for many ways of supporting our health, I tell my patients, there’s two therapies you don’t know about probably. One a little pricier and one a little less pricey. They both involve using light to accentuate our health and accelerate our energy production and benefit our weight and benefit our skin and benefit our blood pressure. And the higher end one is to research and get a really good infrared sauna like Sunlighten makes. I have one in my bedroom. And their brand called full spectrum. And this is science again. But it’s far infrared, near infrared, and mid infrared in each of those wavelengths. When you turn it on, it’s hot, you can’t see the light waves but they’re there. Each of them has a different effect. But the near infrared, which is abbreviated in the literature NIR, is really cool because that stuff really works on our muscles. And athletes, if any athletes are listening, many, many professional athletic teams will have various kinds of light therapy and infrared sauna. Because before an athletic event like a football game or after, before basketball or after, recovery pain or they call it delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMs can all be treated. And everything I just said has science and publications. It’s not again to whoo but just not very well known. And I got excited. So many, many of my patients do enjoy it. There may be some other benefits. So you know, we all know it’s the Debbie Downer talk. City water, air, plastics that wrap our burger, whether it’s a Beyond Meat burger or a Black Bean Burger, wherever you’re buying, all these chemicals, these endocrine disrupting chemicals are affecting our fertility and our thyroid and our weight. And one way to get them out – because it’s really hard to keep from having any of them, of course, we want to try and create a lifestyle where we don’t have plastics everywhere and exposure. Air fresheners and perfumes that are all affecting our endocrine system. Infrared sauna does cause you to detoxify and eliminate these better than just gym sweating. You can imagine somebody did a study, “I’m going to run around a gym and collect sweat droplets from people at an elliptical. And I’m going to go to an infrared sauna room and collect sweat droplets from somebody just sitting still.” And there’s more toxins concentrated in the sweat from an infrared sauna than there are from exercising. And of course both are good. And there are even some gyms now that have put infrared panels in the walls of the gym so you get double whammy. But yeah, very cool stuff for the science of waon therapy and infrared sauna. [21:24] Ashley James: You mentioned that we have receptors on our cells, is that to receive light? To receive infrared? Can you tell us a bit more about that. [21:33] Dr. Joel Kah: Yeah. So just switching gears a little. Infrared is there but you can’t see it. Then there’s red light. Red lights, easy. I mean, it looks like the matrix. It’s bright. I mean, it’s the one with the one band of the full spectrum. And a prominent researcher at Harvard by the name of Michael Hamblin, H-A-M-B-L-I-N, PhD or MD – I think a PhD – has spent 30 years and many, many publications and textbooks that costs $700. The official name is Photobiomodulation, photolight bio or biology, and we can change our biology through light. But it’s often called the low level laser or red light therapy. But it turns out every one of us have, I think it’s fair to say, billions and billions of mitochondria in our muscles, heart muscles and skeletal muscles, particularly. They’re making all that energy. If anybody’s had the biology background, the ATP energy that keeps our heart strong and our muscles strong, and the rest. And there is a receptor in the system that makes energy. It’s an enzyme called cytochrome c oxidase. And that receptor will respond to red light. And when it is exposed to red light, it will accelerate this process of making energy. It also creates more nitric oxide. If you ask an athlete who knew biology or a trainer, if you created more nitric oxide that was free to circulate and help an athlete’s blood vessels and you created more efficiency in making ATP in their muscles, do you think it would benefit an athlete either performance or recovery? And they think, “I got it. I’d pay a fortune for such.” It turns out red light does that. Proven. The science is known. And it’s a little different. When you get an infrared sauna, you’re getting near infrared energy. And it’s a wonderful thing and it will activate this receptor. But you also might want to explore the field of Photobiomodulation using red light. So Sunlighten has this wonderful little handheld device called lumiNIR. There’s some things that red light does that go beyond near infrared and the combination is the powerhouse. I literally use a red light panel in my near infrared sauna and I get both. Because I wouldn’t be getting red light in my sauna alone. But for all the listeners who want to keep their skin youthful, there’s an FDA approved. This is science backed by years of analysis. That it may promote collagen production, relieve aging spots, wrinkles in the skin. It’s the vanity part. But who doesn’t. You know, eating healthy is clearly beauty inside out is clearly real and the key. But I’m not against using safe therapies that keep us looking a little more youthful. So in the past 12 months, I’ve added red light therapy for 12 or 15 minutes a day. And it’s not tanning and you’re not going to burn yourself. And just another add on to health. It’s fascinating, you know, fascinating. [24:38] Ashley James: Yeah. I have one of Sunlighten’s lumiNIRs. It’s a handheld device and they have those different attachments. You can do the blue light or the red light and depending on whether you want to support like a joint pain or you want collagen production. It’s very interesting. And I know Sunlighten and gives our listeners a discount. I’m not sure what it is but I’ll find out for the listeners. So bios photo modulation, you mentioned that it helps the body – helps the mitochondria to produce more ATP and they’ve been able to prove this. Or is it that it helps the production of nitric oxide. [25:12] Dr. Joel Kahn: It actually does both. So if you really want to go deep – here we go. It’s called uncaging nitric oxide on this enzyme. Here, you got a muscle cell in your pectoral muscles because you like to do bench presses. In that muscle, there are thousands of mitochondria. And in those mitochondria, there’s a pathway to make ATP energy so you can lift those weights. The cytochrome c oxidase, for reasons I don’t understand, it actually takes and traps nitric oxide. And the nitric oxide doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do, which is keep your arteries youthful and prevent plaque. And it kind of clogs up the electron transport chain. So when you’re exposed to red light and infrared light, the nitric oxide gets bumped off and it goes and circulates and it does what it’s supposed to do. Suddenly this little fly in the ointment of making ATP is removed. So you actually get both benefits, which is crazy. I mean, it’s so crazy to think that red light and infrared light can do something that is – you know, I’m still blown away how advanced the science is. We’re talking thousands of research articles and basic science and human science. So there’s even reports – and this is science where I wouldn’t say it. You know, how many people deal with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease of the thyroid. There are small series that exposing your neck using a red light device like the lumiNIR converts your immune system. It’s called macrophage 1 or macrophage 2. But they stop attacking your own thyroid. And there are reports up substantial 30 or 40% of people no longer needing thyroid replacement after a while. Everybody needs to work with their healthcare team. Of course, their healthcare team won’t have ever heard of this. But if you do look online, Photobiomodulation Hashimoto’s, you can read about it. It’s real science. [27:07] Ashley James: Oh, that is fascinating. Do you think it has something to do with the fact that it decreases inflammation? [27:12] Dr. Joel Kah: It decreases inflammation by changing the activity of kind of white blood cell or kind of inflammatory. So I’ll call them back macrophage. Exactly. [27:22] Ashley James: Because I know that in the 3-in-1 Sunlighten – not the handheld but the big Sunlighten Sauna that has the near, mid, and far infrared – that is incredibly anti-inflammatory to be in. That people notice decreases in pain and inflammation and joint pain. And then I’ve been told the lumiNIR – because I don’t have joint pain – but I’ve been told the lumiNIR has been really helpful for people with joint pain even when it’s like rheumatoid arthritis where there’s an autoimmune component. And you’ve seen the science to back this up. [27:51] Dr. Joel Kahn: It probably is multiple pathways that lead people with fibromyalgia and more defined autoimmune conditions, like you mentioned, to respond to full spectrum infrared sauna. Because it probably is detoxification. Some will lose weight, which may help. And then finally, this nitric oxide, ATP energy, something like fibromyalgia, some people believe strongly is a mitochondrial energy deficit problem. So if you can safely non-invasively and frankly rather cost effectively deal with it, then you might as well just power up and get rid of the pain. [28:34] Ashley James: Right. I love it. And you mentioned that saunas help with weight loss. I’ve used the sauna to help with detoxification because I was having problems with weight loss when it came to detoxification. My liver would get all really pissed off. I switched to a plant-based diet and everything’s working a lot better now that I’m doing that and doing the sauna. What can you share with us about, from the standpoint of heart health, cardiovascular health, and how saunas help with that, how does the sauna therapy, this heat therapy, help us with detoxification and weight loss? [29:10] Dr. Joel Kahn: Yes. Well, it’s actually a very efficient way. It’s interesting. There’s some data that cold therapy is a very efficient way to accelerate your weight loss. So I have adopted this crazy habit I hate that after workout, I jump in the shower. And at least part of it, I douse myself and cold water. It does wake you up like no other. I hate everything about it. Because there’s nothing more comforting than a hot shower but a cold shower. And on the flip side, the efficiency of burning calories in an infrared sauna is as high as many ellipticals and treadmills. And it might be roughly 500, 600, 700 calories an hour. So you know, it doesn’t replace – number one, if you’re a good athlete and you can really get good workouts, please do it. There’s all kinds of cardiovascular benefits. Some people have reasons that they can’t really get that high level workout. And many people do both. They’ll get the – you know, they CrossFit or the HIIT or yoga or whatever it is and then they’ll add in some saunas on top of it. So it can be very helpful with the calories in, calories out. The calorie out part of weight loss, I had, unfortunately, in a medical conference, the misfortune of breaking a foot on an escalator two months ago. So I’ve had to give up – it’s recovering very well. But I’ve had to give up the treadmill, elliptical, Concept 2 rower, and all the things I like to do yoga. So I’m spending more time in an infrared sauna and been able to maintain my weight. I mean, a lot of upper body work and such. I shifted. But just a personal example, you know, add that in. And it may be too. There’s this theory – this gets a little whoo – we really are exposed to a lot of garbage, pesticides, herbicides, these endocrine disrupting chemicals. And a lot of them do get – they’re fat soluble chemicals, particularly PCBs and DDT. And these things are unfortunately highly concentrated in fish. So fish eaters are much more exposed to these things. But you may need to get rid and reduce your burden on some of these chemicals to really lose weight. Because there’s like this battle, if I keep my fat, I dilute these chemicals and they’re less toxic to my physiology. And if I lose weight, and they’re all released in the bloodstream, I may feel bad. Kind of like the Keto flu or the kind of ill feeling that people get the first couple days of some kind of detox. So sweating them out as a real efficient way in a sauna to reduce your burden and accelerate weight loss. Now, everything I just said is a little blurry in terms of, “Do we absolutely know?” But that is a strong theory that people feel reflects life in 2019 and 2020. [31:57] Ashley James: And it’s been my experience too. I kept hitting a wall. Every time I lose a few pounds, I get really over toxic and my liver would inflame. I went for ultrasounds and blood work and it was sure enough, my liver was really pissed. And my Naturopath didn’t know what was going on. He was trying to throw some supplements at me to support the liver. But I had to basically stop weight loss and then wait for it to calm down then start again. I was just sick of it. And so finally my niche process was like, “You really should get a sauna.” And that’s why I dived into studying all the different types of saunas. And I came across Sunlighten Sauna and discovered that that was my favorite out of all the other companies. Really low EMF, nontoxic. And then when I started using it, it was like a light bulb went off inside me. It was the total difference. I feel happier when I use it. I get better sleep. I don’t have my inflamed liver anymore. The weight loss has been consistent. So I’ve become this raving fan about Sunlighten. But again, I didn’t understand the deep science behind it. And so I love that you’re saying that the receptors in our body, the cells have receptors for light. And I’ve heard from other people that light is like a nutrient. And we are starving our body because of modern day society. We’re actually starving from the full spectrum that we need. So it’s like we’re nutrient deficient and the nutrient is light. [33:23] Dr. Joel Kahn: So that that circles back to something I said a while about how similar we are to plants, which is a novel idea. But of course plants can take light and use them to stimulate the production of energy. It powers them. They have chlorophyll. There is a report in 2014 and I wrote a little blog about it back then. It was so interesting, it made some headlines. It wasn’t a human study but it was a mammal study. And we do not think that we can be out in the sun and create energy out of that process. We’re not plants. But that did occur in mammalian cells. And there may be a whole spectrum of we know light helps you make vitamin D, which is an important health supporting. Some people say hormone and vitamin. There is some data you can make more nitric oxide by being in the sun. And people that live in lower portions in the United States have lower blood pressure than people who live in northern portions. And it all correlates how many hours a day there’s sunshine. But whether we actually can energize and feel better, of course, intuition says, take a vacation in the sun. And it feels great. And it may be partly that we have still pathways that aren’t completely understood in these cytochrome C oxidase pathways may indeed be part of it. So it’s very cool. And you know, as I say one of the easiest health blaze is to get more light or get more red light with dedicated products. These used to be extremely expensive. You’d have to spend $10,000 to 30,000 to go to a health spa or a dermatology office. But it’s much different now for way, way under $1,000. You got a great system. [35:05] Ashley James: Yeah. I really like the lumiNIR and all that you can do with it with all the different attachments. Like you said, you can do the anti-aging. There’s an attachment specifically for helping skin with acne and healing the skin. And I really geek out on helping people with pain and decreasing pain and supporting healthy tissue. So there’s so many different benefits to making sure we’re exposed to light either getting out in the sun or getting in a Sunlighten Sauna. But being able to expose yourself to the different and full – as much as you can full spectrum of light. Now, I know we’re under a time constraint and I definitely want to make sure I get to the listeners questions because I posted on the Learn True Health Facebook Group some questions. [35:50] Dr. Joel Kahn: Let me just – before we leave the sauna, let me just shout out three – again, I told everybody I already like science. So I’m going to give three very nonscientific tips here. [36:01] Ashley James: Okay. Great. [36:01] Dr. Joel Kahn: Well, the first one is okay. I do my meditation. Which isn’t absolutely regular but I do it in the infrared sauna. I call it saunatation. I’m already isolated. I’m already cleansing physiologically my body, why not cleanse some of the stress. So I encourage people that’s just a perfect place to do that. That’s number one. Number two, I actually do take a big handful of organic chlorella about half-an-hour before getting in the sauna. Because I want to be a plant. And I don’t know for sure if that works. But my blood level of chlorophyll is extremely high from taking 25 or 30 little tablets. Like anybody can buy of high quality chlorella. And it just feels good. And the third one, and please don’t do this if you’re not really healthy and know your status. There’s sort of this strategy, go do a HIIT workout for 10 or 15 minutes after you’ve taken a little handful of niacin, a B vitamin that makes you sweat and turn red. And you might feel very poorly on it so be careful. But it’s over the counter. You know, so take your knives and do your workout and pop in a sauna. You want to have a detoxifying sweat, you will have a detoxifying sweat. [37:17] Ashley James: Very interesting. So you’re inducing the niacin flush. Is that like opening up capillaries around the surface of the skin? [37:27] Dr. Joel Kahn: That’s exactly what you’re feeling on the surface of the skin. Clearly, if you’re not healthy, if you’ve had a bad reaction to niacin – I mean, it’s not a medical therapy and niacin is an over the counter vitamin. So I don’t think I’ve completely violated my Hippocratic oath. And I’ve done it a thousand times and so far still alive and kicking. But it’s an interesting little play. [37:51] Ashley James: Now, I’m going to have to try that. I’ve definitely have some niacin here on the shelf. I’m going to have to try that for sure. I usually get the no-flush niacin. But to want to do it on purpose to open up all the blood flow to the surface to increase the sweating and detoxification, that sounds like a really fun experiment. I’m kind of like — you know, you hear about this term biohacker. I love experimenting on myself in a safe way. You know, try it out. And I feel like my listeners do the same. They love trying different things, especially when they learn from great guests like you and seeing how it works for them. I have two more things to add to your routine – or one more thing for you to add to the routine is trying a magnesium soak while you’re in the sauna. And I’ll make sure I send you some information on it. But it’s transdermal. It’s a liquid. And you just put a few cups of water with a foot basin while you’re in the sauna, and you absorb a ton of magnesium. And so a lot of my listeners, including myself, love doing that in the sauna as well. And that also opens up the blood flow. And then my favorite – and I definitely encourage you to try it out – my favorite chlorella brand – I’ve tried a bunch of them – and I found that ENERGYbits, they make one called – [39:06] Dr. Joel Kahn: That’s what I just swallowed. [39:07] Ashley James: Yes. RECOVERYbits are my favorite because it tastes amazing. All the other ones kind of tastes fishy to me or stale. And ENERGYbits has been consistent with their quality and their testing. I’ve had Catharine Arnston, the creator of ENERGYbits on the show many times. And so yeah, we’re on the same page. I’m so excited to introduce you the magnesium soak. I’ll make sure I send you some information because I know that you’ll really enjoy adding that to your sauna routine and seeing how you how you feel about it. So let me get to the listener questions because I know that we’re under time constraint and I want to respect your time. Daniela, first of all, says that your – she’s the one that said your podcast is absolutely amazing. So I want to shout out to Daniela. She was really looking forward to hearing our interview. Naomi has a really interesting one. Her dad had a valve replacement surgery recently because of a narrow valve. And the doctor said it was congenital. But none of his symptoms started until he was 70. And they’re like, “Well, you know you were born with it.” But none of his symptoms started until his 70 and now they’re seeing narrowing of the arteries. Of course, that can be – as you and I know – corrected with wonderful whole food plant-based diet with no oil. What do you say to that when people say – when doctor said, “Well, that’s just congenital. You were born with it.” But the disease never occurred until they were much later in life. [40:28] Dr. Joel Kahn: Go back to Daniela. Thank you, Daniela, for listening to Heart Doc VIP. Okay. I just wanted to say thank you to her because that was kind of you. But to go to this question. There is a – the number one most common birth condition, congenital heart condition, is actually what her father had. The last valve of the heart when the heart pumps hard to get all the blood out to the body, it goes through a valve called the aortic valve. That looks like a Mercedes Benz or a peace sign, three little parts. They open, they shot. One person people are born where there’s two pieces, not three. It’s called a bicuspid aortic valve. It looks like your rear end. It has two pieces, not three. But we don’t call it a tush valve. It’s a bicuspid valve. Now, you can now call it a tush valve. And because it’s abnormal, 100,000 heartbeats a day. By the time you’re 40 or 45 or 50 or 55, there’s some scarring, some calcification. And the valve may no longer open enough so you start to get shorter breath, tighten the chest, dizzy. And at that point, you may need something done about it. There’s nothing you can do about being born with it. It’s common. You might ask a doctor. There is some family history. So your listener might ask her doctor, “Are you sure there’s no murmur there when you listen to my heart with the stethoscope?” But there’s really no absolute necessity to make the diagnosis early, early. But they’re just finish it up. Occasionally with that valve – right above the heart is called your aorta. The aorta may be a little enlarged. That’s a little more important of a finding earlier in life. You shouldn’t probably be snapping or catching 300 pound lifts in CrossFit if you knew your aorta was enlarged. So it might be worth pursuing it with what we call an ultrasound of the heart or echocardiogram, if there really was any question your doctor thought they heard something or there really is a strong family history. I’ll give you one last little tip because your listeners deserve the best of the best. There is a class of antibiotics – I’m totally shifting gears but I’m coming back to your listeners question. They are called fluoroquinolones. But you might know him by Cipro, ciprofloxacin, Levaquin, levofloxacin. These are actually the most commonly prescribed oral and IV antibiotics in the United States. It is now apparent after 30 years of using them, that they weaken our collagen. They cause rupture [inaudible 00:42:57]. Your Achilles can get inflamed or rupture after a seven to ten day course. But now in the last three or four years, your aorta, the most important blood vessel in the body, can get weakened and damaged after just a week or ten days on these antibiotics. And very recently, even heart valves, all of these structures are made of collagen. These antibiotics have – it took years to identify. It’s not common. But when you talk about tens of millions of prescriptions, if it’s only 1% or 1.5% of people, it’s still a lot of people. Which is why somebody like this father – I mean, anybody within a large aorta should now know that there’s FDA warnings about maybe not using this class of antibiotics that are used for prostate and urinary and bronchitis in the hospital and in the office. I’ll say as I was just on the doctor show being interviewed on this topic, because it is really important and hot. And Drew Ordon, the plastic surgeon with the white hair and wonderful guy said, “I’m Levaquin right now for my prostate and this is scaring me.” And it is being recommended that you ask your doctor maybe shift antibiotics to another one. So circling back to your question, it’s 1% of people born with an abnormal valve. It might also cause their aorta to be enlarged. If you knew your aorta was enlarged, you do not want to take these classes of antibiotics. And even if your aorta isn’t enlarged, for the sake of your Achilles tendon and other structures, you still might want to ask, ” Can I have a penicillin or sulfa?” Older antibiotic like Macrobid. These drugs have been out for decades. It’s interesting. It’s not the only drug. We’ve learned new things about old drugs that are frankly changing practice and fairly scary. Next question. Next question. [44:50] Ashley James: Thank you so much for warning us. Kelly asks, “Are there any recommendations he has for children who are born with heart conditions such as ASD, PFO, etc.? [44:59] Dr. Joel Kahn: These are interesting questions because, again, birth defects are rarely the common questions that are asked. I’m certainly welcome to have them. I mean, so you can -the second most common birth defect after the valve is a little hole in the heart called a PFO, Patent Foramen Ovale. Usually very innocent. And then there’s a larger hole called ASD, Atrial Septal Defect. And then there are more complex where it might be apparent before birth or at birth that this is a child that has serious problems, blue babies and developmental problems. But you know, just like that listener’s Father, it took decades. There are people that have had this hole in their heart for it 20, 30, 40 years. And then they begin to get shorter breath or then they begin to get fatigue. So there isn’t a diet, there isn’t a lifestyle, there isn’t a sauna treatment for everything in life. You just need, at that point, good medical care. And sometimes ultimately, a procedure that more and more is not surgery. More and more, it’s some kind of procedure where they don’t have to crack your chest open. But people should be much more concerned about their arteries getting clogged and the risk of heart attack and stroke. Because the frequency of that from age 35, 40, 45, and up is a thousand times more of a concern than finding out unexpectedly at age 70. You’ve got a valve or a hole in your heart issue. They’re all important. [46:31] Ashley James: Right. That we can prevent heart disease with whole food plant-based diet with no processed foods would be much better for most of the population. And then there’s a small percentage that has a birth defect but could still – even with a birth defect, couldn’t we still optimize our heart health with a really good heart health diet? [46:50] Dr. Joel Kahn: Yeah. Always. And there’s an insane number of reasons to as early as you can in life learn the clues. Don’t smoke, stay thin, get fitness, get sleep, manage stress, eat more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. And anybody around you does. Be the champion of whole real foods from plant sources. Don’t smoke. If I said it twice, it deserves to be said twice. [47:17] Ashley James: Don’t vape. [47:17] Dr. Joel Kahn: If nothing happens during your life, you’ve just probably added a dozen plus years of good health and reduce risk of diabetes, cancer, brain disease and heart disease. If something comes up in your life, you’re showing up in the best shape possible. So yes, we buy life insurance, we wear seatbelts, we wear bicycle helmets, we’re into the mode of taking certain precautions even though they’re relatively unlikely. Whereas, heart disease is incredibly likely and we neither look for it nor do we really work very hard to prevent it. [47:50] Ashley James: My dad died of heart disease. My mom died of cancer. And that’s one of the biggest reasons why I do this show. I can’t save my parents. I don’t have a time machine. But I can help my listeners save theirs and save themselves. And we can. We can prevent and reverse disease and add years to your life with all the things you’ve talked about. You know, we’re on a roll. Heidi says, “I have a question as well. My husband has a rare genetic heart condition called ARVC. His arteries are perfectly healthy but it’s electrical part of the heart that’s not. Do you have any advice for anyone with this condition?” [48:26] Dr. Joel Kahn: Yeah. Again, an important but very unusual birth abnormality, the right side of your heart, it just doesn’t form normally. And it makes people prone to serious fast heartbeats that could cause you to blackout or worse. And you work with certain cardiologists called electrical cardiologists and sometimes you need that fancy pacemaker called a defibrillator. And they can be life saving for certain people. And the same comment, show up to that challenge in life. You know, why is that gentleman’s arteries clean? And that’s a very complex question of genetics and lifestyle and fitness and all. But if you start eating plant-based at age 18, as I had the good fortune by luck, you probably are going to show up for that procedure with your arteries clean. And I know at age 60 mine are squeaky clean. There’s ways to get a quick CAT scan and confirm that and there. So it’s always best. The best protection is to stay out of the hospital on as few medicines as you can with as few doctor procedures as you can. The number three cause of death in the United States is medical procedures and medications that go wrong. Number three causes of death are heart disease and cancer. So the best plan is not need to be there. And I run from hospitals even though I am part of them and I will say I’m on staff with them. But in terms of my own health, I do not trust what goes on in hospitals. [49:56] Ashley James: Thank you. I love this. We have to walk that fine line of understanding when we want to go to allopathic medicine and when we don’t. This show obviously celebrates all the times we don’t want to go to allopathic medicine but allopathic medicine has its place. And if my heart was beating to the point where it’s blocking out, I’d really want to see a good electrical cardiologist. Is that what it’s called? I definitely want to go see a really good one. But for prevention and for optimizing our health, then we can do it through diet. I interviewed Dr. Esselstyn and he has seen people with even four blockages in the heart, reverse it within months of going on a whole food plant-based diet, as you I’m sure have seen and know. So it’s just amazing what the body can do when we give it the nutrition it needs. Teresa asks – she says, “Many of the autoimmune neuro disease experts insist on good fats in the diet. Added fats like ghee, tallow, lard and coconut oils, mostly for cooking and to drizzle over vegetables for absorption. I personally have trouble breaking down fats and proteins and I’ve had to take digestive enzymes with every meal. Is it really necessary to add all that extra fat for MS, ALS, and even Hashimoto’s? I followed Dr. John McDougall for years and felt great. But that was before autoimmunity. So she then developed an autoimmune condition.” And she says, “Also, the experts talk about organ meats for autoimmunity. What could replace a nutrient density in a plant-based diet?” So she doesn’t want to have to eat organ meats and all this processed fat but she wants to heal her body. Do you have any advice for her? [51:37] Dr. Joel Kahn: Yeah. And I think it gets to just a fundamental question. Where do you get your advice? Do they have any conflicts in the advice they’re giving? And are they really trained to give advice? Because every trainer or every dietitian – at least a dietitian has some formal training if they’re an RD, every health coach can get a blog and YouTube and give advice. Go find me data that you need to eat organ meats to heal neurologic or autoimmune disease. And let’s talk about randomized studies that are out there. And you know, not everything in the world that’s great has to be plant-based. So there’s so many reasons to talk about a whole food plant-base for the environment, for animal rights, and animal cruelty and suffering. And for the gigantic database that it is the best plan to preserve and protect your health in general and for both brain and autoimmune diseases. I spent the weekend with Dr. Terry Wahls of HLS. And many people will know she’s a medical doctor with a breakout book called The Wahls Protocol a couple years ago. She’s redoing it right now. And she had disabling multiple sclerosis. She was an internist in the University of Iowa at the VA. And kind of created her own plan of hyper nourishment with ten servings a day of organic leafy greens and smoothies and salads and mushrooms and onions and garlic. And a few servings of animal foods during the week. Far less than the typical Paleo diet. Lots of omega-3 rich foods. And I was asking her by and she recovered her own health. She’s helped so many people recover. I mean, I’m not going to argue with her. She’s walking and riding her bike and she was in a wheelchair. I’m going to tell her diet is other than optimal. It worked out optimally for her and a lot of other people. There is a similar plan that is all plant-based that’s taught by a physician in Houston, Brooke Goldner, G-O-L-D-N-E-R and her book called Goodbye Lupus or Goodbye Autoimmune Disease, her new book. So you can do it super clean whole food plant-based, super clean almost plant-based as Dr. Wahls teaches. But it’s not all that gook you talked about. And what I love about, particularly Dr. Wahls right now, she took her own personal health crisis and recovery. Her broad experience teaching other people within the VA and other medical systems in the University of Iowa. And now she’s actually doing prospective randomized published studies. You can’t jack with somebody who’s done that kind of science. And I’ll say no disrespect, but it kind of is disrespect. Show me Dr. David Perlmutter’s prospective peer reviewed studies or Dr. Mark Hyman or Dr. Bill Davis. I mean, these are the giants of some of this weird stuff. I mean, bone marrow and bone broth. I know it’s trendy. But let’s talk about where we follow the typical scientific path of you got a hypothesis, you arrange a study, you do it, you publish it. Dr. Wahls sure [inaudible 00:54:32] has. So my brain favorites are two neurologists by the name of Sherzai, S-H-E-R-Z-A-I. Which is Dean and Ayesha Sherzai, academic neurologists in Long Beach and Loma Linda with a book called The Alzheimer’s Solution. And I would follow their program for brain and neurological health in that book. [54:56] Ashley James: Thank you so much. That was great. I love the books that you let us know about because those are going to be great guests for the show. I’m definitely going to ask them all to be on the show. And those will be great resources for the listeners as well. It has been such a pleasure having you on the show. I know time just flies. And I know you’ve got to go. Before you do, is there any advice that you’d like to leave listeners with or homework that you’d like to leave the listeners with? [55:25] Dr. Joel Kahn: That’s an interesting question, homework, because that’s exactly the expression I use with my patients. So, “Here’s your homework. And I can’t do this all for you. And I can guide you to people.” I believe my opinion are credible and we should spend time. I mean, everybody should watch Forks Over Knives on Netflix. Or if there’s anybody left that has a DVD player. It’s still available. I give my patients the option of taking a DVD home or watch it on Netflix. If you want to upgrade that, you might watch What The Health from 2017. And very soon you’ll be able to watch Game Changers. A new movie that was in the theaters that will be released on iTunes very soon. I mean, I’ve seen all those movies. You know, there are a lot of health movies that I don’t think represent fairly. But surely Forks Over Knives, which is Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr. Caldwell, I would certainly say, are fair. Other homework, let’s see. You know, get familiar with pubmed.gov. It can be a slippery slope. But that’s the national library of medicine and 30 million scientific articles. You can’t get the full article on everyone but you can and a lot. And like, if you don’t believe me on red light therapy or photobiomodulation and Hashimoto’s, that’s where you go. You go there. And you know, it’s a little tough sometimes to read the scientific articles but that’s a good habit. I mean, you could, I will say, also, put it bone broth and health. That’s where you want to look. You’ll find nothing. Actually, you’ll find one article that says it’s dangerous and toxic in terms of lead levels in bone broth causing bones that your cooking to release some of the stored lead that is in them. But you know, these kind of habits is something if you really want to get as credible as you can. You might know learn simple skills to do. [57:24] Ashley James: Oh, I love it. Yes, PubMed. Let’s advocate for ourselves by looking into the science. Absolutely. I went to the movie theaters and saw the Game Changers in the movies. And I went with actually one of our listeners who’s a friend of mine, Naomi. A big shout out to her. And the whole time we kept looking at each other going, “We have to get this person to watch this. Oh my gosh. We got to get our parents to watch this.” We can’t believe it. Like, I am so excited that October 1st when it comes out on iTunes, I’m going to buy the digital copy and get as many of my friends and family to watch it. And I really love that it just shows – it blows this idea that that [inaudible 00:58:01] totally out of the ballpark. And it shows that if you want to have really great sexual health and great muscle and great strength and endurance and all that, men and women get it from a whole food plant-based diet. That’s such a cool – and it is really a game changer. Dr. Joel Kahn, it has been such a pleasure having you on the show today. You are welcome back anytime you want to come share with our listeners. It was a true pleasure to have you today. [58:30] Dr. Joel Kahn: Well, it is mutual fan club, mutual Seattle fan club. And yeah, I look forward doing that. I’d be happy to help you contact any of those other people if you want to get them on because I think your listenership would love them. [58:43] Ashley James: Awesome. That sounds great. Thank you. — Outro: Hello true health seeker. Have you ever thought about becoming a health coach? Do you love learning about nutrition? And how we can shift our lifestyle and our diet so that we can gain optimal health and happiness and longevity? Do you love helping your friends and family to solve their health problems and to figure out what they can do to eat healthier? Are you interested in becoming someone who can grow their own business? Support people in their success? Do you love helping people? You might be the perfect candidate to become a health coach. I highly recommend checking out the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I just spent the last year in their health coaching certification program. And it really blew me away. It was so amazing. I learned over 100 dietary theories. I learned all about nutrition. But from a standpoint of how we can help people to shift their life and shift their lifestyle to gain true holistic health. I definitely recommend you check them out. You can Google Institute for Integrative Nutrition or IIN and give them a call. Or you can go to learntruehealth.com/coach and you can receive a free module of their training to check it out and see if it’s something that you’d be interested in. Be sure to mention my name, Ashley James and the Learn True Health podcast. Because I made a deal with them that they will give you the best price possible. I highly recommend checking it out. It really changed my life to be in their program. And I’m such a big advocate that I wanted to spread this information. We need more health coaches. In fact, health coaching is the largest growing career right now in the health field. So many health coaches are getting in and helping people because you can work in chiropractic offices, doctors offices, you can work in hospitals. ,You can work online through Skype and help people around the world. You can become an author. You can go into the school system and help your local schools shift their programs to help children be healthier. You can go into senior centers and help them to shift their diet and lifestyle to best support them in their success and their health goals. There’s so many different available options for you when you become a certified health coach. So check out IIN. Check out the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Mention my name. Get the best deal. Give them a call and they’ll give you lots of free information and help you to see if this is the right move for you. Classes are starting soon. The next round of classes are starting at the end of the month. So you’re going to want to call them now and check it out. And if you know anyone in your life who would be an amazing coach, please tell them about it. Being a health coach is so rewarding and you get to help so many people. Get Connected With Dr. Joel Kahn! Website Facebook Twitter Instagram Books by Dr. Joel Kahn The Plant Based Solution The Whole Heart Solution The No B.S. Diet
The world agrees we need to eat less meat and eat more plants if we want to save the planet from disastrous climate crises. But that’s easier said than done. In fact, our meat consumption is only set to rise. It was the highest in the U.S. this past year at 100 kilos per capita and by 2030, continents like Africa and Asia Pacific will see tremendous growth in the appetite for protein. But it doesn’t have to come from animal sources. Companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods as well as JUST are paving the way for meat made from plants, that taste, smell and even bleed like meat. And in India, companies like Good Dot and Only Great Foods / Supplant are pioneering the plant-based protein space. In this episode of The Power of Plant Protein, we talk to Abhishek Sinha of Good Dot and Chirag Sabunani of Only Great Foods to find out how they are growing the plant-based foods eco-system in India and approaching it from the polar opposite perspectives of an animal lover and a meat eater!. ORGANIZATIONS, INSTITUTES AND CELL-BASED MEAT COMPANIES MENTIONED: Impossible Foods : Impossible Foods is an American company headquartered in California that makes plant-based meat substitutes. Made from a blend of soy and potato protein, their meat’s characteristic flavour comes from soy leghemoglobin, which makes their burgers cook, taste, smell and bleed like real beef. Impossible Foods have recently partnered with fast food companies in the US, including Burger King and White Castle, to offer the Impossible Burger to consumers all over the country. In September 2019, they partnered with grocery chains to sell a raw version of their ground beef in select stores in Southern California. Learn more here. Beyond Meat : Beyond Meat’s mission is to engineer the future of protein by moving beyond traditional and antiquated animal agriculture to create meat made from plants. In doing so, they aim to address climate change, food security, animal welfare and human health. Their plant-based burgers, crumbles and sausages are made primarily from pea protein. After going public in May 2019, Beyond had one of the year’s best IPOs, with a post-IPO surge of over 700 percent. McDonald’s recently started offering a “PLT” (plant, lettuce and tomato) burger made with Beyond Meat patties in Canada, the first significant step the fast food giant has taken towards offering more plant-based options on its menu. Learn more here and here. JUST : JUST is an American company based in California that makes plant-based mayonnaise (and mayonnaise-based salad dressings) and eggs, made from yellow split peas and mung beans, respectively. Their products are retailed across the US in grocery stores such as Whole Foods and Walmart. They can also be found on menus in US-based chains Bareburger, Veggie Grill and Silver Diner as well as Canadian chain Tim Horton’s. They recently sold their 10 millionth egg. Learn more here. Good Dot : Good Dot is an Indian company manufacturing plant-based meat products that appeal to both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. They use food technology to produce meat that is good for all — the animals, the planet and human health. Their CEO, Abhishek Sinha, a devoted animal lover, was a former Deputy Commissioner of Income tax before he quit to oversee Good Dot’s R&D and manufacturing. Their products include Veg Bytz, Proteiz and Proteiz Plus. They recently rolled out their QSR initiative called GoodDo in major cities across India. Learn more here. Only Great Foods: Only Great Foods is a research, development and manufacturing firm that develops ingredients for gluten-free bakery with its primary customers in the US and Canada. Given Chirag Sabunani's passion to feed the world in better ways, and the movement of R&D heads from gluten-free towards 'plant-based' companies over the last year, Only Great Foods launched a sister entity, Supplant Foods, with a focus on developing and producing vegan ingredients for the ready-snacks and 'plant-based' sector. The new firm has a range of hydrocolloids specifically designed for the 'plant-based' industry, is now starting production of its patent-pending flavorless and functional chickpea flour, and is in the final stages of developing flavorless functional proteins from inexpensive and abundant feedstocks. The goal: supply these ingredients to plant-based companies in the West and help them improve quality while lowering costs AND eventually develop a range of plant-based eggs, dairy and meat for us in India! SCIENTIFIC DEFINITIONS: Plant- based meat: Plant-based food refers to meat, eggs and dairy made from plants. They use a bio-mimicry approach to replicate the taste and texture of meat while some plant-forward products like seitan, tofu and tempeh, serve as functional meat replacements. Although not biologically classified as plants, fungi and algae based products are also included in plant-based foods. Hydrocolloids: A hydrocolloid is any substance that forms a gel in the presence of water. In food, hydrocolloids are functional carbohydrates used in foods to enhance their shelf-life and quality. These additives are used to modify the viscosity and texture of food products like ice cream, salad dressings, gravies, processed meats, and beverages. Some examples of hydrocolloids used in food include xanthan gum, gum arabic and agar. Learn more here. ADDITIONAL READING AND RESOURCES: Think fake burgers are just for vegetarians? 95% of Impossible’s customers are meat-eaters. Read more here. Watch Bruce Friedrich, Executive Director of The Good Food Institute, throw away eight plates of pasta to explain how market forces and food technology will save the world here. If you’d like to learn more about what consumers think of plant-based and cultured meat — including how open they are to trying them — check out this report by Frontiers Journal here. Still not convinced plant-based meat tastes like the real thing? Here’s an article by two beef farmers on how realistic Burger King’s Impossible Whopper really is. Want to learn more about the rapidly evolving plant-based and cultured meat industries? Check out the Good Food Institutes State of the Industry reports here.
In this episode of Vegan Styled Life, we give our restaurant reviews of Veggie Grill. We talk about “Stephen Colbert Adopts Vegan Diet,” “Argentinian President Announces Vegan Mondays,” “Vegan Cheese is Taking Over! Industry is Set to be Worth $3.5 Billion by 2023,” “American medical association tells hospitals to go vegan ban meat & dairy!” “Germans Ditching Traditional Meat Dishes for Vegan Versions” We talk about making the vegan transition. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/vegan-styled-life/support
Nick Jordan breaks down America's latest Outrage, live from Hollywood, CA. Western Civilization Defense Fund: Paypal.me/OutrageTV
Mark Thompson on Hurrican Dorian. Tim tells us how he changed CBS drug testing. Veggie Grill has opened. Best songs for Truckers. The Great Hack trailer. Tim doesn't like to go to the movies. Mark Wallengreen is at the Dodger game.
Greg Dollarhyde knew he didn't want to build restaurant concepts from scratch, but he also had the skill set necessary to taking brands from potential to profit. After bouncing around to several restaurant-industry leadership positions, he struck gold with Baja Fresh, a fast-casual burrito joint that he grew to nearly 300 locations before selling to Wendy's in 2002 for $275 million. Since then, he's served as the CEO of both Zoes Kitchen and Veggie Grill, two concepts that he helped set up for massive fast-casual success.These days, Dollarhyde is an industry investor and sits on the board of directors for Veggie Grill and Blaze Pizza. In this conversation with QSR editor Sam Oches, he offers lessons from his illustrious career and gives some advice to fellow entrepreneurs looking to make it big in the fast-casual restaurant industry.QSR Magazine informationFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedInQSRmagazine.com Have feedback or interview suggestions? Email us at sam@qsrmagazine.com.
T.K. Pillan is the co-founder of the popular Veggie Grill chain of restaurants. Join Matt and Michelle as they chat with T.K. about appealing to non-vegans, T.K.'s enthusiasm for new product innovations and his baseball past. Also, our hosts give a shout out to the origins of the Ceasar salad and Matt finds out where all of his recycling has been going to.
Today we are joined by the beautiful Jessica Sepel, clinical holistic nutrition expert and best-selling author of The Healthy Life, and Living The Healthy Life. Jessica offers a gentle and simple approach to health and well-being. We talk about how she healed and transformed her mentality around wellness after having a ten year fad-diet obsession, as well as ways that you can change your own mindset around health. Jessica shares how her last two years of nutrition school really changed the game for her personal wellness, the growth of her blog, and how to deal with bad days. We also dive into Jessica’s approach to exercise, what happens to your body when you over-exercise, and achieving weight-balance. We also talk about… Meeting at the GOODfest Guilt surrounding diets How to talk to your kids about health/diet Why you should get rid of your scale Jessica’s relationship with therapy Morning routines + social media Ways that Jessica’s husband helped her find self-worth What Jessica is excited about An average day for Jessica Find more to love at almost30podcast.com! Resources: Learn more: jessicasepel.com Instagram: @jshealth Download: JS Health app Check out: JS Health Supplements Read: The Healthy Life ; Living The Healthy Life Learn more: yourpodcastpro.com Upcoming Events: Almost 30 Tour | December 4th, Vancouver Almost 30 Tour | December 6th, Vancouver Sponsors: Modern Fertility | www.modernfertility.com/almost30 for $20 off a purchase Chosen Foods | Head to chosenfoods.com/almost30 and use the promo code ALMOST30 for 50% off your first order Article | www.article.com/ALMOST30 for $50 off a purchase of $100 or more Make Thanksgiving easier than ever. Veggie Grill is offering and extra $10 for every $40 gift card! Head to veggiegrill.com for yours! Beekeeper’s Naturals | Use code ALMOST30 for 15% off at beekeepersnaturals.com Skinny Dipped | Use code ALMOST30 for 20% off at skinnydipped.com The Almost 30 Podcast is edited by Podcast Masters
Indie rock trio Sunshine Boys (Dag Juhlin, Freda Love Smith, Jackie Schimmel) jumped in the Mazda 3 for vegan food from Veggie Grill on this week's episode. "The vibe is kind of like Chipotle, but the food is all vegan." The next Sunshine Boys release: Nashville Hot Chik'n? Dag and Freda's earlier bands (The Slugs/Blake Babies) were in circulation at the same time "back in the day." Were they aware of one another back then? The fertile creative ground of Monk's Pub. The brilliantly-named "Sex Ritter" Is it easier or harder to find kindred spirits in music as you move further along in the music world? The Chicago "L" makes a lot of appearances on this episode. The debut album "Blue Music" and the vinyl release show happening at Montrose Saloon (11/24). Is crowdfunding the new model for musicians? Why won't anyone let Sunshine Boys cook and do a house show for them? Freda's a freaking Blake Baby. The music of "Blue Music." Dag is fierce when he throws down his rap battles. Dag's tacos fell apart at the very beginning of the meal. Sunshine Boys are playing the WGN-TV Morning News on Black Friday. Car Con Carne is presented by the Autobarn Mazda of Evanston
Indie rock trio Sunshine Boys (Dag Juhlin, Freda Love Smith, Jackie Schimmel) jumped in the Mazda 3 for vegan food from Veggie Grill on this week's episode. "The vibe is kind of like Chipotle, but the food is all vegan." The next Sunshine Boys release: Nashville Hot Chik'n? Dag and Freda's earlier bands (The Slugs/Blake Babies) were in circulation at the same time "back in the day." Were they aware of one another back then? Dag's love of Blake Babies'"adequate drums" The fertile creative ground of Monk's Pub. The brilliantly-named "Sex Ritter" Is it easier or harder to find kindred spirits in music as you move further along in the music world? The Chicago "L" makes a lot of appearances on this episode. The debut album "Blue Music" and the vinyl release show happening at Montrose Saloon (11/24). Is crowdfunding the new model for musicians? Why won't anyone let Sunshine Boys cook and do a house show for them? Freda's a freaking Blake Baby. The music of "Blue Music." Dag is fierce when he throws down his rap battles. Dag's tacos fell apart at the very beginning of the meal. Sunshine Boys are playing the WGN-TV Morning News on Black Friday. Car Con Carne is presented by the Autobarn Mazda of Evanston
This week Matt & Meredith share a customer review, read an excerpt from the inaugural issue of the Boredwalk magazine, clap back at the grammarian bridge trolls of the internet, and recount a hilarious customer complaint email that Meredith directed at our beloved Veggie Grill and its vile, no good, very bad app. Don't forget to subscribe!
Target Market Insights: Multifamily Real Estate Marketing Tips
Sep Bekam had a plan to be set for life. Study for 20 years, get a job and earn money. But after learning the sad truth that money devalues over time through inflation, he knew he had to change course. He added an investment property on the side while working as an electrical engineer. Like any novice, he learned valuable lessons from his leap. Instead of welcoming checks on his first properties, he got eviction after eviction. He learned valuable lessons that have helped him manage out of market investments. Sep had already left corporate America at the age of 31 and has been set for a more thrilling life in real estate. On this episode, he shares helpful insights on vetting property management companies and contractors, choosing the right market, and improving challenged neighborhoods. Key Market Insights: An electrical engineer without an entrepreneurial backbone Worked full-time during the day, and studied for his master’s during the night Realized that to improve his way of life, he had to have another stream of income Learned that money is devalued over time after reading Rich Dad’s Conspiracy of the Rich by Robert Kiyosaki, which talked about how recession happens Started investing in 2010 on the side, and eventually left his corporate job at the age of 31 Invested in two turnkey properties which were fourplexes in Phoenix Turnkey properties actually led to eviction after eviction, and getting fired by property management companies Major Pitfall: Reliance on pro forma without own due diligence and underwriting Properties stabilized after the third property management company and successfully sold those in 2017 Phoenix Market: Low home prices, number of baby boomers, affordable economy, landlord and business friendly Tip: Property Management Company should match your perspectives Founder and CEO of Bekam Investment Group Holds over 150 single family homes, 6 multifamily properties and an office building in six states Treats single family homes as a scattered apartment complex. Maintenance addresses multiple issues within one area only Tips on Choosing the Right Market - piggyback on other developments, and find enough properties on a street or in a neighborhood to drive scale Data Points on Finding the Right Market: population of 200,000 people or more, 2% job growth, 3% population growth California has difficult eviction laws. Much easier in Texas, Virginia and Arizona Currently working on a bank’s portfolio with 277 houses When Finding investors - know their goals and make sure they align with yours Bull’s Eye Tips: Winning your Market: Schedule numbers of meetings with brokers, contractors, and property management companies. Tracking Market Changes: Checks Google Trends regularly. Daily Habit: Meditate. Make a vision board. Journal. Resources: Berkadia Rich Dad’s Conspiracy of the Rich by Robert Kiyosaki Book Recommendation: The Road to Ruin by James Rickards Digital Resource: Dropbox Scanner Pro Tweet this: “We don’t want to make mistakes. But if we can make a mistake, learn from that pitiful place.” “There is only problem owners.” Places to Grab a bite: Veggie Grill Connect with Sep: Website: http://www.bekaminvestmentgroup.com/ Email: sep@bekaminvestmentgroup.com
This week we discuss Netflix's Luke Cage Season 2 and Kevin Smith's favorite Veggie Grill. Find your nearest Veggie Grill! Let us know what you were into... Call the Missing Out Hotline: 978-MISS-OUT (978-647-7688) Follow us on Twitter- @MissingOutCast @TheLexMichael @TauriJay Music Credits: "Who Likes to Party" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Julia Prescott from the Everything's Coming Up Simpsons podcast is on the show today! We're talking summer camp, Michael Eisner's shitty kid, and Veggie Grill, Veggie Grill, Veggie Grill! Check out our page on Facebook for all your Exit Strategy news and views! https://www.facebook.com/ExitStrategyPodcast/ We're also on Twitter at (@exitstrategypod) or email us at exitstrategypod@gmail.com Communicate with the show! Prove people really read episode descriptions!
Music: www.bensound.com
This is a conversation with Steve Heeley, the CEO of Veggie Grill. Before that, Steve led Operations for Baja Fresh, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Collector’s Cafe, and Au Bon Pain. He was also the CEO of Earl of Sandwich. Veggie Grill is a fast-growing fast-casual vegan restaurant serving only plant-based food. Forbes called them one of the 25 most innovative consumer brands in 2016. Enjoy!
Music courtesy of freemusicarchive, composed by Kevin MacLeod — Creative Commons Courtesy
What happens when health conscious guys with tech and investment banking backgrounds decide to come to together to form a business? Why a vegan fast food restaurant of course! Today we sit down with TK Pillan, an entrepreneur with a tech background who decided to fill a need by providing delicious, convenient, vegan dishes by opening Veggie Grill. Follow his journey from his dot com days to restauranteur and now as VC at Power Plant Ventures. > Veggie Grill: https://www.veggiegrill.com/ > "Mad Cow" Video Spot: https://vimeo.com/32795478 _____ Facebook.com/BillyYangPodcast Twitter.com/BillyYang Instagram.com/BillyYangPod
If I could get a t-shirt made that says “SADIE NARDINI IS MY SPIRIT ANIMAL” I would wear it often. And because she has just moved to Southern California (found out the night before this interview) I’m thinking we will have to find some time to get together, karaoke, hit the piano bar in Santa Barbara that we talk about here, and grab some fries from Veggie Grill for the perfect girlfriend date! Sadie has given me a new perspective on yoga that will never be the same and I’m betting the same thing will happen for you once you learn all about her. She is kind, creative, on a mission, fierce, fun, and deeply generous. (She is also a rock and roll star, but if you want to learn more you have to listen in!) Check out today’s amazing podcast of this Warrior Woman, Sadie Nardini!
In this episode, I speak with T.K. Pillan, co-founder of Veggie Grill, the largest all vegan restaurant chain in the United States about his experience building a successful food business. T.K. is now also an investor and co-founded Powerplant Ventures, a venture fund that supports visionary entrepreneurs who are leveraging the power of plants to deliver better nutrition in more sustainable and ethical ways. In our conversation, TK shares the inspiring back-story of how he co-founded Veggie Grill despite having never worked in the food space and provides key tips on what it takes to be a plant-centric food entrepreneur...if you are an entrepreneur or aspiring to break into the sustainable, plant-based food industry, or just love an inspiring success story, this episode is a must-listen. Support the Podcast for as low as $5 per month: https://www.patreon.com/eftp Show notes for this episode: https://eftp.co/tk-pillan More about Eat For The Planet: https://eftp.co/ Newsletter signup: hhttps://eftp.co/newsletter Follow us on Facebook and Instagram Follow Nil Zacharias on Twitter
In this episode I interview Jody Rasch, managing director of VegInvest Trust, a vegan investment fund in New York that provides early-stage capital and guidance to companies striving to replace the use of animals. Prior to launching VegInvest Trust in 2015, Jody headed the Social Performance Group at financial services company Moody's Corporation, working on projects including microfinance and social investing. He also served on various advisory boards including Women's World Banking's Gender Performance Initiative and the Global Impact Investing Rating Service (GIIRS). His 39-year professional background also includes founding a company that conducted financial training programs for international commercial and investment banks, heading up the New York derivatives sales desk of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and working in the corporate treasury departments of two Fortune 500 companies. VegInvest Trust's current portfolio includes plant-based meal planning and delivery services Lighter and Purple Carrot, fast food chain Veggie Grill, sustainable seafood company New Wave Foods, and Washington DC eatery Shouk. In this interview Jody talks about: • The types of businesses VegInvest Trust is looking to collaborate with • What he looks for when considering investing in a business • The key mistakes vegan business owners make when approaching investors • What to do when you have little to no experience in an industry to make your venture attractive to investors • What he expects as an investor from a business after funding has been provided • The risks involved in investing – for both the business owner and investor • Why he believes large animal product companies buying out vegan businesses is a good thing • What to put in place to deter a company buying out your vegan brand, then later adding animal products under its name • And much more Visit the VegInvest Trust website (where you can fill out a form to submit your investment proposal) Check out the Glass Wall Syndicate group of venture capitalists that VegInvest Trust is part of Brands mentioned in vegan business news roundup: Bonobo Café Kama Cream Oh Deer Sugar Wegan Foods (no website or social media) RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook Twitter Instagram Connect with me personally at: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn
In this episode I interview Jody Rasch, managing director of VegInvest Trust, a vegan investment fund in New York that provides early-stage capital and guidance to companies striving to replace the use of animals. Prior to launching VegInvest Trust in 2015, Jody headed the Social Performance Group at financial services company Moody’s Corporation, working on projects including microfinance and social investing. He also served on various advisory boards including Women’s World Banking’s Gender Performance Initiative and the Global Impact Investing Rating Service (GIIRS). His 39-year professional background also includes founding a company that conducted financial training programs for international commercial and investment banks, heading up the New York derivatives sales desk of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and working in the corporate treasury departments of two Fortune 500 companies. VegInvest Trust’s current portfolio includes plant-based meal planning and delivery services Lighter and Purple Carrot, fast food chain Veggie Grill, sustainable seafood company New Wave Foods, and Washington DC eatery Shouk. In this interview Jody talks about: • The types of businesses VegInvest Trust is looking to collaborate with • What he looks for when considering investing in a business • The key mistakes vegan business owners make when approaching investors • What to do when you have little to no experience in an industry to make your venture attractive to investors • What he expects as an investor from a business after funding has been provided • The risks involved in investing – for both the business owner and investor • Why he believes large animal product companies buying out vegan businesses is a good thing • What to put in place to deter a company buying out your vegan brand, then later adding animal products under its name • And much more Visit the VegInvest Trust website (where you can fill out a form to submit your investment proposal) Check out the Glass Wall Syndicate group of venture capitalists that VegInvest Trust is part of Brands mentioned in vegan business news roundup: Bonobo Café Kama Cream Oh Deer Sugar Wegan Foods (no website or social media) RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook Twitter Instagram Connect with me personally at: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn
Next on the Tastemakers pod, a conversation with Greg Dollarhyde. Greg is the Executive Chairman and former CEO of Zoes Kitchen. Before that, he was the CEO of Veggie Grill and Baja Fresh Mexican Grill. He has also been the chairman of Riot Games, co-founded the wine company B Cellars and now invests in Starbird Chicken, teaRIOT and Drink Maple. This episode was recorded at the Restaurant Leadership Conference. Enjoy!
On this episode, we meet Greg Dollarhyde, Chief Energizing Officer at Veggie Grill to talk about this veggie centric fast casual concept. Veggie Grill caters to a range of consumers, who all want the same thing– great tasting food that is still good for them. Join Paul Barron to learn more about how this concept's style—which matches the trendy Hollywood location— along with the creative menu that mimics diner's favorites, but with healthy ingredients and fewer calories.
David Rabie is the Founder and CEO of Tovala, the creator of a smart oven that cooks perfectly made meals by baking, boiling and steaming them in under 30 minutes. The meals can either be delivered prepackaged from Tovala or be made using a crowdsourced recipe. Last winter, Tovala graduated from Y-Combinator and a few months ago Tovala launched a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $255,603 with over 1,000 backers. Before starting Tovala, David was an MBA at Chicago Booth, and he worked for the co-founder and CEO of Veggie Grill and ran Groovy Spoon – a bi-coastal chain of frozen yogurt stores. He also spent time working at Google and Foundation Capital. listen on iTunes listen on google play In This Episode You Will Learn: Why he decided to pair food delivery with a smart oven How they came up with the name Tovala How David found his first engineer How they decided on the price of the oven and the food How they prepared for their successful Kickstarter campaign What they got out of Y-Combinator? Why they decided to come back to Chicago after Y-Combinator? Why he wishes he had found a co-founder earlier How to test for cultural fit and avoid mishires The importance of establishing connections with VCs before you need money Selected Links From The Episode: Michael Seibel, Co-founder of Twitch & Partner at Y-Combinator Jason Heltzer, VC at Origin Ventures & Professor at Chicago Booth Favorite Books: The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove
The 'boys review up and coming vegan fast food outlet Veggie Grill with the help of actor, comedian, and the man behind Keith Apicary, Nathan Barnatt. Mitch and Nathan compete in Wiger's piping hot new segment, Pie in this Guy.
In this episode, I interview T.K. Pillan, one of the co-founders of Veggie Grill, a healthy, fast-food chain in the US. This is one of the audio interviews I did for my book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business. What's interesting about Veggie Grill is that from the outset, the owners' vision and plans were to create a chain of restaurants, never just one. In this interview T.K. talks about: • The strategies he and his co-founders used to establish a chain of 28 restaurants. • The importance of location when you're opening local businesses • And how finding the right team was key to Veggie Grill's success Visit the Veggie Grill website. RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook Twitter Instagram Connect with me personally at: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn
In this episode, I interview T.K. Pillan, one of the co-founders of Veggie Grill, a healthy, fast-food chain in the US. This is one of the audio interviews I did for my book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business. What’s interesting about Veggie Grill is that from the outset, the owners’ vision and plans were to create a chain of restaurants, never just one. In this interview T.K. talks about: • The strategies he and his co-founders used to establish a chain of 28 restaurants. • The importance of location when you’re opening local businesses • And how finding the right team was key to Veggie Grill’s success Visit the Veggie Grill website. RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook Twitter Instagram Connect with me personally at: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn
Serial entrepreneur T.K. Pillan was sick of pizza. So, he opened The Veggie Grill. The venture is the brainchild of Kevin Boylan, once a financier and a senior executive at Drexel Burnham Lambert; T.K. Pillan, who co-founded Guidance Solutions, a firm that designs e-commerce websites; and Ray White. This is the definition of "seeing a problem and fixing it." Pillan and Boylan explains how they were able to create such a successful business in an industry with only a 5% success rate!Before Blake Andrews became the CEO of Giveback Homes he embarked on a mission trip that became a life mission. Born and raised in Corpus TX, Blake is defined by his courageous entrepreneurship and vision for turning the real estate community, home buyers and home sellers into humanitarians and home givers. Blake's light bulb moment happened when he reached out to his good friend- - the founder and chief shoe giver of TOMS, Blake Mycoskie to ask if he could work at TOMS to learn about social entrepreneurship. As a partner at Giveback Homes, Tricia Andrews is driven to lead the Giveback team by seeing first hand the lives they change by providing families with homes. Andrews uses her savvy and experience in marketing and advertising to attract the real estate community to become members of Giveback Homes. Today you will learn just how the Real Estate business works, and how you can make it a successful career! After marrying founder Blake Andrews in 2012, Tricia was inspired by his work in Nicaragua to start a charitable company called Givebones, a dog collar business that donates a percentage of sales to animal rescue organizations across the U.S.Tricia was born & raised in Minot, ND. She graduated from the University of Minnesota, in 2001, with a degree in Marketing & Advertising. Today, she manages both Givebones and Giveback Homes.
Serial entrepreneur T.K. Pillan was sick of pizza. So, he opened The Veggie Grill. The venture is the brainchild of Kevin Boylan, once a financier and a senior executive at Drexel Burnham Lambert; T.K. Pillan, who co-founded Guidance Solutions, a firm that designs e-commerce websites; and Ray White. This is the definition of "seeing a problem and fixing it." Pillan and Boylan explains how they were able to create such a successful business in an industry with only a 5% success rate!Melissa Jawaharlal is passionate about exploring the final frontier of space and engineering for the developing world. Most importantly, she works to ensure that future generations will share that zeal for STEM advancement. Today our listeners get to learn first hand about the future of robotics, why they are so important, and how you can pursue a career in this field! Jawaharlal has presented her work at MIT through the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams program as well as through NCIIA and Inventor's Digest. Melissa has mentored and taught in numerous robotics related activities for several years and has been recognized for her coaching and instruction style.
Veggie Grill founder T.K. Pillan is my guest today. Veggie Grill is the top vegan 'fast food' chain based in L.A. Luckily, they're quickly expanding up and down the West coast with plans to go east. For the best carrot cake you can imagine, delicious Portabello mushroom burgers, Chickin wings to die for, it's time to try Veggie Grill. My favorite sandwich is the Bali Bliss with tempeh, avocado, and chipotle ranch dressing. Yum! Tune in for more information about this groundbreaking, eco-friendly restaurant chain.
The Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing
Our guest today is Dan Gluck ( http://powerplantvc.com/ ) , Managing Partner of Powerplant Ventures ( http://powerplantvc.com/ ) a growth equity fund investing in emerging consumer food, beverage, and foodservice companies leading disruptive plant-centric brands. Some of their investments include Beyond Meat, Thrive Market, and Veggie Grill. Previously, Dan co-founded Health Warrior, which was acquired by PepsiCo in 2018. This was fantastic conversation and Dan discusses what attracted him to investing at young age, his insight that led him to founding Health Warrior and why he is so focused on better for you and plant based foods. One book that inspired Dan is The Choice: Embrace The Possible ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/150113079X?camp=1789&creativeASIN=150113079X&ie=UTF8&linkCode=xm2&tag=theconsumervc-20 ) by Dr. Edith Eva Eger. You can also follow your host, Mike, on Twitter @mikegelb ( https://twitter.com/MikeGelb ). You can also follow for episode announcements @consumervc ( https://twitter.com/ConsumerVc ). Some of the questions I ask Dan - * What attracted you to finance and investing in health and wellness products? * Tell me the insight that you had with Chia seed bars and how that led to Health Warrior? * Take me behind your decision making process when you were thinking about taking the jump into entrepreneurship? * After the sale to Pepsi (which congratulations), did you have the urge to start another company? * How did Powerplant Ventures come together? * I understand that your thesis focuses around plant-based products. It seems like you invest in quite a variety of types of businesses around that theme - restaurants, B2B catering, food and beverage products. How do you think about portfolio construction and making sure you have a balance? * In the food and beverage spaces, how do you think about growth, profitability and what does a successful outcome look like? * What are some trends in food that you are excited about? * You've had a-lot of experience as a board member. What makes a good board member? * I believe your our first growth investor on the show. Talk to me a bit about your due diligence process? * What are some qualities that you like to see in founders? * COVID has been top of mind for everybody. * How has it effected you and your portfolio? * Has it been tough meeting with founders remotely rather than in person? * What's one thing you would change about venture capital? * What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally? * What's your most recent investment and what makes you excited about it? * What's one company that you had the opportunity to invest in, didn't and in retrospect wish you did? * What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
