Ep. 173 – Cooking, Owning a Restaurant, Directing R+D, Consulting, Leading a Company with Mark Crowell, CEO of CuliNex

Mark Crowell has had quite an amazing culinary journey with a lot of risks and a lot of reward. First he tells me how he found out about cooking, by staging at a restaurant in Europe, and brought that love back to the United States and worked hard enough to open his own restaurant. But opening up a restaurant was really hard, and he struggled. Eventually, he became an R+D Director at both Olive Garden and Starbucks.

Eventually, Mark threw it all away and started consulting. He again struggled at first but then he started to build. Now CuliNex is a thriving clean label consulting company in Washington. He has a dozen members on his team, people with whom I’ve met personally!

I think the best part of the episode is the stories Mark gives about the struggles of creating businesses. But there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. As long as you have some faith.

Sponsor: Salt of the Earth

I'm happy to introduce our newest sponsor: Salt of the Earth and their new ingredient,  Mediterranean Umami, an all-natural and clean-label flavor enhancer and sodium reduction ingredient that works amazingly on meats, veggie-meats, soups and sauces and ready-meals. My friend, David gave me a bottle and I use it on my pasta sauces, or rice porridge to give it the satisfying umami depth I crave.  Find the 2017 IFT Innovation Award Winner at IFT19 at booth number 2112 where they will be showcasing fresh food prepared with Mediterranean Umami. If you're interested now, feel free to email them at info@salt.co.il

Show Notes

When someone asks what you do for a living, what do you tell them?: We’re in the clean label development business What does CuliNex stand for: My wife made the name 15 years ago, it’s Culinary and Next It wasn’t until 2011 that clean label started to buble up Clean Label definitons: Length of the label, complex wording, nutrition label Lo Han -Monkfruit for bakery application. A client came to us right after it was approved Describe the Steps it took to get to where you are today?: Talked my way into a national hotel kitchen, practiced for a year, then worked 5 years as a line cook. Applied to the Culinary Institute of America Took 2 years to get accepted. At the time, it was a while before I heard back Continental Cuisine: Not a specific type of cuisine Florida International University: Hotel Management I was in the restaurant business: manager, district manager, coffee shops, dinner houses, discotheques Why did you decide to start your business Other example: Kenny Lao Made a Mediterranean restaurant. Huge restaurant Didn’t go so well, got a job referral for Olive Garden TUFTS Analysis Darden Restaurants Season 52 Howard Schultz running for president Howard Schultz’ book Pumpkin Scone Pumpkin Spice Latte NRA Show Consulting was hard the 1st year, but I ended up building it until 6 years later, had a sustainable business but then I got bored and started to build up a company Emily Munday was my first employee The E-myth Revisited What is some advice for things that are hard?: You gotta do what you are passionate about. It will see you through the tough times. You also gotta have faith. I’ve learned the word over the past 25 years. You’re up on the high wire, but you gotta trust your people My Food Job Rocks: I get to work on amazing projects with amazing people Phil Saneski Food Trends and Technology: Upcycling movement, Cultured Meat The biggest challenge the food industry has to face: diet misinformation Favorite Kitchen Item: Stainless Steel Bowls Advice for starting something scary: Entrepreneurs are weird. They are different. Are you different? Research Chef Association; Why Donate?: Education is really important and community is really important Where can we find you?: mark@culinex.biz

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices