My Food Job Rocks!

I met Ana Maria Quiros during the IGNITE Session at IFT 2018 where she did an inspiring talk about the food industry in Costa Rica and the young professionals that are driving it. Now she not only helps small businesses in Costa Rica grow their businesses, but she also has had a chance to talk to Congress about food science. The Costa Rica Food industry has some interesting twists on how they educate their workforce on food science and you’ll learn a lot about how they train professionals and the way they support businesses over there. Yet the issues in the Costa Rica food industry are the same issues Americans when it comes to small businesses, and science communication, in which I feel like the issues everyone faces in the food industry isn’t a national issue, but a global opportunity. Sponsor - FoodLabelPro.com Is your product packaging compliant with the new FDA rules?  The compliance deadline is January 1st, 2020. At FoodLabelPro.com we will upgrade your current panels for only $50. FoodLabelPro.com also provides package and claim reviews, laboratory analysis, shelf life testing, printer/graphics services, and menu analysis.   We are your one-stop shop for food packaging: FoodLabelpro.com. Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business.. Show Notes Bryson Bolton How did you find out about IGNITE?: I got an email about it. We are both in the Leadership program What do you tell people in a sentence or less?: I’m a food engineer, then people ask “what is that?” We actually changed the name from technologist to food engineer for public perception. It’s pretty much the same thing though Can you describe the course?: It’s a 5 year program and the final year, you have to do a thesis, which can take 2 more years. So it will take 7 years to get a Bachelors degree We have 3 universities that teach food science. The public colleges are very good in Costa Rica Where do you currently work now?:  I was a consultant assistant for 5 months and now I work at the University My role is in extension programs. You have to know everything which is why I love the role. Can you give me an example of some projects in Costa Rica?: Since Costa Rica is really close to each other, everyone can collaborate Cacao vs Cocoa What is the Food Technologist Association?: We activated it in 2012. I joined in 2014. This is a professional association and even though it’s started from students, but the students who graduated stayed with the club. In 2017 I became president What are some important skills that you’ve learned in your role?: Have passion when volunteering. Also, connect people who do tasks, to the actual goal How did you find out about food science?: I didn’t know much about food science, but my cousin talked about it, and my mother taught culinary classes in high school. She gave me a book called Food Microbiology. My mother asked me to speak to my cousin who is a food scientist and I was convinced to go into food science. After I did food-based community service, I wanted to do this. What type of food technologies are interesting right now?: Food safety, public health and public perception. Do people understand clean label and perception? Ultra Processed Foods – Specific only in Latin America – Published in the WHO Ultra-Processed foods are: Soda, ice cream, Cheetos. But because the definition is from a Dietitian and not a food engineer, there are a lot of holes in the logic What is the biggest challenge the food industry has to face?: Consumer perception Favorite Quote: Do something that scares you every day How would you convince a shy person to do something?: Just keep on doing it. Whatever you have to say, if people need to hear what you have to say, you need to be heard. New Hampshire Gallo Pinto – Rice and Beans in Costa Rica Fried Plantains Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to go into the food industry?: It’s a very awesome, relevant, and important. You are going to be happy here. If you were to tell something valuable to yourself that you know now in the first day of work?: You can’t do everything in one day, not even one week Where can we find you for advice?: Linkedin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast was not scripted, so there are no shownotes.   Since this is a short episode, it's a freebie.    You can check out all of our articles and podcasts at myfoodjobrocks.com   If you’re a fan of My Food Job Rocks we’ve just released our annual survey. Though it’s shorter than last years, we know what to ask for now. If you’re a fan and want to help improve the platform for next year, I’d be greatful if you could fill out our survey. Of course, those who complete the survey will get a chance to win a $50 dollar Amazon Gift Card! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DRZP7XR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Darius has been a long time fan of My Food Job Rocks, who emailed me when we were in the episode 50 range. This year, I was able to meet Darius at IFT where we talked, and I loved how he talked about his job and his love of chocolate. Wow, I had to get him on the show! He has the coolest job in the world, playing his part making candy! Darius is in the procurement field, we talk a lot about this, as I find that it’s one of the most lesser known fields in the food industry. Procurement is super important in the food industry and you’ll learn a ton about how to get into this field. It’s not a well taught academic field, but it can be learned while doing your job. Procurement people can come from anywhere. Finance, supply chain, or even R and D all make amazing procurement people. And if you’re interested in negotiating and learning about the impact of ingredients, then maybe procurement is for you. Also, best thing about meeting people from Mars is that they will give you a shoe box size full of your favorite Mars chocolates and confections! Sponsor - FoodLabelPro.com Is your product packaging compliant with the new FDA rules?  The compliance deadline is January 1st, 2020. At FoodLabelPro.com we will upgrade your current panels for only $50. FoodLabelPro.com also provides package and claim reviews, laboratory analysis, shelf life testing, printer/graphics services, and menu analysis.   We are your one-stop shop for food packaging: FoodLabelpro.com. Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business.. Show Notes When someone asks what you do for a living, what do you do in a sentence or less?: I manage the mints and confection buyers. We have 14 manufacturing sites in US and Canada What the difference between mint and flavors?: Really based on the market they operate in. Vetting Process: How do you know who’s a really great vendor? It’s the sourcing manager’s job to find players in the market. My function is really about buying it well and defining buying it well We’ve been working without vendors What’s your favorite thing to do with your job?: I have a  sweet tooth. I love having a say and making the products come to life. Bringing what’s coming out from 2019 to 2020 to 2021 What’s your favorite Mars’ candy?: In my childhood, Skittles. Now twix is getting more popular. Portion control Describe the steps it took to get to where you are today?: I went to college at St. Joves and majored in Food Marketing. I actually did projects for Candy. Then I went to C+S Grocer Store for 2.5 years. Then joined Mars. Managed the ingredients like salt. We merged with Wrigley recently. How did you get to Procurement?: If you were to ask 9 out of 10 people how you got into procurement, they will say they got their job by accident. Very few major in procurement. Some R+D folks go to procurement and we like them because they have more depth in understanding Emperors of Chocolate: Hershey had to lower the gram weight of the chocolate, but Mars was pretty safe. What is the most important skill you need for your job?: Intellectual curiosity. Marry that with a good work ethic, you become so valuable. What is your definition of a good work ethic?: Don’t make any commitments that you can’t keep. Why Does Your Food Job Rock?: I’m a kid in the candy store Singapore What keeps you in Mars?: The opportunity to be challenged Food trends and technology: Regional flavors and authenticity of flavors. Whenever I travel, I give them awesome flavors to try Small meals or no set meals Favorite regional flavor: Incorporating a whole dessert into different products. For example: Birthday Cake 3 Muskateer Bar. We just launched that. We have edible glitter in that product Adam’s favorite dessert: S’mores Cooling technology: Menthol and mint. We also have warming perspectives. For examples Spicy Sprinkles Cross-Functional Collaboration Flaming Hot Cheetos What are the biggest challenge the food industry needs to face right now?: From a procurement standpoint, it’s a traceability and transparency standpoint. It’s great, but it’s a huge challenge. Every year we have to maintain the same level of flavor, but food changes every year Vanilla Crisis Legacy Brands have an advantage to shortages because our long-term suppliers can save us For smaller, niche ice cream shops, not the case What is one thing in the food industry you’d like to know more about?: How can the Japanese make money on gifts? Type 1 and Type 2 grocery stores The convenience stores in Japan can be completely different from one another Work ethic in Japan Culture of Work How did you get into food?: I grew up in Singapore Crazy Rich Asians Favorite thing you’ve eaten recently: Hokkaido crab (snow crab, king crab) Favorite Kitchen Item: I went to a casino, won money, and spent it all on a rice cooker Zoji Rushi Top of the line rice cooker Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to join the food industry?: Find what area of the industry really interests you. What should colleges teach you about life?: It’s really about what you like. The individual needs to make that call Where can we find you for advice?: LinkedIn   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lot happened this year. I started a company with two amazing people, I moved to Sacramento, I reconnected with old friends and I made new ones. So some updates for My Food Job Rocks. Lots of fun things happened this year. I was able to talk to some really amazing guests that made its mark in the food science community. I would say the past 100 episodes focused much more on innovative technologies, and startups, as well as having even better technical people on the show, in all sorts of disciplines from blockchain to clean meat. This was also the year where half of my guests weren’t people I had to hunt down and beg to be on the show. A big chunk of this years’ guests were actually from PR firms! And there were some really cool people. Susie Fogelson from the Food Network, Alan Reed from the City of Chicago, Claudia Sidoti from Hello Fresh, and so many more awesome people were pitched to me and I learned so much from them. However, this podcast has gotten a bit tough to manage. On the article, a Better Bet, I sprinkled throughout the article that the point of My Food Job Rocks was to develop a network so I could have the resources needed to create a great company when I was 30. However, things happened 4 years earlier and I’m now co-founder of a rising startup. The podcast’s initial purpose is done, so what now? I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t know. I still have a lot of fun doing it, and I find the learning experience like a routine. For me, it’s like jogging, or reading, or stuff like that. I learn and take away so much. Especially interviewing these CEO’s, I can now ask questions that are stumping Better Meat Co. For example, I asked Shelby Zitelman from Soom Foods and Sara Polon from Soupergirl, “how did you get your first sale?” And their answers were so good, I clipped them for our Smart Snack Bites (add bites). I learned a lot from that question, no one really expects their first sale, but when they do, it’s such a memorable experience. So what does that mean for next year? No idea actually. I’ll still be maintaining the blog, because it’s an outlet for me to talk, and it’s an outlet for me to share. Share my challenges and share my story so others can not make the same mistakes I did. Recording and writing helps me think clearer, talk better, and show people I’m a legitimate person, so I keep on doing it. We have a survey launching this week. It’s not about improving stuff, well it is, but the questions will be focused more on content variety. What do you want me to talk, or write about in the future? Who do you want me to interview? What would you want a T-shirt about Food Science to say? Stuff like that. I also find the My Food Job Rocks blog as great way to give food industry professionals an opportunity to write and show what they’re made of, and the growth of the people who have wrote for My Food Job Rocks has made me so proud. Veronica Hislop still writes, Julia Lamphear who wrote the Why Series, has her own Non-Profit, Faseeh Rahman who participated in our Food Science Global event is now posting food safety clips on LinkedIn and is getting so many opportunities! Carrie Ardnt, our latest guest poster used to just post her amazing packaging analysis posts on linkedin and they’d be swallowed in the abyss, but I wanted them to be achieved because they have value. These posts do so well on social media. Giving people who want to write the opportunity to write and see how their work is helping people is very valuable. If you’re interested, you know where to find me. However, I’m a tough boss because I want you to fall in love with writing on a consistent basis. What’s also nice is that my articles are actually being found in google. My name is also googleable, which definitively means I’m the best Adam Yee on the internet, right? Anyways, a handful of articles get a dozen views daily. Did I expect these articles to be searched so much? Sorta, I had a good hunch about them. Basically, here are the top 5 articles on My Food Job Rocks Food Science vs Nutrition Why You Shouldn’t Be a Food Scientist. What is Food Science, a Beginner’s Guide Resume Tips for Beginning Food Scientists The Graduate Student Series If you like stats like I do, I’ll have you know that David Despain’s podcast about being a CFS is actually the most viewed shownotes. Dr. Gabriel Keith Harris’ has the most downloads. In certain periods, Veronica’s articles also get a lot of views. For instance, this month, the Cotton Candy article is very popular. A couple of months back, Banana was trending and a couple of months before then, peanuts. The fruits of My Food Job Rocks’ labor has bore its benefits, not just in credibility. Heck, I think it saved me from a dark time when all of my friends left me in Phoenix. I have an article on Friday that’ll explain all of that. Many know the lessons of being consistent, and My Food Job Rocks is proof that if you do something everyday for two years…you’ll get better at it. But more importantly, people will respect you for it. Being consistent allowed me to get speaking gigs. Not just in IFT, but in San Francisco, and soon, perhaps some other conferences in the works. This was a lot of work, putting one block at a time, every week until it’s finally building to something pretty cool. To end on this, I wanted to talk about skills. Particularly, 5 of them These 5 skills are designed to get you through a startup, but now that I’m reviewing them, these skills will help you in any aspect of your career. As I think about these skills, these skills allowed me to excel at my last job, and is proving their worth at Better Meat Co. If you want to rise to the top, or want to survive the startup world, I suggest working on these skills. We’ll be analyzing why they’re important, and how you can get better at them. Top 5 Skills Autonomy Autonomy is the ability for you to confidentially do your job and deliver results without the help or permission of your equals or superiors. This is a very tough skill to master as it requires a lot of confidence in your craft. In school, you had to ask permission to do something, all the way to perhaps college. I would even guess that people who are We all go through this slope when it comes to acquiring a new skill. According to Wikipedia, we call this the four stages of competence. I actually learned about this when scanning through the brochure at my last job where it talked about how to sell nutrition products to your friends and family. The four stages are: Unconscious incompetence The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognize their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage. The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.[5] Conscious incompetence Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, they recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage. Conscious competence The individual understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.[5] Unconscious competence The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become "second nature" and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. The individual may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned. Everyone deals with this when it becomes a skill. Yet learning how to be automomous this can become a problem, A bad boss who helicopters around you can traumatize you into always asking your superiors if your option is the right option to do. A bad boss can really affect your career just because they can cripple your ambitions. You never know if what you do is right and it really affects your psyche. It’s a really terrible thing. The best way I found to solve this is to read books about this type of stuff. Reading helps you understand different perspectives. In many books, the saying “It’s better to beg for forgiveness then ask for permission”. What helps in this regard is to publish or ship something on your own. By creating something where you can give out or even better, sell on your own will give you more confidence in terms of doing work. What giving out or selling something does is validates that what you do is valuable to whomever you’re giving it to. Knowing you have full control over what people find valuable, and not your superiors makes your job a lot easier. Resourcefulness Phil Saneski and I have had a great talk on the power of resources. The podcast has also given me a very powerful resource pool and I’ve used some of my guest’s services and products to get work done at the startup. Using your resources is directly connected to how well you network. As many know, networking is an art and takes time to cultivate, but the benefits is like your garden actually growing food for you to eat. Podcasting, or in general, interviewing, is the ultimate networking tool because you cater to two people in particular: the people you’re interviewing have a close connection to you and if it was a good, legitimate interview, they remember that. But also the people who read or listen to your stuff. Yet let’s look at this through a microscope. With podcasting I learned how to cold call people to get on the show, advertise on social media, leverage and work together on other networks to amplify value on both sides, learned how to not be afraid of my own voice, to be consistent and deliver value every single week. Those are the skills, the crevices that get filled when you do a podcast and all of it, helps with being resourceful. Humility Back in college, I had a huge ego. I didn’t want to be wrong, and I made people cry. It took a lot of time working with different people to slowly break that down. Working in the multicultural center chipped it down, working with young, high school educated workers in the factory chipped it down, supervising coworkers who were older than me and were in a company longer than I was chipped that down. My coworkers are sometimes very surprised when I admit I’m wrong when the data shows that I’m wrong. Humility is a vital skill, and it requires a great amount of confidence and self-awareness for it to actually work. When you’re humiliated, shame or the perception of shame overwhelms you and you are paralyzed, or worse, you make things worse. Working on being shameless improves so many things. When shame stops affecting you, two things happen: you can share everything, and you have the vision that surpasses you being right or wrong. In the grand scheme of things, does your opinion matter? This is a big question. Nobody wants to look incompetent, or weak, or embarrassed, but everyone’s gone through this before. You won’t ever be fired for admitting your wrong if no damage has been done. In most cases, you’ll be thanked for your humility. Training for humility is hard, but it of course, involves risks. Failing high risk generally builds up humility but only if you can reflect on why your call was a bad one. I was fortunate enough for my CSO at Isagenix to throw me into very high risk situations. Sometimes, they didn’t work out the way I planned, so I reviewed what went wrong and tried again. Having a sort of Nihilistic or Stoic mindset when it comes to humility also works wonders. Reading books from Ryan Holiday, or Seth Godin helps wonders in understanding Humility. Understanding humility will help you put yourself out there more, and will allow you to sympathize with anyone. Curiosity This is a skill that always pops up on almost every interview with a passionate food scientist. They are generally curious on how things work. But on this episode, I want to emphasize the importance of learning the whole process. For the food industry, that means learning literally everything. This was resonated from Alan Reed from the Chicagoland Food and Beverage Network. This guy got an MBA and did marketing, but he was so interested in the whole process, he recently took a role of Executive Director. Will Holsworth started in Pepsi, where Pepsi knows the importance of knowing the whole process and many food companies develop leadership programs to explore the whole process. Maybe you don’t have the luxury to do this, but that doesn’t matter. You can still talk to your colleagues about learning what’s going on. You can still force yourself to attend meetings that bridge the knowledge gaps. You can still listen to My Food Job Rocks podcasts to see a glimpse of the day in the life of what goes in your food. Curiosity killing the cat is a threat. It doesn’t work anymore because now, the floodgates on gaining knowledge is now infinite. Even if someone will harm you for their knowledge, there are many ways to get around it, connect the dots, and create a different recipe. Secret formulas don’t make sense any more because brand is associated with flavor. Who cares if your product tastes like Coca Cola or your product tastes like KFC’s chicken? Will coke or KFC lose market share because you found their formula? Maybe 50 years ago, but now, their brands are so strong, it doesn’t matter. Instead, what if you just learned the process, or how the flavors work in products and make your own masterpiece? This takes curiosity to dive in and find our how to do things. Curiosity isn’t about copying products, it’s about discovering systems. Curiosity allows you to connect the dots and create innovation for the sake of innovation. Craft There is a difference between treating your profession as a job versus treating your profession as a craft. Treating your profession like a job is just doing the same thing, waiting to just be done, get money and spend it on whatever. And the cycle repeats. Treating your profession as a craft means that you want to improve the work you do enough where people will notice and love what you do. A job is a cyclical process, you do things for the sake of compensation, and that’s fine. A craft is like a spiral. You do things, but every day, every week, or every iteration, you want to improve. Making your job your craft delivers a lot of things that help see your life as a bit more palatable. For one, you deviate from the fact that you aren’t doing it for the money anymore. Most artists don’t do things for the money, you don’t have to either. Perhaps the payoff of improving your craft is appealing. That one day, you will get what you deserve through hard work and improvement. But most of all, improving on your craft gives you a sense of purpose. By slowly imporving what you do to make people’s lives’ better, for a chance to be the best of it is a very satisfying goal, that gives your life meaning. It’s a blessing if your job and your craft is one and the same, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, I would say that if it wasn’t for podcasting, I wouldn’t have ever made food science my craft. Podcasting allowed me to dive deeply into this meta-learning state, reading more about the art of crafting. Now both food science and podcasting are a craft to me, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Having a craft means having a goal where you will keep on improving it until you get to that goal, and then achieve a bigger goal. For podcasting, it was “make 6 episodes”, then “get sponsors” then “get 100 episodes”, and now, “get 300 episodes”. For Food Science, I started my job in a granola bar factory. The goal was to “get a product development job”, then it was “make really good products”. Then it was “start your own company”, now it’s “make an impact”. All of these skills can be cultivated all at the same time very easily. All you need to do is start something you’re passionate in. Someone last week came up to me and talked about trying to change the healthcare system. Instead of drugs, he wants turmeric, medicinal mushrooms, etc to solve our health problems. He mentioned in his question to the speakers “when can something like turmeric-mushroom mix, be sold in the stores instead of drugs?” Afterwards we talked, he said that he knows that our healthcare system is a big problem. I told him if he wanted to fix it, of course, he did. After I told him the story of the podcast, and the Better Meat Co, and how that all got started, all I said was “If you can’t sell your own turmeric-mushroom mix, what makes you think you have a shot of changing the healthcare system?”. People have the power to change things, but sometimes the problem is so big, nobody starts. This is the current issue with climate change. We’re getting close, we need more help. So finally, this is the final ask. You might be able to work for 8-12 hour a day, but afterwards, you have 8-12 hours to make an impact. You just have to start something. A blog, a podcast, an event every weekend, a food stand in a farmer’s market. Elon Musk said it takes 80 hours to change the world. There was a lot of backlash from his post, but I am a firm believe you have to work hard to make an impact. So do more than the 100 people I’ve interviewed. A lot of people don’t make an impact in their life. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, there are many people like you. But for those who do want to leave an impact, we need you. We need more heroes. And we’re all here, happy to support you. And I'll be so happy when I can say "Welcome to the community" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cultivating an ecosystem is extremely important in any industry. The most common example of this is Silicon Valley in the Bay Area. When everyone thrives in one place, and they all work together to build some amazing things I’m always curious how great ecosystems can be built, living in Phoenix and Sacramento, where the ecosystem is at its infancy, I was curious on how to grow these types of functions. As I found out interviewing Alan, it does indeed take a village, or perhaps a city, but it also takes a mediator. Alan is in charge of bridging food companies, big and small, in Chicago and heads the non-profit, the Chicagoland Food and Beverage Network. This non-profit hosts events and discussions to get the already thriving food industry in Chicago together with a  common theme that helps these different food companies understand each other. For example, a big company can learn innovation from a small company,and a small company can learn corporate structure, from a big company. Alan’s history is also pretty amazing. We get into the details in his 14 year stint at Dairy Management including sage advice on how to network and how to learn, and how knowing the whole process, can set you up for success.   Sponsor - FoodLabelPro.com Is your product packaging compliant with the new FDA rules?  The compliance deadline is January 1st, 2020. At FoodLabelPro.com we will upgrade your current panels for only $50. FoodLabelPro.com also provides package and claim reviews, laboratory analysis, shelf life testing, printer/graphics services, and menu analysis.   We are your one-stop shop for food packaging: FoodLabelpro.com. Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business. About Alan Reed Alan Reed. Executive Director of Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network. Prior to this role, Alan was Executive Vice President, Strategy & Innovation at Dairy Management, Inc. He was responsible for creating and driving innovative strategies to grow dairy demand.  Alan has a degree in Telecommunications from Indiana University and an MBA in Management & Strategy from Northwestern University. About Chicagoland Food and Beverage   The Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network (CFBN) launched in 2017 to bring industry players together, to provide a forum for collaboration and support, and to better connect the 4,500 companies in the industry across Chicagoland to drive innovation and growth in the region. Our Mission is to drive inclusive economic growth in Chicagoland by bringing together the region’s food and beverage industry stakeholders to pursue collaborative opportunities. Show Notes Chicagoland Food and Beverage Network Who’s all in Chicago Kraft Hinez Mars Wrigley Mondelez Tyson ConAgra McDonald's and many more! The History of Chicago’s food industry At least 100 years ago. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is based in Chicago Advantaged in terms of transportation Advantaged in terms of agriculture Easy access by air and train. It’s the significant middle of of the country It’s in the center of the North America region O’hare Airport Midway Airport What do you prefer? O’hare or Midway?: O’hare has international flights. Midway lands in better flight paths When someone asks you what you do for a living, what do you tell them?: I bring together the food and beverage industry of Chicagoland and grow the economy, industry and jobs. We’re a next generation trade association. History of the non-profit: We started 18 months ago, so we’re relatively new. We have 75 corporate members with members like Kraft Wrigley, Mars, etc. We launched with the idea to foster innovation. We’re the mediators to get big companies and small companies together. One program is the Food Manufacturing Workforce Development Program which trains potential employees to work in manufacturing jobs. Young people and manufacturing: Before, you could see a career path with manufacturing. College made a gap in the manufacturing industry. However, many of the jobs are very technical and digitally enabled. You can still get paid a good middle-class wage. About $58,000 a year + benefits. High performing companies help employees in the manufacturing area to go to college and excel in their career. We are trying to tell those stories. SAFE+FAIR What do these events look like?: Sometimes they’re topical discussions. Other times, we bring them to cool restaurants or incubators One example: have a startup come in and tell large companies how to innovate. Large companies also share their interested. Another example of a topic: 5th and 6th generation companies. We have to reinvent themselves for every generation Chicago: The silicon valley of food and beverage What was your career path?: Indiana University: Telecommunication, English Literature, Spanish, and Business. I spent 8 years working in Advertising in an agency. Got a masters in Northwestern which put me on a different path. I ended up getting a job with the Got Milk people (Dairy Management). I spent 14 years and did their long term business management. The MacArthur Foundation reached out and recruited me to launch this organization with them. After 14 years in Got Milk, what did you learn?: The people that you work with today will always come back. The people with whom you do a great job they’ll be your boss or employee later on in life. Never burn a bridge. Learn as much as you can. Find a mentor and be a mentor. Why does your food job rock?: We are growing something nobody else is able to do How do you deal with the weather in Chicago?: Wear a coat and telecommute Most people I know telecommute a day or two a week. There are specific things when coming into the office What type of food trends and technologies are exciting you right now?: What is transparency? How much is enough? How much is too much? Who is doing a good job about transparency?: In Chicago: Simple Mills, RX Bar, Farmer’s Fridge Blockchain Anti-trend: Really good high fat, artisianal butters Dicotomous trends: Plants and Meat are both growing upwards, but not fighting against each other. Flexitarian Drone technology Microfertilization Favorite Kitchen Item: Pizza Stone Chicago Deep Dish Cauliflower crust pizza What’s the weirdest thing you ate on a pizza stone?: Brussel sprouts. They turned out awesome. Girl and Goat Tanta Purple Pig Fat Rice Alan’s choices: Alinea, Rick Bayless Topololabamba Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to go in the food industry?: Work hard, learn a lot, be serious about it. Those who learn their craft then to do the best. Really invest in your career and learning. Where can we find you for advice?: www.chicagolandfood.org. You can reach out to any of us. Alan@chicagolandfood.org especially moving to Chicago or working in Chicago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SAFE+FAIR is a food company that believes everyone should have safe and allergen-friendly food at affordable prices.  As many know, sometimes these types of products are quite pricey but for Will, he makes it his mission for these products to be affordable. He does this with a nimble and passionate team, a strict allergen program, and years of experience in the food industry. Pay attention to how Will talks about his staff. I found his gratitude for his staff extremely inspiring. Will knows everything about his staff, and his team feels like one big family. Not only that, but Will talks about his amazing kids and fiancé throughout the episode and you can tell just how much he loves the people he surrounds himself with. Will has probably some of the best advice in terms of building company culture. He knows the mission he’s in, the company he wants to run, and the impact he wants to bring to the world, and you can definitively tell in this episode, he walks the walk, and talks the talk. About SAFE+FAIR Over lunch one day, longtime best friends Dave Leyrer and Pete Najarian found themselves sharing food allergy frustrations. Both dads were stressed out by the lack of safe foods for their kids, Abby and Remy, who both happened to have nut allergies. Fed up with scrutinizing labels and constantly reminding other parents to do so, Dave and Pete agreed: Safe products were hard to find or too expensive. Plus, pricey "food allergy brands" totally failed to appeal to the nut-allergic kids—much less the non-allergic ones. Dave and Pete set out to make living with food allergies easier and more delicious for families like theirs. The founders set their sights on creating products both safe for food allergic kids AND so appealing that all kids love them. To make products SAFE + FAIR means offering clear information and affordable prices—so whoever does the shopping can make easier, faster, more inclusive choices. And that's how The Safe + Fair Food Company was born. That's our story, and we'd love to hear yours. Reach out to us on Facebook or Instagram with #safeandfair.   Sponsor - FoodLabelPro.com Is your product packaging compliant with the new FDA rules?  The compliance deadline is January 1st, 2020. At FoodLabelPro.com we will upgrade your current panels for only $50. FoodLabelPro.com also provides package and claim reviews, laboratory analysis, shelf life testing, printer/graphics services, and menu analysis.   We are your one-stop shop for food packaging: FoodLabelpro.com. Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business. Show Notes When someone asks what you do for a living, what do you tell them in a sentence or less?: I make allergen-free food that is safe and affordable. How do you make the foods affordable?: It’s easy to make very expensive food but it doesn’t work for everyone. We want to be thoughtful on our business model and as long as we are net positive, GMA cost – General Administration Costs. Toddy Rezende - COO Jessica Callan – Brand design Jessica Girrelli – Head of R+D Matt Blackman – Head of school sales Ashley Maynard – manages relationships for our copackers Conrad Sue – Head of manufacturing Christina Burns – Market Activation Do you find people who have the attributes to work for Safe+Fair?: There are people who are comfortable with it, or not. If you have a family matter to go to, go for it. If I need to call you at 9pm, then it’ll just be a few minutes. What does a CEO mean to you?: I break ties. I make the decision when there is conflict. I also need to make sure the business is operating correctly. I communicate externally, which is a real privilege. Describe the steps it took to get to where you are today?: I had my first kid at 25. So I had to make money. When I worked hard, I got a lot of opportunities “Don’t worry about the person next to you or behind you, just work” How did you make the jump for entrepreneurship?: First and foremost, the most important thing in your life is to take care of your family. I had enough financial stability to make it happen. I wanted to make a great impression for my kids. National Grocers Association How is your allergen program?: We source our ingredients carefully, our copackers also can’t eat peanutes on the line, and we test for allergens as two different locations You should partner with your copackers, and you shouldn’t make people uncomfortable in the relationship or it will bite you. We have a relationship from Stanford University. Allergens are an epidemic What does Growth mean to you?: We operate on revenue growth and customer growth. I wear the SAFE+FAIR shirt every day because people will always ask me what it is. The best way to market is to articulate the best you can. Be smart – only because you know what other people don’t know Be relevant – I’m telling something that matters to you Be inspiring – Enough so you can talk to us again You can only be the best version of you What type of food trends are you noticing in the industry?: Being authentic. It’s not just sugar-free, but how much sugar is in my soda. Soom Foods Advice: It’s better to serve one purpose, rather than hitting everything. At a small business with few folks, you can only focus on one thing What’s the challenge the food industry has to face right now?: Margins versus healthy food. Junk food has higher margins, but healthy food is very difficult. What is one thing in the food industry that you’d like to know more about?: I’d like to look in corners more. I wish I could see the trends from the beginnings Owyn Protein Supply Side West Who inspired you to go into food?: My father was the CEO of a grocery store and got me a job at Pepsi. He made me start at the very bottom. The food industry has evolved in such an interesting way. Pepsi young professional executive training Any advice for someone climbing up the corporate ladder?: Just work hard, you won’t be at the same job forever. You can decide how hard you work. What’s your favorite kitchen item?: My fiancé. She cooks everything well Wedding Soup Any advice for starting a food business?: It’s a good idea, don’t think that your idea is something everyone will pay for it. Think early on how you can make money off of it. How do you find traction for a product?; Ask your kids or your loved one. Or the most objective people in your life. Where can we find you for advice?: On LinkedIn, or Safe+Fair.com. Let the customer service know that you want to talk to me and we’ll be connected. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Foodgrads recently partnered with Taste Your Future and you might have seen Nicole Gallace do more video shoots and social media collaborations. Chelsey is the woman behind the scenes. Chelsey Walker wasn’t intending to join the food industry, in fact, she never thought she would do marketing and communications,  but through her friend in the dessage business, this changed. Chelsey helps me with some social media pet peeves like posting on a schedule and working with hashtags. In exchange, I inspire her to peruse her side hustle.   Sponsor - FoodLabelPro.com Is your product packaging compliant with the new FDA rules?  The compliance deadline is January 1st, 2020. At FoodLabelPro.com we will upgrade your current panels for only $50. FoodLabelPro.com also provides package and claim reviews, laboratory analysis, shelf life testing, printer/graphics services, and menu analysis.   We are your one-stop shop for food packaging: FoodLabelpro.com. Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business. Like This Episode? Then You Might Like These two episodes talk about social media: Sophie Mendes Van Delft, Content Marketing Specialist for Restaurants Canada - Sophie and I have a great discussion on social media for Restaurants Canada Rachel Cheatham, CEO of Foodscape Group - Rachel and I talk about the right media to consume and what both her and I read, watch and listen to weekly.   Show Notes When someone asks what you do for a living what do you tell them?: I’m a digital communications graphic designer I taught myself graphic design How did you teach yourself Graphic Design?: I took a few classes, but the internet and blogging courses are great. Just go to adobe creative cloud and practice Photoshop Illustrator Lightroom Tips from photos: Good photos take less work. What is Taste Your Future: A food and beverage Ontario initiative. The idea is that we’re building awareness in the food and beverage industry. Right now, there’s not a very good idea of the jobs around the industry. The new food jobs aren’t being filled and Taste Your Future is trying to raise awareness to tell the stories about the food industry. Buffer.io What is one misconception you’d like to dispel?: The food idnsutry has just as valuable jobs as engineering. These jobs are in food pay just as well. Describe the steps it took to get to where you are today?: I started as a Paramedic and hated it. Algonquin College Diploma in Public Relations Isabelle Docta – Taste Your Future How did you meet Isabelle?: Through horses actually. We met through the equestrian world. We do Dressage Dressage: A dance with the rider. It’s an Olympian sport How do you communicate better about yourself?: Be a human on facebook. Go to as many networking events as possible. Networking is more valuable than online communication How can you be the best in social media?: Be authentic and showing up. Answer things a lot. It’s just like getting a job. Just show up just like a job. Twitter is best for hashtags and so is Instagram What do you look for most in a job?: I’m trying to get side Hustle going with Social Media Management. Flexitarian/Reductarian Flexitarian cartoon How do you like working with Foodgrads: I love it! Nicole is awesome. We do a ton of video Unwrapped What type of food trends and technologies are really exciting you right now?: Every time I go into the food industry, I see something new Food Industry Social media trends: There aren’t many trends about the careers of it Ital Pasta Sticky Note Food Science/Nutrition stickynote cartoons What is the biggest problem in the food industry?: We are running out of people in the food industry and our job is to show awareness. Most factories are in rural countries in which young people don’t want to go there Favorite Quote: Surround yourself with people who are going to take you higher Favorite Book: Harry Potter fan Favorite Kitchen Item: garlic Press Best thing you’ve ever eaten: Some kind of cookies Garlic Ice Cream Any advice about getting into the food industry: Be open to every opportunity and connect with everyone working with you Where can we find you for advice if you want to be found?: You can message me on the taste your future page. Our biggest social media platform is Facebook. We just launched Instagram and I’m excited for that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Supply Chain is one of the most complicated things in the food industry and managing 100s of ingredients that might need to be gluten-free, non-GMO, sourced in another country, whatever it is, you need documentation and database to help sort and store it. Many companies who are at this level rely on supply chain management software to manage all of their documentation. This is where FoodLogiQ comes in, a rapidly growing startup to help manage your mess of a supply chain. CMO Katy Jones and I have a great discussion on just why managing the food supply chain can be overwhelming, but also why it’s extremely important for people to manage it well. We also get into a good discussion of the ever-topical topic, blockchain and why blockchain might be the future of supply chain management, and talk about the rising trend of being authentic in the food industry, and how it relates to good marketing. As we all know, it’s getting more important. About Katy Since joining FoodLogiQ in 2015, Katy Jones has served as a thought leader within the food industry, providing insight and education on the importance of supplier management and traceability across the food supply chain. She has held various leadership roles with increasing levels of responsibility at FoodLogiQ, including Vice President of Marketing, Chief Marketing Officer, and most recently, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer. In this position, Katy oversees all aspects of marketing and creates, communicates, executes, and sustains the strategic initiatives of the company’s cloud-based supplier transparency and traceability solution called FoodLogiQ Connect. Under Katy’s leadership, FoodLogiQ has consistently earned recognition and awards for innovation, performance and investor funding. Katy holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in data marketing communications from West Virginia University. In addition to her membership in the Chief Marketing Officer Club, she is a 2017 recipient of the Triangle Business Journal C-Suite Award.  Katy is an avid runner, reader and foodie, and she cherishes family time with her husband and two boys. About FoodLogiQ FoodLogiQ® LLC is the leading SaaS provider of traceability, food safety and supply chain transparency solutions. FoodLogiQ Connect is the most comprehensive, data-driven software solution that enables supplier management, food safety compliance, quality incident management, recall management and whole chain traceability – all on a single platform built exclusively for the food industry. To meet mounting regulatory requirements and consumer demands for transparency, food companies are leveraging FoodLogiQ Connect to validate supplier compliance with food safety and act with confidence in the event of a food safety or quality issue. To request a demo, please visit http://www.FoodLogiQ.com/demo. Sponsor - FoodLabelPro.com Is your product packaging compliant with the new FDA rules?  The compliance deadline is January 1st, 2020. At FoodLabelPro.com we will upgrade your current panels for only $50. FoodLabelPro.com also provides package and claim reviews, laboratory analysis, shelf life testing, printer/graphics services, and menu analysis.   We are your one-stop shop for food packaging: FoodLabelpro.com. Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business. Like This Episode? Then You Might Like These two episodes talk about blockchain! Mitchell Weinburg CEO of Inscatech - talks about the cons of blockchain because it will only work if people are honest before. Cesare Varallo Founder of foodlawlatest.com - He was the first person to answer my questions about blockchain. This was a year ago, when things were a lot more chaotic than they are now. Show Notes What does FoodLogiQ have?: Supplier Management, Traceability, Recall software  Tom Mastrobuoni When someone asks what you do for a living, what do you tell them in a sentence or less?: I’m a Marketing officer for a food startup. Like FedEx for the food industry We just got our Series B. We grew out of our parent company and launched 3 years ago What does FoodLogiq do?: We are a SaaS management platform that helps manage supplier relationships Allows easy access to what products are approved and what is needed to be approved. FoodLogiq is specifically designed for the food industry because all things aren’t the same Features: Text to voice, on the cloud, Why is food a different supply chain?: Food is living and breathing and there are many factors that can be issues, The systems are also archaic How do you get documents and they don’t give it to you?: The platform runs a supplier through an onboarding workflow What is one thing you’d like to dispel?: Getting food on the table is really hard. Europe Non-GMO SGS IP preserved corn Advice for startups: Not become obsessed on what your job is or isn’t For new people, just listen to the customers for feedback Tyson Ventures How has working with Tyson benefitted you guys?: They are an amazing company. Very salt of the earth people. We’re now Tyson’s Supply Chain customer What type of food trends and technologies are you interested?: Plant based protein and the food industry’s focus on these things Flexitarian Market Blockchain: Distributed leger technology used to verify transactions. There are lots of opportunities in this space and a lot of companies are niching down on the trend ripe.io IOT Sensors Rapid Pathogen Sensing The main point of blockchain is traceability and a unique way of storing data Bitcoin The biggest challenge the food industry needs to face: Meeting the challenge between consumer needs for transparency and running a business There is a fine line between what consumers want to know versus what they don’t want to know What food is versus where food is and also the how What is one thing in the food industry you want to know more about?: I’d love to learn more about food marketing. Especially authentic marketing Who inspired you to get into food?: My son has a nut allergy and he inspires me to make a better food system. Food safety and food transparency is not competitive, it’s collaborative Can you give any advice to anyone in the marketing industry to go into the food industry: Be authentic and have a keen focus on being authentic on what your product means How do you attain knowledge that you don’t know?: You need to talk to people outside of your org. Depends where, but someone is always willing to share the knowledge Where can we gfind you for advice?: At katy@foodlogiq.com. Connect with me on LinkedIn. Why the Q in Logic?: The Q means IQ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I met Dan through Brian Chau, you might recognize him in episode 3. In the past couple of years, Dan has been slowly building this incredible, much-needed space within the Bay Area. Dan thought of Tinker Kitchen when he was in college. One of his class had a “Learn-by-Doing” workshop that he loved. Combined with his fascination with cooking, this dream was decades in the making. Having the chance to explore the space, you have food service equipment, so much table space, and any machine you can think of. From freeze dryers to centrifuges. We go into great detail on building this space, such as the challenges in construction, and the rewarding feeling of completing a dream. Tinker Kitchen is now open for business and the price you pay to play there is phenomenal. Check out their website at Tinkerkitchen.org and I hope to see you at Tinker Kitchen some day. Sponsor - FoodLabelPro.com Is your product packaging compliant with the new FDA rules?  The compliance deadline is January 1st, 2020. At FoodLabelPro.com we will upgrade your current panels for only $50. FoodLabelPro.com also provides package and claim reviews, laboratory analysis, shelf life testing, printer/graphics services, and menu analysis.   We are your one-stop shop for food packaging: FoodLabelpro.com. Sponsor - BAKERpedia This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business. Like This Episode? Then You Might Like These two episodes talk about constructing a food space Mike Mohammed and Randy Wyner, founders of Chronic Tacos - These two buisness owners talk about the tough beginnings of constructing Chronic Tacos and how they developed systems for franchising to make it so much easier. Julie Bernarski - Founder of Healthy Crunch Company -  Julie's team creates their products in house and their product requies a lot of attention becaus eof how fragile the kale chips are. See how she manages her team.       Show Notes Tinker Kitchen Brian Chau Phil Saneski How did you get into the food industry?: I came to the US to work for Mozilla Firefox in 2006, worked 12 years and then decided to open this kitchen How big is Tinker Kitchen?: 17,000 square feet. Tinker Kitchen is a makers space for food and cooking What got you the idea?: I took a class in biology and this professor had this class where we made biology models. it was a Learn by Doing process. I cooked as a hobby, at first I never knew how to cook so I had to call my mom when I had food Commissary Kitchens Part R+D member and part How did you find this space?: We looked around for a year What were the troubles of preparing the space?: Water, gas, city permits, and bad contractors which had to be replaced Fume Hood Advice for building a kitchen space: Spend more time in the planning stage and spend more on the planning space. Make sure you understand what needs to be upgraded The meta-advice is to find someone who’s done it before and ask for advice Learn from the Shoulders of Giants Wok Centrifuge McCormick Innovation Center 3D Printing Induction heating How did you know about this kitchen equipment?: Just asking around, going to blogs, and asking how things are made We have a freeze dryer A batch freezer A pacojet Eventually a Frozen Nitrogen document to add in frozen nitrogen Beyond Sausage Combi Oven Gastronomy Modernist Cuisine Reverse Spherification Sous vide What are the challenges the food industry has to face?: Creating a community around food and cooking The better food in a community aspect, the more tightknit the community is Outsourcing grocery stores What is something you’ve noticed between tech people and food people?: Food people are more diverse. Food people also have a different outlook. Tech people look for solutions, food people looking for community Fancy Food Show Expo West Expo East IFT Expo Taste is King Venezuela Hallaca – The Venezuelan Tamale Any advice for anyone about the food industry?: Think a few years ahead and go talk to people who have been there. The more you find out, the better. Rohini Dey - Vermillion Apprentice is a good step Where can we find you for advice?: Thinkerkitchen.org. Contact Dan at Dan@tinkerkitchen.org 3233 Mission St. 22nd Street and Mission Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices