My Food Job Rocks!

  We have another great small business this episode. Piccola Cucina is an Italian bakery that focuses on Italian baked goods such as macarons and focus on using almonds in their mix. In this episode, you’ll learn about the different varieties of Macarons, how important it is to maneuver and adapt in the food industry as a small player, and some amazingly good resources and advice from the CEO herself. I always appreciate having small businesses on the podcast and we have a few more coming up in the pipeline. I admire their tenacity and thinking in the long term. This interview is no exception. About Pina Romolo An entrepreneurial, international trade, sales, and relationship management executive, delivering the highest level of client service with keen attention and acuteness to cultural and political sensitivities with valuable contacts in a number of worldwide regions; expert knowledge and proficiency in English, Spanish, Italian, French and basic German. Specialties: BA in languages, Specialty Food Manufa

Stephanie Ronquillo is a Cal Poly alumni, and perhaps she could be described as one of my first influences in getting me involved in college. She was the ideal academic student. With the 4.0 GPA, president of the food science club, she’s smart. After college, she went straight into industry and works at Newly Weds Foods as a food scientist where her focus is on seasoning blends. In this interview, we focus a good chunk on strategies to make your college experience meaningful, childhood heroes, and interview tips.  

Today’s guest is the Vice President of Business Development for a distributor/ supplier, SPI Group, Russ Nishikawa. What SPI Group does is brokers deals with lesser known ingredients and markets them to customers. A specialized ingredient producer will make deals with distributors for them to market or sell their product. For example, I would have never known about a pea protein from Belgium if it wasn’t for the SPI Group. You don’t hear much about these types of businesses in school, but they are all the rage in industry, especially if you deal with highly functional and trendy ingredients. Anyways, I’ve known Russ Nishikawa for a couple of years in Northern California. He reminds me of my uncle to be honest. About Russ Nishikawa Russ has been involed in the growth of SPI Group for 25 years. He is involved in new ingredient business development with key customers and targeted market segments, working with new ingredient from new and existing suppliers and determining how applicable the product benefits are t

First off, I am loving the diversity of our guests recently. From different ages and genders from all over the world! The person we are interviewing today fits into this category. Deya is from Mexico and now works for the ever-trending Beyond Meat, where they produce meat substitutes that actually taste like real meat. If you do some research, their process making it (which is proprietary, and won’t be discussed too much here, sorry folks) is pretty fascinating. You’re going to learn a ton about an interesting process called extrusion, which is a very scientifically complex process that creates really cool products. Basically, you take raw materials, put them into a machine and it pops out a product… that was a horrible description… but if you just google the process on how hot dogs, protein bars, or even how puffed cereal is made, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I used to do some extrusion work in college and at my old job so it was nice to talk to somewhat of a kindred spirit. However, I think Deya take

Download Interview (Right Click Save As)   For today’s episode, we have Chef Michael Bunn, Senior Manager of Sam’s Club where he takes on a Quality and an R and D role. This guy has an amazing food career. From culinary school in the military, to academia, to being a research Chef, so many things. This guy loves what he does. The RCA loves this dude too. He’s had articles published about him, and Kim also has a great podcast about him as well. Enjoy Chef Bunn’s interview, where we talk about chef school, retorting, and…Baltimore crab… About Chef Michael Bunn As a former military cook and current Sam;'s Club senior quality and product development manager, semper fidelis- the "always faithful" motto of the Marines - guides Michael Bunn's life and work. I cannot do this justice, but this amazing article about the Chef will be the best bio I've ever seen. http://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/rca/2016_09_01/index.php?startid=1#/30 Key Takeaways Why Mike decided to go into research instead of being a chef Whether M

Today we have a special guest who came all the way from Australia. Bo Wang was born in China, moved to Canada for academia, and now lives in Australia working for the industry. His focus is microencapsulation and works to encapsulate fish oil at Nu-Mega Technologies. Within this episode, he not only talks about his amazing opportunities living in difference contries, but also really digs deep on the difference between academia and industry. Also, let me know if the audio is good or not, it’s a bit fuzzy this time and I would love your feedback. I recommend you listen without headphones this time if you can. The first section of this episode is a segment of Peas on Moss' episode. You can find the full article here. About Bo Wang Dr. Bo Wang is a Senior Food Technologist at Nu-Mega Ingredients, Queensland, Australia where he is leading the development of novel microencapsulation delivery systems for various bioactive ingredients. He is also an adjunct Senior Lecturer at The University of Queensland and an Adju

    Have you ever wanted to start your own Ice Cream Buisness? Daryl David is the man for you! His life is 100% ice cream. From starting his own business, to now helping people grow their own, there is no man I know who knows more about ice cream than Darryl David If you want more information on Darryl, check out his website on www.icecreamprivatelabel.com This episode is full of everything ice cream. Ice cream history, ice cream business, ice cream science, and ice cream innovation. Key Takeaways The history of ice cream and its renaissance How to contact a co-manufacturer for business Rich, young entrepreneurs who want to make pot ice cream Why ice cream is the perfect food science experiment What We Talk About Dairy or Non-Dairy Frozen Buisness Such as: Ice Cream,Popsicles, Mom and Pop Ice Cream Shop, Gelato icecreamprivatelabel.com Private Label CoPacker SEO friendly Soda Fountain Steve’s Ice Cream (Harryl’s Ice Cream) Batch freezer Coldstone Creamery Electrofreeze White Mountain Freezer Quote: “What

Download This Episode Here Congratulations to Alanna, Brian, and Amit for snagging Ali Bouzari's new book! This monologue is about the ways you can maximize your college experience and hopefully prepare you for the future. You can follow all of these rules, or none of them. I'm just distilling my "complicated" college life. Key Takeaways Why you need to be involved in college How to be involved in college Why my best experience in college wasn't food science related What We Talk About Lion Dancing Transcript In this episode, I’m going to talk to you the importance of getting involved in college. Before I go into college, don’t be one of those people who thinks college is a waste of time. You can be rich going to college, you can be rich going to trade school, you can be rich by not going to school at all! I’m a bit fatigued about how any people complain about working at starbucks after graduation when the anecdotes between successful people and unsuccessful people are relatively the same. College is inde

Download this Episode   Today we have our first food retail business owner! Sarabeth Yeli Marshall has her own chocolate company and she tells us her amazing story of how she got to where she is today. The questions are a little bit different, but this is the side of the industry where anyone can start. We have a  few more food business ones in stock and the amazing thing about food buisnesses is that you can start anywhere, any time, with any degree. I hope you find this podcast inspiring…and craving chocolate! PS: Click here to vote for Yeli Belly Chocolates for the Brassy's Award! About Sarabeth "Yeli" Marshall The proud owner of Yelibelly Chocolates in Southlake, Texas. Visit our store and sample our award winning, artisan chocolates! Registered Dietitian and chocolatier with over 14 years of experience in the fields of food/nutrition program branding and promotion, menu and product development, wellness program development, foodservice management and USDA food programs. About Yelibelly Chocolates (fr

  This is part two of Ali Bouzari's amazing interview. Find part 1 here: http://myfoodjobrocks.com/018ali/ And don't forget about our giveaway at www.myfoodjobrocks.com About Ali Bouzari As an Iranian Texan, Ali Bouzari grew up with exposure to different cuisines, but most notably, beef over an open flame. His affinity for food and science lead him to become the guy where all the top chefs call him for help on the science of food. After waking up from a nightmare, he googled on his phone, “food chemistry PhD” and found himself at the University of California, Davis for Food Biochemistry. Strategically located near Napa and Sonoma’s food scene and San Francisco’s thriving entrepreneurial food and tech hub, Davis was his master plan to be the guy where chefs call him. Between being an instructor for the Culinary Institute of America and a graduate student at Davis, he juggled being a freelance consultant for chefs, tapping into the new market of research chefs. Later, he co-founded a consulting firm with top re

Forbes named him 30 Under 30. Zagat did the same. UC Davis wrote an article about him. HIC The Useful Tool and The Culinologist interviewed him. He gave two TED talks and is about to roll out a book. He will now be interviewed for this podcast. His name is Bouzari, Ali Bouzari. He is a Culinary Scientist at Pilot R + D, holding a doctoracte in food biochemistry and having served as a research chef for the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group. His interview with Adam Yee not only inspires many food industry members to strive for a better tasting and more creative food product, but also brings to light humble beginnings of how a man, a dream and a passion can make the world a better place to cook, eat and understand the impact science has on both. For culinary science! About Ali Bouzari As an Iranian Texan, Ali Bouzari grew up with exposure to different cuisines, but most notably, beef over an open flame. His affinity for food and science lead him to become the guy where all the top chefs call him for help on the sci

Today we have Philip Saneski, an inspiring, young, proactive, dude who has recently been working hard to build up the Research Chefs Association Student section. Philip works in an innovative consulting company in San Francisco as an intern, has experience as a pastry chef and, as a student, during the school year, he is involved quite heavily in the Research Chef’s Association (RCA). You might remember the Research Chefs Association or Culinology program in episode 12, where Kim Schaub talks about her experiences. Her podcast features culinologists from the RCA. Enjoy the interview! Phil really shines a light on everything the RCA has to offer. About Philip Saneski Philip has culinary experience working in San Francisco Chronicle's 'Top 100 Bay Area restaurants', and Michelin star kitchens as a line cook on multiple stations, as a Pastry Chef for an upscale hotel, at AQ Restaurant, a James Beard Award finalist for 'Best New Restaurant in the Country' and most recently Bob's Well Bread Bakery, named one of th

Today, we have a really cool food job. Julie Miguel can be described as a woman who wears many hats and you’ll see in this episode how much she’s involved in. She’s a food stylist, food media expert, recipe developer, has been on TV multiple times on different stations, and her most important job; being a mother. So this is a very fun interview and you’ll get a lot of really cool, practical tips for how to improve your food photography and recipe development skills. The most important thing in this interview is to really listen to Julie’s advice on achieving your goals. About Julie Miguel Julie Miguel is a digital content producer with a specialization in food media as well as an active food blogger.  The focus of her blog, Daily Tiramisu, is to empower home cooks to be fearless in the kitchen. She does this by taking traditionally difficult recipes and making them easier to execute. Cooking is something that Julie has always been fiercely passionate about. She began cooking after the tragic passing of her mo

I promise, this is the last Cal Poly alumni episode for a while (at least until episode 25)! But I gotta tell you about Katie Lanfranki. Katie is currently a Research & Development Technologist at South Coast Baking, Co. She is one of the most supportive, proactive people I’ve ever met. Katie’s a very inspiring person and she is super knowledgeable. In this interview, you’re going to see just how passionate and excited she is in her job. One of the most valuable pieces of information I’ve found in this interview is about the choice to choose between Graduate School or working in the industry (around 30 minutes in). Katie has helped me in product development competitions, with lots of extracurricular activities and she has been extremely supportive in almost everything I do. She was one of my friends to whom I showed this podcast and she has been extremely helpful, before we even launched. As the podcast picked up momentum, she wanted to help out the FoodGrads cause, like I did. Together we’re working on s

Do you remember episode 2 and episode 11? Both Trevor Fast and Andrea Zeng took this dude’s chocolate class and were even promoted to work in chocolate production on campus. Today, we’re interviewing a man who has been enamoured with food all his life. He was our professor at Cal Poly, he owned and owns bakeries and chocolate shops, and he spends his time donating chocolate-making equipment to Africa. This man is the one and only: Dr. Tom Neuhaus. If you would like to listen to more of our episodes, make sure to check out our itunes link. If you like them, we would love it if you could rate and review. Thanks! About Dr. Tom Neuhaus Rich. That’s one word that comes to mind when we listen to this episode. Retired professor, business owner and philanthropist, Dr. Tom Neuhaus is rich with stories, experiences, knowledge and, well, chocolate! After an adventurous life baking and cooking across the world and teaching at some of the most well known academic food universities, we have decided that Dr. Nehaus is the

So this interview was from a deal I made with Taryn Yee. I interview her… and then she would interview me. Ideally, I should have made this episode number 5, right? Why should I wait for episode 13? Well, my birthday is January 13th, a baker’s dozen has 13 of something, 13 is an unlucky number? Whichever explanation your prefer, I’ve decided to use my interview for episode 13. Here’s my point of view from my perspective. Taryn Yee asks some pretty funny questions in this one. If you would like to listen to more of our episodes, make sure to check out our itunes link. If you like them, we would love it if you could rate and review. Thanks! About Adam Yee I really don't like writing my own bio. Here's a bit on my linkedin: Food Science Professional who loves to learn all aspects of a business. Likes to get involved in multiple projects, never afraid to help out, and has a huge passion for food. Other activities include involvement in the cultural and food scene in Phoenix including: - Creating a meetup for Asi

So last week, I interviewed Andrea, a Food Technologist working for Lundberg Family Farm, and today, I’m interviewing someone from there too - her boss, a Product Developer and Research Chef at Lundberg! What are the odds? And the meeting between her and I was a completely different scenario as well. It started when I joined Podcaster’s Paradise to jumpstart my Podcasting experience and I saw a poster who looked familiar. I might have seen her on Linkedin actually. I clicked and she worked for Lundberg. I asked Andrea about her and what do you know, it’s her boss. Yes, Kimberly King Schuab was in the same podcast course as I was, and we connected instantly. We realized we had a lot in common so we agreed to collaborate and interview each other. Her episode can be found in the show notes. About Kimberly Schaub Kimberly Schaub is a nutritionist, turned chef, turned product developer, working for Lundberg Family Farms in Richvale, CA. A former Air Force officer, Kimberly has explored a multitude of ways to use h

Today I interview Andrea Zeng, long time friend, some time rivals. This is a great episode about choosing between culinary school and a degree in food science. Note that you can always have both (as you will find out in a future episode!). We're going to be talking about a lot of cool food science terms like enzymes and retro-gradation. Hang on!! If you would like to listen to more of our episodes, make sure to check us out on iTunes. If you like them, we'd appreciate it if you could rate and review them. Thanks! About Andrea Andrea is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science and a minor in Packaging. She currently works as a Food Technologist at Lundberg Family Farms, developing new consumer packaged goods within the natural and organic category. During her time at Cal Poly, Andrea was a Student Lead Product Developer at Cal Poly Chocolates. With Cal Poly Chocolates, a student run business through the Food Science Department, Andrea was

In this episode, we are going to talk about my experience getting a job in the food industry as a senior in college. Everyone has a different experience, but mine might relate to yours. (Yes, the picture is photoshopped) If you would like to listen to more of our episodes, make sure to check out our itunes link. If you like them, we would love it if you could rate and review. Thanks! Key Takeaways Best techniques and resources for resume/CV writing One of the best types of advice I received is to focus on the job description Why it might be beneficial moving to a new city What we talk about Waco Texas Career Centers Carl's Jr Foodgrads' top 3 tips for landing your first job What color shirt should you wear for job interviews? Cactus Section IFT (for example) Transcript For some background information, I was very involved in my department in Cal Poly and in my junior year, I received my first internship offer in Fall quarter. So about this internship, all I can tell you is that it was a very well-known comp

This week we eat and chat with Kyle Failia. As a Sales Manager with Glanbia (a global company supplying dairy isolates and functional ingredients), Kyle has found a perfect fit for his passion!   About Kyle  Originally a Nutrition student, Kyle's interest in functional ingredients and physical activity crossed paths at his sales position with Nutrishop. Through his interactions with customers and his curiosity for ingredients, Kyle became interested in the creative side of nutrition. However, knowing that he did not want to become a dietitian, he stumbled upon Food Science and became an undergraduate in the Food Science program at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. It is then that Kyle knew he had found the perfect fit.     As a result of product development competitions at Cal Poly and his involvement as a board member at IFTSA (Institute of Food Technologist Student Association) Kyle landed a job with Glanbia on their graduate program. It is here that he was able to experience every aspect of the business from mark