My Food Job Rocks!

Today we interview David Chan, Watter Resource Control Engineer by day, and creator of Nichijou Ramen by night! So before I got a full-time job at WeWork, I was thinking of launching a new podcast that was a lot less in formality and structure. Now, I don’t have the time, but I have a bunch of interviews that are amazing, but aren’t the common My Food Job Rocks structure. However, they are all super valuable, and I always think: would this ruin My Food Job Rock’s consistency? But then I think about the fact that this is my platform and I can do whatever I want. So You’ll find more experimental podcasts from old interviews in the future. I met David through an after-work group called Side Hustle Wednesday and we connected instantly because of our weird love of food. David is actually a civil engineer but he is obsessed with ramen. So the question is always “well, is he going to go full time into ramen?” And the answer is, you don’t have to! You don’t have to go all in to showcase your passion and that’s what I

Alison Montford is the founder of Ends and Stems. A web platform where they send you recipes to help you be more mindful about food waste. This isn’t the first time around the block for Alison. She’s had a business before and is a master bootstrapper Alison used a ton of tricks that bootstrapped entrepreneurs have to use such as tapping into groups that share, and focusing on your Minimum Viable Product. For example, do you actually need to spend a quarter million on an app? Or would a simple website do? Also learn with how much the average person wastes and how much CO2 people emit when you waste food using pizza! Show Notes What do you tell people you first meet?: I’m a chef with a mission to eradicate food waste I have a web app where I send out ways to reduce food waste using recipes I interviewed over 1000 different families and got a lot of valuable data How did you get 1000 people to answer your survey?: Why are you struggling at dinner time? Viral effect on busy mom’s groups For surveys, you really ne

We have 15 stories throughout the WeWork Food Labs Ecosystem (and some of my personal friends) based on one simple prompt: A career in food can be incredibly difficult, and we believe it requires true love to work towards positive change within the industry. What moment or experience initially sparked your love of food and keeps you going when you’re having a tough day? we recorded what they said and put them all in this episode. Thank you for contributing: Trish Wesevich - Brand & Mortar Group Emily Kealey - Naturally Austin Nicky Chang - Junzi Gordon Crane - Apple and Eve Elliot Begoun - Intertwine Group Michel Nischan - Chef, 4 Time James Beard Award Winner Amin Bahari - Elite Sweets Alison Cayne - Haven's Kitchen Stephen Zagor - Consultant and Educator Mike Lee - Alpha Food Labs Kevin Newsum - Steamm Espresso Valerie Chouquet - Encore Gourmet Experience Daniel Scharff - JUST Vanessa and Kim Pham - Oxtale Co Adam Yee - WeWork Food Labs and a bunch of other stuff  

We interview several people who benefit from the SQF conference and you’ll be hearing case studies on how SQF has benefitted them from copackers to consulting. What I find really cool about this episode is how people get into the quality field and how they progressed throughout their roles. I find it beautiful that no matter where you are in life, you can end up in a career in food. What I find amazing is just how aligned in purpose the people in the quality field are. You’ll also hear from a special past guest and we catch up on what he’s been up to. A disclaimer is that this is in a live setting in a noisy conference room so it might be a little noisy. We’ve tried our best to mitigate the noise, so just be mindful when listening to the episode in whatever setting you’re in. Mandy Jennifer, QA Manager from Pillar’s Fine Foods Piller’s Fine Food It’s my first time visiting I brought my husband over There’s a new code this year. Ver 9.0 Leclerc Foods Alba Velasco SQF Practitioner of the US Waffle Company US

I was invited to the SQF Conference in San Antonio to do some interviews. If you’re not familiar with the SQF Institute, it’s a certification body that ensures our food is safe. After all, SQF stands for Safe Quality Food, but it’s a lot more than that! I was fortunate to be invited to their annual conference last year to learn a bit more about the concepts behind SQF and the people who run it. We got quite a bit of content so I’m splitting it into two parts. I’d say this first part describes the ins and outs of the SQF program and the second part focuses more on, past guests and connections! It’s always so interesting meeting people in new places. Guests and Show Notes Sarah Mullunich  – Marketing and Sales Director of SQFI Food Industry Association Ethical Sourcing and Certification Systems SQF Certified: email me at s.mullenich@sqfi.com How to become SQF Certified: Find a certifying body and auditors come and verify your plant sqfi.com Only locations can be certified 12th year at SQF The conference is 2 an

Daniel has had a multitude of very impressive jobs but nothing satisfies him as much as showing data for a good cause. Daniel’s job is to gather data sets through either tests that he sends out or gathers other data points to convince huge, conventional companies to use their products such as JUST Egg. If you’re in the plant-based industry, there’s a lot to think about such as: who is your actual target market? Or What’s in a name? You’re also going to learn the value of networking. Perhaps the value of hard work is something you can’t put on a resume. I think what’s fascinating about Daniel is that he puts a ton of effort in his roles and people recognize it in each part of his career path. So much, he started his own networking group, SF CPG. You’ll also learn… one fun thing about JUST. They have a  band called the Super Fantastics and Daniel’s the drummer and singer Stay tuned. At the end of the episodes, you’ll hear a song from them We do this episode at the JUST office. Show Notes Smart Kitchen Summit S

Lilian Cruz-Hand, is a Quality Specialist, but she does so much at her job at Save A Lot. From building a sensory lab, to working with product development. She's a rockstar, and listens to all of my episodes. So much, that her boss actually contacted me to interview her! Eric Iserman asked me to interview Lilian and I think that really says something about the team in Save A Lot and supporting one another. It's a sign of a good culture. Though a fun little segment, Lilian brings a ton of knowledge on the table about white-labeling, building labs, and an example of lifelong curiosity. Perhaps being a superstar specialist isn’t about digging deep into one field, but understanding how each field affects one another. You’ll also learn what goes behind making a white label product, you know, the store brand products in grocery stores. Lilian does an amazing job on describing what goes into it and what you might need to pay attention to in that role. About Lilian Lilian Cruz-Hand is a Quality Specialist Sensory Lea

We’ve had a couple of Fairtrade focused episodes such as Kim Chackal from Equifruit, so familiarize yourself with that episode if you haven’t already. Now we’re going to the East Coast and we’ll be talking about the amazing effect Fair Trade has on farmers and why big companies such as KIND are buying fair trade products. Learn about Bryan Lew’s career path and his advice for anyone when it comes to climbing to the top. You can do it too, even if you’re a cashier at a small grocery store. About Bryan Bryan Lew is the chief operating officer for Fairtrade America, where he leads the effort to expand awareness of Fairtrade America’s mission among U.S. businesses and consumers to ultimately increase revenue and grow the organization. Bryan brings expertise in the natural foods industry from his previous roles leading operations for Sur la Table and MOM’s Organic Market. Bryan was also an executive vice president at Whole Foods Market.  Show Notes Whole Foods (first started when there were 10 stores) Why did you

I’m sure when you started your job, you had to go through training videos that help you understand the importance of something. Before this was powerpoints but nowadays, the videos are much more engaging. Whether about car safety, good manufacturing practices, or even food safety, to get people to understand and care about important topics, it helps for the video to be engaging. This is where Austin Welch and Richard Fleming come in. Their company, SAGE Media, create engaging video stories by hacking into the behaviors of a culture and showcasing them in high quality training videoes Bare with me at the beginning of the interview as we try to crack down some really complex stuff. As soon as we get through that, and understand the underlying concepts, that’s where you get the nuggets of wisdom. If you want to know the insides and insights of making great, engaging stories, this episode will really get you interested. Since these guys do training videoes, you can find examples at sage.academy About Austin and R

Since this podcast is unscripted, I don't have a giant paragraph of text and complex show notes. To summarize the first 10 or so minutes: My excuse for not posting an episode is because I was playing video games all month Thanks to a few people, especially Karen Lee and Shahram Shafie for the warm welcome to Austin, Texas. It shows that you never know who'll reach out when you tell everyone on the internet you're moving My Food Job Rocks will probably end this year but Adam Yee podcasting will probably still happen Why Hampton Creek/JUST is a great example of the issues with bad publicity and what to do when it happens More writing. More advice on the food industry, more deep cuts about the ugliness of business  You probably won't change your ways unless something tragic happens Links Original Business for Good Podcast Shownotes for this episode Hampton Creek Bad Press JUST Good Press (2 years later) WeWork Food Labs and Adam is a Serial Entrepreneur I guess Life is about moments, not years    

If you haven’t listened to episode 200 part 1, you can find it at myfoodjobrocks.com/200Wow So the past three weeks looked like this: I drove from Sacramento to Texas, met some friends in Los Angeles and Phoenix, and then flew to New York. Met up with my friend David Despain in long Island and then the next week, had an orientation in New York with my Friday getting familiar with the brand new Food Labs in Austin Texas, in the SXSW Center, my new home. There’s a ton of things planned, and I am thrilled to see what happens. For the second part, you’ll get a lot of the same as part 1. You’ll get aspiring new companies, inspiring past guests and everything in between. You can find timestamps on who’s on this section at our shownotes: myfoodjobrocks.com/200Wow2 So enjoy this live recording of the 200th episode at My Food Job Rocks. Thank you Alyssa Pizzaro from the San Francisco We Work Food Labs for the space. If there are any audio quality hiccups, let me know but keep in mind, that some things are out of my co

Welcome to the 200th episode [part 1] I’m your host and food scientist, Adam Yee and you are listening to episode 200, where I interview a couple of dozen people about their food jobs. The party was super fun, a lot of my friends showed up and I loved interviewing them. You’ll get a variety of different guests. From young entrepreneurs to seasoned veterans, to people not even in the food industry. You’ll hear from some guests from past episodes as well, to see an update in their life. I’m so amazed that this little project could garner so much support, I don’t need to tell you this, you know. But thank you for supporting My Food Job Rocks. We have so many interviews that I have to split it up into two parts. Because I’m moving to Austin Texas and have a bunch of traveling to do before getting started at my new job at WeWork’s Food Labs, I’ll be launching the second part, next week. You can find timestamps on who’s on this section at our show notes: http://myfoodjobrocks.com/200Wow So enjoy this live recording

Jane Miller is a food industry executive with experience ranging from high growth start-ups to Fortune 500 companies which includes companies like PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, Bimbo Bakeries, Heinz, Rudi’s Organic Bakery, and now Lily’s Sweets. What I love about Jane is her transparency and clear explanations on the complex questions I ask such as how to build a network, how to climb the corporate ladder, and how to not quit a job I think it’s because she also has an awesome career advice blog. We get into an interesting discussion about writing, and how it might improve your career and your life. And writing doesn’t have to be a blog, perhaps just a notebook will do. About Jane Miller Jane Miller has 30-years of executive experience in the food industry. She has worked with both start-ups and Fortune 500 companies. She is also the founder of Janeknows.com, a career advice website geared towards young leaders starting their careers. Jane is the author of Sleep your Way to the Top (and other myths about business succes

Scott Lerner started his career in the military, then jumped into an MBA, then in toilet paper, then food companies, then founded his own sparkling beverage company. And has been a CEO for multiple high growth startups and with that, tons of unique experiences to help you think differently and grow better. Since this episode is a long one, I’ll keep it short, you’ll get tons of advice about growing a world-class network and how to navigate the crazy waters when it comes to growing food businesses. I ask Scott some really challenging questions when it comes to finding good people and making tough decisions so I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I do Sponsor People have been saying My Food Job Rocks is a great food business podcast. If you’re a food entrepreneur or want to become one, I highly suggest doing your research. Luckily, my friend Rachel Zemser has the perfect resource for you. She has a book called the Food Business Toolkit that will help you understand everything about starting a food business

Evan Holod is the CEO of Michel Et Augustin, a cookie company located in France, but Evan is bringing it to the states with a colorful brand and personality Evan is a funny guy with a candid sense of humor but has a lot of wisdom to share about marketing brands like Bazooka Joe, Ring Pop, and Coca-Cola. Michel et Augustine is recently pushing into retail launching in many different grocery stores around the United States. We talk about how to reset your career trajectory, as Evan worked in finance for 7 years before getting a degree in marketing and starting as a marketing assistant for food, then worked his way up to CEO for food. We also talk about marketing tactics. From packaging to convincing people to go with your crazy ideas. About Evan Evan Holod is the CEO (and Chief Troublemaker) at Michel et Augustin, a leading French manufacturer founded in 2004 and known in Europe for their unique approach to everything. A lifelong eater, Evan spends his days with the unenviable task of introducing French pastry

Joe Heitzeberg is the CEO and Co-Founder of Crowd Cow, an e-commerce site that sells premium meat. And when I say premium, I mean meat straight from the farm, or Japan! We all hear about the innovations of alternative meat, plant-based or cell-based meat all over this podcast so I was delighted to interview a new perspective in the way we view protein, the fact that you can not only find out where your steak comes from, but how it was raised, what breed it is, and it’s delivered straight to your door. As long as it reduces the system in how we farm animals now, I’m all for it. Learn about how Joe pivoted the business from actually crowdfunding a cow, to building out a way to sell Wagyu beef to his customers. And most importantly, learn how innovation doesn’t have to be a new method of making meat, but maybe just showcasing old methods using modern technology. Sponsor The Cultured Meat Symposium is taking place in San Francisco on November 14-15th. Join experts from science, food, and tech industries to discus

Kat Fernandez, President of the Food Tech Club, interviews me at their UC Davis student meeting. Had a blast recording this live and great to give advice that I hope students find useful. Show Notes Mandy Jain Episode Kat Fernandez What Would You Want to Know as Freshman?: What food science actually is. Food scientists make food and feed the world What would you do if you were back as a freshman in college?: Do less. Instead of doing a dozen things, I would have focused on a few things Product Development Competition: Be aware of what’s trending such as probiotics, plant proteins, upcycled products, sustainable packaging. Ask for help whenever possible, especially ingredient-wise I’m taking a marketing class, how do I be different?: Blue Ocean Strategy Advice: You need a little red in the blue. Make a great product, and target a group with a lot of money. People can brag about the car Boca burger vs Beyond Meat Make a product that’s really good and market it in a very specific way The 10x rule Magic Spoon se

This episode is with Akshita Iyers, CEO and Founder of Inirv, a smart kitchen tech company whose first product is a kitchen knob that you can control on your phone! Akshita Iyer started this company with her husband when her mother forgot to turn off the stovetop, and burnt down her house. At the time, Akshita and her husband were in the medical industry and dropped everything to build a company that would have more impact. I had a fun time with this live interview as we chat about building a smart kitchen device. From going on Shark Tank to asking amazing people for advice, we dive in on how to accelerate this process and you will be surprised how the process is very similar to a food business. This is one of two interviews I did live at SKS in Seattle last month. It was a super fun event, and I’ll go a little bit into it at the beginning of the episode. Learn the building blocks of building something as complex as a smart kitchen device. About Akshita Akshita is the co-founder and CEO of Inirv, an IoT compa

Learn about how Renee Dunn from Amazi Foods fell in love with Uganda and how she found the company, pretty much by accident. But the real gem in this episode is getting into the thick of importing products from a different country. Renee established and built up a relationship with a person producing products in Uganda, but after some difficulties in communication and product delays switched to manufacturing their own facility. What are the pros and cons of having another company create your product? Especially if it’s in another country? You’ll find out in this episode. Sponsor People have been saying My Food Job Rocks is a great food business podcast. If you’re a food entrepreneur or want to become one, I highly suggest doing your research. Luckily, my friend Rachel Zemser has the perfect resource for you. She has a book called the Food Business Toolkit that will help you understand everything about starting a food business from formulation to regulation. Use the code MYFOODJOBROCKS at the checkout for 10%

When you think of Mars, you might think of chocolate or pet food but have you ever thought about the important role Mars has on Food Safety? In fact, Mars recently launched a brand new, state of the art global food safety center right in the heart of China. Within this center, Mars employs top scientists to solve the world’s pressing food safety solution innovations including research on mycotoxins, pathogens and traceability Take a look at not only the Global Food Safety Center’s amazing technology, but also their amazing scientist and learn how Guangtao Zhang got into food, by taking the skills he learned in the pharmaceutical industry and applying it to food safety innovation. Sponsor People have been saying My Food Job Rocks is a great food business podcast. If you’re a food entrepreneur or want to become one, I highly suggest doing your research. Luckily, my friend Rachel Zemser has the perfect resource for you. She has a book called the Food Business Toolkit that will help you understand everything abou