My Food Job Rocks is a podcast created by serial entrepreneur and food scientist Adam Yee where he interviews an expert in the food industry every week on their career path or a specific hot topic going on in the world today.
He connects the dots in the complex world of food. From farmers to ingredient manufacturers, to entrepreneurs and global players join Adam as he explores all angles in the food industry and tackles it with engaging conversations and impactful insights. It’s all interesting and it’s all complicated.
This podcast is a wealth of knowledge to anyone who’s interested in food and we are fortunate to be partnering with the Spoon Network to amplify our reach and impact.
Message us any time at podcast@myfoodjobrocks.com to get in touch.
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Dig In: What Keeps the Flavor Industry Up at Night with Alex Wendling, CEO of Custom Flavors
Thursday, May 15, 2025 • Duration 01:00:01
In this conversation, Adam and Alex Wendling delve into the intricacies of the flavor industry, exploring Alex's journey into flavor development, the art and science behind creating flavors, and the challenges of managing supply chains. They discuss the shift from traditional food products to supplements, the competitive landscape of flavor houses, and the increasing regulatory demands in the industry.
Alex shares insights on the excitement of working in a constantly evolving field and the importance of supporting smaller brands in their growth. In this conversation, Alex Wendling discusses the current market trends in food manufacturing, particularly the shift towards onshoring production in the U.S. He emphasizes the importance of strategic contracting to stabilize pricing and manage supply chain risks.
We also cover forecasting demand for ingredients, building supplier networks, and navigating regulatory changes in the flavor industry. Alex highlights the need for education and resources in flavor science, sharing insights on how to better understand and engage with the industry.
Alex’s Linkedin: Alex Wendling - President - Custom Flavors | LinkedIn
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Telling Bizarre Stories Through Food and Immersive Exploration with Andrew Zimmern, TV host of Wild Game
Thursday, May 8, 2025 • Duration 57:38
Join Adam Yee has he chats with Andrew Zimmern about his career, advice on trying new food and about his new show, Wild Game!
Adam then talks about his sabbatical and the food in 9 different countries.
Andrew Zimmern is an Emmy-winning and four-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef,writer and passionate global citizen. As the creator, executive producer and host of the Bizarre Foods franchise, Andrew Zimmern’s Driven by Food, MSNBC’s What’s Eating America, the Emmy-nominated Family Dinner, Outdoor Channel’s Wild Game Kitchen and Field to Fire, and the Emmy-winning The Zimmern List, he has devoted his life to exploring and promoting cultural acceptance, tolerance and understanding through food.
- Links on where to find Andrew Zimmern
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Twitter
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Dig In: Adam Talks to His Recuiter with Richard Herbert, President of Helix Executive Recruiting
Thursday, March 6, 2025 • Duration 01:08:30
Richard has been building Venture Capital backed startups since 1996. He was at the forefront of the industrial biotechnology sector beginning with Amyris Biotechnologies.in 2007. Those experiences with Amyris and other SynBio 2.0 companies led to building startups in various other sectors including; FoodTech, HardTech, Material Science, AgTech, Renewable Energy and various carbon capture technologies.
In this conversation, Richard Herbert, a seasoned recruiter, shares insights into the recruiting process, the importance of human connection in hiring, and strategies for job seekers. He discusses his journey in the recruiting industry, the evolution of recruiting practices, and the nuances of building effective teams in startups.
The conversation also touches on negotiation tactics for executives and the challenges faced in the current job market. In this conversation, Richard Herbert discusses the complexities of recruitment, the evolving value of equity in startups, and the importance of timing in hiring. He emphasizes that candidates are increasingly motivated by the excitement of solving problems rather than just equity compensation.
The discussion also touches on the current funding environment, the lessons learned from past startup failures, and the necessity of effective research in recruiting. Herbert advises job seekers to be proactive and leverage their networks to navigate the challenging job market.
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Ep. 206 - [Live at the SQF Conference Part 2] Interviews with Copackers and Consultants about the benefits of SQF
Monday, February 10, 2020 • Duration 48:07
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 Waffle Company We make store brand gluten-free pancakes and waffles We do foodservice and retail brands Food Safety Consortium
Denise Webster Food Safety Consultant
Food Safety consultancy Mark Crowell Certified SQF Trainer and Consultant Eurofins How do you become a trainer?: The application process, live training, test, and being shadowed Social Responsibility Standard How did you find out about food science?: Michigan State I wanted to be a chemist but I never had the personality of a chemist Tesco’s Fresh and Easy In any time in your career, you have to make critical decisions
Bryan Armentrout VP Eurofins
Past interview Eurofins actually does training and consulting Dr. Doug Marshall FSMA Connecting corporate and industrial to fill in gaps with the corporate supply chain
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Ep. 205 - [Live at the SQF Conference Part 1] How the SQF Conference Educates and Connects Quality People
Monday, February 3, 2020 • Duration 55:10
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 and a half days of learning and networking in the SQF industry Each year, we have a theme: this year’s theme is: Shaping the future of food safety together What’s super fun about SQF? Here in Texas. We're going to the Kinibbie Ranch that has a rodeo and live steers and celebrate Texas My Food Job Rocks: I get to keep food safe.
Yawinder Sighn - Student from Cornell University
2nd-year phd from india I won a scholarship to go to this conference How did you find out about the scholarship?: Cornell aggrigates student scholarship and I found this one IAFP IFT PCQI certification – part of FSMA, more global HACCP certification – generalized certification What do you win when you win the scholarship?: Travel expenses waived at $3000 dollars
Reshmine from Galaxy Desserts – QA Manager
I get interrupted in this one, but I decided to leave it here. I think it’s funny.
We actually met at NCIFT SQF is important for everyone Why are you here?: It’s my first time here and I’m so glad I’m here. I get to network, learn more about certifying bodies, and learn about Edition 9 How did you convince your boss to go to SQF?: We’ve been SQF and you need to improve your skillset What have you learned today?: Improvement in the food fraud, environmental program, pretty much getting the most up to date methods The codes and standards keep changing and you have to keep up to date A person can be a SQF Practitioner a company can be a SQF Company My Food Job Rocks: We eat food every day. You’ll always have a job
Deni Otovemi -Quality Assurance at Wayne Farms Emerging Leaders Network We talked about risk and risk is a factor of profession
Daniel Akimamayan
IT Tech for SQF Bachelors of Economics
Kainen Ryse
Manager of the Ethical Sourcing and Sustainability Standard
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Ep. 204- How to Use Data to Optimize Your Product and Win Big Customers with Daniel Scharff, Strategy & Analytics, Head of Consumer Insights at JUST
Monday, January 27, 2020 • Duration 01:05:58
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 SF CPG Or San Francisco Consumer Products Group Next Gen Chef MISTA Seeds of Change Burning Man What’s your role?: I’m the director of Strategy and Analytics and Insights How many Eggs are in JUST? 8 eggs per bottle Downstream Processing People are looking for plant-based are health reasons. Even if they don’t eat a lot of plant-based, it’s healthier. This plant-based product isn’t 2% of the population, but 40% of the population Primary Research: Surveys and trying to understand plant-based consumers Most research about customers and labels Just Egg: Made from plants, not chickens What’s a good survey plant?: You can do a 20-50 person sample and get good data as a litmus test Why did you choose psychology?: Kenyon College in Ohio, both of my parents are psycologists After my MBA, I got a job at Deloitte After Deloitte, I got into Mars How did you get into Mars?: I met this guy from old fashion networking. I would get referrals, and if anyone wanted to meet with me, I would ask them for time to meet and I met them in person. How did you get a job at JUST?: JUST reached out and asked for someone to understand pricing In general, the approach to pricing is to find the options (competition), test it, and see what works. What resources do you have on your disposal How did you change from pricing to analytics?: I saw the sales go in and pitch a story, but they need data SPINS Data Surveymonkey My Food Job Rocks: I get to do something meaningful and impactful Food Trends: Cultured Meat What is one thing you’d like to know more about?: It’s a privilege to hear about such exciting stuff that’s happening in other companies What type of resources would you like to share?: Think about your dream job and then find ways to get there. Podcasts: Taste Radio, How I Built This JUST has a house band with a band room The Super Fantastics Instagram
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Ep 203 - How to Embrace Change and Be a Superstar Specialist with Lilian Cruz-Hand, QA Specialist at Save A Lot
Monday, January 20, 2020 • Duration 57:38
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 Lead at the headquarters of Save A Lot Food Stores in St Ann, Missouri. With over 9 years of experience in the food industry, she has created prototypes to test with consumers against marketing concepts; and worked on bench top product development through commercialization. Lilian has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University and is currently earning her Culinary Arts degree at St Louis Community College. Lilian has had the opportunity to explore many facets of the food industry ranging from quality, to R&D, and sensory in both small family-owned companies and global food competitors. Lilian combines all of her previous experience in her current cross-functional role working in a test kitchen and sensory laboratory where she is responsible for new product development, quality assurance and continuous improvement of products marketed under Save-A-Lot's private label portfolio.
Show Notes Save-A-Lot is limited Assortment which is why products are a bit cheaper St. Anne Missouri We opened a space last year with a ton of open tablespace. Lots of equipment and lots of storage and equipment How did you find out about food science?: I have a chemistry degree and focused on biomedical research at first. Sometimes I shout EUREKA just to boost morale My first job was entry-level lab assistant stuff and worked more on analytics. Then I worked in Quality in a spice company Abbott Nutrition – Learned all things sensory DuPont in St. Louis with protein shakes Skillset: While you work, you’re always developing your technical skill How do you develop a sensory lab?: The bible for sensory labs: The Sensory Techniques Textbook Reference Organization of Sensory Professionals My Food Job Rocks: I get to make an impact, my team is amazing and I get to do something new. Where do you go to find food trends?: My local grocery stores but also many other competitors so I can see who’s there and what options exist? There’s a lot of growth on private labels What is the biggest challenge the food industry needs to face?: Lack of high quality but low cost products Favorite Quote: I think food, culture and landscape are completely inseparable Favorite Book: Junior’s Cheesecake Cookbook Junior’s Cheesecake Favorite kitchen item: Kitchen knives such as Henkel knives, Advice for the food industry: Don’t be afraid to try something else Where can we find you?: LinkedIn Sensory professionals: I’m in the directory
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Ep. 202 - Cashier to C-Level with Brian Lew, COO of FairTrade America
Monday, January 13, 2020 • Duration 57:20
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 decide to join Whole Foods?: Something felt different. They took advice to heart. What do you do?: Fair trade is simple. We try and balance the value of trade for things that we all love to eat. Chief Operating Officer: We mainly talk with other companies and see how we can streamline the process KIND BARK: They use fair trade cocoa in their product exclusively Most popular Fair Trade Product: Coffee!! Trip to origin Endangered Species Chocolate: a chocolate company who went to West Africa to see the process. How do you get Fair Trade?: For the farmer, it’s not super hard. When you’re ina community of Farmers, people see the differences when Farmers can build a school or a hospital with a fair trade certified. Why is coffee so cheap?: Brazil and other countries have invested very heavily in coffee What makes Fair Trade appealing?: Consumers want it, brands think it’s valuable and stores want it My Food Job Rocks: I love being in something my daughter can be proud of What trend or technology, is exciting you right now?: LOFT-Local, Organic or Fair Trade. On transparency: What are the tools to better communicate transparency? QR codes didn’t work. We have an App that might help too. What’s one thing in the food industry that you’d like to know more about?: Blockchain. I think it will do really well in showing where or food comes from The brand map that shows all of the companies owning something Greenwashing Leadership Books: Good to Great by Jim Collins Any advice for the food industry?: There are a few skills that are indespensible in any industry. The ability to Hustle is really important. You have to continue to follow up. What do you consider a finish?: Simplify, focus and execute. Sometimes it can take a while
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Ep. 201 - How To Make Engaging Training Programs with Austin Welch and Richard Fleming, founders of SAGE Media
Monday, January 6, 2020 • Duration 01:04:48
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 Richard AUSTIN WELCH
His learning films have earned three Brandon Hall Award’s and he has spoken about the emerging role of media and learning at the International Association of Food Protection, the International Conference for the Association of Talent Development, and TEDx. As a Kirkpatrick Certified Professional, Austin is always looking for ways to create emotionally intelligent training films that lead to measurable behavior change.
RICHARD FLEMING
Applying film theory, behavioral economics, and myth structure to his work at Sage Media, Richard designs and produces stories that impact action and modify the behaviors of viewers. With an extensive background marketing for companies like Microsoft, GP Strategies, and Hershey, Richard is no stranger to using stories to drive predictable emotional responses. He now uses his superpowers for good, helping to transform the lives of employees.
Show Notes What do you guys do?: We’ve been struggling with this, but I think we’ve figured it out. We study how the human brain understands information and uses media to help understand it. Essentially, they’re a videographer that makes video training programs. We’re really trying to teach people how to be emotionally intelligence Emotional Intelligence: To read and glean information that is non-verbal Why we’re different: We take a consultancy approach where we give advice on storytelling. It’s hard for non-storytellers to tell stories Flannery O’Conner Aesop Fable Poisoned: A book about E.coil How do you research complex things like Food Safety?: We do our research and ask the client if we’re on the right course. Where did Hershey find you? Trade Show: Association of Talent Development – Hershey found us there and liked what we were doing We made a crime scene video with Hershey talking about Food Safety culture Foursight/JR Puccio’s 4 stages of Creativity: Clarify, Ideate, Develop, Implementors: A question well stated is a problem half-solved Great Courses on Foursight What do you outsource?: We do soup to nuts. We do everything In fact, a lot of companies ask us to consult for them to improve their storytelling value How do we get an actor?: We usually have a casting director but now we know the strength and weaknesses of the actors in the community. How did you first meet?: At a local film event. We were introduced by a mutual contact IAFP Food Safety Culture and Food Safety Communication How do you solve criticism?: Read Marshall-Rosenburg’s Nonviolent Communication. Non-violent is all about clarification and communication How do you get buy-in from staff?: Sometimes you have to talk about multiple topics and you have to see their reaction The Challenger Sale The Challenger Customer Find the internal champion and cater to them What is one piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to do what you do?: Learn about cognitive science. We’re very soft-skill driven. Though we get asked a lot of technical questions, the soft skills are what we accel at. Where can we find you?: We have some videos at sage.academy Richard@sage.media Austin@sage.media
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Ep. 201 [Interlude] - Two Plant-Based CEO's: Paul Shapiro Interviews Josh Tetrick, CEO of JUST
Tuesday, December 31, 2019 • Duration 01:08:28
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
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