The Food Means Business Podcast

Before you price your product, raise money, or pitch a buyer, there is one question you need to answer: what kind of business are you building? In this episode, fractional CFO and SFT Consulting co-founder Elena Minton breaks down the three paths food founders take and why your answer shapes everything from your cost structure to who you let in the door.

By the time Rachel Cheng joined co-founders Marlon and Ben to build Yay's Snacks, she had spent seven years learning what it takes to build a food operation that gives a founder room to lead. In this episode, she shares the systems, the team culture, and the mindset that create space for a founder to grow the business, rest, and actually live.

Eve Chery sat on her Pikliz recipe for five years before the Food Business Bootcamp finally moved her to act. In this episode, the founder of C'est Si Bon Pikliz talks about bringing a beloved Haitian condiment to market and the unexpected discovery she made about her own relationship to her culture.

Alli Meyer has spent her career turning data into decisions, from her early days at IRI (now Circana) to brand work at Applegate Farms and Dr. Praeger's. In this episode she breaks down what market research actually is, why most food founders either skip it or overthink it, and why Yahoo Finance might be the most underrated tool in your research stack.

Ryan Mulligan spent 12 years in CPG consulting before walking away to build the brand he always wanted. In this episode, he talks about launching Morty's Naturally Leavened White Sourdough Bread, the dog behind the name, and why there is never a right time to start, only the time you decide to go for it.

Christina Branco of Starving Artist Food Photography has spent her career capturing food in a way that tells a story. In this episode she breaks down her process, explains why props are about guiding the viewer not decorating the shot, and shares the one question every food founder should ask before hiring a photographer.

Arnelle Thomas of Irie Brew Kombucha shares how Caribbean culture and a passion for wellness led her to kombucha, what the Food Business Bootcamp® taught her about commercializing a volatile product, and why she believes you can do it and figure it out at the same time.

Dr. Jonathan Deutsch of the Drexel Food Lab shares what separates a delicious home recipe from a commercially viable product, the one word every food entrepreneur needs to learn, and why you should talk to a food scientist before you spend a single dollar.

Karen Merz of Next Level Grains shares how a COVID-era rabbit hole into home flour milling became a food brand, what she learned about operations and margins in the Food Business Bootcamp®, and why she developed a children's book and DIY kit to bring customers into the grain-to-cookie experience.

Maria Javier of Toasty Polvo shares how she pivoted from 15 years in government and nonprofit to launching a Filipino shortbread brand, why she chose food service over retail as her go-to-market strategy, and why the best way to reach your customer is to let them experience your product first.

Sarah Hwang of Gamsa Foods shares how she turned a childhood staple into a Korean-inspired breakfast brand, what she learned about building a category that barely exists, and why knowing your why matters more than having the perfect plan.

Alejandro Quintero Corral of Mucha Macha shares how he turned a beloved Mexican chili crisp into a CPG brand, what he learned about operations from building inside the Food Business Bootcamp®, and why taking the first step matters more than having all the answers.

In this episode, Juliette "Juju" Clark shares how she went from home kitchen to market-ready in under a year, what the Food Business Bootcamp® Startup Accelerator taught her about building under pressure, and why she believes food founders should never do a stealth startup.