Forktales
A weekly podcast that feeds food and beverage brands with insights, ideas, trends, and anecdotes discussed with restaurant, hospitality, and beverage industry leaders.
Episodes
Kenny Morrison is a cannabis industry pioneer and the founder of VCC Brands and CQ Drinks. With a background in documentary filmmaking and early cannabis retail, Kenny has been instrumental in shaping the cannabis-infused beverage category since 2008.
VCC Brands, originally Venice Cookie Company, is a legacy cannabis company focused exclusively on beverages since 2020. Its flagship brand, CQ (Cannabis Quencher), creates micro- and m...
Laurel Orley is the founder and CEO of Daily Crunch Snacks and a mission-driven entrepreneur with a background in advertising. After more than a decade building major brands like Dove at Unilever, she transitioned to launch her own company focused on health, flavor, and impact.
Daily Crunch Snacks is a women-owned snack brand offering sprouted, air-dried almonds and other nut blends with bold, innovative flavors. Rooted in a family ...
Judy Joo is a classically trained chef, entrepreneur, and television personality whose unconventional journey spans engineering, Wall Street, and the world’s top kitchens. She is an Iron Chef, cookbook author, and dynamic force in the food world, celebrated for modernizing and globalizing Korean cuisine.
Judy is the founder of Seoul Bird, a Korean fast-casual fried chicken concept with locations in London, New York, Las Vegas, and b...
Denise Woodard is the founder and CEO of Partake Foods. She launched the brand after her daughter was diagnosed with multiple food allergies. A former Coca-Cola executive, Denise became the first Black woman to publicly raise over $1 million for a CPG food startup.
Partake Foods creates delicious, allergy-friendly snacks that are free from the top nine allergens. With a mission rooted in inclusivity and accessibility, the brand is n...
Stephanie Jaeger is the President of Les Dames d’Escoffier International (LDEI) and a veteran of the restaurant industry with over 35 years of experience. She also serves as a Learning and Development Specialist for the Joey Restaurant Group, where she focuses on training and team culture.
LDEI is a global philanthropic organization of women leaders in food, beverage, and hospitality. With over 2,800 members across 42 chapters...
Yanni Hufnagel, a former college basketball coach turned entrepreneur, is the founder and CEO of Lemon Perfect, a fast-growing enhanced water brand. With a background in coaching at top programs like Harvard and Vanderbilt, Hufnagel applied his competitive drive and leadership skills to disrupt the beverage industry with a health-focused, innovative brand.
Lemon Perfect is a fast-growing beverage brand redefining the enhanced water ...
Eat’n Park is a regional restaurant chain known for its family-friendly atmosphere, classic American comfort food, and iconic Smiley Cookies. Founded in 1949 in Pittsburgh, it offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a focus on fresh, made-to-order meals. The brand emphasizes hospitality, community involvement, and sustainability initiatives.
Parkhurst Dining, a division of Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, provides customi...
UNiTE Food is a Yorba Linda, California-based company that produces globally inspired protein bars. The brand offers unique flavors such as Churro, Mexican Hot Chocolate, and PB & Jelly, aiming to bring diversity to the wellness industry. Each bar provides around 10 grams of protein and is gluten-free, catering to health-conscious consumers seeking both nutrition and nostalgic tastes.
Clara often relied on protein bars during h...
EPISODE 92 – Stephen Baldi – President of Baldi Management Group
EPISODE 91 – Nick McMillan and Amanda Signorelli – Managing Partners of Golden Steer
EPISODE 90 – Anand Gala – Managing partner of Gala Capital Partners
EPISODE 89 – Andy Gellert – President of Gellert Global
Stephen oversees Baldi Management Group (BMG), an airport concessions and management consulting company that manages restaurants in Reagan National Airport, JFK International Airport and Dulles International Airport.
Established in 2008, BMG operates various food and beverage outlets, including franchises like Dunkin’ Donuts, Potbelly, and Smashburger.
Stephen is an alumnus of Georgetown University, where he was a Community S...
The Golden Steer Steakhouse, established in 1958, is Las Vegas’s oldest continuously operating steakhouse. It has been a favored dining spot for numerous celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Marilyn Monroe. The restaurant is renowned for its classic ambiance, featuring red leather booths named after its famous patrons, tuxedoed servers, and tableside preparations of Caesar salads and flambéed desserts.
One ...
Anand is the Founder and Managing Partner of Gala Capital Partners, a diversified investment and holding company with interests in chain restaurants, software & technology, real estate development, franchising and public equities investment. He has spent the past 35 years in various executive capacities within the Software, Real Estate & Restaurant Industries.
Gala Capital Partners invests in (among other things) restaurants...
Andy is president of Gellert Global Group. The company imports more than 5,500 unique food items from more than 60 countries and is one of the largest food importers in the world. Gellert Global Group is home to 12 companies, led by Atalanta, the largest privately-held food importer in the U.S.
Gellert Global is a third-generation family-run business. The Gellert Global Group comprises many of the leading North American food-importi...
Shannon is VP of Marketing for Rubix Foods. Rubix bills itself as “a premier culinary and food science-focused provider of flavor and functional ingredients, offering up insight-driven concepts and breakthrough food solutions for industry leading restaurants, retailers and manufacturers in the United States.”
Rubix works with about 70% of the top QSR and FSR chains with a focus on sauces, glazes and spreads. Rubix has a ...
Renfro Foods is a privately owned, award-winning food producer of salsas, sauces and relishes, including 30 Mrs. Renfro’s products, located in Fort Worth, Texas.
Founded in 1940, Renfro Foods is owned and managed by the second and third generations of the Renfro family. Its products are sold in the United States, the Caribbean, Canada and the U.K.
As president of Renfro Foods, Doug works closely with his cousins Becky and James to r...
Burney Jennings is the CEO and president of Biscuitville. Burney took over the leadership reins from his father and founder of Biscuitville Maurice Jennings in 1996. Burney’s bold leadership, vision and keen sense of knowing what customers want has contributed to the company’s growth and success.
Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, Biscuitville Fresh Southern is a family-owned company serving authentic Southern food made f...
Ben started Tocabe with his friend and business partner Matthew Chandra. Opened in 2008, Tocabe is one of the only restaurants in Denver specializing in Native and Indigenous cuisine and one of only a handful in the United States.
Ben is a tribal member of the Osage Nation of northeast Oklahoma.
Ben also created Seed To Soul, which creates prepared authentic Native American meals for people in need in Native American communities. I...
Roboburger is billed as the “World’s First Burger Chef In a Vending Format.” RoboBurger condenses the average kitchen by 99% into just 12 square feet, including refrigeration, heating, ventilation, prep line and cleaning. Burgers are automatically grilled and assembled in under 4 minutes.
Roboburger RoboBurger was invented by Audley Wilson, a data scientist; Dan Braido, a Rutgers PhD grad; and Andy Siegel, a serial entrepreneur. Au...
Craig is the founder of Doc B’s Restaurant & Bar. The restaurant is named after Craig’s late father, “Doctor B,” Doc B’s was first opened in Chicago in September 2013 and is a fresh, casual dining concept. Doc B’s has 10 locations in Chicago, Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, and Coral Gables, FL; Austin, Dallas, and Forth Worth, TX.
Craig was inspired to follow a career in the restaurant industry after meeting Morton’s Steakhouse legend ...
Embassy Ingredients combines creativity and science to provide its customers with the very best innovative flavors and bakery ingredients available.
Embassy Ingredients has an on-site flavor lab and full bakery test kitchen staffed with certified flavorists, food scientists and bakery specialists.They formulate, test and manufacture a wide range of flavors and bakery ingredients ensuring that taste, quality and performance are buil...
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