Brunch & Learn Podcast

About Rachel:

Rachel is a creative entrepreneur with a passion for ushering in a "revival" in the foodspace, starting with better-for-you nut butters that actually taste good, with no added sugars, preservatives, or palm oil. When she's not deep in the throes of building this almond butter business, she's busy being Mom to her three kids (ages 3, 4.5, and 6.5) alongside her husband (who is also an entrepreneur!). Rachel and her family live in Indianapolis, IN and love to travel, learn new things, and have a lot of fun while they're at it!

Website: https://revivalfoodco.com
Instagram: @revivalfoodco on IG and TikTok
Personal IG: @rayyyyyych

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Unexpected learnings of being on the inside of a CPG brand
• Best advice she's received as an entrepreneur & Scaling her business
• Need for a "revival" in grocery and how consumer trends are going in this direction
• Flavors and sustainability in her ingredients

Support the show

About Us - Women Who Brunch:

Women Who Brunch is a food community and event series for women who love connecting, networking, and learning from each other over the most important meal of the week...BRUNCH!

We're solving the problem of making adult friendships while doing cool stuff in the Hudson Vally, NY.

Visit our website for updates on events, recipes, brunch spots, product reviews, and more or say hi on Instagram!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenwhobrunch
Website: https://womenwhobrunch.com

Meet Allison:

Alli Ball is the founder & CEO of Food Biz Wiz, Inc. and the creator of Retail Ready®, an online course and strategic support community for producers of packaged products in the food industry. As a former grocery buyer-turned-wholesale consultant, Alli has helped thousands of emerging brands understand what it takes to get on the shelf and have high sales once they’re there. Find her on her website here or weekly on the Food Biz Wiz® Podcast, her weekly podcast about wholesale strategy.

What You'll Learn in this Episode: 

• I have a great idea for a food business. What comes next?
• What are the different places where people can sell their products, and how do you choose? (wholesale, direct-to-consumer, food service...)
• What does a grocery buyer do/ what role do they play in the world of retail.
• Didn't e-commerce grow exponentially during the pandemic? Is wholesale still relevant? Can a brand be successful at only having one place to sell their products?
• Important things businesses should think about when trying to grow their wholesale accounts.
• Important tips for getting onto store shelves.
• Advice All has  for small product-based businesses that want to grow their company to the next level

Website: www.foodbizwiz.com
Instagram: @itsalliball
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllisonBallConsulting/
Food Biz Wiz Podcast: www.alliball.com/foodbizwiz

Support the show

About Us - Women Who Brunch:

Women Who Brunch is a food community and event series for women who love connecting, networking, and learning from each other over the most important meal of the week...BRUNCH!

We're solving the problem of making adult friendships while doing cool stuff in the Hudson Vally, NY.

Visit our website for updates on events, recipes, brunch spots, product reviews, and more or say hi on Instagram!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenwhobrunch
Website: https://womenwhobrunch.com

Meet Jeanne:

Jeanne Muchnick is a longtime journalist currently covering the food and dining scene in the Lower Hudson Valley for The Journal News/lohud.com. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she's a crabcake snob who's also a lobster lover, a coffee aficionado and a big fan of Brussels Sprouts. She's also big into doing what she can to promote local Westchester and Rockland County businesses.

Instagram: @jeannemuchnick &  @lohud_food

What You'll Learn in this Episode: 

• Geography lesson on what is considered Lower Hudson Valley, for any city folk that think anything above the Bronx is "upstate" NY. More about Westchester and Rockland Counties, and a few popular towns.
• What does a typical work week look like as a reporter. How she does research for stories.
• Top recommendations in Lohud for restaurants, drinks, things to do, food events, historic sites, and of course brunch spots. New spots coming to Westchester & Rockland.
• Building your own personal brand outside of her  journalist brand and personal branding tips.

Support the show

About Us - Women Who Brunch:

Women Who Brunch is a food community and event series for women who love connecting, networking, and learning from each other over the most important meal of the week...BRUNCH!

We're solving the problem of making adult friendships while doing cool stuff in the Hudson Vally, NY.

Visit our website for updates on events, recipes, brunch spots, product reviews, and more or say hi on Instagram!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenwhobrunch
Website: https://womenwhobrunch.com

Meet Ali:

Ali Bonar is CEO and co-founder of Oat Haus, a food company on a mission to bring fun & play back to food. Their flagship product, Granola Butter, is the world's first oat-based spread and was born out of Ali's eating disorder recovery. Oat Haus is available at over 1,200 stores, including Whole Foods, Sprouts, Harris Teeter, The Fresh Market & more. Ali lives in Philadelphia with her partner Eric and their dog, Squishy.

Website: https://oat.haus
Oat Haus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oat.haus
Ali Bronar: https://www.instagram.com/alibonar

What You'll Learn in this Episode:

•  Oat Haus was born out of Ali's eating disorder recovery. Ali shares with us her eating disorder recovery and journey.
• Where and how does someone get started in building a CPG company.
• Great branding and storytelling on social media, what branding tips and advice.
• Starting a business with your partner. How to work together and prioritize business vs. relationship?
• Ali's egg freezing journey.
• Stepping into your power and people pleasing.

Support the show

About Us - Women Who Brunch:

Women Who Brunch is a food community and event series for women who love connecting, networking, and learning from each other over the most important meal of the week...BRUNCH!

We're solving the problem of making adult friendships while doing cool stuff in the Hudson Vally, NY.

Visit our website for updates on events, recipes, brunch spots, product reviews, and more or say hi on Instagram!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenwhobrunch
Website: https://womenwhobrunch.com

Meet Marissa:

Marissa kickstarted her professional career in 2012 gaining invaluable sales and marketing experience within a large corporation. She enjoyed the structure that corporate-life offered, but ultimately made the decision to transition over to a small agency focused in event design and production and immediately felt at home. After spending close to 5 years managing and growing teams, nurturing existing relationships, fostering new partnerships, and overseeing executive level operations the pandemic brought the industry that she loved to an immediate standstill. She wasn’t ready to give up on the industry that fed her passion for creativity and connection. After a year of event cancellations her partner asked her “Well, what do you really want to do?”. She simply responded with “I just want to do cool sh*t and have a good time". And with that, Marissa launched Good Time Creative in January of 2021.

Good Time Creative is a female-owned creative design and production agency. GTC is operated by fearless creatives who have a specialized expertise in the live event industry. We thrive on creativity and push the boundaries of experiential development.


Website:  https://www.goodtimecreative.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodtimecreativeco
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodTimeCreativeCo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/goodtmcreative
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/goodtimecreative_co


What You'll Learn in this Episode:

• Best event planning or time management tips especially when it comes to staying organized and getting everything done with trade shows.
• Some things she's seen whether it's clients she works with or on the trade show floor to get the most out of ExpoWest, Specialty Food Association - Fancy Food Shows, Sweets & Snacks Expo, or any food trade shows
• What you can expect from some of her 11 clients exhibiting at ExpoWest this year. 
• What makes a good event strategy and ROI tips.
• Planning/goals/tips for a brand to focus on pre-show, during, post show
• Brand activations, pop-ups come back post-pandemic.
• How she nurtures professional and self development; either with new skill sets or keeping up the event industry trends.

Support the show

About Us - Women Who Brunch:

Women Who Brunch is a food community and event series for women who love connecting, networking, and learning from each other over the most important meal of the week...BRUNCH!

We're solving the problem of making adult friendships while doing cool stuff in the Hudson Vally, NY.

Visit our website for updates on events, recipes, brunch spots, product reviews, and more or say hi on Instagram!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenwhobrunch
Website: https://womenwhobrunch.com

Meet Leesa:
Leesa works as a commercial photographer and creative thought partner for natural food brands, hospitality groups, and wellness publications.

Website:  https://leesarenae.com
Instagram: instagram.com/itsleesa__
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/leesarenae

What You'll Learn in this Episode:

• How her background and studies in nutrition play a role in what she's doing now with photography.
• What advice she has for finding or creating an alternate career path.
• How she has built and made an impact in the natural foods industry.
• How  someone can get started if interested in food photography and videography. What tips she has - resources, books, equipment/set up.

Support the show

About Us - Women Who Brunch:

Women Who Brunch is a food community and event series for women who love connecting, networking, and learning from each other over the most important meal of the week...BRUNCH!

We're solving the problem of making adult friendships while doing cool stuff in the Hudson Vally, NY.

Visit our website for updates on events, recipes, brunch spots, product reviews, and more or say hi on Instagram!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenwhobrunch
Website: https://womenwhobrunch.com

Meet Megan:

Megan O'Brien is the Founder & CEO of Arch Insights, a market research company helping startups and small businesses better understand their consumer bases. Prior to Arch, Megan attended Harvard Business school, was the Business Operations & Strategy Lead for Flamingo (Harry's Inc.), and was a consultant at Bain & Company.

Website: https://www.archinsights.co
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arch_insights

What You'll Learn in this Episode:

• What interested her the most about consumer insights and getting into this industry. 
• Some interesting consumer data, trends, or insights she's come across recently.
• How she approaches concept, messaging, branding, and package testing with a client and more about that process.
• Stories, case studies, or client wins in taking consumer insights and turning it into result based solutions for their business.
• Chicago brunch recommendations!

Support the show

About Us - Women Who Brunch:

Women Who Brunch is a food community and event series for women who love connecting, networking, and learning from each other over the most important meal of the week...BRUNCH!

We're solving the problem of making adult friendships while doing cool stuff in the Hudson Vally, NY.

Visit our website for updates on events, recipes, brunch spots, product reviews, and more or say hi on Instagram!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenwhobrunch
Website: https://womenwhobrunch.com

Meet Jamie:

Jamie's Farm is an award-winning granola company based in New York, crafting creative flavors baked with thoughtfully sourced ingredients. I initially started the business in college as a passion project in 2017, then turned it into a full-time business. Prior to that, I worked in the hospitality industry interning at a 3 Michelin star restaurant as a high school student. I've always enjoyed cooking and bringing people together at the table, and found that granola was a great way to connect with more people through food.

What You'll Learn In This Episode:

• Jamie's growth journey and building the company from a hobby to full-time business.
• What she learned out of her experience in a Michelin star restaurant out of high school.
• Working as a solopreneur and how she's bootstrapped the business. 
• How she approaches partnerships with some of granola flavors like Dona and Truffleist.
• Creative culinary process in creating new flavors or sourcing ingredients.
• Defining what success means and how she's balancing work and life, and taking care of herself.
• Small Batch Club!

Website: https://www.jamies-farm.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamiesfarmnewyork

Support the show

About Us - Women Who Brunch:

Women Who Brunch is a food community and event series for women who love connecting, networking, and learning from each other over the most important meal of the week...BRUNCH!

We're solving the problem of making adult friendships while doing cool stuff in the Hudson Vally, NY.

Visit our website for updates on events, recipes, brunch spots, product reviews, and more or say hi on Instagram!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenwhobrunch
Website: https://womenwhobrunch.com

Meet Brooke:

Brooke Shapiro is a 15-year CPG marketing veteran who has worked on parent targeted brands such as Band-Aid, Johnson Baby, Coca-Cola and Glad, Hidden Valley, Kingsford and Clorox. Her visionary and trend spotting expertise allow her to help brands launch with the right channels to the right people. She has the innate ability to lead and bring people together in fun creative ways, and is on a mission to help launch CPG startups. She enjoys ice cream and provides ice cream reviews on Instagram (@sundaes.mom) and on her ice cream stories podcast, “Let’s Spoon”.

What You'll Learn in this Episode:

• Backstory behind this focus on parents, parent-targeted CPG products and this niche target audience of community and clients.
• Common challenge that she sees her clients facing in their businesses.
• Marketing tactics that CPG startups can start implementing in their businesses.
• Community - How do she builds and strengthens her community and the relationship with community members.
• More about her ice cream podcast - guests, favorite ice cream spots!

Website: sprinklesparentsconsulting.com
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/pandemicworkingparent
https://www.instagram.com/sprinklesparents
https://www.instagram.com/letspoon_podcast

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About Us - Women Who Brunch:

Women Who Brunch is a community for  women who love connecting, networking, and learning from each other over the most important meal of the week...BRUNCH!

Visit our website for updates on events, recipes, brunch spots, product reviews and more or say hi on Instagram!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenwhobrunch
Website: https://womenwhobrunch.com

Support the show

About Us - Women Who Brunch:

Women Who Brunch is a food community and event series for women who love connecting, networking, and learning from each other over the most important meal of the week...BRUNCH!

We're solving the problem of making adult friendships while doing cool stuff in the Hudson Vally, NY.

Visit our website for updates on events, recipes, brunch spots, product reviews, and more or say hi on Instagram!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenwhobrunch
Website: https://womenwhobrunch.com

Meet Ashley:

Ashley is a mom on a mission! A momtrepreneur! Her mission is the same as the brand she created. To bring families together in the kitchen making mealtime more nutritious, convenient and fun!

About Happy Grub:

Happy Grub is the only Squeezable Instant Pancake Mix, made of natural and organic ingredients. Designed for the whole family, our mix comes in four great flavors: Buttermilk, Whole Wheat, Yummy Banana, and Apple Cinnamon. 

Happy Grub is so easy and so much fun. Just pick your flavor, pour water into the bottle, shake it up, and squeeze onto a hot surface. 

 Our kid friendly squeeze top bottles allow for easy pancake (or waffle) making, without all the mess. And less mess, means more fun! People of all skill levels can "draw" shapes, letters, numbers and all types of designs right onto the pan. 

What You'll Learn in this Episode:

• More about Happy Grub current line up of flavors , where it's currently sold and the ingredients. + The Monster Characters. 
• Some of the best advice and/or worst advice you've received throughout her founder entrepreneurship journey so far.
• Who were the people who have been the most helpful in getting her to where she is   today.
• Where she sees the future of food and hospitality going.

Website: https://eathappygrub.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eathappygrub/

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About Us - Women Who Brunch:

Women Who Brunch is a community for  women who love connecting, networking, and learning from each other over the most important meal of the week...BRUNCH!

Check out our website for updates on events, recipes, brunch spots, product reviews and more or say hi on Instagram!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenwhobrunch
Website: https://womenwhobrunch.com

Support the show

About Us - Women Who Brunch:

Women Who Brunch is a food community and event series for women who love connecting, networking, and learning from each other over the most important meal of the week...BRUNCH!

We're solving the problem of making adult friendships while doing cool stuff in the Hudson Vally, NY.

Visit our website for updates on events, recipes, brunch spots, product reviews, and more or say hi on Instagram!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenwhobrunch
Website: https://womenwhobrunch.com