We sat down and talked with Food Processing’s newest addition: Senior Editor Andy Hanacek.

Andy’s fairly well known in the food and beverage industry, and we kick off the episode talking about that and so much more. We cover a lot of ground, including how Andy’s been helping to inform an industry that combats misconceptions and misinformation on daily basis. 

Having covered the food and beverage industry for nearly 20 years, Andy talks about what he’s seen manufacturers do really well in the last two decades – and a few areas for improvement for the industry as a whole.  We cap things off talking about a few of the issues this veteran industry reporter is keeping a close eye on in 2023. 

Follow along with the timestamps for this episode by visiting our website. 

Read Andy’s March cover story on automation in the food industry, The Food Plant of the Future: Feeding More with Less

Read Andy’s article on Meat & Poultry in the Post-Pandemic era, What Removing the COVID Emergency Label Means for Meat & Poultry

Want to get in touch with Andy?Send him an email 

With us on the podcast today is Gary Nowacki, CEO of TraceGains. We’re talking about what food and beverage processors might expect this year in terms of ingredient costs and supply availability. We launch into a discussion about inflation – and disinflation – and how both will play a part in the business strategies of many top food companies. As we attempt to make predictions about the coming year, one thing is certain: expect the unexpected. 

The unexpected plays a big part in the second half of our conversation, where we talk about how CPG manufacturers have pivoted in the last few years and that many are learning to embrace and build a more agile supply chain. We chat a bit about how food and beverage companies seem to be establishing better partnerships with their employees through benefits and long term needs before digging in to a conversation about co-manufacturing and how brand owners and co-mans are collaborating to bring new products to market. 

Learn more about the podcast and see the timestamps for this episode on our website

With us on the podcast today is Marlene Creighton, Chief Sales Officer at Hershey. We’re talking about Hershey’s Future CEO program, which brings together 10 young women and girls from around the globe for a day of learning and mentorship. We talk about why this program is so important to Hershey and how it’s helping to make an impact on the next generation. We discuss the importance of mentorship and ‘reverse mentorship’ not only for the girls involved in the program, but also for the company as well. 

Hershey, which was named Food Processing’s 2022 Processor of the Year, is a household name for many American consumers, and Marlene walks us through how programs like Future CEO help the company better understand – and listen – to its consumers. We talk about Gen Z’s importance to the brand before shifting to a discussion about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Hershey. 

We cap things off talking about why diversity and representation are so fundamentally important not only to the company’s hiring and recruitment but also with its suppliers as well.  

Head to our website for the timestamps for this episode. 

Do you know an Influential Woman in the Food Industry?

Today we’re talking with Jamie McKeon, Senior Vice President of Demand Creation at Rich Products. Jamie’s here to talk to us about how Rich Products is working with a local university to help find, encourage, and recruit the next generation of the food and beverage marketers.  

We touch on the trends and observations the team has seen with the newest generation of the workforce as well as what Rich Products has learned about itself in the process. We also talk about advice for other companies that may want to explore similar options with their local schools and universities.  

Head to our website for the timestamps for this episode. 

Do you know an Influential Woman in the Food Industry?

Joining us today is Maria Pearman, Principal and Beverage Practice Leader, at GHJ. Maria is what you would call a ‘Contract CFO.’ She helps companies that are moving from their startup and emerging phases and gets them over the hurdles so they can reach their more mature stage of growth. How she helps them with these growing pains is something we dive into at the start of the episode.

We then spend a lot of time talking about the big issues facing small food companies right now, in particular how to deal with the squeezed margins and increased costs due to inflation. Maria offers advice on how processors can mitigate some of their losses, especially as it relates to supply chain issues. 

We cap things off talking about what companies can do to help themselves out financially, with special attention paid to the relationships that can be cultivated or improved upon to help with loans or other financial resources. 

Learn more about this episode 

In this episode, Maggie Slowik, Global Industry Director for Manufacturing at IFS, walks us through how food safety and consumer trust are related. We talk about what trends she’s seeing as well as what’s at stake if a manufacturer doesn’t have good end-to-end quality management practices in place. We then spend some time talking about how food safety and traceability can lend themselves as opportunities for competitive differentiation. We dig into the current consumer mindset while also talking about the best practices of several food companies that have married transparency with consumer trust. 

We end the episode with a discussion about technology’s role in all of this and how IFS can help processors remain compliant with regulatory requirements while also building that customer trust. 

Read the transcript on the Food Processing website

This Episode is Sponsored by IFS

For our seventh and final episode of the Influential Women in Food series, we’re turning our attention to Alexis Bertrand, Quality Assurance Supervisor at Reid’s Dairy Company. 

A great listener. A teacher. A champion of women she works with. all are phrases that could be used to describe Alexis. A forensic science student in college, Alexis went on after graduation to become a microbiology technician at Reid Dairy. As her career evolved, so too did her inclination to uplift the women around her. Not only has she been a key figure in bringing more women onto the production floor, but she’s also teaching a whole new generation of women at her local college on why they should consider a career in bioscience. 

But science isn’t the only things she’s teaching the future workforce, she’s also helping them grow their confidence and find their voice. We talk about all of that and whole lot more in this episode of the podcast. 

Catch up with each of our Influential Women in Food on the Food Processing website 

WIN-911’s Cody Bann talks with us about how companies can not only improve their cyber security, but also mitigate their risks for cyber-attacks. We have a conversation about how tools like remote alarm notification software can help reduce cyber-attacks in processing facilities.

We’re then joined by Ozarka’s Trey Mixon, who explains how this Blue Triton brand out of Texas is using WIN-911’s remote monitoring tool and why it’s critical for them in keeping up with their real-time and long-term monitoring data. Trey offers an example of an emergency that was averted because of the Remote Alarm Software before explaining the advantages the software provides him and his team when they’re not on site.

Read the transcript and learn more about WIN-911

This episode is sponsored by WIN-911

If you’re discouraged or frustrated by the disparity between how men and women are represented in the food and beverage industry, then this is a can’t-miss episode. This week, we’re talking with Jennifer Stojkovic, founder and creator of the Vegan Women Summit and the author of The Future of Food Is Female: Reinventing the Food System to Save the Planet.

We pack a lot of great information into this episode, from talking about how Jennifer got started to why she launched the Vegan Women Summit and penned The Future of Food Is Female.

Amid the conversation about the importance of diversity and inclusion in our boardrooms, we touch on the widening gap between who gets funding in new food and beverage ventures, and who does not. We talk about why representation matters and how things like the baby formula shortage would’ve likely been prevented had there been more diversity in the rooms where decisions were being made.  

We also spend some time talking about why the Vegan Women Summit is important, not only to the plant-based and animal-free food sector, but to the many product and networking opportunities that exist because of it. And like every one of our Influential Women in Food episodes, we end talking about the advice Jennifer would give and has received throughout her career.

Follow along in this episode through the topics timestamped below

• Introduction & The Vegan Women Summit: 2:57

This episode is part five of our Influential Women in Food Series, where we’re honoring women that have effected change for their colleagues and peers in the food and beverage industry.

With us today is Jona Hightower, Senior Lead Assessor with LRQA. Jona is the epitome of an influential woman in the food industry. She describes herself as having a passion for teaching and sharing knowledge and it’s something she’s known about herself since elementary school.  That passion also shows up when she’s lending her expertise and counsel to the numerous women she works with.

We start things off talking about how Jona found herself in the role of an assessor. True to her knowledge-sharing self, she offers guidance on how one might enter the profession before we shift to talking about Jona’s passion for training and supporting those around her. We talk about the importance of defining what success looks like as well as how Jona has elevated numerous women by way of guiding them through learning plans and professional development initiatives. We dig into what drives Jona to offer the kind of support she does as well as how she's helped pave the way for other women in the food and beverage industry.

We dip our toes into a conversation about work/life balance before ending the episode talking about the advice Jona has received and would give to those entering the workforce. 

Follow along in this episode through the topics timestamped below

• Introduction and Role 2:25