In this episode of the Food For Thought podcast, we’re talking with Bill Besenhofer, CEO and Co-founder of The Fresh Factory. 

This vertically integrated company partners with food and beverage brands big and small to help them scale up production of ‘fresh’ and ‘clean’ food products. With a mission to accelerate the growth of plant-based foods, The Fresh Factory owns and partners with emerging brands in the plant-based space to develop, manufacture, and sell products made from fresh produce. 

In this episode, we talk not only about what The Fresh Factory is doing, but also the trends it’s seeing in the plant-based category. We also talk about how the Fresh Factory uses High Pressure Processing on its manufacturing lines. We wrap things up talking about the company’s most recent endeavor: Its Fresh Start accelerator program. 

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2022 Digital Food & Beverage Conference: Special Discount for Food For Thought Listeners

With us on podcast today are Wayne Perry, Senior Technical Director at Kaeser Compressors and Neil Mehltretter, Technical Director at Kaeser Compressors. On today’s episode, we’re talking all about Compressed Air, but more specifically, how the location of your compressed air system impacts uptime, productivity, and equipment longevity. 

We also talk about the necessary clearance needed around compressed air equipment as well as hearing about less than ideal compressor installs and how you, too, can avoid the same blunders. We cap things off talking about why you may want to consider a standalone enclosure for your compressor. 

Learn more about this episode's sponsor, Kaeser Compressors

Read the full transcript of this episode on the Food Processing website

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When it comes to your business, are you looking to streamline all of your management systems into one place? If so, you may want to consider an ERP system. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is an integrated management system that takes everything you need to run a company – from purchasing and sales information to things like inventory, distribution, finance, and even quality management – and puts them all in one system.

Here to talk more about ERPs is Jennifer Spanos, Vice President of Product and Vertical Strategy at NexTec Group and FoodBusiness ERP. In this special episode, Jennifer walks us through the ins and outs of ERPs why they are ultimately a single source of truth that allow you to manage the entire business from one place. We talk through the benefits of an ERP system and how it differs from something like QuickBooks as well as talking specifically about the FoodBusiness ERP product and how it can help with supply chain issues and risk mitigation.

Enjoy the Episode

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Read the full transcript on the Food Processing website

Learn more about this episode's sponsor, FoodBusiness ERP 

In today’s episode, we’re continuing the conversation we started last November how the pandemic has changed the game for food and beverage manufacturers.

We kick things off talking about the pandemic’s ripple effect and lessons learned so far. We peel back a few more layers about how supply chain issues are continuing to affect food and beverage processors, with Maggie explaining the ‘Supply Shock’ and ‘Demand Shock’ the industry has experienced the last couple of years.

We dig a little deeper into the new competitive landscape for food and beverage manufacturers and how information-hungry consumers are helping to shape new product innovation.

We cap things off talking about supply chain disruption, labor issues, and the role of technology is playing in food and beverage companies’ digitally transformation journey, making sure to highlight how IFS's digital solutions are helping manufacturers across the globe each and every day. 

Learn more about IFS and their enterprise software solutions. 

Read the full transcript of this episode on the Food Processing website.

Enjoy the episode. 

For anyone in Product Development and R&D at a food and beverage company, this episode is definitely for you. With us on the podcast today is Manmit Shrimali, co-founder and CEO of Turing Labs AI.

Founded in 2019, Turing Labs, which recently concluded $16.5 Million Dollars in Series A funding, has been helping Consumer Packaged Goods companies get new or improved products to market faster using their unique AI platform.  

Listen in to hear how Turing is helping some of the biggest names in CPG create or reformulate faster and more efficiently. Perfect for the post-COVID hybrid R&D Department, Manmit walks us through how the platform uses artificial intelligence to simulate working through different ingredient combinations to determine what works…and what doesn’t. You’ll definitely want to tune in to hear how this revolutionary platform is helping manufacturers take thousands of data points and turn them into formulation gold. 

Read the transcript of this episode on the Food Processing website

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On today’s episode, we’re talking with Rick Williams, Practice Lead in operations and supply chain management at JPG Resources. Williams talks with us about the top supply chain issues impacting food and beverage processors in Spring 2022… and beyond.

From the impact of geopolitical issues, to ingredient and packaging material availability, we touch on all of the current links impacting today’s supply chain. You’ll definitely want to listen the entire way through this episode as Rick offers his perspective on how labor issues can be fixed or corrected as well as leaving us with two things manufacturers will need to master if we’re ever going crawl out from under the weight of our supply chain issues. 

Enjoy the episode. Read the transcript of this episode

With us on today’s episode is Matt Cohen, co-founder of Kidfresh. Launched in 2007, Kidfresh takes children’s favorite foods -- like spaghetti and meatballs, mac’ and cheese, and chicken nuggets -- and adds a nutritious twist to them. But that’s not all. Not only are they more nutritious, they’re also more convenient, a huge plus for busy parents.  

Join us as we talk about the reason Kidfresh was launched, why creating better-for-you foods for children has been a struggle, and how he managed to find the perfect formula for good-tasting and good-for-you frozen food products. And we cap things off talking about what trends Matt is seeing in both the children’s nutrition sector as well as in frozen foods. 

Enjoy the Episode.

Read the full transcript on the Food Processing website

With us on the podcast today is Tony Pariseau, Key Market Specialist focusing on the food and beverage industry for NORD Drivesystems. 

Tony recently sat down with us to walk us through the types of gearboxes, electric motors and variable frequency drives the family-owned and operated company produces.  

We walk through a few of NORD’s innovative new products while also talking about what NORD offers to help processors with preventative maintenance. We cap things off with a discussion of Nord’s impeccable reputation for industry-leading deliveries as well as their great flexibility and their global presence. 

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Learn more about this episode's sponsor, Nord Driveystems

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Read the full transcript of this podcast episode on the Food Processing website

In today’s episode we’re talking about The Lady Godiva Initiative, a program Godiva launched in 2020 to support charitable organizations that empower women around the world. One of the recipients of Godiva’s Initiative is Hot Bread Kitchen, a New York-based nonprofit that creates economic opportunity through careers in food.

Join us as we talk about the Initiative – how and why it got started and how Godiva is helping to empower women while also supporting both local and global communities. We talk much more in-depth about Hot Bread Kitchen and the work its doing to empower women with economic security, including job skills training and food entrepreneurship programs. Read the full text of the transcript on the Food Processing website

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Enjoy this episode, but before you listen in, make sure you’ve visited our Influential Women in Food page on the Food Processing website. We’re honoring women making an impact in the food and beverage industry, but we need your help. Submit a nomination – or several – for the women you see making an impact. But, be sure to do it soon. Nominations close March 1. 

With us today is Angela Dodd, founder of Females in Food. Angela created the Females in Food Community to help women in the food and beverage industry advance their careers. 

Consider this: 80% of food buying decisions globally are made by women, yet, across every segment of the food and beverage industry, fewer than 20% of senior leadership positions are held by women.  

We talk about that statistic and much more in today’s episode. We address issues about why women are under-represented, what companies and male allies can do to help reach gender parity, and whether Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs are actually working.  Read the transcript of this episode