In this episode of the Prosperous Prairie Founders Podcast, Brian Ludwig sits down with Mehmet Tulbek, President of the Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre (Food Centre), to explore the growing opportunity in specialty crops and food product innovation in Western Canada.

Mehmet shares how the Food Centre helps founders, startups, farm producers, and large food companies turn ideas into market-ready products. From a family recipe to a scalable commercial product, the Food Centre provides contract research, product development, pilot-scale manufacturing, and full production support.

With three CFI-approved facilities in Saskatoon totaling over 75,000 square feet, the Food Centre works on approximately 160 projects annually. Their team of more than 90 professionals includes food scientists, engineers, chefs, operators, and industry experts who support everything from formulation and packaging to extrusion, fermentation, and process authority services.

A key takeaway from this conversation is that food innovation truly “takes a village.” Mehmet explains how collaboration across Saskatchewan’s ecosystem helps companies scale efficiently while retaining full ownership of their intellectual property.

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