Join us for a journey that begins with a small-town dishwasher, and ends with an executive chef managing the kitchens for some of the most prestigious restaurants in the world. Chef Victor Scargle tells us his story, touching on more than just his passion for food. In this episode, we explore the value of mentorship, the importance of a business skillset, and other rarely discussed topics that play a major role for those who succeed at the top level of the restaurant industry. If you're interested in how someone works their way up in the food world, what motivates an executive chef, and what it takes to run a fine restaurant, you're going to enjoy this conversation.

Curious about what it takes to take a food business from the farmers market to a national brand? This episode of Our Food Journey Podcasts takes a hike with Justin's founder Justin Gold in the foothills above Boulder, Colorado. We quiz him about his inspirations, aspirations and how he bounces back from adversity. “When you name your brand after yourself, you can never have a bad day,” says Justin Gold, founder of Justin’s. “You've got to bring your best day every day, which is inspiring and awesome and also exhausting.”

The SPAM JAM® festival takes place each spring on Kalakaua Avenue, a boutique-lined thoroughfare that runs parallel to the white sand beaches of Waikiki. The avenue’s shops offer a prince’s ransom of high-end goods and services, but on this weekend the scene changes. Sleek storefronts of European fashion houses give way to the smell of grilled onions and cooked pork.

Wilson Tang was working in the World Trade Center on 9-11. Like many survivors, those attacks lead him to reassess what he wanted to do with his life. Tired of sitting behind a computer screen, Tang devoted himself to the restaurant business -- taking over the famed Nom Wah Tea Parlor. Now he's innovating ways to introduce the brand into new venues.

On today's episode Chef Kenneth Temple talks about his hometown of New Orleans and the remarkable food traditions he grew up with. Chef Kenneth runs a personal dining business for sports and entertainment superstars. He has cooked for NFL and NBA players, celebrities, politicians, Grammy award-winning artists, and Hollywood movie producers. His company focuses on delicious food with Creole, Cajun, Southern, and Caribbean influence—it’s something that Kenneth calls “Southern Creole.” If you recognize HIS voice it might be from his 2017 appearance on Food Network’s popular cooking competition show “Chopped”—he was one of the show’s winners during the 2017 season.

Today Master Chef Ron DeSantis welcomes Chef Tony Finnestad who oversees culinary for Hormel Foods foodservice division. Chef Tony is a young man but already has a lifetime of experience in the food business. He has been the lead chef at fine restaurants and worked in product development before coming to Hormel Foods. Part of Tony’s job is tracking multiple trends in the food industry including the public’s shifting perception of big food and how supermarkets are increasingly becoming more like restaurants. Tony’s career represents a trend for young chefs. He’s decided he can make the biggest impact in the food business by working for a large company where he can touch the lives of thousands of families.

Our guest on this episode, Adam Busby, the general manager of the Greystone campus at The Culinary Institute of America, has a particularly good perspective to see the energy and entrepreneurship that young chefs are bringing to their careers. Becoming head chef at a fine restaurant is no longer the only goal. Students now have wide-ranging ideas about what they will do after they leave campus—from food writing to photography to working on cruise ships or developing nutrition bars. Many young chefs are also looking for careers at large consumer packaged goods companies where their new ideas can have an outsized impact on national food trends and critical issues like food equity and environmental sustainability.

Buying, cooking, and sharing food can tell us a lot about who we are as a people. The story is never simple—there are thousands of food and cooking subcultures defined by place, history and economics. In this episode we talk with Tanya Rodriquez, the Hormel Foods in-house anthropologist, about how she tracks these constantly changing trends. We learn how she draws from diverse background in social service, academia and on-the-ground research to gain insights that other might overlook. 

In this episode Certified Master Chef Ron DeSantis talks with Dominic Orsini, Executive Chef at a renowned winery in Napa Valley. Orsini pioneers new ways to connect his meals to a sense of place and season. “Food is about context,” Orsini says. “And so my inspiration mainly comes from what's available from the gardens. What's in season? What's the weather like outside? Is it a warm day or is it a cold and chilly day?” Orsini has a name for the experience of finding the perfect combination of food, wine, and place, He calls it, "making the angels sing. Those are the times when a moment crystallizes in your mind, you recognize where you're at, what's happening, and it's a memory that stays with you forever.”

Functional food has become a major trend over the last decade and nowhere has that trend been hotter than the beverage industry. Grocery aisles that were once dominated by carbonated sugary drinks are now filling up with beverages promising sharper mental acuity, health, and increased athletic performance. Few know this trend better than Dr. Francisco Parada-Rabell. He’s overseen over 250 formulations, including dairy, plant-based proteins, teas and juice-based drinks. Francisco is now the director of beverage innovation at CytoSport, where he is responsible for managing, formulating and commercializing new ready-to-drinks beverages for the Muscle Milk®, Evolve™ and CytoSport™ brands. Parada-Rabell has unique insight into the art and science of creating cutting-edge functional beverages.