PeasOnMoss Podcast

Justin Kanthak wears several hats, notably as the head of the snack segment for Griffith Foods and as the president of the professional trade organization, the Research Chefs Association. In March 2020, the US food industry was tremendously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, starting with the cancellation of international and trade conferences, and the RCA annual conference was forced to cancel the in-person gathering. The weight of understanding what could be done instead weighed on the RCA board leadership, and Justin joined the podcast to share his thoughts about how the industry will change and what we can do as product development professionals.

The Research Chefs Association conference is currently on-going as RCA PoweredUp. It is open to members and non-members alike. Get more information at their conference home page: poweredup.culinology.org

Tune in next week for the full special episode with Justin.

Aaron Chan's grandfather founded the Mon Hei Bakery to bring Chinese pastries to the burgeoning International District of Seattle with funding from investors. While the concept itself isn't new in this modern food startup world, the significance is the timing: the year was 1979. Fast forward over thirty years, and the Mon Hei Bakery was a provider of affordable and old world Chinese dumplings, hom bao, egg tarts, and mooncakes. Regulars flocked there to buy fresh snacks, and the Chan family had established themselves as active members of the community. Tragically, on Christmas Eve 2013, the building in which Mon Hei was based burned down, taking with it the legendary bakery.

Aaron joined the PeasOnMoss podcast to share his family's story about food entrepreneurship and surviving after a business tragedy. Though his parents didn't want him to go into the bakery business, he felt the call rise up in his heart after the fire and observing how his parents have struggled to understand how they can still participate in their community without a bakery. It's ultimately a story of hope, and it's a unique perspective of food business operations from a family business.

When Aaron Chan joined the PeasOnMoss podcast to share the story of the Mon Hei Bakery in Seattle, WA, the city's first Chinese bakery, he explained that a documentary was being created about his grandfather's food start-up and the mission to bring affordable Chinese pastries to the West Coast. You'll get to hear the full story of the bakery, the fire, and the business' work in the six years since the tragedy next week. And keep an eye out on Instagram for updates about Mon Hei and where you can get their pastries (or order them for your next event).

The coronavirus pandemic has struck us hard, but I've been amazed by how we have come together to support wherever we can. If you are able to donate, there are various nonprofits for restaurants and hospitality industry workers, including World Central Kitchen, Mercy Chefs, Big Table, and the James Beard Foundation Food and Beverage Industry Relief Fund. Find out about your local community efforts to support small food businesses and continue to be active. I'm looking forward to seeing you in person at a future conference, but for now, I am proud to be able to still bring you these podcast episodes and am grateful for the support and friendship of this community.

Kiran Bains is a relatively new graduate with a masters degree in nutrition science and owner of a nutrition consulting business Edovivo. Kiran and Kimberly connected through LinkedIn and decided to record our introductory call as a conversation starter for younger professionals. Kiran has a passion for introducing nutrition science majors to a wider variety of career opportunities than are typically described. She also has a passion for marketing and understanding how marketing teams could leverage nutrition expertise and how nutrition professionals could market their messages to engage consumers.

While this conversation is personal in the sense of talking about one individual's career opportunities, it's also an example of how our friendships and network can be useful for connections beyond our own career advancement. I also share some strong opinions about personal brand awareness, because with nutrition backgrounds, it's vital to maintain brand integrity when associating with product brands.

Since 2017, IconFoods has sponsored the PeasOnMoss podcast. Icon Foods specializes in supplying the health food industry with natural alternatives to sugar. We have nutritive and non-nutritive solutions to your clean label conundrum. Whether you are an established brand looking to reformulate for your consumers, or a food startup looking to break into the low-carb industry, we can get you the ingredients you need. We specialize in Ketogenic, Diabetic, Paleo, and Sugar-Free product solutions. http://iconfoods.com/

A past member (a gold medalist, in fact) of the ACF Culinary Team of the USA, Chef Wiley describes his journey as coming from humble roots being surrounded by big players who took him on and pushed him to excel. His superpower: relentless commitment to being better, learning more, and personal improvement. Chef drops incredible insight and knowledge throughout his story, and it's impossible to choose the single best lesson he shared.

Today, chef is the Food Service Manager for IFF, having transitioned to sales to learn the other side of the business. He came from hotel food service, worked at Yum Brands, and worked as a corporate executive chef. Since he loves talking with people, identifying their problems and providing solutions, he took on the challenge of sales, but cautions that it's not for everyone. Never resting, Chef continues to challenge himself.

TraceGains is a proud sponsor of PeasOnMoss. TraceGains is a cloud-based supplier relationship and quality management platform that helps food and consumer-packaged goods companies deliver on brand promise. https://www.tracegains.com/

Chef Wiley Bates III strongly feels that if he hadn't worked for the chefs and supervisors he had, he doesn't know where his career would have gone. Now, as a corporate chef and manager, he takes it as his mission to find the people on his team who need that type of nudge, too. Mentorship isn't an accidental activity - it's deliberate, it's observant, and it's flexible. In this preview, Chef takes us through his mentorship theory and gives middle managers some action items to start implementing in our workplaces.

The coronavirus pandemic has struck us hard, but I've been amazed by how we have come together to support wherever we can. If you are able to donate, there are various nonprofits for restaurants and hospitality industry workers, including World Central Kitchen, Mercy Chefs, Big Table, and the James Beard Foundation Food and Beverage Industry Relief Fund. Find out about your local community efforts to support small food businesses and continue to be active. I'm looking forward to seeing you in person at a future conference, but for now, I am proud to be able to still bring you these podcast episodes and am grateful for the support and friendship of this community.

Chef Erich Chieca is a 3-term Research Chefs Association board member whose active volunteerism has been just one of the superpowers that has helped Chef create a enriched career through friends and mentors who gave him opportunities. Reflective and thoughtful, Chef Erich emphasized that no matter the product we make nor the role we have, we are still in the hospitality business. Whether you're in R&D or sales, you have to identify your customer and find ways to serve them.

Volunteering with the RCA is one way to really develop your career network, which will open doors for you. It's also an excellent way to get leadership experience through taking on a volunteer activity for the RCA, such as conference planning, local chapter service projects, or even running for a board position.

Since 2017, IconFoods has sponsored the PeasOnMoss podcast. Icon Foods specializes in supplying the health food industry with natural alternatives to sugar. We have nutritive and non-nutritive solutions to your clean label conundrum. Whether you are an established brand looking to reformulate for your consumers, or a food startup looking to break into the low-carb industry, we can get you the ingredients you need. We specialize in Ketogenic, Diabetic, Paleo, and Sugar-Free product solutions. http://iconfoods.com/

Sadler's Smokehouse Director of Culinary Sales Chef Erich Chieca is an experienced chef who was invited to the research chef world through a friend at Gordon Food Service. As a research chef and sales manager, Chef has seen diverse product development teams. In this PeasOnMoss podcast preview. I ask Chef how he describes the differentiation that a research chef brings to a product development team and how we contribute uniquely from food scientists. As cross-functional partners, research chefs can enhance the capabilities and culinary intuition of a team. Next week, Chef Erich shares his origin story and how his friendships introduced him to the Research Chefs Association.

TraceGains is a proud sponsor of PeasOnMoss. TraceGains is a cloud-based supplier relationship and quality management platform that helps food and consumer-packaged goods companies deliver on brand promise. https://www.tracegains.com/

James Beard awarded Chef Kenji Lopez-Alt is recognized as a solid resource in the food writing and professional world as a writer who takes the time to gather the facts and produce well-researched, thoughtful articles, tested and true recipes, and leadership by example. From his work on Serious Eats, a food website sharing articles, recipes, insights, and science with a variety of readers, to the publication of the food-science-based cookbook The Food Lab, and contributions to the New York Times, Chef Kenji also serves as the chef partner for the Bay Area-based restaurant Wursthall.

He is experiencing firsthand the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In all that, he took the time to work with a few food safety experts to share his up-to-date knowledge about coronavirus and whether food and food service play a role in transmission. His long article helps to clarify and calm fears, and he plans to continue updating it since his first publication on March 20 and recent update March 30. I caught up with Chef Kenji to quickly talk about why he wrote the article and to share his observations to date. Check out the article - Food Safety and Coronavirus: A Comprehensive Guide - and be sure to go back occasionally to see what has been updated. Chef Kenji is active on Instagram and Twitter and very, very responsive to thoughtful engagement.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2020/03/food-safety-and-coronavirus-a-comprehensive-guide.html

Ashley Koff is a registered dietitian nutritionist and marketing expert who has built a reputation on looking at the food industry from a unique perspective. What started as a service to review products for brands through the eyes of nutrition professional, the program Ashley Koff Approved seeks to provide an assessment of food products that would contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Now, Ashley has expanded her programs to include the Beyond Brands, a nutrition strategy program for food businesses, and Better Nutrition Program, focused on healthcare providers and their patients. Ashley shares some pointers on creating food products that are focused on nutritional benefits and leading the charge in raising the bar in nutrition trends rather than following them.

The coronavirus pandemic has struck us hard, but I've been amazed by how we have come together to support wherever we can. If you are able to donate, there are various nonprofits for restaurants and hospitality industry workers, including World Central Kitchen, Mercy Chefs, Big Table, and the James Beard Foundation Food and Beverage Industry Relief Fund. Find out about your local community efforts to support small food businesses and continue to be active. I'm looking forward to seeing you in person at a future conference, but for now, I am proud to be able to still bring you these podcast episodes and am grateful for the support and friendship of this community.