Today I’m chatting with Matt Demicoli the Co Founder and Managing Director of Health Lab. This year the team celebrate their 10th birthday. 

Health Lab burst on to the scene back in 2015 with delicious plant based, gluten free protein snacks.

You can find the health lab, Indulgent Balls, slices and bars in just about every supermarket and convenience store across Australia.

Matt and the team have done a fabulous job over the last decade positioning themselves as one of the leading indulgent healthier snacking brands.

This is a fabulous story for anyone on their entrepreneurial journey. 

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Food Mentor podcast.

Meet David J Burns

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZKvu9FOjMw

David is the founder of DJB Food Group and Creme design helping manufacturers, brands and entrepreneurs develop innovative new products and brands and then distribute into retail. In 2025 David’s clients will have achieved $200 mil in retail sales from brands and product ranges we have developed in the prior 24 months. Reach out for a chat anytime!

https://www.djbfoodgroup.com/

David also conducts strategy workshops as well as key note speaking engagements.

Would you like to be a guest on our show or sponsor an episode to reach your target audience? We have enjoyed 60,000 podcast downloads with listeners in 370 cities across 68 countries.

Connect with us anytime [email protected]

+61427034412

Today I’m chatting with Sugira Rubasha from ETS Rubasha media.

We’re talking about my personal and professional journey, from humble beginnings growing up on the South Coast of England to now partnering with businesses to develop multi million dollar brands world wide. 

We chat though my views on the importance of your personal brand, creating the career path that YOU want and how I shifted from the corporate world as an employee to a food  entrepreneur enjoying the freedom that comes from working for myself. 

And of course much more. 

This is a great fireside chat with Sugira where you will gain an insight into David’s mind and how he has created a fabulous personal and professional story. 

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Food Mentor podcast. 

Meet David J Burns

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZKvu9FOjMw

David is the founder of DJB Food Group and Creme design helping manufacturers, brands and entrepreneurs develop innovative new products and brands and then distribute into retail. In 2025 David’s clients will have achieved $200 mil in retail sales from brands and product ranges we have developed in the prior 24 months. Reach out for a chat anytime!

https://www.djbfoodgroup.com/

David also conducts strategy workshops as well as key note speaking engagements.

Would you like to be a guest on our show or sponsor an episode to reach your target audience? We have enjoyed 60,000 podcast downloads with listeners in 370 cities across 68 countries.

Connect with us anytime [email protected]

+61427034412

Welcome back to the Food Mentor podcast my name is David Burns your host and today we’re chatting with Fuad and Mehmet the founders of Pistabella Pistachio spread.

It would be no secret that anything pistachio is in vogue in a big way right now, so in this episode we chat with the boys to understand how they saw this opportunity and more importantly how they’re going with the supply to Coles Nationally after only trading for just over 12 months.

This is a fantastic inspirational  story for young entrepreneurs as well as large organisations. Proving that 1.. “anything is possible” – 2..age is no barrier…. and most importantly 3.. it is absolutely all about the timing!

I hope you enjoy this episode of the food mentor podcast.

Meet David J Burns

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZKvu9FOjMw

David is the founder of DJB Food Group and Creme design helping manufacturers, brands and entrepreneurs develop innovative new products and brands and then distribute into retail. In 2025 David’s clients will have achieved $200 mil in retail sales from brands and product ranges we have developed in the prior 24 months. Reach out for a chat anytime!

https://www.djbfoodgroup.com/

David also conducts strategy workshops as well as key note speaking engagements.

Would you like to be a guest on our show or sponsor an episode to reach your target audience? We have enjoyed 60,000 podcast downloads with listeners in 370 cities across 68 countries.

Connect with us anytime [email protected]

+61427034412

Hey everybody welcome back to the food mentor podcast my name is David Burns your host and today we’re doing something a little bit different. 

Growing up in England soccer (or football as the world game calls it) was a big part of my life, and when I’m not injured I still play for Brighton Albion (Bayside Melbourne). 

I always fancied coaching young boys and this season I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity with the U15’s including my boy Luca and also Remy in the U10’s for Malvern City FC in the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. 

So as we head towards the end of the 2025 season I grabbed a few of our star U10 wallaby players for a quick chat about the 2025 season that was.

We chat about what they’ve loved, what they’ve found challenging and most importantly why it’s important to get out in the fresh air to learn and improve in this fabulous world game of soccer. Of course as we head towards Fathers Day we finish with some terrible bad dad jokes.

Malvern city FC is a fabulous soccer club attracting over 700 players from 5 years of age right through to our seniors. The club welcomes boys and girls of all abilities.
Check it all out on the website malverncityfc.com

In the meantime time lets chat to Maxi, Rory and Remy, the spine of this fabulous Malvern City FC U10 Wallabies team. 

I hope you enjoy this “slightly different “ episode of the food mentor podcast. 

Meet David J Burns

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZKvu9FOjMw

David is the founder of DJB Food Group and Creme design helping manufacturers, brands and entrepreneurs develop innovative new products and brands and then distribute into retail. In 2025 David’s clients will have achieved $200 mil in retail sales from brands and product ranges we have developed in the prior 24 months. Reach out for a chat anytime!

https://www.djbfoodgroup.com/

David also conducts strategy workshops as well as key note speaking engagements.

Would you like to be a guest on our show or sponsor an episode to reach your target audience? We have enjoyed 60,000 podcast downloads with listeners in 370 cities across 68 countries.

Connect with us anytime [email protected]

+61427034412

Today I’m chatting with Chris Kitto, the founder of KittGro Advisory, a trusted growth partner for Australia’s emerging and scaling food, beverage and wellness brands.

Chris has spent more than 20 years working in the Australian retail space, with over 10 years focused specifically on building and scaling food and wellness brands. Chris has worked closely with ambitious founders to bring products to life, launch into retail and build brands that last. 

Today Chris and I chat about numerous topics covering how best to start, grow and scale a brand along with common errors that start ups and even large enterprises make. 

This is a great conversation to listen to if you are looking to start or are wanting to grow a brand and product range in the food / beverage or health and wellness arena. 

I hope you enjoy this episode of The Food Mentor podcast. 

Meet David J Burns

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZKvu9FOjMw

David is the founder of DJB Food Group and Creme design helping manufacturers, brands and entrepreneurs develop innovative new products and brands and then distribute into retail. In 2025 David’s clients will have achieved $200 mil in retail sales from brands and product ranges we have developed in the prior 24 months. Reach out for a chat anytime!

https://www.djbfoodgroup.com/

David also conducts strategy workshops as well as key note speaking engagements.

Would you like to be a guest on our show or sponsor an episode to reach your target audience? We have enjoyed 60,000 podcast downloads with listeners in 370 cities across 68 countries.

Connect with us anytime [email protected]

+61427034412

In this episode of The Food Mentor Podcast we are chatting with the founder Milo Gaffney about this exciting new hot snacking brand Go Snack. 

Go Snack provides hot snacks conveniently packaged specifically for the convenience and travel industries. For convenience store and travel industry operators it’s as simple as from the freezer to the oven then into the hot hold unit - enabling consumers to grab and go and enjoy hot snacks on the go!

Creating a safe working environment and efficiency for store operators while delivering a fabulous food offer to consumers is what Go Snack is all about. 

This is a very clever and innovative concept but very simple at the same time. 

The Go Snack brand and offer is already available at Viva Energy (Reddy Express) and The Foodary with Ampol. 

Milo and I also dive into the convenience store industry chatting through the evolution of the food offer, store format and the convenience store consumer over the last 2 decades and we ask ourselves what could be next. 

I hope you enjoy this episode of The Food Mentor Podcast. 

Insta here;

https://www.instagram.com/go_snack_?igsh=MWRmeG00NHlqY3RodQ==

Meet David J Burns

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZKvu9FOjMw

David is the founder of DJB Food Group and Creme design helping manufacturers, brands and entrepreneurs develop innovative new products and brands and then distribute into retail. In 2025 David’s clients will have achieved $200 mil in retail sales from brands and product ranges we have developed in the prior 24 months. Reach out for a chat anytime!

https://www.djbfoodgroup.com/

David also conducts strategy workshops as well as key note speaking engagements.

Would you like to be a guest on our show or sponsor an episode to reach your target audience? We have enjoyed 60,000 podcast downloads with listeners in 370 cities across 68 countries.

Connect with us anytime [email protected]

+61427034412

Hi everyone welcome back to The Food Mentor Podcast, I'm David J Burns your host.

I’m delighted today to chat with Jamie and Kim the founders of ILOVEUBABE XO exclusive womens collagen infused chocolates.

Perfect for gifting, beauty and self indulgence - and just for women! 

Edible beauty as this segment is called is in huge growth hitting $300 mil in the USA, so its perfect timing for Kim and Jamie to capitalise on this opportunity.

The brands ethos is love yourself and your body -  and as Kim says “ILOVEUBABE XO is all about self love”

There has been an enormous amount of work that has gone into the development of this wonderful new exclusive womens brand - ILOVEUBABE XO.

Melbourne based Jamie and Kim have made some fabulous progress since launching just prior Xmas 2024 so lets chat with Jamie and Kim to check in on the journey so far and to see what lies ahead.

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Food Mentor Podcast. For more detail visit the ILOVEUBABE XO Insta and website.

Website here;

https://www.iloveubabe.com/

Insta here;

https://www.instagram.com/iloveubabe_womens_chocolate_au?igsh=MTc5cDVpNG9oY2lscw==

Meet David J Burns

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZKvu9FOjMw

David is the founder of DJB Food Group and Creme design helping manufacturers, brands and entrepreneurs develop innovative new products and brands and then distribute into retail. In 2025 David’s clients will have achieved $200 mil in retail sales from brands and product ranges we have developed in the prior 24 months. Reach out for a chat anytime!

https://www.djbfoodgroup.com/

David also conducts strategy workshops as well as key note speaking engagements.

Would you like to be a guest on our show or sponsor an episode to reach your target audience? We have enjoyed 60,000 podcast downloads with listeners in 370 cities across 68 countries.

Connect with us anytime [email protected]

+61427034412

It’s always very exciting in the food industry when a new segment comes along.

Pistachio nuts are not new but Pistachio Spread certainly is.

I’m delight today to welcome Fuad Baker the Sydney based founder of Pistabella Pistachio Spread.

 This is a classic entrepreneurial story whereby Fuad and the team recently launched one of the first Pistachio Spreads in Australia.

 The thing that really stands out with Pistabella and this pistachio spread is that it would have to be one of the most delicious “anythings” I have ever tasted.

It really is extremely decadent and dangerously moreish. Or “deliciously not normal” as we say.

 There has been excellent progress in a very short time so lets chat with Fuad to get the full story and lets see what lies ahead.

Check out all Pistabella detail here.

https://www.pistabella.com/?srsltid=AfmBOopLN59IOu8UIrmyis7Vo8r9Q956xpqIx1W28PRY3bKR17gW-y7X

Meet David J Burns

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZKvu9FOjMw

David is the founder of DJB Food Group and Creme design helping manufacturers, brands and entrepreneurs develop innovative new products and brands and then distribute into retail. In 2025 David’s clients will have achieved $200 mil in retail sales from brands and product ranges we have developed in the prior 24 months. Reach out for a chat anytime!

https://www.djbfoodgroup.com/

David also conducts strategy workshops as well as key note speaking engagements.

Would you like to be a guest on our show or sponsor an episode to reach your target audience? We have enjoyed 60,000 podcast downloads with listeners in 370 cities across 68 countries.

Connect with us anytime [email protected]

+61427034412

Meet Bec and Narelle Thompson. The powerhouse sister duo who this month are celebrating their first birthday for the Cubbyhouse Canteen retail venture.

The Cubbyhouse Canteen brand is a childrens lifestyle brand supporting youth mental health - but the brand is not actually new.

For 15 years Bec & Narelle have enjoyed life within their thriving Cubbyhouse Canteen parkside cafe at Union Park in Armadale in the South East suburbs of Melbourne.

Over the 15 year journey, the girls have developed a fabulous large loyal following of young families through the park and of course now an even larger following as Ollie and Ted make there way around Australia.

Bec has baked (amongst other tasty morsels) close to 500,000 gingerbread people over this 15 year journey so it seemed natural for a range of all natural gingerbread to be the starting point for a venture into a packaged product range for retail.

Cubbyhouse Canteen has partnered with Kids helpline and donates a % of sales for this fabulous cause. 

Channel 9's A Current Affair recently captured and aired the story magnificently.

Link here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5HzhNCgsNg

Also see Insta:
cubbyhousecanteen

and web:

https://www.cubbyhousecanteen.com.au/

I hope you enjoy episode #28 of the Food Mentor Podcast.


David Burns is also the founder of DJB Food Group and Creme design helping manufacturers, brands and entrepreneurs develop innovative new products and brands to distribute  into retail. In 2024 our clients will have achieved $60mil in sales from brands and product ranges we have developed in the prior 24 months. Reach out for a chat anytime!

Would you like to be a guest on our show or sponsor an episode to reach your target audience?
Connect with us anytime [email protected]

Meet David J Burns

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZKvu9FOjMw

David is the founder of DJB Food Group and Creme design helping manufacturers, brands and entrepreneurs develop innovative new products and brands and then distribute into retail. In 2025 David’s clients will have achieved $200 mil in retail sales from brands and product ranges we have developed in the prior 24 months. Reach out for a chat anytime!

https://www.djbfoodgroup.com/

David also conducts strategy workshops as well as key note speaking engagements.

Would you like to be a guest on our show or sponsor an episode to reach your target audience? We have enjoyed 60,000 podcast downloads with listeners in 370 cities across 68 countries.

Connect with us anytime [email protected]

+61427034412

In this episode of The Food Mentor podcast, I’m chatting with Arianne Sackville, founder of Bell and Bone, a pet food brand all about healthy, natural ingredients for dogs. Arianne shares her career journey, beginning with her university days at Monash and an internship at IBM, where she learned the importance of working for a brand she's passionate about. Arianne then decided  that corporate life wasn’t for her. This led her to start her own business in the pet care industry, inspired by her dog Louis and a desire to make a positive impact on pet health.

Arianne discusses the values behind Bell and Bone, emphasizing the importance of transparency, quality ingredients, and community.

Since recording this podcast Arianne has launched an exciting new range for cats. 

I hope you enjoy this episode of The Food Mentor Podcast. 

Meet David J Burns

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZKvu9FOjMw

David is the founder of DJB Food Group and Creme design helping manufacturers, brands and entrepreneurs develop innovative new products and brands and then distribute into retail. In 2025 David’s clients will have achieved $200 mil in retail sales from brands and product ranges we have developed in the prior 24 months. Reach out for a chat anytime!

https://www.djbfoodgroup.com/

David also conducts strategy workshops as well as key note speaking engagements.

Would you like to be a guest on our show or sponsor an episode to reach your target audience? We have enjoyed 60,000 podcast downloads with listeners in 370 cities across 68 countries.

Connect with us anytime [email protected]

+61427034412