Meaningful Marketplace Podcast

Welcome to the new, expanded format for The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast Shows. Starting with this show, we will be interviewing foodpreneurs from Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, thanks to the NW and Rocky Mountain Regional Food Business Center, https://nwrockymountainregionalfoodbusiness.com/ . This regional effort offers an incredibly rich center of information, education and connection to the food industry for mid-size growers, farmers and producers. It’s been since episode #81, May of 2021 that we interviewed Jana Jenkins who wears two hats. She is the founder of Oregon Ag, a food distribution company moving mostly local food specialties from producers whose stories and products are unique and interesting. Her other big hat is Sales Director for Oregon Wild Rice, a family-owned producer located in the fertile Willamette Valley of Oregon. We ask Jana, “What’s changed?”. Oregon Wild Rice is owned by the Langdon family who has been farming in the area for over a 100 years. For most of those years the family had drained the farmland to grow grass seed. But a few years ago they committed to a new plan to more effectively utilize their heavy clay soil and the abundant Oregon rainfall. In 2016 they chose to boldly plant Oregon Wild Rice. It took four years to expand the rice crop and to learn how to effectively process the high-quality rice for human consumption. Currently, they sell everything they produce locally. Recent numbers are 25,000 bags of wild rice sold last year in approximately 25 stores. Sarah Marshall also highlighted Oregon Wild Rice on a local TV program. As for changes in Jana’s Oregon Ag company, distribution is still a challenge. She is enthused however after the recent Fancy Foods Show held in Las Vegas (covered in Episode #140 released last March). The shows provide a plethora of offerings close together and in sections that make exploring for new products efficient and successful. Her greatest surprise was in the international section, where foods from Italy and Spain were particularly fascinating. Both the packaging and the foods themselves had incredible eye appeal and gave consumers new, rich food experiences. What does Jana look for in taking on new products? She loves the story and the passion of the maker behind the product, because it’s the story that appeals to the consumer looking for something new. So if you contact her, and she hopes you do, start by simply showing her what you make. If she takes on your product, her favorite stores for placement are Market of Choice, New Seasons, Zupans, Mckay’s Market and Ray’s Market. Jana also has placed products in quality venues such as Willamette valley Vineyards and Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. Her current client list includes Humblebee Honey, Kickin’ Pickles, Portland Salt Company, Nuts on the Run, Wildfire Elixirs, Fields Grassfed Beef, and Franklin and Sons Beverages London, England. Jana is particularly thrilled about Sh’mallow, the first aerosol marshmallow that tops any dessert or beverage. What’s Jana’s advice to all aspiring foodpreneurs? Take every opportunity you get. And don’t stop; no one is doing what you’re doing. Tell your story. Contact Oregon Wild Rice, IG: oregonrice.com. Website: oregonrice.com IG: oregonwildrice.com. Contact Jana, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jana-jenkins-895683186/. Email: [email protected]. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

It was almost exactly 100 episodes ago we first interviewed Andrea Ludlow, founder of Showstopper Cookies; episode 69 released March of 2021 to be precise. She had started her business about six months prior to the show. Cookie companies are everywhere and they come and go like streetcars. So how has Andrea’s company endured and what makes her cookies legitimate showstoppers? Answer: Focus. Andrea makes only one, very large, special, salty chocolate chip cookie and sticks with her winning recipe. Every showstopper cookie is lovingly handmade and baked under supervision in their southeast Portland, Oregon location. They use only the best, tastiest ingredients including locally sourced flour and eggs and chocolate from the Guittard Chocolate Company. They source carefully from the Camas Country Mill for flour, the Cairnsprings Mill also for flour. They use only organic white and brown sugars, Maldon salt, unsalted butter. They buy local free range eggs, and to top it off, they use only Andrea’s homemade vanilla extract. Showstopper cookies aren’t made for dunking in milk while enjoying a TV show. They are for gifts and special occasions. When you visit their website you’ll see why, but their description paints the picture: “Showstopper cookies are dancing and singing their way into mouths across the country…a magical way to treat yourself…” Since launching Showstopper Cookies at our first interview with her, what has happened to Andrea and her company since then? For one thing, when asked how many cookies she’s sold since our last interview, Andrea has no idea! And Andrea gives a big thanks to our show hosts Sarah Masoni and Sarah Marshall, who urged her to learn to freeze her cookie dough to increase the production and shipping components of her business. Special occasion businesses have seasons of course and Showstopper is no exception. From May to October, Andrea attends one or more farmers markets which results in 600 or more cookie sales a week. Then it’s a lull until the Holiday season, then another lull from January until spring. The “lulls” aren’t completely bad either at this stage of Andrea’s business, because it gives her time to catch her breath, look ahead and also think of ways to eliminate the lulls. For example, a customer asked about ordering one giant cookie as a birthday cake. After some Instagram posts, Andrea saw she had a winner and has added that to the website recently. Birthdays are a “lull-resistant” product. Andrea is grateful for the advice she received from Meaningful Marketplace, and would like to pass on advice to other foodpreneurs now that she has had more time in the pilot’s seat. For one thing, ASK. Ask questions of everyone you meet everywhere. Whether it’s the vendor in the stall next to you at the farmers market or the distributor searching for new products. “Be friendly with error” is one of her quotes (I love the way she puts it, ed.) meaning get up every time you fall. Do favors for others and ask for favors, too. And because of COVID and the aftermath, Andrea also has made some big moves. She has spent some advertising money on a popular podcast show (Ask Ronna) and she has started going after corporate accounts, both new moves since our first interview. You can purchase Showstopper Cookies at local Portland area farmers markets and on online at: https://www.showstoppercookies.com/. Follow her at: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/showstopper_cookies/. Also on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/showstoppercookies. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Today we reconnect with Hannah Crum, founder of Kombucha Kamp, with whom we had the pleasure of interviewing on episode #84, released in May of 2021. For a quick refresher, Kombucha is fermented tea, an ancient elixir consumed for hundreds or maybe thousands of years by civilizations all over the planet. The most commonly attributed Kombucha Benefits include better digestion, increased energy, and a clearer mind. Avid drinkers also report Kombucha helping with their digestive tract, liver detoxification, reduced cravings, and athlete support. Hannah got the idea to make kombucha a business when her landlord loved the delicious free organic k-tea that came with her rent check each month. So did her neighbor, who enjoyed sipping the Booch after yoga class as it made her knees feel better. Her husband was hooked and all of a sudden, she was struggling to keep up with the demand. It was time to educate the public on how easy it was to make kombucha to have plenty on hand. Kombucha Kamp was born, a company to show people how to make their own kombucha at home and also provide the products to do the home brew. So how has the business been operating these last years? Well for one thing, the scientific community is doing more and more validating of the health benefits of drinking kombucha, so the industry is not depending on testimonials or anecdotal stories for consumers to believe in its effectiveness. It’s being called the tea of long life, the tea of immortality and so forth, a big boost to all who are involved in getting it in the hands of more and more people. Kombucha is being recognized as a healing beverage, in particular protecting the liver and kidneys. The studies on humans have really put kombucha over the bar in not only acceptance, but in education as well as a benefit for living bodies. The studies are coming out of Georgetown University and Hannah was asked for a referral of a kombucha manufacturer who could provide not only kombucha for the study but also a placebo that tasted the same. Subjects consumed beverages for four weeks, then four weeks off, then another four week consumption, not knowing if they were drinking kombucha or the placebo. The sample size was small, but the findings dynamic enough that the scientists are seeking funds to conduct a much larger scale study. One big finding was that people with type two diabetes who drink kombucha daily for four weeks show significantly lower fasting glucose rates. The conclusion was that kombucha supported a healthier liver which helps metabolize sugar more effectively. Now, there is a mild controversy in that sugar is added to the tea to aid in fermentation to produce kombucha. The FDA has dictated that the label must show that sugar has been added, but Hannah points out that chemically speaking, the fermentation process changes the sugar molecules and do not produce the same reaction in the body as table sugar. Hannah has been a huge advocate for the industry and all the providers and continues to promote a healthier planet. Her giant book of recipes, “The Big Book of Kombucha” has sold over 375,000 copies worldwide, so she is definitely being heard. Get educated and check out their offerings online at: https://www.kombuchakamp.com/. Follow them on Twitter - https://twitter.com/kombuchakamp, Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kombuchakamp/, Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/KombuchaKamp. . Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Organ meats are nature’s multi-vitamin, according to James Barry, founder of Pluck. Pluck is seasoning for foods, but not just for taste and it’s not just any seasoning. Freeze-dried organ meats are mixed with spices and salts to not only increase the taste of the dish, but to provide a supercharge of nutrients. The flavor Pluck seasoning adds is more than just the spices too. The organ meats provide the savory Umami taste, a unique flavor. The principles of ancestral eating drive Pluck’s operations. The philosophy of nose-to-tail eating, no waste of the animal is primary in their mission. They feel people are missing out on the nutrition benefits when only the muscle is consumed. Or as James puts it, “As close to nature as possible”. There also is a connection to ancestral eating in James’ family as he found out. Apparently, his family lived in Brooklyn, ate liver and onions regularly and would go to the open market for items like chicken. They’d pick out a live chicken, then come back later after the chopping and plucking and take home a warm carcass. That’s about as close as you can get to the source. But organ meats aren’t widely consumed in the US, mainly because of the odd taste. That’s where James’ 16-years as a professional chef came in handy, to add the organ nutrition to any food without the traditional organ taste, the perfect gateway into capturing the nutrition of organ meats. That plus the fact he was a very picky eater as a child and young adult, not having an adventurous palate at all. He grew up eating fast food and frozen vegetables and microwave meals. But the real impetus for introducing organ meat nutrition to the world came when his two-year old daughter became afflicted with Shiga toxin, a life-threatening disease. She became extremely thin and weak as James and his wife struggled to get nutrition into her body. She survived and is a healthy specimen today, but the experience left James with his determination to provide a functional food product anyone could consume without having to step outside their comfort zone. James points to the book, “Eat Like A Human” to underscore his philosophy of consuming the entire animal to be completely healthy. In the book, the author points to the development of human beings, going back a few million years. Our ancestors were foragers, then scavengers; neither role amounting to much nutrition to aid development. Then around 2 ½ million years ago, they developed tools to be predators and that’s when humans started to evolve. They consumed organ meats, blood and fat, which led to larger bodies, more developed brains and the evolution into modern day humans. It was more nutrients with less effort. So James looks to provide the nutrition from organ meats to today’s consumer, but also wants the consumer to have quality organ meats. He sources only quality grass-fed, grass-finished, humanely treated, pasture-raised animals raised with no GMOs or hormones. He currently sources them from New Zealand as he has not had success finding that quality in the US, but he keeps looking. The spices and herbs come from sustainable farms as well. All this to make getting better nutrition as easy as replacing your salt and pepper with Pluck. And this daily habit is microdosing, which has a cumulative effect of making you healthier. You can find Pluck in special places in 17 states currently. Buy online at https://eatpluck.com/. Follow them on Twitter - @eat_pluck, Instagram - @eatpluck and Facebook - @eatpluck. Follow James on IG, @jamesbarry, FB @jamesbarry. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

As we continue to check in with guests from previous shows, we circle back to Carrie Solomon, co-founder of Greater Goods and, as we learn in this podcast, Microjoy as well. Microjoy is new since our last show with Carrie, episode #67, released in March of 2021. For a quick background recap, Carrie and her husband started a medical cannabis company in 2014 with a very potent and great smelling topical, and then quickly launched an edible line of truffles and chocolate bars. The products were a hit and they rapidly expanded in their home state of Oregon. That has continued into a thriving cannabis business in the recreationally legal market. In 2019 they took their creations to a wider audience of consumers outside of our the state, launching Greater Goods to provide high quality products that were also conscientiously crafted and joyous at the same time. Since Carrie and her husband are both food and CBD enthusiasts, they only use ingredients that are organic and delicious, including fine chocolate, locally and responsibly sourced inclusions to add fun flavor profiles to their products, as well as Oregon sungrown hemp oil. However, in 2020, as the couple rolled “profoundly into the depths of the pandemic” as their website says, they noticed what that they missed the small joys, the miniscule interactions, of daily, routine life and assumed there were many others who felt the same way. Those infinitesimal moments that had punctuated life without trying; the microjoys in life. And their second business was born. Microjoy offers uncomplicated remedies that actually work and taste good; each formula created to address a specific challenge meant to be effective, quickly. Handmade in their own facility ingredients are sourced from the best suppliers – same philosophy as Greater Goods – and created to help unveil a more calm, well-rested, resilient person. The couple’s background in CBD, hemp and dabbling in certain mushroom ingredients has helped create the mood-enhancing gummies in Microjoy and the candy selection, tinctures and gummies offered in Greater Goods. Carrie makes a big point that there are NO psychedelic ingredients or effects from any of the company’s products. The big difference between the two companies is the phenomenon called microdosing. The benefits of microdosing are leveraging the use of certain mushrooms to be sub-perceptual to merely sub-perceptual levels to assist in managing traumatic events or depression by creating more activity in the brain. In more pedestrian language, it helps prevent shutting down and going into a funk. Most people use this method episodically, but some use long term for more chronic situations. The couple has evidently hit on a hot market, as their Greater Goods and Microjoy products are available in 12 states in the US, with many locations in both Oregon and Texas. They also have gone international, now selling in both Amsterdam, Netherlands and in Australia. Of course, you can buy online at https://hellogreater.com/ and https://microjoyful.com/. Follow them on IG @grtrgoods, FB @hellogreater, IG @microjoyful. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

We first interviewed Lisa and Maly Douangphoumy, sisters in the family business Sao Noi, on episode number 54, released September, 2020. Their company produces flavored chili oils and flavored beef jerky, all originated from the family’s restaurant business in Hood River, Oregon. Their mother, Marnie and father, Tom started the restaurant and quickly became a staple for the community because of Tom’s peanut sauce and Marnie’s chili oil. The business name, Sao Noi literally means “little girl” in Laotian as Marnie is the youngest of her eight siblings. She began making her sauces from their cozy restaurant kitchen. The exotic flavors in Sao Noi‘s sauces reflect their Southeast Asian roots, evoking a nostalgia for the family’s traditional Lao and Thai culinary recipes. Marnie used her chili oil on one of the restaurant’s premier dishes and an employee commented the taste was so fabulous she should bottle it and sell it. The family did start producing the oil in jars and selling in small quantities. One day Maly took a jar to the CEO of the company where she worked and the next day he called her in to place an order for a jar for every employee in the company, 210 in all, the largest order the company had received up to that time. On top of that, the CEO had a recipe contest for everyone in the company and those recipes plus the family recipes went into what is now the “Sao Noi Kitchen” cookbook, available on the website and on Amazon. Much has happened to the family business since our last interview. The oil product line has expanded to three flavors, original, lemon grass and ginger. They also started a beef jerky line thanks to one of their food brokers. He came into town to call on them, and overnight dreamed they would have a line of beef jerky. The family liked the idea and the broker introduced them to a copacker who could make it happen for them. That was a relief to the family, as dealing with an animal product puts you under USDA regulatory control and the family did not have time for that learning curve. In addition to knowing the regulations, the copacker was instrumental in taking the three oil flavors and experimenting with the formulas to come up with the three scintillating jerky tastes. Although they started selling the oils in the restaurant in 2015, it was really 2017 when the family expanded out into the community and sold in farmers markets. Their popularity has led them currently to being available in 46 retail outlets in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest and East coast. Market of Choice, an Oregon grocer, has been their biggest volume seller and a superb supporter of the local community. Sauces and jerky are available for purchase online. The sauces are still handcrafted in small batches locally to ensure that “a whole ‘lotta love goes into every jar!” as their website says. Their website: https://www.sao-noi.com/. Follow the on: Facebook- @saonoipdx, Instagram- @saonoipdx. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

This show is another check-in with a former guest to see what’s changed since our last interview. Today we talk with Kelly Calabria, founder of Kelly’s Jelly. We last chatted with Kelly on episode #46, released in June of 2020. A quick background: Kelly’s Great Aunt Danny had a special recipe for peppery jelly that was irresistible and downright addicitve. However, part of it’s specialty was the difficulty in making it. The hot flavor came from the habanero peppers, which unleash and incredible burning sensation to skin and eyes when they are cut into. On top of that, boiling sugar water can also create a messy and dangerous situation. But Aunt Danny’s Habanero Pepper Jelly was worth the work and Kelly and husband Adam would create jars of it for family and friends for the Holidays. Then that same story you have heard before, everyone said “You should sell this!” and the entrepreneurial journey began. Starting in 2010, it was local Farmers Markets and the name change to Kelly’s Jelly, which had more market zing to it. Apologies to Danny. So what’s changed since our 2020 show? COVID caused many problems with food service and supply chain issues, which have improved but still haunt the company. Inflation is a bigger problem confronting the company now and distributor mergers have taken away choices and eliminated competition for distribution channels, meaning higher prices for the food producers. But the company has also countered with new products for their audience. In addition, they have come up with smaller sized jars of their pepper jellies to fit in cheese and deli sections where the shelf real estate is very valuable. Charcuterie boards also are a perfect place for specialty jellies, and the smaller jar fits right in with that venue. The newest product is a pepper honey product developed in cooperation with the Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center (host Sarah Masoni is the Director) which just shipped the same week as this interview. In addition to the pepper honey, the product line is an assortment of delicious pepper fruit jellies and fruit spreads in individual jars and gift packs. Fruit flavors are pineapple, strawberry, blueberry lemon and marionberry, the company’s number one seller. All berries are Oregon grown and all ingredients are sourced from producers who represent the best of their local production. Kelly’s Jelly is family-owned and woman run (Kelly). Kelly loves the challenge of the CEO role, relishing the problem-solving of issues that face her company on a regular basis. She loves navigating the path through the food industry hurdles for a small company slaying the big dragons of the grocery store shelf. The big questions facing her now are: Go national? Distribute 100% through distributors? These are huge questions because they put a CEO in the position of committing a company to expenses and obligations that can sink the ship if things don’t go to plan. But Kelly and Adam seem to be faring very well to date. You can buy their jellies and spreads online at: https://kellysjelly.com/ You also can find them at local Portland area grocers, and national grocers on the west coast. Follow them: IG @kellysjellyoregon, FB @kellysjelly. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Boba has been a highly popular addition to tea drinks worldwide for some decades now. Originating in Taiwan in the 1980s, it has taken the US by storm, served in restaurants, tea bars and sold in grocery stores. The popularity encouraged mass production. Enter Allison Sodha, founder of Better Boba, because Allison believes people deserve the best boba. If you are not familiar, boba is tea with pearl-sized nuggets that have a mild flavor offering a heartier drink than tea alone. The preservatives and additives that make up most packaged boba pearls in the US don’t match up to the natural, artisanal boba sold in Taiwan. Besides taste, the mass manufactured boba are not as healthy as those made with a few, simple, natural ingredients. That is Allison’s mission, to put soft, supple, easy to digest original recipe boba in the hands of US customers. It’s not only the health of the customers that is of interest to Allison, it’s also the health of the planet. She works to constantly develop more sustainable manufacturing and distribution processes. In addition, Better Boba has all-natural packaging to further stress her passion for sustainability. This all began with Allison’s tea shop, where the boba distributed through food services seemed hard for some of their customers to digest. It started her on a worldwide tour of the various manufacturing processes and led her to discover the artificial ingredients and shortcuts taken to produce boba faster and in larger quantities. The business reasons for this practice were rational, but Allison was not buying in. She went on a mission to put authentic boba within reach of the public by not only offering her products through participating tea shops, but also on grocery shelves where the consumer could take the boba home and enjoy the real thing. She is raising the education level and the boba pallet of the consumer. The pandemic also wound up being a friend to Better Boba. As boba supplies dried up with the withering supply chain, tea shops reached out to Better Boba just to stay in business. This made Allison realize that a US manufacturing facility up to her standards was needed and she embarked in the effort. This also opened up new possible worlds for people to enjoy healthy boba. It can be included in snacks and other versatile additions and now the company offers both drinks and snacks. You can shop for all those products online on: https://thebetterboba.com/. Follow Allison on IG: @thebetterboba. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

We first interviewed Robin Rosenberg, CEO of Bobbie’s Boat Sauce on episode 64, released November, 2020. Actually created at sea on a sailboat, Bobbie’s Boat Sauce borrows its name from a repair concoction used by boaters, but not the kind of “sauce” you want to eat. While cleaning out the refrigerator on the boat and with some jazz playing in the background, Robin accidently created a flavor and zest she had never experienced before. The creation went fabulously well with the fish she was cooking, then the eggs she prepared the next day and a new flavor was born. As she says on her website, “Bobbie’s Boat Sauce is an addictive tomato-chili concoction enhanced with aromatics, lime, and fish sauce. Squeeze a little spicy, tangy, umami on everything you love to eat!.” Bringing the recipe back to Portland, Oregon, Robin formed a company and began the journey. That took her to the first road bump, the name Boat Sauce. Her legal consul determined the name was too broad and would be difficult to trademark, since many boaters, especially those with wooden boats, all had their own secret boat sauce they invented to make repairs on their particular boat. However, the bump was cleared and so were many others on the way to what is now national distribution of Bobbie’s Boat Sauce. But much has changed since our first interview with her. Back in 2020, Robin had one sauce flavor plus a hotter version of that flavor. Since then there has been an explosion of product offerings. Her first addition was a marinara hot version, tomato-forward but with a briny tang. The new flavor was actually a production mistake (another fortunate accident), as she was in the middle of changing co-packers and although the recipe was not followed correctly, it yielded an outstanding new product to the line. It’s the serendipity that happens to determined entrepreneurs like Robin. A very new venture is mixing the her sauces with cheddar and cream cheeses. Robin began doing this at Holiday season in a commercial kitchen and then selling it at markets and fairs. She now has distribution in three Portland stores and has many inquiries. However, she is still a company of one, as she says, and the aspect of scaling that part of the business is daunting. Going from a shelf product line to a refrigerated product line is a huge and complex step and takes lots of resources, including human resources, let alone all the extra space required for processing and transporting. The good news is that the cheeses freeze well, which makes inventorying for Bobbie’s and Bobbie’s distributors easier. Another idea at the back of Robin’s head was to create seasonings for her audience. So now she is launching Boat Dust seasonings! They are basically dehydrated Boat Sauce flavors in a two ounce shaker glass available in boutique food stores and small fairs. Ever the inventor, Robin continues to produce Holiday and special treats on a limited basis, always experimenting with the public to see what catches on. Check out the line on her website: https://bobbiesboatsauce.com/. Follow her: IG@bobbiesboatsauce. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

It was three years ago we interviewed Allison “Alli” Ball, founder of Retail Ready and Food Biz Wiz Podcast. It was episode 59 for those of you who want to listen again, or if you missed it the first time. Alli is a former grocery buyer who shares her insider secrets to help packaged food entrepreneurs scale up their sales. She knows what buyers are looking for and what key information buyers need to start a conversation with an entrepreneur, or “foodpreneur” as Alli calls them. She shares many great hints and perspectives in her weekly podcast show, which recently posted its 200th episode. The whole idea of Food Biz Wiz Podcast is to help food founders step up their strategy, get on the shelf and grow their business. Alli brings in industry experts, students from her Retail Ready program and draws on Alli’s career as a buyer to help listeners get into that buyer mindset to understand how to best communicate and persuade grocery store buyers. While it’s incumbent on all entrepreneurs to soak up all the free information available, there is a limit to where that can take them. To get the secret sauce, you need to pay for someone else’s knowledge and contacts that they, in turn, had to pay for to get that most valuable knowledge. Retail Ready® is the program offered by Alli which gives founders the tools, strategies, and support they need to get on retail and e-tail shelves, and to have high sales once they are there. Retail Ready has schooled over 2,500 founders with emerging food brands with curriculum, live strategic support, accountability and a live community for the tools to set up sales systems to get on the shelves. The program is for food brands in production or just ready for production, but not early stage food development. It’s 90-day program, which is a big change since our last show with Alli, when the program was 12 months. The reason? Each foodpreneur had a different set of circumstances, based on their food category, geography, finances, energy and so forth. Some people would breeze through the program in 30 days, while others would complete the 12-month program and sign on for another 12 months. Alli found that when she told prospective students that the program was 12 months it turned them off. The Retail Ready team did a survey of students and found that the 90-day mark was the success point for most of them and so the dialog was changed to a 90-day program and it has been well received. And since many of the founders in the program re-enroll and want to stay part of the valuable community, the program is really more of a “go at your own pace” experience anyway, so the 90-day label really doesn’t matter once a foodpreneur has started. The other new wrinkle since interviewing Alli last time, is the 90-day program also includes one-on-one support sessions in addition to all the video courses. There are courses for which the foodpreneur has perpetual access and some that require monthly subscriptions. Find out more at her website: www.foodbizwiz.com. Follow Alli on Instagram @itsalliball, Facebook @foodbizwiz, LinkedIn @Allison Ball. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Back in May, 2020, we interviewed Nafy Flatley founder of Teranga Foods; the show was released in July, 2020. In this episode, Sarah Masoni talks with Nafy to see what’s changed in her business since then. As a refresher, Teranga literally means hospitality in Wolof, the Senegalese national language. It is the spirit of camaraderie and acceptance of one another. Nafy’s favorite childhood memory is of her grandmother using baobab fruit to make refreshing, invigorating and nutritious beverages. She and her mother continued the tradition after her passing and when the family moved to the US Nafy wanted to bring the flavors of her childhood with her. Baobab is special because the Baobob tree, also known as the tree of life, grows throughout most of Africa and is an essential part of African cuisine and culture. In Senegal, baobab is a natural remedy for many ailments. It has more Vitamin C than oranges, more magnesium than kale, more potassium than bananas, more calcium than milk and is high in soluble fiber. It's a superfood, and it's in most of Teranga’s products. Teranga offers snacks, drinks and hot sauces in their line, all natural and wholesome. Beside the online business, Teranga’s products are now available in 17 San Francisco Bay Area farmers markets, cafes and grocery stores. COVID of course pushed sales to online during the lockdown, but even as guidelines loosened up and grocery stores did more volume, Nafy sought new distribution channels for her products. In the Bay Area, you can now buy her foods through Ubereats, and she is a big proponent of Good Eggs, an online platform born out of the COVID lockdown. Her push for sales has also resulted in her most distant delivery - to China. A previous customer was putting on a conference in China and wanted some Teranga products for the swag bag. Getting the products into the country turned out to be a struggle but resulted in many orders later from the US attendees upon their return home. Another big change since the last show was the opening of a restaurant in the Municipal Market in San Francisco’s Tenderloin area. The market is owned entirely by Women immigrants from half a dozen countries, so Nafy fits right in. Not to be overlooked are all the recipes Nafy offers on her website, healthy, nutritious and delicious. She also has contributed to a nonprofit cookbook with recipes, including the last meal she made in Senegal before immigrating to the US. Her business is growing and thriving and her words of wisdom are, “…share that passion with the world, don’t be scared. Go for it, make your delicious sample and then take it to whomever…”. That’s an attitude you can take to the bank. Visit her website: https://www.terangafoods.com/. Follow her on: IG @terangafoods FB@terangalife. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

This show is definitely authentic, complete with real tractor noise in the background. Yes, we’re coming to you live from the Ellis family’s farm in Mollala, Oregon where they operate their farm-to-consumer business and live a very full life. We had Laura Ellis on our 58th show released back on September 11th, 2020 and our hosts are very interested in checking in with her to see what’s been happening with the farm and the business. Just to give a quick background, the Ellis family – Mike, Laura and sons Samuel and Mason – began with Mike and Laura meeting at Eastern Oregon University, where Mike received his degree in Range Ecology and Management. Laura grew up on a rural Alaska family farm so it pretty much was a match made in heaven. They first lived on Mike’s family farm in Mollala which is over half a century old and where they have constantly enriched the soil and quality of its output. But opportunity called and the couple started their own farm business and fruit spread line in 2014. All their fruits and berries are grown to the highest standards with a finely honed commitment to quality. They have created farm-to-jar products from the fruits they both grow and source, while also using local ingredients such as Oregon rum, sea salt from the beautiful coastline, and freshly ground spices from a Portland shop. They use certified Organic ingredients (such as sugar and lemon juice) whenever possible. They don't add any high fructose corn syrup, artificial preservatives, flavors, or coloring. Everything they make is natural and non-GMO. However, on the day of our first show with Laura, they had to wonder what was in store for the future. That day, the family had a combine catch fire and at the same time, that’s when Western Oregon wildfires started happening and they didn’t know if they would have to evacuate the farm. Luckily, they avoided disaster and kept moving forward in their journey. It has been a learning experience and Laura shares some lessons with our audience of food entrepreneurs. For one thing, their original goal was to build a big business. But after time, they realized what they really wanted was to own and work their own farm, grow and produce a quality product and support their family. Scaling and all its inherent risk wasn’t really a strategy for them. That big change in strategy has paid off. Not only have they created a business that has involved other family members, their personal relationships with the community have allowed them to survive the wildfire setbacks and cash flow difficulties they have faced. Succession is also an ongoing question, as passing down the farm and business to their son or sons is a possibility and will resolve itself over time. But Laura and Mike absolutely do not pressure them one way or the other. The family also has learned to pivot on a moment’s notice, as weather, fires, crop yields and consumer tastes change continuously. They have come up with their offering formula, however. There are six fruit spread flavors that are standard, every other flavor is based on the local availability and quality. This formula has allowed them to keep their customers supplied with a stable supply of favorites while sprinkling a surprise flavor on a regular basis to keep things interesting. Distribution has obviously increased since the last show, as Mt. Hope fruit spreads are available in select stores across the US and still available both online or by pickup at the farm. To order direct: https://mthopefarmsoregon.com/. Follow them on Instagram: @mthopefarms and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mthopefarms. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Following the growth of our past guests and seeing their success has been a truly inspirational experience, and checking in with Julie Sullivan and Carolyn Cesario, co-founders of Ground Up, is another uplifting show. Our last interview was show number 19 which was released January 22nd, 2020 and for your background, Ground Up is a company that delivers peanut-free nut butters in amazing flavors. The company began in 2016 when Julie returned from Uganda where she had been overseeing an employment training program for women overcoming poverty. Back in her hometown of Portland, Oregon, she soon recognized the need for a similar program at home. However, she needed a product and a company as a base for the training programs. Coincidently, Carolyn had been perfecting sugar-free, peanut-free nut butter recipes due to dietary constraints and when the two met, it was destiny. They took a unique angle at their business model, calling themselves a “not-only-for-profit” business. They partner with local nonprofits (currently 30-40) to employ womxn overcoming adversity who have the motivation but need the opportunity to get back into the workforce. The company does NOT do background checks on the applicants as they believe in second chances and anyone coming forward with a good attitude receives that chance. By working in Ground Up, womxn get job training in a 6-9 month program and are part of a team selling healthy and delicious nut butters to the public. Great place to start, but what has happened in the last three-plus years? Julie and Carolyn have expanded the product line and part of the expansion is to produce seasonal flavors, often highlighting their vendor partners. At the time of this show, Funfetti is the highlighted product. They partnered with Mia Swinehart of Gathered Nutrition, a treasure trove of nutritious and delicious recipes. Mia loves funfetti cake and also has an obsession to add almond extract to baked treats. She has always had a “dream” nut butter and now has gotten to live that dream with Ground Up. This almond and cashew butter tastes just like cake batter (but of course, healthier). It's made from a blend of almonds and cashews, then blended with cacao butter and almond extract, and finally, finished with swirls of honey, cacao nibs, and plant-based sprinkles from some of Ground Up’s other vendor friends. And definitely follow the company for their upcoming fall release, which they are coyly keeping under wraps as of this show. The company has always done 100% of its manufacturing. That in-house passion means superb quality control, but also comes with challenges. Especially for the Ground Up concept, where Julie and Carolyn are marrying a job training program with manufacturing a consumer food product and there is a myriad of regulations and health requirements. Specifically, they have faced big problems with their squeeze pack machine. The squeeze packs were originally created so people could sample the product without having to open a whole jar. So they were perfect for events such as trade shows and other marketing opportunities and people have loved them. However, the blankety-blank machine that makes them is most temperamental and it’s taken roughly two years of trouble-shooting to get the hiccups down to a reasonable frequency. A huge change since the last show has been the explosion of distribution. You can now find Ground Up Nut Butters in grocery stores in the pacific northwest. And a recent deal with Target means you can find the Nut Butters in many locations on the west coast. As in the beginning, you can buy online at: https://grounduppdx.com/. Follow them at: Twitter - @grounduppdx, Instagram - @grounduppdx and Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/grounduppdx/. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Back on May 13th, 2020, we released show episode 39, an interview with Genevieve Brazelton, self-proclaimed “Bitter Housewife” and founder of The Bitter Housewife cocktail bitters. You realize very quickly there is absolutely nothing bitter about her, but her products certainly are. Quick background reminder: The Bitter Housewife products are cocktail bitters, handcrafted in small batches in Portland, Oregon. Bitters are a mixture of botanicals, roots, and spices steeped in a spirit base. They are used to complement, soften, or heighten the flavors of alcohol and cocktail ingredients. Adding bitters to a drink makes for a more complex flavor profile. Think all bitters are alike? No. You'll never find flavoring, coloring, or artificial preservatives in any of their products. They use only the highest quality whole ingredients to craft unmistakable flavors. Genevieve got tired of being “told” by bartenders and others about what to drink in a cocktail and tired of the eyerolls at some of her orders. Drinks shouldn’t have rules, she decided, and set out to produce a full line of bitters for others who were tired of being talked down to. Real ingredients, great taste and fun make a great cocktail. So what’s changed since our last show with her? On the first show, the company had one flavor. They quickly expanded to three but a quick look at their website shows eight incredibly creative flavors for your cocktail. However, that first product, a canned bitters-and-soda flavor was very popular and at one point was 50% of their online sales; a huge success. But then they killed the entire line. Distribution chain problems, production cost increases and cans became scarce and the whole perfect storm made continued production impossible. Grocery store shopping also came to a screeching halt because of COVID and the challenge was to get people to find their bitters, mainly online. Even that became an issue as well since Facebook and Google ads started changing their algorithms and ad response tanked. Plus breweries were putting more product in cans and that hurt because the company couldn’t get can production. So, regroup, as all entrepreneurs do! Production is much simpler now than blending bitters and soda and canning it. And then there are fewer skews to track as well. The downside is, of course, smaller revenue with the canned beverage line gone. It causes the owners to crawl through the financials line by line to see what’s necessary to keep the boat afloat and keeps the organization lean. It also makes decision-making clearer when dealing with a simpler product offering. You can find the eight flavors in grocery stores in the local Portland market and in specialty stores across the US. You can buy online at https://thebitterhousewife.com/. Follow them on: Instagram - @thebitterhousewife. Tiktok - @thebitterhouse. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

This show is a repeat of the “hottest” episode in Meaningful Marketplace’s series. Our own Sarah Marshall of Marshall’s Haute Sauce, interviews Catherine and Matt Kuerbis, Founders of Heat You Can Handle (HYCH) makers of another great hot sauce. They were first interviewed February 5, 2020 (episode #25) when the company was called Hoss Soss and we’re going to see what has changed in their business since then. These two traveled the world and eventually landed in Salem, Oregon to start their own company. Dissatisfied with hot sauces they would take home and find simply too flammable to swallow, they began to experiment with other ingredients and found great recipes they could enjoy cooking and eating. And since they had seen so much of the world and experienced so many other cultures, it was only natural to include those other exotic flavors into their sauces and start sharing them with the world. In 2016, they launched from their home kitchen and have been at it ever since. Both Heat You Can Handle and its acronym HYCH (Hitch) were adopted in January 2023 in place of the original name, Hoss Soss. The couple just knew they wanted to get rid of the more generic play on words and after session upon session of trying to find the perfect name, they saw it right in front of their own eyes. They had already trademarked the phrase “Heat You Can Handle” so why not let it be the company name? And HYCH fell right in line with “hitching” a ride on the carousel of world flavors the company offers, so it was a natural fit. Initially, the couple thought they would need a complete rebranding and did some label mock-ups getting rid of the black background, the flames and changing the type font. However, their customer base resisted, feeling the original graphics were more in tune with the spirit and attitude of the company. Catherine and Matt also discussed changing some of the flavor names, because they thought the international names were difficult to pronounce. Again, the loyal customers replied those names were authentic and helped make their company unique. So they renamed their company and rebranded the products while keeping the magic of the original name. The new name and rebrand effort took much more time than they anticipated and in hindsight, the couple wishes they had started the journey earlier. Key to their success was communication. Not only by being sensitive – and smart – going to their loyal customers first, but also by being out in front of the brand change with their retail customers. Catherine and Matt (married since their first show with us; congratulations) made sure as the old product ran out on the shelf that the new product was brought in to sit alongside the old and make the transition smooth for the shopper. When you visit the website, https://heatyoucanhandle.com/, you’ll see the video of Chef Matt (he has all the credentials) giving a rundown on all the flavors, with subtitles so you can read the exotic names. You can order sauces from there and find HYCH in retail locations. Follow them on: Twitter - @heatucanhandle, Instagram - @heatucanhandle, Facebook - @Heat You Can Handle, TikTok - @heatucanhandle. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Continuing our check in with previous show guests, Sarah Marshall talks today with Katie McCarron Founder of Portland Pet Food. Our last show with Katie was January 8, 2020 (episode #14) and to refresh our audience on her background story, Portland Pet Food began with the family Poodle, Rosie. At 14 years, Rosie had lost her appetite and her health declined. Determined to find something healthy that Rosie would love, Katie began cooking meals for her at home. She used locally-sourced, natural ingredients, and Rosie loved it. She regained her appetite and stayed strong for two and a half more years, living to 16 ½ years old! Just like that, Portland Pet Food Company was born. All products are human grade, no preservatives, hormones or meat by-products. Only natural and local meats, vegetables and grains are sourced. All meals and toppers are packaged in slim pouches that need no refrigeration. The company also produces baked goods for dogs and cats. Since our pre-COVID show with Katie, the company has added a couple of new lines to the product mix, but the most popular item continues to be the beef and rice dish originally served to Rosie the Poodle. The lockdown caused huge problems with the supply chain, hitting many industries hard and the pet food industry in particular. However, PPFC sources its ingredients locally, so they had a big advantage over other pet food purveyors. Not only that, but cans were in short supply during the lockdown as well. There again, advantage PPFC; the company packages it’s meals in pouches and the pouch supply did not suffer. The company also had the advantage of being an essential business, so they could remain open, but of course, people had to be protected. And during the lockdown, they managed to get by with no COVID cases. The company was also counter to the lockdown trend, its business growing instead of shrinking. However, expanding during the lockdown was tricky to navigate. The kitchen with which they started was small and volume got to be overwhelming. They added a second location, with their office still in a third location, and inventory, production and keeping track of everything became a nightmare. That challenge was solved when they moved into their current, 15,000 square foot building where they can maintain better control. Of course, there’s always a trade-off: The larger facility is a larger financial commitment which has added another challenge to the business. Plus, wheeling and dealing with distributors and grocery stores is a daunting task and finding the people with whom you can trust and do business with in the long haul is never easy. Katie and company also learned much about promoting their products in the last years. They used to promote all products at the same time and have learned to be more selective about both timing and products to promote. They enjoy store locations in both the entire US and much of Canada, a testament to their quality and the loyalty of pet lovers everywhere. They also enjoy a strong consumer direct business as you can see when you visit their website: https://portlandpetfoodcompany.com/. Follow them on: Twitter - @portlandpetfood Instagram - @portlandpetfood Facebook – IG @portlandpetfood. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

As we continue to look back and interview previous guests to learn how they are doing currently, our host Sarah Marshall talks with Tessa Koch of TMK Creamery. Our first interview with Tessa was November 20, 2019 (episode #6). They had just released their first dairy alcohol product, Cowcohol Vodka. And then the lockdown hit. The facility that was going to do their distilling suddenly had to switch all production to hand sanitizer and the big pivot was on. Tessa and her husband began to construct their own distillery and obviously learn HOW to distill alcohol. But not just figure out the final product, but also how to use the curds for new food products, purify the water and recycle it to the cows and turn the whole operation into a zero-waste production. The operation also is a closed system. TMK uses only the milk from the Cowlebrities (that’s right, new word invented by them) they own, no outside milk purchased. And in keeping with their complete transparency policy, they are very open to the public, encouraging visitations and offering tours. Of course, COVID and the lockdown threw a wrench into that model. At first, the numbers of visitors needed to be limited, but being an outdoor facility helped the company comply with protocol and still be able to allow the public access to their production process and beautiful acreage. The husband/wife team is very focused on educating children about the wholesome dairy business and will have 2,000 – 3,000 young people visit their farm every summer. The food and beverage operations are behind glass for health reasons, but the Cowlebrities and Junior Cowlebrities are in open barns and available to walk up to them and pet or feed them, or both! There also is a food truck with all their food items plus ice cream and ice cream treats and cocktails from their distilled beverages. So once more, entrepreneurs figure it out because they have a goal and a vision and the determination to get there. COVID pulled the rug out from under TMK’s plans by first taking away their distiller and then cutting down on their agritourism visitors. So Tessa and husband dug in, built their own distillery, managed their visitors and have come out with a unique and popular business educating and entertaining many. The tagline on their website at https://tmkcreamery.com/ says it all: Real Farm. Real Food. It all starts on the farm. Follow them at: FB and IG TMKcreamery and YouTube TMKcreamery. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

In 2000, three families got together to open a neighborhood market, a place where local communities could come together to connect with where their food came from. They wanted a friendly, inviting place that honored its region’s farmers, ranchers, growers and makers—helping them – and their customers – prosper for generations to come. They called it New Seasons Market. A previous New Seasons guest on our show, Lori Hunter whose title is Local Finds and Culinary Events Program Manager (say that three times in a row fast) joins our host Sarah Marshall to talk about the difference in operating their grocery store chain now, in comparison to her first, pre-COVID lockdown interview. Loris starts by saying that having an online presence has been one of the biggest changes since then. The shift worked well for New Seasons as people went to online shopping and grocery store pickup, because the company had aligned with Instacart early on. New Seasons also has a dedicated e-commerce team that worked with its vendor partners to load their product pictures and pricing information onto the website to keep sales moving. And to go the extra mile, New Seasons put its local vendor products on end caps and helped their vendor partners develop new recipes to stimulate sales. In the beginning of the COVID lockdown, they limited the number of people in the store and had all the social distance, masks, hand sanitizers and dots on the floor to keep customers and staff super safe as no one was sure what was going to happen. One of the big curve balls the lockdown threw to grocers was the proverbial toilet paper “shortage”. The grocery store that was popular was the store with toilet paper, right? But when the TP started getting distributed again, delivery trucks were full with nothing but TP, because the boxes were so large. This, of course, created a shortage of other products because there was no room left on the truck. But because New Seasons’ vendor profile has always been local makers and growers, their deliveries of cheese, fish, meat, vegetables, wine, fruit and all the other great foods didn’t change and they dodged the rows of empty shelves that many other grocers faced. Another big change was the traditional in-store sampling. The lockdown made the New Seasons’ team take a new look at staffing structure for that activity. Their previous formula was to let people in each store conduct sampling activities spontaneously and was heavily recipe driven. As Lori’s title of culinary events demonstrates, sampling is now arranged as a promoted and targeted event company wide. As an example, the chain recently promoted sockeye salmon in their sampling to create a great customer experience revolving around trying something new, liking it and buying it. The salmon is local and in addition, New Seasons promotes the sauces and spices to go along with the recipes and those are also locally sourced. And this cooperative spirit comes back to New Seasons: Their local vendor partners create recipes for the promoted items on their own social networks and wrap the effort around the item being sold at New Seasons Market. It all works to support the company’s mission: To build community through good food. Go to their website for a great experience: https://www.newseasonsmarket.com/. Social media: IG@newseasonsmarket. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Yvonne Finde, founder of Portland, Oregon based Momo Coco was the very first guest in our show series. This interview is a great opportunity for aspiring food entrepreneurs to hear not only how a fellow founder has survived and grown over the last years, but also managed to navigate the challenges of the COVID lockdown. She is the maker of a variety of non-dairy coco mixes so that everyone can enjoy a delicious, warm cup of coco. Most of their products are vegan and all are gluten free. The high coco butter content makes the drinks exceptionally creamy and highly comparable to dairy based coco drinks. So, since that first show in 2019, how have things changed for Momo Coco? For one thing, Yvonne was a startup back then with two or three products. The line has expanded greatly and the company has revamped its packaging since then. The coco mixes now come in a pouch you tear open and the company logo was enlarged and a bright color coding scheme was adopted to differentiate between flavors and to help the package stand out on the shelf. And if you look at the package you’ll see, front and center, a cat. That’s Momo, who represents “Curl Up With a Cup!”, the company’s trademarked slogan. Yvonne’s creativity and her mission to have everyone enjoy a cup of coco has earned the company Good Food Awards. These awards are given by organizations that support and honor food companies whose products are nutritious, sustainable and created with quality control. It’s not only an honor to be recognized, it’s great publicity and puts Momo Coco in a category shared with only the best companies. Part of the magic of Yvonne’s story is that chocolate is everywhere in the world and offers a way for everyone to connect. And by including those who cannot tolerate dairy, the ingredient becomes even more omnipresent in the globe. Momo Coco can be found in Farmers Markets in the Greater Portland/Vancouver area, at regional grocery stores plus The Meadow and its NYC stores, or purchase online: https://www.momococoa.com/. Follow them on Instagram - @momo_cocoa_co and Facebook - @momococoaco. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

A Florida native now living in Portland, Oregon, Margalaxy founder Margaux (no last name apparently; you know, Cher, Sting, Madonna) always had a passion for creating healthy bodies by feeding them healthy food. She also had a love of baking pastries since the age of 14. So with that as the background, here’s the story. Margaux got her degree in International Baking & Pastry Arts and spent 15 years in the baking world, seeing the gut busting cane sugary consumption of everyday Americans and pondering how to offer healthy pastries. She experimented with refined-sugar free, and healthier dessert options and upon arriving in Portland, her passion developed into helping individuals with their sugar addictions by offering her creations as an alternative. Margaux’s business savvy also plays heavily into her story, as she realized early on if she wanted to be successful in helping people, she needed to have a successful business strategy. She took the crawl-before-you-walk approach by offering a grab and go coffee cart which is still operating, then transitioning to a superfood bar and café location of which she is co-owner. Of course, the bar and café opened right at the beginning of lockdown – a familiar story – but pushed through the pandemic and survived. Margaux’s “Galaxy” as she explains it, happened when she put together the perfect orbit of grab and go, mixed with healthy foods, mixed with delicious dessert. This trifecta has evolved into a sugar liberation movement for all who wish to indulge without the side effects of refined sweet foods because her pastries are easy for the body to break down and use as fuel. Her products are made without ovens and refined sugar and Margaux is constantly experimenting with new recipes. Recently, the café and bar were honored in the top 20 vegan restaurants in Portland, a city with a huge vegetarian and vegan community. Margaux’s website, food cart, bar and café combination offer an incredible number of smoothies in addition to pastries and cookies. If you go to the galaxy website you’ll see the dazzling array of raw, dairy/gluten/soy free, nutrient rich of desserts: http://margalaxy.com/. Currently, Margalaxy’s products are available consumer direct from the website, food cart and bar and café: http://bestfriendpdx.com/ . Follow her on social media: IG @bestfriendpdx @margalaxysnacks, FB @bestfriendpdx @margalaxysnacks. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Sitting in her apartment, Clare McLeod took stock of her relationship with food. Like many young women, she had been addicted to “healthy eating”, restricting added sugar, calories, processed foods, etc. Because of those restrictions to only eat "clean" foods, she intensely craved "unclean" foods. That swing between restriction and indulgence was exhausting - physically, mentally and emotionally so she decided to do something about it. Clare adored Greek yogurt and consumed it daily but desired a dairy-free option to keep with her more vegan lifestyle. She tried 30 different brands looking for yogurt high in protein, low in sugar, thick in consistency, creamy, good tasting and under $10 a jar. Nothing! And so the inspiration to create her own brand to satisfy her desires and – hopefully – the desires of many other consumers on which to build a food business, was born. Clare started at the beginning of the COVID lockdown in 2020 to develop the right recipe in her kitchen. This was in Washington, D.C. where Clare was working an intense job but starting her business on the side. She was accepted into an accelerator program but the directors wanted her to quit her day job and that was not an option financially. This prompted her decision to move back to her home town of Portland, Oregon knowing that there was an intense community focus on Farmers Markets where she could begin sales and distribution on a startup budget. Back in D.C., Clare branded her first product alt, short for an alternative yogurt, but after moving to Portland, wanted a fresh start and therefore a fresh new name, ona. Clare liked vowels and short names and ona just rolled off the tongue. Clare’s recipe starts with tofu as a base and adheres strictly to a non-GMO sourcing regimen for the three main flavors, Oregon strawberry, Oregon marionberry and plain. She also believes in sourcing locally and supporting local businesses. The brand strikes a balance between what our bodies crave (a touch of authentic sweetness) and what we need (protein to get us through the day). After a year-plus break to work a job and perfect the yogurt culture, Clare launched the packaged ona product in 2023, so the new brand is still young. She sells only in Farmers Markets in the greater Portland area so far, but her success and drive will obviously keep her business growing. Website: https://www.onayogurt.com/about. IG @Ona.yogurt. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Sena Seafoods (pronounced see’ nuh) has a long, long history of fishing. As Sena Wheeler of Sena Seafoods recounts, her grandfather immigrated to the Ballard, Washington from Norway with his brothers and became a commercial fisherman in 1938. They fished using traditional Norwegian longlines, and passed the knowledge to their children, who passed it on again. Their boat logs show the family fished the waters from as far north as Alaska and as far south as Mexico. Sena's father, Art, fished for thirty years, and Sena has fond memories of making trips with him on the Alrita as a teenager. Now in their fifth generation of fishing, the family loves what they do and are contributing the dinner table as well as to the environment. Our hosts received some fishing education in this episode and want to pass it along to the listeners. Salmon are caught in smaller boats because they are found at the mouth of a river as it empties into the ocean. By contrast, a longliner is typically fishing for halibut, black cod and bottom fish out in the deep ocean. The term longline comes from using one very long line that is dropped to the ocean floor. It lays on the floor for about a mile and every three feet is attached a shorter line with a hook on it, called a ganyard. Crews are usually five fishers and the boat is large (imagine the boats in the show, “Deadliest Catch”) with hydraulics to pull in the longline. Processing is done in Sena Seafoods’ fisherman-owned custom processing facility in Cordova, AK (60 North Seafoods) where they focus on the frozen portion of their business, freezing six-ounce portions, wrapping them in parchment and individually vacuum-sealing each and every prize piece. They specialize in premium quality and traceability which means the fish never leaves their hands and they have complete control of our entire process. Selling directly to the consumer has allowed Sena Seafood to keep a high quality product by also educating their customers to the “whys” of their fish tasting better and what to look for in a quality cut of fish. Sena Wheeler is well qualified to handle the quality control aspects of the business as well as manage the environmental issues. She has a masters degree in Nutrition and Food Science with a specialty in quantifying omega 3's in fish, and determining preferred handling practices for premium quality. Go to their website to order amazing cuts of fish, spices, smoked fish and delicious recipes: https://www.senasea.com/pages/about-us. And follow them on social media at Instagram - https://instagram.com/senasea_seafoods and Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/senaseafoods/. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

"Inspiration is always the key to the startup, and Richa Gupta, Founder of Good Food For Good, got that inspiration in 2015. Growing up in India, her mother cooked three fresh meals each day – every day – for her family. Using only fresh and natural ingredients, Richa got to experience a nutritious childhood bathed in goodness. But upon moving to North America and having a demanding career in marketing at General Mills, Richa experienced a time squeeze that her mother never had. With a huge proportion of her time spent keeping up in her job, there was no time to purchase fresh ingredients and prepare fresh, home cooked meals for her children. And serving fast food such as pizza and burgers to her children was leaving her wracked with guilt, not being able to pass down the experience she enjoyed as a child. So the big question confronting Richa was this: How could she help other mothers create meaningful, nutritious meals for their children by providing them with wholesome ingredients to cut down on the time it takes to prepare those delicious, fresh cooked meals she enjoyed? It was a challenge, but nothing this bright and energetic woman was about to shy away from. First, none of her products would contain any refined sugar, soy, corn syrup, gluten, dairy, or preservatives. They would be certified organic. Her philosophy was, if you wouldn’t add it when cooking from scratch, you wouldn’t find it in her products either. And unlike most store-bought sauces you can find, she did not believe in relying on sugar and artificial additives for flavor. All of her organic sauces would be Keto, Paleo, Vegan, and Whole30 Approved. There are two “Goods” in the company name for a reason. The first is for the food, the second is for the good that goes to the world for buying her products. Every time you buy one of their products, they donate a meal to someone in need. They are a Buy One, Feed One venture on a mission to make the world a better place for all. Along with their customers, Good Food For Good has donated over 900,000 meals through partnerships with food banks & nonprofit organizations across the US, Canada and India. As a B Corp Certified™ Company, they use business as a force for good in the world. You can buy line at https://goodfoodforgood.ca/ and shipping is free in the US and Canada. You also can find her products in stores across North America. Find out more: IG @goodfoodforgood. FB @goodfoodforgood. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall. Instagram - @masoniandmarshall." Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Founder, CEO, Mom and Baker, Joanna Strahm takes on all the challenges of a female food entrepreneur and keeps moving forward. She is every inch the baker, beginning with her Mom in the family kitchen, side-by-side. The passion continued, and she chose to formalize her hobby into a profession, receiving a pastry certificate from Tante Marie’s in San Francisco. Although she had a fulltime job, she shoehorned in an internship at Tartine Bakery during the morning bake, the sure sign of a hardcore entrepreneur. The experience made her very employable at Batter Bakery, a very busy neighborhood bakery. It was there she learned to incorporate whole grains into baked goods to elevate flavors, a skill that would become the foundation of her own company. Batter Bakery also provided her with a crash course in starting a company from scratch. The Batter people decided to open up a satellite branch with Joanna the chosen implementor. Getting a baking business up and running from the ground up – on someone else’s dime – proved invaluable to Joanna in starting her own company. When the satellite branch did not work out, the Batter management encouraged Joanna to go out on her own, and that was the jump off point. She opened Small Baking Company in 2016, baking out of a shared kitchen space in Portland, Oregon. She was inspired by the style and flavors of the PNW and immediately built her recipes around them. First sales were in the ample locations of Farmers Markets in the area, and her success was quick. She still consistently sells out at nearly every market day, leaving sad customers who got in line a little too late! The company has wholesale accounts and their delights are available at select restaurants. They also accept orders online for pickup at the Farmers Markets. However, it’s a good idea to order early, the company is still not able to keep up with current demand. The menu includes lots of different whole grain cookies and rotating flavors of scones, cakes, and more. Joanna uses seasonal, locally sourced ingredients whenever possible, including organic whole grains and seasonal fruits. Just this year, Small Baking Company moved to their very own kitchen in their hometown, Oregon City, where they plan to have a drive up window soon. Besides their retail channel, Small Baking Company creates custom orders for your very special occasions such as weddings, graduations, anniversaries and so forth. The website is well crafted and shows off the line well: https://www.smallbaking.co/. IG: @smallbakingco. FB:@smallbakingco. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

In the late 1980’s Mahsa Darabi’s family made the big immigration jump from Iran to Lake Oswego, Oregon, USA. That’s the real beginning of her company, The Moody Persian, because it was Mahsa’s heritage from Iran that she learned to fall back on and from which to draw both strength and happiness. As a Middle Easterner dropped into a very Western culture, she endured the slurs and laughter sent her way by those who saw her as different. At first this was humiliating to her, but then she found that clinging to her culture and background made her proud that she had a different point of view on life and that her point of view was warm and beautiful. And much of that culture revolved around succulent food shared at a big table with family, friends, singing and dancing. As Mahsa began cooking and sharing her Iranian dishes with others, the heckling and cat calling started to die down and the cultural gap began to evaporate. Once again, the power of sitting down together and sharing a meal broke down previous cultural barriers. Mahsa had another talent as it turned out. Starting at about 14 years old, she began acting in TV commercials and launched a budding modeling career. Yet again, she found her background “differences” – her facial and body features – that made her feel like an ugly duckling were considered exotic and exactly what modeling agencies look for. Then COVID rocked her life, cutting off her work and leaving her in terror for the health of her family, including the recent birth of their third child. This is where Mahsa turned again to the power of cooking and sitting down to a meal together. She didn’t want her daughters to Zoom away their day, so she started teaching them science, math and culinary arts. She had them all in the kitchen cooking and preparing meals and that made sitting down together afterward an even richer experience. Mahsa has always found the kitchen as the place where she could concentrate, and it was there that the idea for her company was born. She always liked being in front of the camera so she decided to share recipes on Instagram. Then, when assembling recipes to write a book, Mahsa remembered that there was usually some person who inspired her to create that recipe and put her into the mood to create that dish. The Moody Persian name was born. Also part of her Iranian/Persian culture is tea, and she drinks lots. Too much as it turned out, as she was getting the jitters from too much caffeine. So she looked for decaffeinated tea but did not like the taste and longed for the spices and richness of her home tea but without the caffeine. Back to the kitchen, Mahsa took a year of experimenting and came up with Moody Chai, which is available on her website. Mahsa has been a finalist on Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen. She’s also been a real estate agent, private chef, accidental influencer, and has enjoyed an enduring career as a model and actor in the Portland area for over 20 years. Website: https://www.moodypersian.com/. Social media: @moodychai @themoodypersian. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Always looking for that REALLY unique gift? Lots of people, and lots of companies, are looking all the time. To dazzle the recipient, brighten their day, or make a memorable impression. That’s the business of Founder Leigh Griffith who owns Bella Vino Gifts. Bella Vino is a hyper-local gift procureing company that puts a dazzling touch on the cornucopia chosen by the buyer. Bella Vino’s packaging, whether boxes, baskets or bags, is simply stunning and is so hand crafted it gives a custom, “made just for you” impression. The uniqueness of the company is in the sourcing. All items in the gift are from Oregon women-owned and small-family owned businesses. And those Oregon food entrepreneurs have an amazing, imaginative range of gifts from food items, toys, snacks, wines and beers. Wine and beer have some restrictions on shipping, but nothing major. This ambitious business works because of a robust website. Individuals can order a box or basket online with some room for customizing the gift and then putting the sophisticated ribbons and bows on from there. Custom orders can be really fun as well, and you should visit the website to see that there is no limit to the imagination for Leigh to turn into a gift. Corporate gifts are custom and volume oriented and this is where a company’s brand gets glowing reviews. Any company looking to make a lasting statement with their customers and partners can score big time with Bella Vino Gifts as they are breathtaking. And small businesses and individual consultants, real estate agents and others who have a personal connection to their clients also can benefit from the Bell Vino mystique. The company is located in Corvallis, Oregon, home of Oregon State University (whose OSU Food Innovation Center is a sponsor of this show) and most of the products sourced come from this area. How did Leigh think of this great idea? Well, speaking of OSU, Leigh graduated from there with a degree in exercise and science which led her to do the “gym thing” in Portland, Oregon for a while. A back issue scratched that career from her life list, but she found that she was extraordinary in the field of gift packaging, which she stumbled onto simply by creating packages for her friends. Baby showers, birthdays and other occasions started the word of mouth and pretty soon someone convinced her she could sell her packaging talent. Leigh then did her homework, researching magazines and searching the Internet to figure out how to start and maintain a business. She made the decision to look locally for food gifts initially and magically found the best items were from the small family and women owned businesses. That turned out to be a huge selling advantage, as customers were eager to support those types of businesses. Of course, the focus of our show, “Meaningful Marketplace”, is to highlight female food entrepreneurs, we so truly have a mutual admiration society going here. Website: https://bellavinogiftbaskets.com/. Insta: @BellaVinoGifts. FB: @bellavinogiftbasketspage. Pinterest: @bellavinogifts1. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Dtocs Founder and Mompreneur Pallavi Pande explains the company name “Dtocs” comes from the obvious word that means “a cleansing journey”. And this is what inspires her mission to collect fallen palm leaves and use them for beneficial purposes before they deteriorate beyond usefulness. The slight variation in spelling is to catch a person’s interest and begin the conversation into the life benefits the company has to offer them. But Pallavi’s detoxification process is much larger in scope than the usual cleansing of the body, she is looking to detox the planet. Their products are straws, spoons, bowls, plates and party packs made from naturally fallen palm leaves on which to enjoy your clean, healthy meals while having the knowledge that the utensils you are using are completely biodegradable. They are chemical free, plastic free, compostable, microwave safe, elegant and single use disposable. And Pallavi’s design sense for a clean, lean, minimal impact on the planet company goes one step beyond being sustainable and environmentally careful. Dtocs employs a majority female workforce and part of the proceeds from sales go towards improving education for the poor local communities in India. Her line is tasteful, uplifting, and beautifully designed, to show you can be a sophisticated person and still be responsible to Mother Earth. How did she get there? Her upbringing is from India and the diet and philosophies of her upbringing continue today. While in India, she wanted to spread the consciousness of being aware of one’s senses and surroundings. When visiting a farm that grew nuts that fell from palm trees, she got the idea of making something of the fallen leaves before they rotted. By heat-compressing the leaves, they are easily shaped into the designer table wares and their natural beauty is an added attraction. This particular palm only grows in India, so don’t go taking the leaves off the palm trees in your neighborhood and expect to make plates and straws. Now people have a choice for their single-use utensil products; ones that sit in the landfill or Dtocs utensils that give back to the earth. Pallavi sums it up best on her website: I started DTOCS with these 3 things in mind- Sustainability, Community and Usability. Dtocs products are available online, https://dtocs.com/. Wholesale prices also are on the site. Personal Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pallavi-pande-bb5abb1b/, Business Linkedin for Dtocs- https://www.linkedin.com/company/57414687/admin/, Fb page- https://www.facebook.com/dtocsplates, Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dtocsplates/, Tiktok- https://www.tiktok.com/@dtocsplates, Pinterest- https://www.pinterest.com/palpande/ , Twitter- https://twitter.com/DtocsL, youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9fvPs051hLboYHa_XjxlUg. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

There are wheat farms, corn farms, even fish farms, but not a lot of thimbleberry farms. In fact, we only know of one and that’s the Thimbleberry Collaborative Farm located in east Multnomah County, Oregon. So what is a thimbleberry anyway? It fits on the end of your finger as does a thimble and is similar to a raspberry with a bit more tartness. It grows wild and makes a great hiking snack, so look for them on your next outdoor trek. When the founders of Thimbleberry, including Executive Director Amanda Martinez, came up with their concept of a sustainable collaborative farm, the thimbleberry plant made the statement they were looking for. Thimbleberries grow by expanding through their root system; they pop up naturally in all kinds of locations. That made it a popular symbol for the founders as they wanted their farm concept to grow in the community the same natural way. It also is notable the group calls their farm a collaborative and not a collective. The founders recognized there were other great organizations that had been serving the community longer than they had and so collaborating with them in workshops, education, CSA efforts and so forth expanded everyone’s reach and success in the community. Thimbleberry has focused on the vegetables and fruits that grow well in the region with impressive results on a half-acre plot. That will change soon as they expand to a five-acre plot close to their current location. The farm is a constant experiment in agriculture to always be on the leading edge. The founders just started a deep mulch initiative, which will allow for an earlier start to the growing season. And there is a learning garden for experimenting with new foods and new growing practices as well as producing food for the community members and serves as the classroom for their field trips and workshops. Although not open to the public at all times right now, the group has applied for all the necessary permitting for their new, larger farm to allow much more public interaction. Amanda’s background is a natural for her Executive position. She grew up in the hills near San Jose, CA, where she and her family raised farm animals as pets. She attended Stanford University, where she studied Sustainable Food Systems and Agriculture on the University farm. She has worked on educational farms, directed summer camps and managed nonprofit organizations which shaped her dream to start an educational community farm. Additionally, Amanda recently graduated from an MBA program at Yale School of Management. Find out more at Instagram is @thimbleberrycollaborativefarm. Website: https://thimbleberrycollaborativefarm.org/. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Shelley Elkovich and husband Jeff were always entertaining people, with Shelley taking the role of bartender. Then, the couple took a whale watching trip on the Salish Sea where Shelley developed an extremely rare neurological reaction to the boat trip. It affected her equilibrium and cause her “break up with booze”, as she puts it. Shelley soon became aware of how people can feel marginalized when they don’t join in with a drinking crowd and it bothered her. A self-described food nerdie, Shelley looked for, but couldn’t find, alcohol free drinks that met both her palate standards and her ingredient standards. And as happens so often in the entrepreneur world, when you can find what you want, start making it yourself, and that’s just what the couple did. In spring of 2020 they launched For Bitter For Worse. A playful pun on their wedding vows, yes. But more, a heads up to the consumer that Shelley, the Taste Maven of the company, likes cocktails with spark, with zest and drinks that create a memory, this from her years behind the bar. Her experience also determined the line, offering two sparkling drinks currently, which are great as aperitifs or spritzers. One still beverage is a red beverage basically an alcohol free red wine. The other still is a potent, smoky nightcap, so the entire entertainment evening is covered from AF aperitifs to AF nightcaps. The couple also has taken their AF red wine and added single servings in cans, keeping up with consumer preferences. The process to create these elixirs is quite fascinating. Jeff’s the Reverse Bootlegger. For Bitter For Worse uses all botanical ingredients for their beverages. They macerate this proprietary blend of herbs and botanicals in neutral alcohol and water to extract the flavors. Using a still, the remove the alcohol (“reverse bootlegging”). This creates their robust, bitter spirit base. Jeff invented the patent-pending process and converted Shelley’s recipes to scalable formulas, no easy fete. This is how the couple is fulfilling their mission: To provide sober folks and those who are simply cutting back on booze a way to embrace occasion and community, inviting opportunity for richer relationships. They aim to create a healthier, more inclusive culture. For Bitter For Worse beverages are available in major groceries stores in Oregon, select grocers across the US and online at http://forbitterforworse.com/. Social media at @forbitterforworse and Twitter @drinkFBFW. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

It’s Fancy Foods Show time again, the big industry show of the Specialty Foods Association. SFA is a membership-based trade association in the United States representing 3,000+ member companies. The SFA was established in 1952 to foster trade, commerce and interest in the specialty food industry in the U.S., worth $148 billion as of May 2020. Our very own Sarah Masoni is on the board of SFA and so is a strong believer in the benefits aspiring food entrepreneurs can receive. Attending the Fancy Foods industry show puts company owners face-to-face with distributors and retailers alike. The Association obviously has accumulated tons of data available to company owners and also offers many instructional courses for going to market and expanding. Regional support staff also is close by to answer entrepreneur questions and help keep your company growing. Enough about the organization and on to the Winter Fancy Foods show in Las Vegas this last January. Sarah Masoni took a group to Incubator Village, including Nomad Snacks, FiMi Kingston, Portland Salt Company, Community Co-Pack Northwest, TaTu Protein Waters and Tan Tan, Deli, all previous guests on our shows. Feedback from everyone was positive and there also was an Oregon pavilion which drew good crowds. Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center, of which Sarah Masoni is Director, had a space in the Innovation Village. And in that space, our own Sarah Marshall, Marshall’s Haute Sauce, had her first pop-up chef’s counter. Sarah cooked for some of the food companies Sarah Masoni brought along highlighting their products in her dishes. The extra room to cook made for a much more kitchen-like area for preparing than the usual crammed booth and the results were very well received. On the menu: Steak and potato bites on a skewer and later on, lettuce wraps. The creative and new idea brought people in who filmed the action and not only the Association but also YouTube channels filmed and played the unique idea. It has resulted in great publicity for Sarah, her Haute Sauce line and also for the recipes she has created and offers in her books. Of course, we are students in life and constantly learning, and Sarah Marshall now has learned more about transporting food and cooking utensils. One of the best parts of the show is expanding one’s palate because of all the fine foods from around the world brought to one location for sampling. The other great aspect is seeing where the food trends are going to keep up with the industry. Here are the top 10 as Fancy Foods sees them: 1.Non-Alcoholic Cocktail Culture, 2.Fermented for Function, 3.Honey Is Hot, 4.New Packaging Form and Utility, 5.Starters, Bases, Kits, and Shortcuts for Convenience, 6.Pantry Without Borders, 7.Sustainable, Upcycled, or Regeneratively Grown Ingredients, 8.High-Quality Meal Prep, 9.Health in Balance and 10.Beneficial Beans (and Lentils). Interesting; we’ve seen many products in these categories show up on the show and many more being produced in Oregon, home state of our hosts. So tune in even deeper on social media for Sarah and Sarah: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Guest number nine on our podcast show in late 2019, Jacoba Gundle was just getting ready to launch their new product a protein beverage. That, of course was the beginning of the COVID lockdown and a lot of commerce came to a screeching halt, including their targeted marketplace. The company had been readying packaging, fine tuning its recipes and had called its drink Restore Protein Water. Co-packers were all lined up and then…nothing. The market strategy was to sell at yoga studies, Pilates studios, exercise gyms and all in-person types of venues, which of course were vaporized. So from that point until 2021, the company rebranded, changed their marketing strategy, kept the formulation engineered at Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center (our very own Sarah Masoni is Director) and named the drink Tatu (tah too’) Protein Water. There are two flavors, lemon ginger and orange mango, both loaded with 15 grams of protein but zero sugar per can. So the sudden stop of the lockdown became a blessing in disguise according to Jacoba, because it forced the company to slow down, make more thoughtful decisions and clearly this new path is working well. The company, Mindful Proteins has created its distribution through grocery store shelves and online sales. However, now that in-person venues are revitalized, the company is also selling in the yoga and exercise studios it originally targeted. Orange Theory studios and cycling studios have been particularly popular places to sell Tatu as people are paying attention to health more and more. And Mindful Proteins is right there to serve them as their mission is to create a family of high-protein, functional foods and beverages made from healthy and simple ingredients. So the vision is for many lines of healthful food products for people seeking that healthy lifestyle. Tatu is the first and appeals to the active person because of the high protein content. At 15 grams per can, each can delivers about one-third of the daily recommended amount and it’s the protein, especially right after a workout, that restores muscle growth, helps prevent soreness and provides an energy lift after exercise. The word is getting out. BevNET, a Beverage Business Insight industry blog and highlighted by Fancy Foods as a new trending item. There is a mission behind the mission, as well. Mindful Proteins is sustainable at every turn, including the cans, packaging and a commitment to people, planet and profit. They track with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and you can check their progress on their website: https://mindfulproteins.com/. Also: IG @drinktatu. Tiktok is apparently live but Jacoba didn’t know the handle at show time. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

2007 Was the birthday party for Montavilla Famers Market of Portland, Oregon, when the local residents and business people decided to get together, raise some money and provide a community resource. It has remained a staple for the neighborhood and indeed the city and is still located on the same grounds. In 2020, Lisa Hall joined as the Marketing Manager, doing such an outstanding job that about a month ago, she was named Executive Director of the entire operation. It’s only natural. Not only does Lisa have a marketing background, she lives in the Montavilla area, circulates amongst the neighbors and truly has an ear to the ground for the community’s desires for an open marketplace. Montavilla is the real Goldilocks size; not too big and not too small, 80-90 vendors during the year. That gives the populace a place to shop for craft foods without being crushed by the masses and yet have a great selection of specialties to take home. Lisa has a solid background for running the Montavilla market, having been part of the Portland Farmers Market previously. That organization ran five market places and was one of the largest in the area. The big difference was of course resources; the Portland organization had more vendors and revenue and could do special events such as bringing in name chefs for demonstrations. However, the neighborhood market scene caters to the loyal neighbors who live close by, shop regularly and it maintains a family feel you don’t get with the big crowd of large events. In fact, a survey recently showed about half of the people at the market walked there from their home. To become a vendor, a company applies online and if their product looks enticing and like it would add to the overall offering of the market, they are invited to present to a taste test group for a final approval. If the company has a viable product that would appeal to the shoppers, then space obviously is the next consideration, as a small, intimate marketplace needs to remain small. That aspect comes into play during seasonal items, such as fruits and berries, which take up a lot of the limited room. Another wrinkle about being a reflection of the neighborhood is recognizing its ethnicity. Not only does the market offer ethnic foods desired by the community, the market’s website highlights them in different languages to cater to the people living there. And in keeping with their mission to provide local, healthy food to the community, a vendor requirement is that at least 25% of their ingredients be sourced directly from farmers. Many vendors source an even larger percentage and therefore stand out. This guideline keeps the authenticity and vision of the boutique market alive. Plus, it adds to the farm-direct offering of dairy products, farm-direct wines, beers, ciders and even beans and grains by solidly engaging the local farmers. The market is open fulltime year-round now as the vendors and farmers wanted the outlet for their foods and the neighbors were delighted to have fresh foods offered year round. Win-win. So you have a number of businesses trying to survive and shoppers looking for their food treasures. The rhythm of the market meets the rhythm of the community. Harmony on display. To learn more: IG and FB: @montavillamarket. Website: montavillamarket.org. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

In 2011, Liz Albeth started Portland Creamery, a goat cheese (ch’evre if you are in the know) and whey producer. Not just any goat cheese mind you, but the best quality from a single herd of prized goats and cheese made on the farm using traditional practices. This herd is internationally ranked and considered one of the finest in the US. In 2018, she sold the operation to Shawn Fels a cheese industry veteran who wanted to spread more quality cheese to more consumers and, in his words on the website, “while maintaining its roots as a delicious and ethically produced food that nurtures ones love for food with every bite.” This fervor for quality has made their brand a outstanding part of fine foods as they have blended their cheeses with many complimentary flavors all of which are sublime. Control is the key to quality and the Portland Creamery is a farmstead operation. That means the herd, milking parlor and cheese making is all done not only on the same farm, but in the same building. There are only two walls separating the goats from the cheese processing; you can’t get more stringent quality control than that. During the unfolding of the creamery’s story was the story of Emily Davidson, currently the CEO. Starting out as a ¨Bovine Beautician¨ prepping cows for competition, Emily worked on dairies during college and eventually found her “whey” as a cheesemaker (and a lover of good puns). After living in France in 2019, she joined Portland Creamery and moved up to CEO in January of 2022. With all the verve, passion and vision of the Portland Creamery history, Emily embodies the company’s goals and has been the driver to take their fine product out to the world. One of Emily’s company directives is to build the whey portion of the product line. She’s done this by developing whey caramel syrups. Beautifully bottled, these syrups infuse whey and other flavors into caramel to create a unique taste that simply must be sampled. Similar to real maple syrup in some ways, these syrups offer a warm, homey flavor to all foods and recipes where syrups are used. Emily was the driving force in repackaging the syrups, adding new flavors to increase the line and emphasizing they had an extended shelf life for salability. This process does more than expand the company’s sales. Whey is about 80% of the milk, so utilizing the whey instead of disposing of it is a fabulous way to stop waste. But distribution is the key to sales for any company and Emily is working on expanding it. Both the cheeses and the syrups are available online at https://portlandcreamery.com. They are sold in restaurants mostly in the Portland, Oregon area. You can find their products on the shelves of grocery stores in much of Oregon and in Farmers’ Markets in Oregon as well. In addition to their website, find out more on Instagram: @portlandcreamery and @friendincheese and Facebook: @portlandcreamery. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

It was tummy troubles for founder Julia Baker in the summer of 2018 that created the impetus for the company to be called Brothy. Or to put it far, far less delicately as Julia says, she spent a lot of 2018 “on the toilet”. The issue of gut health has been the inspiration and desperation that has caused the birth of many a new food product, and Brothy is a classic example. Her tumultuous journey lasted for about a year, trying traditional medicines to alleviate the condition without success. A naturopath friend suggested Julia had leaky gut and wondered if Julia had tried bone broth. And as we have seen in many of these shows, a desperate person will try anything so Julia started eating broth which turned out to be the magical cure. Julia stresses she was definitely not the stereotypical food entrepreneur. She didn’t grow up in the kitchen playing with recipes and delighting in serving a great food to a big table of family and friends. In fact, she grew up going to restaurants and leaving the cooking to others. Who knows what caused Julia’s abdominal problems, but the extreme discomfort and looking for relief has lead to becoming founder and CEO of her own company and reinforces that necessity is most assuredly the Mother of invention. But Julia didn’t just go to the store and get off the shelf broth. Absolutely not. She went to farmers’ markets, sourced high-quality, local ingredients and started experimenting and formulating her own recipes. After a couple of months, Julia began feeling better, much better. She continued to make bone broth a staple of her diet and soon began to share it with family and friends, always having a big mason jar of bone broth in the refrigerator. Then her story became a more traditional food startup story. The friends loved it, asked for more and so Julia took the plunge and started a business to introduce her broth to the world. About a year old now, the company is getting traction as many people are experiencing the healing power of broth. The healing power, in Julia’s opinion, comes from all the collagen that gets extracted from the bone and surrounding tissue. One of the amino acids related to good health, collagen is prominent in helping repair the leaky gut Julia’s naturopath friend had diagnosed. Not recognized by traditional medicine, leaky gut is thought to be caused by stress and a diet heavy in processed foods that tend to deteriorate the gut lining, causing leakage. This then disrupts food digestion, causes inflammation and leaves many people, “on the toilet”. The recipe for Julia’s bone broth is not traditional, she has her science down. The simmering will be 24 hours or so for chicken broth, up to 72 hours for beef bone broth. Julia’s broth, however, is made by roasting the bones with vegetables in avocado oil before they go into the simmering pot. This brings out a better flavor she has found. Brothy can be purchased at Portland, Oregon area farmers’ markets or their website and shipped to your home. You can find Brothy at, website: https://www.brothypdx.com/, IG: @brothypdx on Instagram. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

It’s definitely a journey from working in the farm fields that provide the restaurant food to owning the restaurant itself, but that’s what the De Leon family of Portland, Oregon has done. The journey started in 1973, and this interview marks the grand opening of Lucy De Leon’s newest restaurant, Salsas Locas. They operated their first restaurant for 23 years before moving to the current Salsas Locas location. The business started, not surprisingly, in Mrs. De Leon’s kitchen Lucy De Leon’s Mother). She specialized in tamales and salsas for family and friends. Then the usual entrepreneur script played out; word of mouth made her delicacies popular and she and family realized a business could be created. In addition to serving these and more items in the restaurant, the De Leon enterprise sells the tamales, different flavored salsas and flavors of burritos to local grocery stores, including in our sponsor’s stores, Market of Choice. But the family has always been about community as well as commercialization. Their generous farm to school program serves the children. A written goal in Lucy’s office, she wanted tamales on children’s lunch plates and has had that dream come true. And it has come true thanks with help from another of our show’s sponsors, Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center. Their programs helped Lucy and team navigate the regulations and food formulations so that the meals could meet school standards. The family has also adjusted the tamale fillings to each particular school district. Districts with large Hispanic populations prefer meat tamales with red sauce. Others prefer vegan tamales, green chili and cheese and other combinations that the company has willingly accommodated. The story behind this is a typical one of “right place, right time”. Lucy was at a food show where Portland Public School personnel were also attending. The supplier of their tamales was a California company whose building had just burned down, leaving the PPS high and dry. So after the introduction, Lucy was asked if she could have 15,000 tamales ready in one week. Of course, every entrepreneur answers “Yes!” to the opportunity, then figures out how to deliver later. But Lucy figured it out, made good on the order and it has been a solid relationship since. Lucy’s parents started the business and while in college, Lucy decided to take a year off and join them. All went well but COVID forced her parents to retire and now it’s Lucy running the business with some part time help from her husband and her son when he’s not in college. The company currently employs 32 working the restaurant, wholesale, retail, school programs and catering businesses. Catering has its interesting story too. Lucy worked farmers’ markets for eight years promoting her products. It was tough, rigorous and sometimes disappointing work, but the exposure gave her gigs that got her brand out in the community and lead to her current success. Lucy credits her work ethic to her parents, migrant workers with a dream. One of her father’s sayings is, “The sun shines for everyone, but you have to go get it!”. Website: https://salsaslocas.com/. IG @salsaslocas. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

You might say Eryn Domeyer and her husband got “hooked” on fishing originally as a hobby, then as a sport, before it became a business for them. After getting married, they moved back to the Pacific Northwest and were invited by friends to do some Albacore tuna fishing. They loved the excitement. Soon, they were keeping score with their friends in how many fish they could catch and even entered some fishing tournaments. Because they were good fishers, they had more catch than they could eat, so started giving it away to friends and family. After they had been told their fish was the best their friends had ever tasted, the entrepreneurial question popped up: “Would people actually PAY for our fish?”. So in 2014 they began fishing and selling Albacore, halibut and salmon out of Ilwaco, Washington. The trio offering is what spawned the name Tre-Fin; three kinds of fish. Then in 2019 they expanded their harvest to ling cod, rock fish, petrale and more. Commercial fishing for salmon did not work for them after awhile and the company switched to sablefish as a replacement. The company has an official designation as a Community Supported Fishery, CSF, making their fish on your dinner plate a hyper-local event. It works like this: Customers sign up as members of the CSF and pre-order and pre-pay for a certain amount of fish, usually in five or ten-pound boxes. This gives the fishers not only a goal of fish to catch so they don’t over-fish, it also gives the company and employees financial security for their season. Then from July through October, the Tre-Fin crew goes out on one boat, in and out each day. They line fish, meaning they only use a pole and catch one fish at a time. Each catch is brought into the boat using a gentle net, not a piercing gaff. Each fish is handled by a person, not a machine, and each is hand-cut, fresh frozen and sealed for the freshest meal possible. The boxes of fish delivered are of the same weight but not always the same number of cuts, or loins as they are called. Since no two fish are alike and since they are custom cut, they loins vary a bit in size and shape, but that is the hand touch, authenticity and specialness that customers are looking for from Tre-Fin. Members can order one kind of fish or an assortment and there are multiple pickup locations in Oregon and Washington during certain days and times to get their fish. Home deliveries also are possible. The stability of a CSF also allows Tre-Fin to deliver quality fish at a slightly lower price than other markets. The creed of Tre-Fin’s founders is simple: Sustainable fishing. They only catch the number of fish that have been ordered, they only fish for healthy stocks and they only fish their local waters. This is a very powerful concept that provides conscientious consumers with a mechanism to enjoy eating fish harvested in a responsible manner. Website: https://trefinfoods.com/. Instagram - @dayboattuna. Facebook -@Tre-Fin Foods. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

How do you spell CAT? Wrong. It’s CATT, at least when you’re talking about Catt Fields White, the high-powered organizer, teacher, consultant, author, podcaster and believer in connecting farmers and those who believe in nutritious, creative foods through 21st century farmers’ markets. Her background prepared her well for this path, starting out as a food writer, then becoming a marketing consultant for restaurants, then a construction project manager for a company that built restaurants, then a turnaround consultant for restaurants. One of her turnaround clients, after receiving Catt’s advice, simply offered her their restaurant and so she operated it for a few years. Then she took all that accumulated knowledge and shared it with independent restaurant owners through a trade publication she started from scratch. But after the kids were grown and out of the house, Catt tired of the car-oriented life of Phoenix, AZ and moved to downtown San Diego, CA where almost everything was accessible on foot. The only thing missing was grocery shopping. The few Italian delis in Little Italy didn’t add up to a full shopping experience for fresh items, so she offered to the Little Italy Association to start a farmers’ market and with all her restaurant and purveyor contacts, began putting the pieces together. The idea was to split the profits and so everyone agreed. However, about six months into operation, the Association felt the traffic was too light, the market was an embarrassment to the neighborhood and wanted to shut it down. Catt convinced them to give it a little more time and that turned out to be the tipping point, success from then on. Dubbed the Little Italy Mercato in 2008, it has grown into the county’s largest weekly year-round farmers’ market, stretching over six city blocks, with 180 tents any given Saturday and around 22,000 attendees. They have added a Wednesday market so that local neighbors can shop without the crowds. Just as Catt shared her restaurant knowledge as a consultant and publisher, she began sharing the steps to her farmers’ market success with other farmers. She founded Farmers Market Pros to make the journey easier for small farmers, food makers and other market managers and to advocate for farmers markets’ critical place in local food systems. She usually worked in conjunction with community associations and business improvement organizations, stayed close to operations until managers could be transitioned in. Now with Farmers Market Pros, she consults all over the US and is headed soon to Canada and the UK as her fame and reputation keep growing. Farmers Market Pros is where Catt offers education to farmers through her Vendor 101 program series, a conference called InTents: A Farmers Market Conference, and her weekly podcast, Tent Talk. All meant to educate and help farmers be successful. Find out more at cattwhite.com, Instagram at @farmersmarketpros and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FarmersMarketPros. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

A Pacific Northwest camper, hiker, fisher, and ocean swimmer. That’s the growing-up bio of Aiyesha Christian. And being the super outdoors person, Aiyesha also was obviously a big consumer of trail mix to keep her nutrition gauge from going empty. But the trail mix she found was just too dull; either too much salt or too much sugar, always the same ingredients and definitely not enough flavor. Aiyesha loved her outdoor life and wanted all the diversity, flavors, freshness and spirit to be reflected in the food she put into her body, especially when she was on the outdoor trails – being a nomad of course. She had the food background to begin her venture, having worked in restaurants and having tended bars. She began the grand experiments in her kitchen and her friends and family ooed and ahhed over her creations. Some of them also steered her to the Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center in Portland, Oregon and straight to the Director, our show host Sarah Masoni. Sarah was duly impressed with the great taste of the trail snacks and immediately encouraged Aiyesha to continue with the recipes and learn how to commercialize her products so that more people could share in her discovery and the Nomad company began to take shape. One of her first big wins was being part of the Food Innovation Center’s holiday markets, where she became introduced to Market of Choice, one of our show sponsors, and got signed on to be displayed on their shelves. Each flavor of Nomad mix has its own special story, Tide Pool to represent the coast, Forest for the woods and so forth. But Aiyesha has a guideline for each product and flavor. Each bag contains at least one type of seed, nut, fruit, and vegetable. It is gluten free, paleo, and almost vegan except for locally sourced honey as the only added sweetener. All the snacks are great to share with your pet, but Aiyesha is contemplating a pet line of snacks as well. So why this foyer into the saturated market of trail snacks, a market that is old, dominated by big food companies that bought up all the small ones years ago and have all the shelf space already taken? In one of her Masters of Business classes, Aiyesha was introduced to the book, Blue Ocean Strategies, that talked about finding new opportunities in old, stodgy markets. This gave her the insight to find her new opportunity and she is making the most of it. Her packaging is exquisite and truly reflects the mission of her company, and the website is impressive. Grocery store shopping is localized in the Pacific Northwest currently, but all products are available online. And in alignment with Aiyesha's love of the outdoors, Nomad gives a percentage of profits to partnered organizations that focus on the protection, rejuvenation, and integrity of our precious communities and environments. Website: www.nomadmix.com, questions: [email protected], IG: @nomadsnackmix. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall Instagram - @masoniandmarshall. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times. Yes, that’s backward from the original prose, but that was how Becca Christansen, Co-Founder of Portland Salt Co, and her partner got started. It was December, 2021, COVID/pandemic when things couldn’t look bleaker that they took the entrepreneurial plunge. Becca’s background is certainly tailor-made for business, having a finance and sales resume and 18 years in the fast-moving technology sector. She and partner Justin loved and lived to travel the globe and enjoy each culture through its local cuisine. Their passion helped them find their way into some of the world’s top restaurants and learn from famous chefs. They had always felt that the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean held the finest salts on the planet and so it became their hobby to harvest it and enhance it with spices to highlight the flavors in different foods. Their steak salt became famous in their circle of family and friends to the point of being asked for shipments of the condiment. But it was the worst of times - the lockdowns during COVID – that increased the frequency and quantities being requested to the point of propelling them into birthing their new business, The Portland Salt Co; the best of times. Much of the magic of the company is in the balancing of the purity of the Pacific sea salt with the added herbs and spices. Becca wants the cooks and chefs using their product to spend time and effort over the stove and not extra prep time blending and mixing spices and rubs. All this comes from Becca’s lifelong love affair with food as a lens into people’s enjoyment and culture. She loves to cook and entertain, so she definitely has her audience in mind when creating condiments and rubs to add to their ceremony of preparing meals for family and friends. Obviously, the company is young. And Becca’s time in hi-tech is not over, Portland Salt Co is a side-gig for now until it takes on more popularity. However, the couple has accomplished much in a relatively short time. You can find their products on select grocery store shelves in Oregon and Washington, including those of our sponsor, Market of Choice. Also, you can order from their website, which is very tastefully done. There are individual condiments, spices and rubs in addition to terrific looking gift packs. Their website reflects their philosophy of being in business: “Connecting through culinary experiences is our love language. We hope our products inspire your cooking and lead to delicious adventures and lasting memories of your own”. Website: https://portlandsaltco.com/ Instagram: @portlandsaltco Also on LinkedIn and Twitter. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall Instagram - @masoniandmarshall Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

You have a delicious meal in front of you. You chew, you taste, you swallow and enjoy. You think nothing of it. But a huge group of over 25 million adults and children cannot perform this pleasant daily ritual without great pain because of a swallowing difficulty called dysphagia. This condition forces them to a diet of very soft or pureed foods that are bland or filled with sugar and with very limited choices, so add boring to the long list. Although not afflicted with the condition, Dr. Reva Barewal relates to the pain and suffering of all those who are. Born in India when babies were delivered via forceps, her jaw was crushed. Consequently, she did not eat well as a baby and her parents and doctors could not diagnose the cause. The family moved to Canada, where more advanced medical analysis revealed the reconstruction that needed to be done to her jaw. Dr. Barewal then spent her life from childhood up to the age of 17 either in a dental chair or the surgical suite, science teaching her jaw to grow to the correct shape. During that period her only choice of diet was soft food because of the pain she experienced with food of any real texture. That is when her experimentation began, trying to find soft foods that were enjoyable and delicious to eat. It’s also when she decided to help others with jaw configuration and chewing issues as she had experienced. But first, culinary school at age 16 to learn more about cooking those soft foods people with those issues could enjoy. Dr. Barewal went to Cordon Bleu from afternoon until evenings while attending dental school from morning until noon beforehand. Ambitious. She then decided to help people diagnosed with head and neck cancer, because when going through those treatments, the patients had severe chewing and swallowing issues and she was determined to help them. So she moved to the US and her company, Savorease, was born. Since her work with cancer patients, Dr. Barewal has discovered that people who have suffered a stroke and people diagnosed with dementia and many others also have trouble with chewing and swallowing, and her soft foods can help. There is another discovery: When people eat with their fingers and not utensils, they tend to eat more food. For those having trouble gaining weight or coming off trauma and needing to gain weight, her finger-food snacks are the perfect answer. The company’s product offering is extensive, which certainly helps prevent boredom for its audience. Recently launched is the vegan cheese snack and both the harvest chicken and popcorn are longtime favorites. Her pediatric line is extensive too and is famous for its soft, quick-dissolve characteristics. Sales have been through the website and institutional sales through entities such as hospitals, where her snacks are used to help stroke patients not only get nutrition in their bodies, but also using the finger-food aspect to teach them to chew and swallow again. Senior centers and memory care centers also are huge prospects for Savorease as she continues to expand her marketing plans. One challenge has been to overcome the misunderstanding of texture. Even though Dr. Barewal explains that her snacks do not need chewing, that they simply melt in people’s mouths, there is a suspicion built into every sales prospect. You can view the product line at her website, www.savorease.com and follow her on: Instagram, Facebook and Linked In. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall. Instagram - @masoniandmarshall Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Co-founder and Director of Operations Chris Baily saw a need in the local Portland community for offering co-packing along with the expertise to guide food entrepreneurs through the gauntlet of successful commercialization. Coincidently our guest, Hannah Kullberg, Business Development Director, was at the SBIC seeing the same gulf between food startups and becoming successful food companies. The need was definitely there to assist these fledgling companies and help guide them over the hurdles. They met, decided on a strategy of offering entrepreneurs co-packing, the first step between the entrepreneur’s kitchen and the grocery shelf, and additionally the experience of Hannah and Chris to fill the knowledge gap to success. Hannah had the background for certain. While co-founding and scaling The Better Bean Company from farmers markets to national distribution, she intimately experienced the barriers to success. Over nine years building Better Bean Company she held all roles in the business including business development, sales, marketing, HR, basic accounting and operations. While operations manager, Hannah implemented a HACCP program and supervised three-fold growth in production, adding equipment, new filling lines and hiring new team members. She took the business through Non-GMO and B-Corp certifications. As sales and marketing manager, she launched the product into several new regions growing sales and velocity. They applied for a grant from Business Oregon to launch and even talked about that on our show on Episode #29, January, 2020! And so was born Community Co-Pack, or COCO as those on the inside call it. Currently with about 10 clients, Hannah and Chris have worked out the kinks of their startup and are producing entrepreneurs. Hannah fields inquiries in a very efficient manner. Inquirers fill out a form which also links to a mutual NDA and her calendar to schedule a call. Then begins the screening process. Criteria are pretty simple, as COCO’s equipment and resources don’t fit everyone’s needs. However, referrals are a big part of COCO’s services, as they believe in helping everyone build a strong food community. COCO has a fryer for snacks, a pouch packer, a blender for beverages, can do light vegetable processing and can do fresh also. They want to offer more services, but they also stick to their knitting for the present. And they want to focus on their local community, even though they have been approached by potential clients from out of the area. Hannah stays true to her calling and her mission to collectively build an equitable, regenerative, resilient, regional food system. Website: https://www.communitycopacknw.com/ Instagram - @communitycopacknw @hannahkathrynkullberg Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

We need great food entrepreneurs, and they need great marketing and promotion. Enter Jyssica Leilani, marketing guru. She and our host Sarah Marshall met when Sarah was taking a business course through RAIN – Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network – where Jyssica was speaking on social media and all the available marketing channels for budding entrepreneurs. What Sarah particularly enjoyed was how Jyssica empowered her audience to find their own voice for their companies and to express it in a way to make it exciting, individual and interesting. Female entrepreneurs often “stand in our own way” as Sarah puts it, and Jyssica does a great job of coaching people through that. Sarah Masoni adds that women are often reluctant to do something unless they are 100% certain and it’s hard to be brave and take risks for many of them, which Jyssica tackles. She does all these wonderful things through her company, Style Opal, a social media and online agency for brands and entrepreneurs. That list of services covers social media management, email marketing, photo shoot and video content creation and influencer marketing. Jyssica’s background has helped her approach to her business. She grew up loving acting and singing, and having fun is part of her success and her client’s success. And singing is a natural foundation for finding a client’s voice as well. Acting also adds to her power to dig in and really understand the brand, the audience and get the feel of a product. Sarah Marshall makes the point that finding the voice means the voice of the product and what it says to the audience, not necessarily the voice of the entrepreneur. What counts is that the audience “gets it” and makes an informed decision to buy or not based on how it fills their needs. Jyssica says you do that by seeing your marketing as going to one person. Ask how that one person is receiving that Instagram or FB post. Analyze how they process the visuals, sound and words. Ask if you are conveying the benefits that make your product incredibly special and seemed to be custom made for that one person. Jyssica keeps close contact with clients with monthly touch-base calls; what’s new?, what’s exciting?, what’s changed? that help keep messaging fresh. And she asks the offbeat questions such as, “if you WERE a beverage, which one would you be?” to get more insight into the personalities behind the company. Jyssica also urges her clients to video themselves every time they make a product, to demonstrate the hands on craftsmanship of their product and then send it to her to create a reel or a story. Which goes to Sarah Marshall’s point that hiring a social media agency doesn’t mean they are taking that function away at all, they are making it more consistent and more meaningful. Visit Jyssica’s website for this freebee: A worksheet page from the Instagram Bootcamp workbook, her Ideal Follower Avatar Mad-Lib worksheet. The link to download that is bit.ly/followeravatar. Website: www.styleopal.com. Listeners: You can save 20% on Jyssica’s self-paced, virtual Instagram Bootcamp course at www.styleopal.com/instagram-bootcamp, using the special code MARKET. @StyleOpalMedia, @UpperLeftLadies, @Jyssica.Leilani (her personal), Facebook Group: Upper Left Ladies for soul-led entrepreneurs and leaders, Pinterest @StyleOpalMedia. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

“You gotta make a buck” is the driver for entrepreneurs in Hannah Jodoin’s view. Her parents were always involved in restaurants and loved food, and always took the family to popcorn and kettle corn booths for snacks so popcorn became a family staple. Then, a friend suggested that popcorn wasn’t that hard of a way to make a buck as a side hustle, and that spurred her on to set up a kiosk in a local mall. With an small, electric movie-style popper, it took two batches to fill a bag, so it was a terrific lesson on how important production was to a business and its revenue. They then moved up to festival sized equipment with propane heat and started serving their popular treats on a large scale, making more revenue and profit in a shorter time frame. This led to their first breakthrough, the Portland Farmer’s Market. There they developed a loyal clientele and also a big buy in from the community who gave them great suggestions on new flavors, which the family, in turn, produced. Miss Hannah’s Gourmet Popcorn took off. As we have mentioned many times before, our host Sarah Masoni had a hand in helping the company get off the ground with her advice and wisdom. Early on, Hannah’s parents took some of the popcorn to Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center of which Sarah is the Director to get her opinion on the commercial appeal of their product. Sarah’s positive review and encouragement was pivotal in the company having the confidence to dream bigger. Hannah’s involvement has been from the beginning, obviously, but there was a detour in her life. Her college degree was going to lead to a profession in the Christian ministry, but she came back to work in the business for a summer and that led to a unique job title for her. She was in charge of figuring out how the business could operate without a family member always being present to produce and sell the popcorn. At the time, their storefront was a kiosk and Hannah put together all the procedures and training so that employees could operate the kiosk successfully and free up the family members to work on marketing and sales. They now are focused on opening up distribution on more grocery stores to keep spreading the brand name. Along the way, Hannah has dug into how popcorn is grown and become somewhat of an expert as to the pollination of the crop and how large popcorn is developed. You can buy Miss Hannah’s Popcorn at their storefront in the high-end Bridgeport Village in Lake Grove, Oregon, or their manufacturing facility in Newberg, Oregon, also the heart of Oregon’s wine country. There also are various retailers across the Pacific Northwest, including our sponsor Market of Choice. For those not in the area, order online. And their gift boxes really are a work of art so think about Miss Hannah’s for a special surprise present. Website: https://www.misshannahspopcorn.com/contact, Twitter - @Hannahspopcorn, Instagram - @misshannahspopcorn, Facebook - @misshannahspopcorncorn, Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

San Francisco based Good Food Foundation does so, so many things. Support is the one word that comes to mind, but hardly begins to enumerate this multi-faceted organization and the impact they are having on helping America eat better. Their website says it best in their mission, that they exist of help the “passionate and engaged, yet often overlooked” food entrepreneurs who are being authentic and responsible “in order to humanize and reform our American food culture.”. Now that’s a big idea, but it takes follow up. The Good Food Foundation supports all those passionate and engaged people with five big, key programs that build incredible awareness for those folks. First is the awards program, a rigorous process by which the winners receive huge awareness and publicity. Second is the nearly 500-member guild, where membership is based on meeting high standards and is an amazing arena in which to talk shop. Fifty percent of American food dollars are spent in the grocery store, and the Merchants Alliance is where those store owners practice putting only the best food on their shelves. The Mercantile program is the grand trade show series, which includes the big NYC show and a Traveling Mercantile. These shows bring 350-800 retailers and media to meet with 200 crafters to show their stuff, each in the same size booth. The Fund program is a work in progress, to intensify innovative programs to unite crafters and merchants to keep good food in front of consumers. Their work has given immeasurable help to growers, ranchers, makers and merchants who buck the big corporate trend. How did this great effort get started? The Executive Director, Sarah Weiner (yes, there are three Sarah’s on this episode; try not to get confused) jumped into the fray fresh out of college. As Director of Communications for the Slow Food International Office, Italy, she became a staunch leader for the food movement. Moving then to California, USA, she became Alice Waters’ (famous author and national public policy advocate for universal access to healthy, organic foods) “Girl Friday”. Sarah then went on to produce a cavalcade of successful event; Slow Food Nation with 85,000 guests, Organic Food Festival with 20,000 attendees and Sips and Suppers, a fundraiser launched with Alice Waters, Joan Nathan and Jose Andres. These events evolved into bigger visions and missions, including Farm to Desk in Washington, D.C. organizing gardening, classroom and cafeteria programs in public schools where food topics were part of the curriculum. It was the Good Food Awards Project that really blossomed. The first event in San Francisco drew 2,000 entries from all 50 states and from there the team launched project after project, which ultimately became the current five programs of the organization. And the foundation of each of those programs is based on those two important themes: Authentic and responsible. Social media: @goodfoodfdn. Website: goodfoodfdn.org. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall, Sarah Masoni LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-masoni-67182a23/. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

For budding food entrepreneurs, this is an hour of pure gold, or pretty close to an hour. This show is our hosts, Sarah Marshall, founder of Marshall’s Haute Sauce and Sarah Masoni, Director of Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center in Portland, Oregon, giving freely of their advice on being successful with your brilliant new food idea. On this episode, they get into the details of leveraging both trade shows and your own food communities to build your path to sharing your food creation, helping to bring people together. They start with community, and one of the biggest and best is OSU’s Food Innovation Center. Sarah Marshall talks about rolling into the Center once directly from Seattle for a mini-trade show, getting delayed by a train, showing up late but absolutely being surrounded by people she knew and didn’t know asking if they could help out. The Portland food community has always been supportive, cooperative and amazingly helpful to all food founders and feel that everyone can be successful; no need to have a win/lose attitude. So find that community where you live, or as close to you as possible. This particular Center mini-trade show event brought in journalists from the food industry to look over the latest research and meet the new food entrepreneurs, a tremendous opportunity for the founders. You can see pictures if you look on Sarah Masoni’s LinkedIn page. And here are some tips for interacting with people at these trade shows. When there are media people, you want to be part of the show’s story. When Sarah Marshall goes to shows, she sets up differently to stand out from the crowd. She has things for people to eat so they will stand there, chat, get to know her and understand her business. She doesn’t give the usual elevator speech but instead “sells” her story naturally and deftly, getting to know people by getting them to know her. They understand the WHY she has developed this unique food product, not just he HOW. And the food she set out was not a big spread. It was a few small snack items at a time, all freshly made. Also, she cautions be conscious of other’s food allergies and make sure you put out samples that appeal to a wide number of people. Also, change up your offering every day to attract different people and display the variety of package sizes as well. Sarah and Sarah also draw from two well-known sources, consciously or subconsciously. First, from the Boy Scouts: Always be prepared! Anytime you show up to any place, have your samples. Be ready to meet complete strangers and let them know about your outstanding treasure and where to buy it. As they say, every person is like a mini-trade show. Second, Woody Allen’s quote, “98 Percent of success is showing up.” Be there. Go to the trade shows that are worth while and work them. The good ones are like digging in a vein of pure gold and the returns are all out of proportion with the effort involved. However, be aware that some media people must be careful not to accept gifts, so have some mini-sizes that are obviously sample sizes and not in the gift category. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall, Sarah Masoni LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-masoni-67182a23/ Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Philly native and Brooklyn resident Khia Nelson is founder and owner of K Bloody Mary Mix, an overnight success after 10 years of hard work. Winner of the 2020 Good Food Awards, a major specialty food competition, and Gold Medal Winner of Fifty Best in 2021, Khia’s plugging away one step at a time is really paying off. And no wonder. Her unique formula is organic, vegan and gluten free and that equals a unique taste. Her mix is not just hot, it’s savory and begs to be rolled around in the mouth like fine wine. Fabulous with alcohol in the traditional Bloody Mary, Bloody Maria or Red Snapper, it also is delicious and refreshing over ice. So, it’s the perfect item for any party to surprise both the alcohol and non-alcohol guests equally. It’s such a versatile elixir it also doubles as an addition to a cocktail sauce recipe or a marinade to add a spicy kick to your favorite foods. All this because of Khia’s background. 20 Years in hospitality as a bartender, restaurant manager and vegan home chef, she has always been a fanatic Bloody Mary lover. But she was always constantly tweaking her recipes because she never quite fell in love with other people’s mixes. It was at a social gathering a decade ago that Khia’s dream of starting her own company was conceived. She was always experimenting with her recipes during her bartending stints, but at this particular event, her latest creation drew raves and accolades just too good let pass as mere kudos. It was a sign that she had something special and it was time to share that recipe with the world. Khia had other goals for her recipe besides great taste, she wanted it to be of the highest nutritional and sustainable qualities. Therefore, her mixes are hand made and bottled in Brooklyn, New York. All ingredients are organic and gluten free (other Bloody Mary mixes contain Worcestershire sauce, which contains anchovies). All are bottled in glass, which is recyclable and easier on Mother Earth than plastic. This makes K Bloody Mary Mix more expensive than most other mixes, but you get what you pay for. Great side story: Khia and our host Sarah Marshall first met at the Good Food Mercantile Awards in Brooklyn setting up booths across from each other. Khia offered Sarah a bottle of her mix and it wound up being a meal for Sarah. In the rush and hectic race to set up for the show, Sarah hadn’t had time to eat any breakfast, but the rich, nutritious K Bloody Mary filled her up, gave her energy and the spicy flavor gave her a much needed recharge to get her through the day. You can purchase bottles online at the website and the packaging is absolutely gorgeous. Gift packages also are available and make very special presents. Distribution is growing but check the website for stores near to you and also for restaurants that serve the mix. And somehow, with all this going on in her life, Khia also is a former model, animal rescue advocate, animal lover and eclectic music lover. https://www.kbloodymarymix.com/the-mix/, FB and IG @kbloodymarymix, Twitter @kbloodymary Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

The inspiration couldn’t come from a higher source: Aurora, the Goddess of the Dawn. And it was the dawn of the recreational cannabis laws passing, intersecting with Founder Victoria Pustynsky’s background in beverages that gave her the idea to make cannabis-infused drinks. Her experience was mostly in wines and beers, so she focused on adult audiences and flavors. And Victoria’s target audience was easy to identify, she targeted people like her. Females who liked well balanced cocktails, not too sweet, to be part of a social situation without being too intense. It also worked well that she created the dawn of a new kind of cannabis consumption. Each flavor is about enhancing the plant ingredients and celebrating natural infusion with a slightly bitter but slightly sweetened taste with a pleasant citrus forward glow. All ingredients are natural and have undergone rigid testing. All elixirs are made with a blend of broad spectrum hemp oil and raw extract hemp oil. And Each 200ml bottle of hemp beverage contains 25mg of hemp extract and zero THC. Vitoria recommends starting with one bottle of their beverages and noting the sensations you experience to better understand how this and other products containing cannabinoids and hops interact with your individual body. Here’s the background story. Victoria started out like most food entrepreneurs, in the kitchen. She started with alcoholic extractions of herbs but quickly realized that was going to take a very long time. Plus, she was mixing in hemp oil and oil was another ingredient that changed the chemistry, not being water soluble. This was in 2016 and not many hemp products were available in the US, so she was experimenting by sourcing overseas with all the quality and transportation issues. How do you solve this puzzle? If you are a Reed College graduate like Victoria, you call the chemistry department at Reed. Lo and behold, she found a chemist who had a great food background and began figuring out how the oil was going to be part of the beverage formula. Victoria knew what primary flavors she wanted the drinks to deliver, and the secondary and tertiary flavors as well, so there was an excellent road map for the chemist to follow. Thus began the quest for an “Elevated beverage for luxury occasions”, which is Victoria’s mantra for the space she has carved out. A visit to their website will not only display an incredibly sophisticated marketing and packaging touch, but will show two distinct product lines. There is the Aurora line, hemp infused and Lolo, the hop sparkling beverage. You can order online or go to a store if you live in Portland, San Antonio, Los Angeles or Erowhon. The distribution is bound to grow as the party beverage scene evolves, so there should be many more locations soon. Website: https://auroraelixirs.com/about-us/ IG: VP personal @victoria_verve, @drink.lolo, @auroraelixirs. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

Recently launched at The Good Food Mercantile and The Portland Night Market, Portland, Oregon, in April, 2022, Pink Cloud Beverages is out to change the attitude on drinking and enjoying it. Without alcohol. Sierra Thomas is founder driving force behind this beverage product line that is much more than a delicious drink. Being very new as a company, Pink Cloud Beverages is currently targeting Portland’s elite chefs, of which there is an impressive list, and selling at select small grocery stores in the Portland area and online from their website. As their website says, Pink Cloud is made with love in the Pacific Northwest, Oregon. Now for the story behind the impetus for Sierra to take on such a world-changing challenge. In 2010, she stopped drinking alcohol while working in the music and media industries, where it was “party time” pretty much all the time (Sierra compares it to the “Mad Men” series). There were challenges to being sober in that industry, as the non-alcoholic choices were few. But her wellness had taken a back seat from the fast pace of her career and it was time to put her health first. With all the entertaining she did as part of her job, it was hard to carve out a non-alcoholic beverage at a bar, restaurant or hotel at that time. She then got out, graduated from schools in Oahu, Hawaii, and was contacted by a friend who had grown up in the area. Her friend knew Sierra was having trouble sleeping and adjusting to her sobriety, and suggested she research the health benefits of CBD. The stigma of associating CBD with the intoxicant THC from the same hemp plant was in Sierra’s mind, as she did not want to abort her recovery, But when she found that pure CBD had amazing natural healing powers and was not addictive, she became a convert. Then, driving back from a New Year’s Eve party with husband and friends, the idea for the company was born. Sierra had been mixing CBD with other flavors to make mocktails, and her husband turned to her and said basically, “Why not make start a company with all these drinks you’re inventing?”. After laughing, Sierra had the idea settle and then the fire to start a company consumed her. The name, Pink Cloud, is a term known by those in recovery. The first couple of months of sobriety bring a feeling of euphoria and clarity that is truly a rebirth. The euphoria of course gives way to the day-to-day of living at some point, but is always a memory of having come through the hard part of becoming sober. Sierra has added her own term to the process, “sober curious”, meaning, if you are addicted to alcohol but curious about being sober, then experiment. Try just one day being sober. If that works, try another, then another; you get the point. Sierra’s market appears to be growing. Pink Cloud appeals to a growing group of non-drinkers who want to enjoy the social side of drinking without anxiety or the negative effects alcohol has on our mind and body. The goal is to create inclusion and normalize sober drinking as a movement so people can take pleasure in a refreshing adult beverage over a good meal, concert, just like they would with wine, seltzer, and cocktails. The company’s mission is global, too. They are passionate about the beaches they love and have dedicated 1% of Gross Sales to go back to protect our oceans from the challenges threatening the vitality of the ecosystem. Pink Cloud Beverages website: https://pinkcloudbeverages.com/pages/faqs Social media: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/pinkcloudbeverages/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pinkcloudbeverages/ Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/pinkcloudbeverages/ TikTok (not active yet) - https://www.tiktok.com/@pinkcloudbeverages Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

The enthusiasm will come through your ear phones when you hear this week’s guest, Allinee, “shiny” (small “s” on her website) Flanary, founder of Come Thru Market. If you check her website, you will see a true system of farm-to-market education and assistance focused on black and indigenous farmers and makers. There step-by-step tutorials to walk participants through the process of developing a product, readying it for market and getting into marketplaces. Also, shiny books private consultation sessions for those wanting to accelerate their projects. Come Thru Market is open the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month from May through October, 3-7pm. She also takes her Scrapberry farm to Portland’s Montavilla Market which is mainly the last Sunday of each month. Scrapberry Farm is shiny’s medicinal herb farm, which is heavy on spicy peppers. Her journey began with her own chronic diseases and disabilities. She pursued herbalism to heal herself and quickly discovered the false claims and fraud in the industry. Many products had the right idea for healing, but sourced their herbs from agribusiness entities which produced inferior herbs. To correct this, shiny started a small garden in the front yard of her Portland, Oregon home. The longer she tended the garden and consumed her own herbs, the more the neighbors in her community commented on how much better she looked and felt. They said she seemed “shinier”. At the time, she was a college professor and librarian, with absolutely no experience in farmers’ markets and no real desire to be part of them. But the black and brown herb growers and farmers she knew pushed her hard to pursue a path to farming. Her first foray was a small plot in a hilly, rather cold part of the state with a growing window of about two months. It helped her see that food was much more difficult to grow than herbs and they became her focus. So now that shiny had a product, where to sell it? And that was the entrée into farmers’ markets. Of course the path is never easy and she had to navigate state regulations while also having the FDA watching over her herb claims. At the same time, shiny wound up bumping into more and more black and brown farmers who needed help marketing their food and herb products. So as difficult as the regulations were, as complex as the steps to running a successful farmer’s market, shiny saw the big opportunity to put together a farmer’s market, complete with the “how to” educational component and offer a path for the farmers who were looking for a sales outlet. With all systems “go” in her comprehensive business, shiny juggling lots of plates but certainly has the energy to keep them in the air. The market: IG - @comethrupdx. Website: https://www.comethrupdx.org/home. IG - @scrapberryfarm, TW - @scrapberryfarm, TikTok - @scrapberryfarm. IG - @bbhx.pdx. IG - @racemefarmers . Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky

For background, the Specialty Foods Association’s (SFA) mission is to shape the future of food by championing, nurturing and connecting their members to deliver innovative products and expand the consumption of specialty foods. They have built a culture based on core values that include transparency and integrity to inspire sustainability, creativity and expand their industry. To promote those values, the SFA hosts trade shows to encourage networking, opportunity and the building of lasting relationships. The latest Summer Fancy Food Show was held at the Javits Center in New York City, Sunday through Tuesday, June 12-14 and was attended by our hosts, Sarah Masoni and Sarah Marshall. They recap their adventure in this episode. The unfortunate sideline of Sarah Masoni catching COVID and being down for a couple of days did not dampen the thrills of this incredible event. The event was full; lots people, interest, new food items and enthusiasm for a more normal business environment. Our hosts wanted to share information about the people they met, the food they ate and about food shows in general and what a vital part of the industry they provide. To start, there were over 1,700 exhibitors displaying foods from all over the globe so that gives you an idea of the enormity of knowledge the participants are exposed to. Sarah Marshall also visited the Good Food Mercantile Show the day before the Fancy Foods Show, which is a great way to increase her network. Good Food Mercantile tends to be more specialty foods merchants and a smaller venue, so there is a completely different viewpoint than Fancy Foods. Sarah encourages all food entrepreneurs to see as many of the good trade shows as their budget allows to keep growing their base of contacts and keep abreast of what’s happening in the trade. While in New York for the show, Sarah Masoni also did a film clip to be shown in the Chicago Museum of Ice Cream. Opening July 17th, the Museum is very experiential and interactive and fun for the whole family. Sarah Marshall’s philosophy on travel is to find one fun thing to do each day, so while in New York, she and Sarah Masoni walked The High Line to the Chelsea Market. Then, it was visit to Art Tech House where there was an exhibit called “Life of a Neuron”, which is evidently an amazing film. They also visited Mercado Little Spain and enjoyed some of the best olives they had ever eaten; and that compliment comes from a couple of olive experts. Sarah Masoni presented at the Fancy Foods awards ceremony and recognized those in the food industry who had contributed for years to its success. One story of note was from the person who introduced the Calamata olive to the US; it was encouraging, inspirational and heartfelt. And there were many other stories of food pioneers who brought new tastes and experiences to the US. The main Fancy Foods Show mission remains: Be more of a community than a trade show. Make the participants feel included and that they also have equity in promoting nutritious, creative and delicious food that is part of the wonderful experience of being human. SFA culture: https://www.specialtyfood.com/specialty-food-association/about-us/culture/. Good Food Mercantile: https://goodfoodfdn.org/mercantile/. Chicago Museum of Ice Cream: https://www.museumoficecream.com/chicago. Little Spain: https://www.littlespain.com/. Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon. Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky