Podcast
My Food Job Rocks!
Hosted by Adam Yee · EN
My Food Job Rocks is a podcast created by serial entrepreneur and food scientist Adam Yee where he interviews an expert in the food industry every week on their career path or a specific hot topic going on in the world today.
He connects the dots in the complex world of food. From farmers to ingredient manufacturers, to entrepreneurs and global players join Adam as he explores all angles in the food industry and tackles it with engaging conversations and impactful insights. It’s all interesting and it’s all complicated.
This podcast is a wealth of knowledge to anyone who’s interested in food and we are fortunate to be partnering with the Spoon Network to amplify our reach and impact.
Message us any time at podcast@myfoodjobrocks.com to get in touch.
31episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Launching Founders and Formulators: a cool event before IFT FIRST with Adam Yee and Daniel Scharff
6d ago00:29:21Tap to summarizeLight bites and refreshments are included with your ticket; please indicate any dietary restrictions in your ticket order confirmation form. Heads up, as always, we'll have VIPs in attendance as well! Hey Chicago: Startup CPG is hosting our first-ever Founders & Formulators event! Join us at the historic Palmer House Hotel for an afternoon of structured "speed-dating" with the top food scientists and product developers in town for IFT FIRST 2026. Finding the right formulator on your own usually means months of cold outreach, dead-end calls, and guessing whether someone's expertise even fits your product. This event skips that process entirely, giving you 1:1 time with multiple formulators. Each expert brings different knowledge, experience, and working style, so you’ll get lots of different perspectives which you can use to improve your product. Not necessarily looking to bring on a formulator? Come anyway. These formulators can taste your product, evaluate your formula in person, and give you expert insights you can't get from a call with someone who's never actually seen your product. Whether you're still in development and looking for a partner or trying to scale something that's already on shelves, bring what you're working on! Light bites and refreshments are included with your ticket; please indicate any dietary restrictions in your ticket order confirmation form. Heads up, as always, we'll have VIPs in attendance as well! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Dig In: How AI Saved Her Plant-based Cheese Business $250,000 Dollars with Kirsten Maitland Co-Owner at Rebel Cheese
2w ago00:53:16Summary readyKirsten Maitland co-founded Rebel With Cheese out of necessity — she went plant-based overnight, went looking for real artisanal vegan cheese, and couldn’t find any. So she started making it herself, first in a wine fridge, now in a full-scale cheese cave (the only vegan one of its kind, designed with a 40-year dairy expert). The cave-aged brie takes two weeks to make, gets touched by hand every single day, and convinced both Mark Cuban and Mr. Wonderful on Shark Tank. But this episode isn’t just about cheese. Kirsten made Fast Company’s radar for something else: using AI to fight back against the notoriously opaque distributor model that quietly bleeds small CPG brands dry. After discovering she’d been overcharged by a quarter million dollars in shipping fees buried across hundreds of pages of invoices, she built her own AI-powered auditing tool — no developer background required — that now automatically flags billing variances every week. Adam and Kirsten get into how she did it, which tools she used (and why she uses Claude and Manus together rather than either alone), and the practical AI workflows she now runs across her whole business: weekly cash flow modeling, what-if scenario planning, brand handbooks, and her standout “100 questions” technique for building deep AI context from scratch. Resources Kirsten mentioned: Podcasts • Leveraging AI • AI Explored Newsletters • Superhuman (superhuman.ai) — her favorite; quick, to-the-point, always valuable • The Rundown AI (therundown.ai) • Rubin Hassid — good for getting started (verify exact spelling) Tools • Claude — projects, skills, cash flow modeling • Manus — vibe-coding and tool building Find Kirsten • Substack: Rebel Founder — weekly writing on AI and hard business problems • Website: rebelcheese.com • Fast Company article — on using AI to audit distributor invoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Innovation Topics on Consumer, GLP-1, Ultraprocessed, and How We Are Currently Marketing Things with Suzanne Allers, Founding Partner at Untapped Innovations
3w ago01:01:54Tap to summarizeSuzanne Allers built her career bridging two worlds most people never connect: P&G beauty product development and the fast-moving, low-margin world of food innovation. As a partner at Untapped Innovation Consulting, she's spent over 20 years helping brands translate consumer insight into product and product back into story. In this episode, Suzanne breaks down why food consumers don't think in "problems" the way skincare consumers do, and what that means for how you research and design a product. She digs into why R&D teams are often the best-positioned people in a company to write a brand's core story (and why marketing still has a critical role to play after that). The conversation also covers the GLP-1 effect rippling through food and beauty, the "premiumization" of ingredients like fiber and protein, and how to tell a real cultural shift apart from a fad before you bet your roadmap on it. Suzanne also shares a first look at her upcoming book, Untapping Innovation, a practical playbook of the tools and frameworks her firm has used across categories from personal care to PepsiCo. What we cover: Going from theoretical chemistry and a P&G internship to co-founding Untapped Innovation Why food and beauty consumers need to be researched differently Using storytelling frameworks in R&D, and why the consumer (not the product) is the hero How GLP-1 medications are reshaping cravings, spend, and product strategy in food Premiumization trends in fiber and protein ingredients Telling fads from trends, using the plant-based meat boom and bust as a case study A preview of her new book, Untapping Innovation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Dig In: Beverage Science and Taste Modulation with Lauren Senne, Senior Application Scientist (and more) at Imbibe
4w ago00:55:36Tap to summarizeLauren Senne, Senior Manager of Applications and Taste Modulation at Imbibe, joins the show to demystify what flavorists actually do and why their work is one of the most fascinating fusions of art and science in our industry. We dig into the realities of formulating beverages with high-protein, functional, and botanical ingredients, the difference between bitter blockers and maskers, and why sweetener proteins like Thaumatin and Brazzein are a space to watch. Lauren also shares practical tips for vetting flavors quickly, choosing flavor profiles that harmonize with off-notes (peaches, berries, anything-and-cream), and what it really takes to become a certified flavorist. A must-listen for anyone formulating drinks, working with functional ingredients, or just curious about the hidden craft behind your favorite RTD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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From Corporate to Fractional with Stephanie Zhuang, Founder of Title Brand Management
Jun 401:09:30Tap to summarizeStephanie Zhuang is the founder of Tidal Brand Management, a fractional marketing services firm specializing in startup CPG brands across food, beverage, and supplements. In this episode, we cover her journey from fine arts to corporate brand management at Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly-Clark, Vega, and Campbell’s — and what finally pushed her to go out on her own. Stephanie shares why CPG marketing is more analytical than people realize, why supplements outperform food in DTC, and the real math behind premiumization. We also talk about the honest questions you should ask yourself before leaving a corporate job to build something solo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Dig In: How Digital Ads Work In Food with Mateusz Drela, Co-Founder of Retail Media IQ
May 2800:48:05Summary readyEver wonder why some food brands seem to blow up on Amazon or Instacart while others burn through their ad budget with nothing to show for it? In this episode, I sit down with Mat Drela, CEO and founder of Retail Media IQ, who has spent 17 years mastering performance marketing across thousands of campaigns. We dig into the world of retail media the ads you see on Instacart, Amazon, and your favorite grocery apps and what CPG founders actually need to know before they spend a single dollar. If you're building a food brand and you're curious about how to turn digital shelf space into real sales, this one is for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Building a Food Business in North Carolina with Becca Wright, Founder and CEO of Piedmont Pennies
May 2100:55:10Tap to summarizeBecca Wright, founder of Piedmont Pennies, joins the show to share how a grandmother’s cheese cracker recipe became a Southern specialty brand sold in 450+ stores across 47 states. She breaks down why specialty retail is the smartest launchpad for new food brands, how demoing reveals truths your spreadsheet never will, and the mindset shift that keeps founders steady through the highs and lows. We also dig into the North Carolina food ecosystem, Eastern vs. Western barbecue, and what “community over competition” really looks like in CPG. A masterclass in scrappy, intentional brand building from the heart of the Carolinas. Promo Code Use code FOODROCKS20 for 20% off at PiedmontPennies.com Key Links for Show Notes • Piedmont Pennies website: piedmontpennies.com • Social: @PiedmontPennies (Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook) • NC IDEA grant program • NC State Food Lab • Startup CPG community • Weaver Street Market (Raleigh/Carrboro/Hillsborough/Southern Village) • Reed’s Fine Foods (Charlotte) • Fresh Market, Lowe’s Foods (NC local sections) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Dig In: Stories About Finance in Food with Abby June Richards, Fractional CFO at the CPG CFO
May 1200:47:23Summary readyWhat does it really take to understand the numbers behind your CPG brand? This week, Adam sits down with Abby June Richards, founder and fractional CFO of The CPG CFO, to demystify the financial side of the consumer packaged goods world. Abby shares how she went from 20+ years in public accounting to building a thriving fractional CFO practice serving emerging CPG founders and why she'll never go back to traditional accounting. In this episode, you'll learn the difference between finance and accounting, why most financial models sit unused on a shelf, and how the simple 4:1 cost-to-retail ratio can be a cheat code for pricing your product. Abby breaks down why retention is one of the most powerful (and overlooked) levers in your business, why raising prices is often the bravest and smartest move a founder can make, and how collaboration between finance, sales, and operations is where the magic really happens. She also shares the now-famous Lupini pizza story — where an accidental $25 price tag still moved units and proved that special brands can charge what they're worth. Whether you're pre-revenue, scaling into retail, or just trying to figure out if your business actually has margin, this conversation will give you the clarity (and courage) to look at your numbers with new eyes. Because as Abby says: if you don't have margin, you don't have a business. Find Abby: Website: thecpgcfo.com LinkedIn: Abby June Richards Free resources: Cash Fight Framework, Cash Flow Forecasting Tool, and Know Your Numbers handout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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What Does It Take to Become Department Head? with Job Ubbink, Food Science Professor and Department Head at University of Minnesota
May 701:02:18Summary readyDr. Job Ubbink is a professor and the head of the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, with a career spanning Givaudan, Nestlé, his own consultancy, and Cal Poly before landing in the Twin Cities. In this episode, we trace his unconventional path from chemistry and a Michelin-starred restaurant kitchen in the Netherlands to global R&D leadership and academia. Job shares his vision for food science as a broader, people-centered discipline, one that integrates physical chemistry, community, culture, and the realities of small artisanal producers. We also get into industry-academia collaboration, the ultra-processed foods debate, and what young food scientists need to do to become decision-makers, not just technical resources. LinkedIn account under: linkedin.com/in/job-ubbink-11204b7 and lab website at: ubbinklab.cfans.umn.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Dig In: How The Heck Do I Use Claude? (And Other Useful AI Tools) with Grace Uvezian, VP of Marketing at Appetronix
Apr 3000:59:22Summary readyGrace Uvezian is VP of Marketing at Appetronix, the company building fully autonomous robotic kitchens deployed in airports, universities, and stadiums including a live location at Columbus International Airport. In this episode, we go deep on how Grace uses Claude, MCPs, and AI automation to run her marketing function, including how she generated $5M in PR value at Spice using Zapier, the exact way she structures prompts with voice tools like Whisper Flow, and her philosophy on getting comfortable giving AI access to your data. Whether you're AI-curious or AI-skeptical, Grace breaks down what these tools can and cannot do in practical, food-tech-relevant terms. A must-listen for anyone in CPG or food service trying to figure out where AI actually fits into their workflow. Find Grace: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-uvezian/Substack: https://substack.com/@graceu My episode about AI: https://wolfingdownfoodscience.buzzsprout.com/1609819/episodes/19070967-are-you-an-apocaloptimist-review-of-the-ai-doc-with-adam-yee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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