Fell Into Food Podcast

Jeff Fell
  • 5.0 (143)
  • Food
  • Updated Weekly

The Fell Into Food Podcast, where culinary craft meets the evolving world of kitchen innovation. Hosted by Chef Jeff Fell, each episode pulls back the curtain on the tools, technology, business strategies, and human stories shaping how modern kitchens actually work. If you’re a chef, operator, manufacturer, educator, or anyone obsessed with where food and technology intersect, this podcast gives you the conversations you won’t hear anywhere else. Real talk. Real expertise. Real innovation—served with the curiosity and candor. It’s the future of the kitchen, one conversation at a time.

  1. 6d ago

    Nicole Bentler: Pocono Maple, Before The Syrup

    I sat down with Nicole Bentler this week — a health and wellness pro turned maple farmer, who bought a run-down, two-hundred-year-old farm in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania back in 2019 with no real plan beyond having a place to bring her family. That farm is now Pocono Maple Water, a farm-to-bottle maple water and maple syrup brand, and Nicole's one of only a handful of female-owned maple farms in the country. We got into what maple water actually is before it ever becomes syrup, the finding about our water supply that made her trademark the phrase "What's In Your Water," and why she's turned down Target and Walmart more than once to stay direct-to-consumer. Website: www.poconomaplewater.com Instagram: @poconomaplewater Instagram: @poconomountainmaple Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91 Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood FellintoFood.com CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS Timestamps pulled from raw transcript markers — confirm exact in/out points against the edited cut before publishing. 00:00 — Cold open: cracking a maple water on mic, and the question everyone asks first 00:44 — What maple water actually is, and how it's different from syrup 02:57 — Buying a run-down farm in 2019 with zero plans to build a beverage brand 05:19 — Six to eight miles a day tapping trees in the snow 06:27 — The estrogen finding behind the "What's In Your Water" trademark 09:53 — Big bottled water brands, spring-water lawsuits, and knowing where your water comes from 14:08 — Three bears, a raided bee yard, and building a team in a corner of agriculture with almost nobody under 40 18:17 — The six-week harvest, the subscription model, and turning down Target and Walmart on purpose 20:32 — The cans-vs-cartons-vs-glass packaging fight with her partner Dante 25:10 — What maple water actually does for the body, and the empty-stomach test Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    Nicole Bentler: Pocono Maple, Before The Syrup

  2. Aug 24

    Jason Olinik: Discernment / The Dining Room Disagrees

    Jason Olinik is Senior Vice President of Operations & Partnerships at Rudy's Hospitality Group, where he leads growth strategy and every client relationship across workplace dining, markets, and restaurant concepts. He's spent 23 years in hospitality — starting at sixteen scrubbing grease off the back dock of a Chili's in Brighton, Michigan, then running a limited-service hotel in Naples, building restaurant concepts inside an airport, and working luxury resorts in Florida before landing at Rudy's. He's also the author of Discernment: Seeing Through the Narrative Economy. I sat down with him to talk about the gap between what a report says and what's actually happening on the floor — and why the leaders who stay close to the floor are the ones who catch it before it costs them. Jason talks about the meeting culture that crept in after the pandemic, the seventeen systems his teams were juggling just to load a menu, and the moment he realized he'd drifted too far from the work that built him. He also tells me about a ledge in the Jemez Mountains outside Albuquerque, and the jump that changed how he's approached every hard decision since. Book & author site: jasonolinik.com Rudy's Hospitality Group: rudyshospitality.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jason-olinik-57355464 Instagram: @j.olinik_author Book: Discernment: Seeing Through the Narrative Economy TIMESTAMPED CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:10 The Chili's Loading Dock, Age Sixteen 2:22 What Makes a Great Operator 11:07 Why Workplace Dining Needs Restaurant Standards 16:10 Thin Center, Strong Field 18:15 AI, Automation, and Where It Actually Helps 26:41 Writing Discernment 33:41 The Meeting Culture Rant 36:06 The Jemez Mountains Jump 41:30 Where to Find Jason Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91 Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood FellintoFood.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    Jason Olinik: Discernment / The Dining Room Disagrees

  3. Aug 17

    Jeff Tonidandel & Jamie Brown Making Charlotte the “City of Hospitality”

    Jeff Tonidandel and Jamie Brown are the husband-and-wife owners of the Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group (TBRG) in Charlotte, NC — six restaurants (Supperland, Haberdish, Ever Andalo, Growlers Pourhouse, Leluia Hall, Olivelli Deli), three of them Michelin Guide American South recommended. They co-host the podcast Jeff and Jamie Feed and the national PBS series Fork & Hammer, recently nominated for a Daytime Emmy in Outstanding Culinary/Cultural Series. Jamie's first book, Eleven Tables: A Wild Ride Through Food, Failure, and Figuring It Out, is out now. Jeff Tonidandel and Jamie Brown left corporate jobs at the peak of the economy, backpacked across Europe and Asia for eight months with paper maps and a burner phone, and came home to the 2008 recession with an idea and no restaurant experience. They found their first space in Charlotte's NoDa neighborhood because of a pink slip taped to the door — an unpaid gas bill. That eleven-table crepe shop is now Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group: six concepts, three of them Michelin Guide American South recommended, a national PBS series (Fork & Hammer, just nominated for a Daytime Emmy), a weekly podcast, and Jamie's first book. In this conversation, Jeff and Jamie talk about why Jeff is campaigning to brand Charlotte the "City of Hospitality," what the city's food scene was already doing right before Michelin ever showed up, and what it actually takes to turn a 100-year-old church into a working restaurant kitchen. They get honest about the harder calls too — closing a thirteen-year, still-profitable restaurant to become Ever Andalo, and retiring their doughnut shop after one too many equipment failures. Plus: running a 330-person team across six kitchens, two shows, and three kids, and what's next — dry-aged fish, a new commissary, and hotel projects on the horizon for 2029. Website: tonidandel-brown.com Podcast: Jeff and Jamie Feed PBS series: Fork & Hammer Book: Eleven Tables — Amazon / Barnes & Noble Restaurants: Supperland  Haberdish  Ever Andalo  Growlers  Pourhouse  Leluia Hall  Olivelli Deli  Wyatt's Superfine (coming soon) Chapters 0:00 Welcome, Jeff & Jamie 1:01 The one thing they want listeners to take away 2:29 Why Jeff is campaigning for Charlotte as the "City of Hospitality" 5:03 Transplants, small-city warmth, and Bible Belt hospitality 7:48 What Charlotte's food scene was already doing right before Michelin arrived 10:02 Charlotte as a culinary crossroads — and the 200-farm network behind it 12:07 Turning churches, a clothing store, and a general store into restaurants 14:25 Supperland's 14-foot fire grill, and blending old-school with tech 17:30 Why they closed a profitable restaurant to become Ever Andalo 20:22 The 82-square-foot doughnut shop that broke one too many times 23:02 The eight-month backpacking trip — and the pink slip that found their first space 27:05 Where the entrepreneurial fortitude actually came from 29:15 Jamie's six years working a day job to fund the dream 32:56 Running six restaurants, two shows, and three kids with a 330-person team 36:26 How Fork & Hammer landed on PBS — and just picked up a Daytime Emmy nomination 42:08 Jamie's book, Eleven Tables 43:58 What's next: dry-aged fish, a new commissary, and 2029 hotel plans Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91 Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood FellintoFood.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    Jeff Tonidandel & Jamie Brown Making Charlotte the “City of Hospitality”

  4. Jul 27

    Matthew Cutolo: Gargiulo’s & The Last Cannoli Recipe

    Matthew Cutolo is the Executive Pastry Chef and third-generation chef at Gargiulo's Restaurant, a Coney Island institution since 1907. He helps oversee both front and back of house, preserving rare Italian-American dishes seldom found elsewhere. A sought-after culinary voice, Cutolo has been featured on the Today Show, CBS's The Dish, The New York Times, NBC New York, PIX11, and Fox's Good Day NY. Beyond the kitchen, he creates content championing classic Italian traditions and is now building his own digital platform dedicated to his culinary philosophy, signature recipes, and entrepreneurial ventures, establishing himself as a culinary entrepreneur for the next generation of food lovers. Chef Matthew Cutolo was halfway through an accounting degree when his uncle called and asked one question — you coming to work when you're done? That was it. No speech, no pitch. He's been in the kitchen at Gargiulo's ever since, third generation now, running a Coney Island restaurant his family's had since 1965 in a building that's been slinging Italian food since 1907. A hundred and nineteen years in one spot. I've had guys work under me for years before I'd actually show them anything real — call it selfish, call it survival, but you learn fast who wants to be great and who just wants the paycheck. Matthew's version of that is a guy named Mike the Bake, forty years as Gargiulo's pastry chef, the only man alive who ever had the cannoli recipe. He didn't just hand it to Matthew. Months of watching, no bowl, no measuring, nothing written down — and there's a theory on why Mike kept walking away mid-recipe for years that's got nothing to do with baking. It's about figuring out who's serious and who's just talking. Socials WebsiteInstagram @Matthewcutolo Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91 Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood FellintoFood.com CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS Timestamps pulled from raw transcript paragraph-start markers — confirm exact in/out points against the edited cut before publishing. 00:00 — Cold open: a family business, a phone call, and the third generation who said yes 01:25 — Mike the Bake — the pastry chef who trained Matthew for over 40 years 06:28 — Was disappearing mid-recipe actually a test of whether Matthew really wanted it 08:57 — The pressure of running solo, and why no two written versions of the same recipe matched 12:16 — The phone call from Uncle Louie that pulled him out of an accounting degree 16:23 — Working with family — who wins the argument when the food's on the line 17:50 — Staying true to tradition while everyone else chases what's viral 20:28 — From an internship on The Chew to his first solo TV hit 27:22 — Jarring the sauce, shipping nationwide, and the real math on freight cost 29:17 — The Gargiulo wine on the way, and why he keeps building past the restaurant Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    Matthew Cutolo: Gargiulo’s & The Last Cannoli Recipe

  5. Jul 13

    Rameking / The GlobalNova Growth | Michael Smith

    I had Michael Smith back on the podcast this week — round two with the guy behind Rameking, the only pre-filled portion cup dispenser out there, still running the whole operation with one other person out of Ohio. And yes, that jingle is still stuck in my head. It plays at the end of this episode too. You've been warned. This episode is less about the product and more about what happens once you actually start posting. Michael went from 200 followers to a video sitting at three million views — no music, no editing, nothing polished about it, and the same thing that made people mad about it is the reason it worked. We get into that, and then into the real meat of the conversation: a private group he built called Global Nova, forty-some business owners trading warm introductions instead of competing for the same cold leads. No dues, no catch. Sounds like a nice idea in theory until you realize it's actually working for him. Somewhere in the middle of all that we also cover why the standard sauce cup isn't cutting it anymore — blame the chicken tender for that one — and the one-word email trick that actually gets telemarketers to leave you alone. That's how these conversations go with Michael. If you're trying to figure out what to actually do with the people already watching you, or you just want that Rameking song stuck in your head for the rest of the week — this one's for you. Michael Smith / Rameking: rameking.com — available through US Foods, Sysco, and Amazon.  LinkedIn: Rameking / Michael Smith Instagram @ramekingdom Facebook @therameking TikTok @ramekingdom Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91 Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood FellintoFood.com CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Welcome back Michael Smith, and the jingle nobody can get out of their head 01:00 — What Rameking is, and the new 3.5–4oz cup coming because of chicken tender culture 02:59 — Rebuilding social media from 200 followers, and switching to an educational content style 05:20 — Recording 30–60 fifteen-second videos in a day, and the jingle sign-off on every one 06:33 — The Robopost CSV trick for scheduling a week of posts at once 09:45 — The raw, no-music TikTok video that hit 3 million views 13:25 — Why he built Global Nova instead of just growing a following 21:22 — What surprised him most about who joined — a Bar Rescue celebrity chef and Dart Containers 26:46 — Warm intros vs. cold outreach, and the trick to get telemarketers to actually leave you alone 29:03 — Audience vs. community vs. support group — the real difference RESOURCES MENTIONED Rameking (rameking.com) — portion cup dispenser, available through US Foods, Sysco, and Amazon Robopost — social media scheduling app Michael uses to batch content, including CSV bulk uploads Global Nova Group — private LinkedIn networking group Michael founded, ~42 members, free to join George / Grill Advantage — mentor who helped shape Michael's educational content style Brian Duffy — celebrity chef (Bar Rescue), Global Nova member Dart Containers — sustainability lead is a Global Nova member Levy Restaurants — Michael's former employer (GM, Ohio State) — kept as a warm-intro resource for the group Episode Art Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    Rameking / The GlobalNova Growth | Michael Smith

  6. Jul 6

    Oryx Desert Salt / Hydration From Ancient Underground Lake | Samantha Skyring

    Samantha Skyring is the founder and CEO of Oryx Desert Salt, a mineral-rich salt sourced from an ancient underground lake beneath Africa's Kalahari Desert — now stocked by Whole Foods and Woolworths, served in more than 3,500 restaurants, and supplied to JetBlue Airlines. We get into desert salt versus sea salt, the sodium and hydration science most people get backwards, and what's actually sitting in the "natural" sea salt in your pantry. This one starts with Samantha walking 75 miles across the Skeleton Coast in Namibia in her twenties — the trip that put her face-to-face with the oryx antelope the brand is named after — and gets a lot more intense from there. Fifteen years ago, with a toddler to care for and no guarantee any of it would sell, she sold her house, bought 34 tonnes of desert salt, stored it in a garage unit, and started bottling it herself at her dining room table. That's how Oryx Desert Salt began. She'll also tell you, on tape, that table salt was invented as an industrial product around 1910 for paint and textiles, and that the chemicals added to make it "flow freely" are still in the shaker on your table today. We cover what's actually harvested out of the ocean when a bag says "sea salt" — plastics, sewage, and in some cases radioactive waste from decades-old ocean dumping. Samantha walks through why sodium and hydration are more connected than most people realize, why she thinks "salt is bad for you" might be one of the more persistent food myths out there, and how she landed a national Whole Foods listing off three cold emails to a category buyer. We also get into the plastic-free, ceramic-mechanism grinder that kept over 894,500 plastic grinders out of landfill in 2024 alone. Website: https://oryxdesertsalt.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oryxdesertsalt/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oryxdesertsalt/?hl=en Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@oryxdesertsalt4081 Oryx Desert Salt can be found at Amazon Whole Foods Direct on website CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Cold open: the five-month desert journey that started it all 01:18 — What Oryx Desert Salt is, and why an antelope is the logo 05:42 — She sold her house to buy 34 tons of desert salt 06:25 — Inside the Kalahari salt pan: 55 million tons, bigger than Texas 10:00 — What's actually in your sea salt (plastics, sewage, radioactive waste) 12:27 — Table salt's origin story: an industrial product from 1910 17:15 — "Salt is bad for you" — dismantling the biggest nutrition myth on the planet 26:26 — How she landed a national Whole Foods listing with three emails 32:15 — Getting on JetBlue and Amtrak 37:12 — The "tequila fist" taste test and what chefs are saying Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91 Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood FellintoFood.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    Oryx Desert Salt / Hydration From Ancient Underground Lake | Samantha Skyring

  7. Jun 29

    Chris Valdes: The Chef Storyteller / BAM / Smell—O-Vision

    Chris Valdes is a Miami-based chef and TV personality best known for Food Network Star, who's spent the last eleven years building a media career out of catering, storytelling, and refusing to let anyone else write his story for him. This one didn't feel like a normal chef interview. We got into what it actually takes to build a brand before you have a team, how much of yourself you let a producer or a platform write for you versus protecting your own voice, and where AI actually earns a place in a professional kitchen instead of just taking over. Chris talks about grit in a way that doesn't feel like a quote on a slide — it's lived in. We also ended up in Miami's Latin fusion food scene, the right way to cook a pot of black beans, and somehow my own Father's Day cookout. That's how these conversations go. Connect Website Instagram  Youtube Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91 Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood FellintoFood.com 4. CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS Timestamps pulled from the final edited transcript (with intro narration) — these supersede the earlier raw-recording chapter list. 00:00 — Cold open: how Chris built a media brand on purpose 04:17 — Starting a catering company at 19 — the -$267 first event 08:06 — Staying authentic vs. playing a character on TV 11:31 — When cooking turned into storytelling (the Le Cordon Bleu essay & Emeril's "BAM") 15:54 — Why people actually connect with his content 23:20 — Jeff's own jump from corporate to entrepreneur 26:23 — The bride who almost didn't hire him — and 11 years of loyalty since 32:12 — Miami's Latin fusion food scene + the black beans recipe 42:13 — AI, tech, and what's actually changing in food media 53:22 — What's next: the next chapter as a storyteller Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    Chris Valdes: The Chef Storyteller / BAM / Smell—O-Vision

  8. Jun 22

    The Nomad Cook / The Culinary Art of Cannabis / Life Beyond The Pop-Ups | Travis Peterson

    Travis Petersen is the chef and founder behind Nomad Cook, a culinary cannabis brand that's hosted more than 1,200 cannabis-infused pop-up dinners in 117 cities across 37 states, and the person who helped the American Culinary Federation build its first cannabis chef certification course. He got his start on MasterChef at 31, years into a sales career in oil and gas — and built everything else from there.  He bombed his tacos and got eliminated in the second episode, three minutes of total airtime. Ten days later, a recession hit his oil and gas company and he got laid off with a year's severance. That accident of timing is the entire reason Nomad Cook exists. He calls it the stars aligning; it's also just a guy who decided to spend a free year finding out if he could actually cook. We get into how a newspaper photo of a sold-out cannabis dinner sent him into his own backyard for his first pop-up, and how that snowballed into touring 20 days a month with 500 pounds of gear and a sous chef in tow. He breaks down what terpenes actually are — sativa and indica only describe how the plant grows, not how it makes you feel.  He's also walking away from the touring life at the height of it. His last public Nomad Cook pop-up dinner is September 5th in Miami, and after that he's moving Nomad Cook into education only while he starts a new venture helping small businesses with AI automation. Social Instagram: the_nomadcook Website: https://www.thenomadcook.com/ ACF Cannabis Course Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91 Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood FellintoFood.com CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Intro: Travis Petersen, the Nomad Cook 02:24 — The first backyard pop-up 04:48 — From oil and gas to MasterChef 09:54 — Writing the cookbook, building the ACF certification 15:02 — What a cannabis dinner actually is 19:05 — Terpenes, the entourage effect, and the mango trick 23:20 — Inside the dosing system 27:49 — Why the touring life is ending 33:25 — The Paris takeover surprise 51:23 — What's next: education and AI Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    The Nomad Cook / The Culinary Art of Cannabis / Life Beyond The Pop-Ups | Travis Peterson
See All (92)

5
out of 5
143 Ratings

About

The Fell Into Food Podcast, where culinary craft meets the evolving world of kitchen innovation. Hosted by Chef Jeff Fell, each episode pulls back the curtain on the tools, technology, business strategies, and human stories shaping how modern kitchens actually work. If you’re a chef, operator, manufacturer, educator, or anyone obsessed with where food and technology intersect, this podcast gives you the conversations you won’t hear anywhere else. Real talk. Real expertise. Real innovation—served with the curiosity and candor. It’s the future of the kitchen, one conversation at a time.

Information

  • Creator
    Jeff Fell
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    92
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Jeff Fell
  • Show Website
    Fell Into Food Podcast