Fell Into Food Podcast

Jeff Fell
  • 4.7 (11)
  • 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. P!ing / The Robot Coffee Drive Thru Disrupting the $50B Business | Rob Whitten & Jane Lo

    5d ago

    P!ing / The Robot Coffee Drive Thru Disrupting the $50B Business | Rob Whitten & Jane Lo

    Rob Whitten and Jane Lo are the co-founders and co-CEOs of p!ng — a robotics-powered coffee company building 120-square-foot autonomous pods that take your order before you arrive and hand you a finished drink in under 30 seconds, with no one behind the window. Rob is a West Point graduate and former robotics leader at Amazon and iRobot. Jane is a brand strategist and Booth MBA who spent her career inside customer experience at Forrester and SharkNinja. Together, they're going after the $50 billion coffee industry with an idea that sounds like science fiction until you realize how much of the modern drive-thru is broken. They didn't start with the robot. Rob ran a food truck first — flipping eggs on two four-foot griddles — just to learn the food business from the inside before he ever touched automation. And in the early pilot, when customers pulled up to what looked like a fully automated pod, Rob and Jane were behind a curtain inside, making the drinks by hand, Wizard-of-Oz style, just to prove people would actually want this. The twist? When customers found out there was a person inside, they were disappointed. They wanted the magic to be real. That tension — building real automation without losing the human side of hospitality — runs through the whole conversation. We get into how p!ng's "sensor-augmented geofencing" actually identifies which car you're sitting in before you reach the window (your phone is doing more work than you think), why they chose Cometeer flash-frozen coffee extract over brewing on-site, how a fifty-plus-ingredient menu gets built around what robots can actually do well, and what their Robotics-as-a-Service franchise model looks like for someone who wants to own a pod without ever having to learn robotics. P!ing - Where to find  Website — pingthru.com TikTok — @pingthru Facebook — facebook.com/pingthrucoffee LinkedIn (company) — linkedin.com/company/pingthru YouTube — youtube.com/@pingthru Instagram — @pingthrucoffee Jane Lo — linkedin.com/in/jane-lo-ping Rob Whitten — linkedin.com/in/rob-whitten-pingthru Wefunder — wefunder.com/ping 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 00:10 — Intro: Rob Whitten & Jane Lo, p!ng 01:28 — Origin story: food trucks, robot armies, and how p!ng came together 09:50 — Hand-building the first pod in a driveway 13:02 — "The guy in the box" — why customers wanted the magic to be real 14:49 — Restocking and the hub-and-spoke model 18:02 — Sensor-augmented geofencing explained 22:19 — Why p!ng uses Cometeer flash-frozen coffee 26:14 — Building a 50-ingredient menu a robot can run 30:23 — Robotics-as-a-Service: the franchise model 38:21 — What's next: 24/7 pods, WeFunder, no-tip pricing Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    47 min
  2. The Freight Behind Your Food / Global Supply Chains | Ian Sutherland

    Jun 8

    The Freight Behind Your Food / Global Supply Chains | Ian Sutherland

    Ian Sutherland is the co-founder of World Freight Direct — a dedicated industry platform for global freight and logistics — and brings 55 years of combined freight experience to the table with his wife and co-founder Kath. He was back on Fell Into Food this week to talk about the thing that makes everything in your restaurant, your kitchen, and your supply chain actually move: global freight. Most people in food think about supply chains when something goes wrong. A delivery doesn't show up. A price spikes overnight. A product disappears from the shelf. Ian has spent thirty years watching what happens before that — and in this conversation, we got into it from the ground up. We covered how international freight actually works: the four modes of transport, what a bill of lading is and why it matters, how a freight forwarder functions as the connective tissue between a seller in Australia and a buyer in Chicago, and what's physically happening inside a container when equipment travels across an ocean to land at your booth at the National Restaurant Show. I walked through his own experience unloading overseas freight for the first time this year — and yes, it looks nothing like what you'd expect. Then things got interesting. We talked fertilizer. Not the bag you buy at a garden center — the bulk-shipped global commodity that Ukraine, Russia, the U.S., Canada, and China all export, and that the world's food bowl cannot function without. Ian broke down why ammonium nitrate that grows your crops is the same compound that leveled the port of Beirut in 2020 — one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in modern history. The connection between what's in your soil, what's in your food, and what can happen when it's handled wrong is something most people in the industry have never thought about. We also got into World Freight Direct — the platform Ian and Kath have been building and rebuilding for eighteen years. It's a vertical industry platform that connects freight forwarders, customs agents, 3PLs, shipping lines, and specialty food and beverage companies in one place. Ian explains how it integrates with Hospitality Chain (Episode 58) so that the two industries that can't exist without each other can finally find each other on one platform. And we closed on AI, automation, the death of email, and why neither Ian nor Jeff think the relationship part of this business is going anywhere. Find Ian https://hospitalitychain.com/ https://worldfreightdirect.com/ LinkedIn 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 / TIME00:10 — Intro: Ian Sutherland returns — World Freight Direct and 30 years in freight 01:04 — Ian's background: wife got him in, marine roots, 55 years combined with co-founder Kath 05:34 — How international freight works: 4 modes of transport, bill of lading, freight forwarders 10:12 — Unloading a container: what's actually inside and why it looks nothing like you'd expect 12:17 — Fertilizer: what it's made of and why the global food supply depends on it 14:44 — The Beirut port explosion: 2,500 tons of ammonium nitrate and what it did 18:06 — The pandemic in Melbourne: most locked down city in the world, 268 days 24:37 — The stat: freight + hospitality = over 20% of the global workforce 26:18 — World Freight Direct: 18 years to build, rebuilt 4 times, why vertical platforms matter now 37:42 — AI agents in freight: how automation will close deals faster than any email ever could Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    51 min
  3. Taste Events / Tong Talks / It’s Not Speed Dating | Ethan Kjesbo & Cass Burson

    Jun 1

    Taste Events / Tong Talks / It’s Not Speed Dating | Ethan Kjesbo & Cass Burson

    I've known Ethan and Cass for a while now, and every time I'm around them I walk away thinking the same thing — these guys just get it. Not just the event business, but the people side of this industry. That's what Taste Events is built on. They co-founded a curated B2B food service event company that takes everything broken about the trade show model and fixes it. We're talking 150–200 people, chain operators and suppliers who actually belong in the room together, and one-on-one meetings built around an intelligence dossier pulled from real conversations — not a generic booth pitch. The whole thing is designed so that when you sit down, it matters. We talked about how they built it, what made them realize "anti-trade show" was the wrong framing, and how they're keeping events fresh without losing what makes them special. We also got into NRA — what's trending on the floor (clean label is in, meat analogs are fading), how they work the show, and what actually gets done at Portillo's at midnight. Oh, and somewhere in there Ethan ate sardines on the show floor to start a conversation. Worked like a charm. He also runs a tin fish review account on TikTok called Tinnies with the Boys. I have no notes on that — just go follow it. Find Taste Events: LinkedIn: @TasteEventsInstagram: @TasteEventsWebsite: thetasteevents.comTimestamps [00:00] Cold open — Nutter Butter on TikTok is an acid trip [01:17] How Ethan and Cass got pulled deeper into food service [03:25] What a Taste Event actually is — the model explained [08:09] The intelligence dossier and why it's not speed dating [09:21] The extracurriculars — Taste Tour, dinners, and where the real magic happens [14:37] NRA reflections — Year 2, Portillo's at midnight, and trends on the floor [21:36] Tong Talks origin story — Hannah Lopez, a mic, and a pair of tongs [24:20] Good people, good times, good business — and how you protect that as you grow [29:26] Advice for anyone at a crossroads: if it makes you nervous, lean in [35:48] Next event info + where to find them 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

    37 min
  4. STEVE MCHUGH: CURED / THE SCIENCE OF CURING, AGING & MOLD

    May 25

    STEVE MCHUGH: CURED / THE SCIENCE OF CURING, AGING & MOLD

    Chef Steve McHugh is a six-time James Beard Award finalist, the author of Cured, and the founder of the celebrated San Antonio charcuterie restaurant of the same name — a 12-year run built entirely around preservation, dry aging, fermentation, and the science of what happens when you take time seriously with meat. Steve grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm, trained at the CIA, and cut his teeth in John Besh's kitchens in New Orleans before a lymphoma diagnosis stopped him mid-career. He finished treatment, moved to Texas, and opened Cured at the Pearl Brewery — a restaurant centered on whole-animal butchery, handmade charcuterie, and a custom aging case that eventually became one of the most interesting preservation programs in the country. In this conversation, we get into the real science behind curing and dry aging: what 60/60/60 actually means and when it doesn't apply, the difference between EQ curing and salt box method, why water is the enemy of every preservation technique, and how mold — the right mold — is the thing that keeps your case healthy and your flavors complex. Steve talks about how COVID wiped out twelve years of charcuterie inventory in three months, and how his wife's idea to fill the empty case with dry-aged beef turned into a second revenue engine. We also go deep on fish dry aging, wet aging, rapid aging claims, and one of my favorite moments in recent podcast memory: Steve debunking the "uncured bacon" label at the grocery store. Spoiler — they're curing it with celery. They're just not telling you. If you're a chef trying to understand preservation, an operator thinking about a dry aging program, or just someone who wants to know what's actually in that pack of bacon be sure to listen all the way through. Steve McHugh: Instagram / Twitter / Facebook: @ChefSteveMcHugh  Book: Cured — available anywhere books are sold 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 — Introduction01:17 — Farm life, work ethic & finding the kitchen07:26 — CIA, New Orleans & John Besh09:43 — Lymphoma, recovery & opening Cured15:08 — Curing vs. dry aging: the science explained22:05 — How COVID created an accidental dry aging program29:03 — Mold: why it's your best employee43:05 — Dry aging fish48:01 — Uncured bacon: the truth52:01 — Life after Cured & what's next Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    57 min
  5. CHERIE CALBOM:THE JUICE LADY ON WHAT IS MAKING US SICK

    May 11

    CHERIE CALBOM:THE JUICE LADY ON WHAT IS MAKING US SICK

    Cherie Calbom — known as The Juice Lady — holds a Master of Science in Nutrition, has authored 36 books with over 3.5 million copies sold, and has spent decades studying the connection between what we eat and how we feel. Her latest book, The Truth About Seed Oils, digs into how "heart-healthy" vegetable oils became the default in the American kitchen — and what that's quietly done to our health. The story of seed oils doesn't start in a kitchen. It starts with cotton waste rotting in piles at the turn of the 20th century. A dark, smelly oil originally used to lubricate machinery was refined, deodorized, bleached, and rebranded as a modern American cooking staple. World War II did the rest — when ships carrying coconut oil couldn't get through the waters, seed oil manufacturers filled the gap, hired cookbook authors, lobbied hard, and told home cooks this was the healthier, more modern choice. Heart disease went up anyway. It's still the number one killer. In this episode, Cherie breaks down the lipid hypothesis, the influence of Ancel Keys, what actually happens inside a seed oil refinery (hexane, bleaching agents, degumming — not pretty), why the omega-6 to omega-3 imbalance is driving chronic inflammation, and what the research shows about seed oils' connection to anxiety, depression, and aggression. She also fields the strongest counter-argument — a 2025 JAMA study suggesting people with the highest seed oil intake were 16% less likely to die — and explains why she's skeptical. And then there's her own story. In her 20s, Cherie was bedridden with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia — sleeping 12 hours a day, waking up exhausted, unable to walk around the block. She couldn't work. She moved back home. Five days into a juice fast, her body expelled a tumor the size of a golf ball, blood vessels attached. Three months later, she woke up feeling like someone gave her a new body in the middle of the night. That experience sent her back to school to get her master's degree so she could be a credible voice for everyone else trying to find their way out. Socials:  Cherie Calbom, M.S. — The Juice Lady Website: www.juiceladyinfo.com  Instagram: @juiceladycherie  X (Twitter): @JuiceLadyCherie  TikTok: @juiceladycherie  YouTube Shorts: TheJuiceLadyCherie  LinkedIn: Cherie Calbom Book: The Truth About Seed Oils — available on Amazon App: Seed Oil Scout (link on her site — click the book on the homepage) 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: 00:00 — Intro: Meet Cherie Calbom, The Juice Lady 00:40 — The Dark History of Seed Oils: From Cotton Waste to Your Kitchen 03:10 — The Lipid Hypothesis, Ancel Keys, and Why Heart Disease Never Got Better 06:00 — Inside a Seed Oil Refinery: Hexane, Bleaching, and Toxic Byproducts 07:45 — The Omega-6 to Omega-3 Imbalance Driving Chronic Inflammation 10:00 — The Counter-Argument: What Does the 2025 JAMA Study Actually Say? 13:30 — The Real Cost of Cheap Oil (And What to Do If You Can't Afford the Swap) 19:10 — Seed Oils, Anxiety, Depression, and Aggression 21:45 — Cherie's Story: Bedridden in Her 20s, Healed in Three Months, and a Tumor the Size of a Golf Ball 29:05 — What Cherie Eats, Seed-Oil-Free Swaps, and One Action to Take This Week Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    40 min
  6. RON CARDWELL: RTI / THE GREAT SEED OIL DEBATE

    May 4

    RON CARDWELL: RTI / THE GREAT SEED OIL DEBATE

    Ron Cardwell, Director of Commodity Strategy at Restaurant Technologies (RTI), runs point on cooking oil for the company that pioneered automated oil management — the closed-loop system that delivers fresh oil and pulls used oil out of more than 40,000 restaurants. We get into the seed oil debate, allergen myths, beef tallow's comeback, and what actually happens to the used oil in your fryer. Ron's nickname is "The Oil Nerd." He earned it. He started in soybean processing out of college, fell in love with how oil touches every corner of food and energy, and has been deep in commodity strategy ever since. RTI moves more than 700 million pounds of fresh oil into restaurants every year and pulls hundreds of millions of pounds of used oil back out — and almost all of it ends up as renewable diesel, biodiesel, or sustainable aviation fuel. We dig into how operators should actually think about oil — flavor, function, and price, in that order, not the other way around. Why "buy the cheapest" is a trap that costs you more in turnover and bad food. The seed oil vs. beef tallow debate — what's signal and what's noise, what the real trade-offs are on flavor, supply, and price when you switch. The allergen question that comes up at every front-of-house every week — and why a fully refined and deodorized oil doesn't carry the allergen at all (Ron settles this one on tape). What pourable beef tallow actually is and why it exists. Why high-oleic crop breeding is changing what "stable frying oil" even means. The full-circle history — beef tallow → saturated fat fear → trans fats → seed oil blends → consumers asking for tallow back. And the part of Ron's job he loves most: turning used fryer oil into renewable diesel at roughly 20% the carbon intensity of conventional diesel. Socials and Links: Website: www.rti-inc.com RTI 2025 Impact Report: https://www.rti-inc.com/blog/restaurant-technologies-recycled-more-than-390-million-lbs-of-uco-in-2025/ Ron Cardwell Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronald-cardwell-21a7531a6/ CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Intro and welcome: Ron Cardwell, Director of Commodity Strategy at Restaurant Technologies 01:31 — How Ron earned the nickname "The Oil Nerd" 02:44 — Why oil is one of three core nutrition components — and the most functional 03:49 — What "Director of Commodity Strategy" actually means day-to-day 05:09 — Quick recap of RTI's closed-loop oil system (referencing Ep 17 with Diana) 05:24 — The most dangerous job in a kitchen — and why bulk delivery eliminates it 07:12 — Jeff's experience as a former RTI customer 08:32 — RTI's 2025 Impact Report — released Earth Day, recycling stats 09:36 — Choosing oil: the three variables operators actually need to weigh 11:24 — The trap of buying the cheapest oil 12:13 — Flavor profiles by oil type — neutral vs. flavored oils 14:39 — The allergen question — settled on tape 16:15 — How operators (and customers) can verify allergen status — the supplier statement 18:32 — The seed oil vs. beef tallow debate — what's signal, what's noise 21:03 — Switching to tallow — flavor, supply, and price reality 24:58 — Why beef tallow is a byproduct, not a planned crop — supply ceiling 27:13 — Beef tallow handling — the solid block, the cleanup, the pourable version 29:23 — Glass vs. plastic and why dark storage matters more than the bottle 30:30 — Sustainability: where the used oil actually goes 32:58 — Where the oil category goes next — high-oleic, crop breeding, consumer demand 35:59 — The full circle: tallow → saturated fat fear → trans fats → blends → tallow comeback 37:20 — The one thing every operator should change Monday morning 37:55 — How to actually monitor oil quality day-to-day — smell, taste, look 38:55 — Where to find Ron and RTI — NRA Show, rti-inc.com 39:35 — Wrap up 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. YouTube - https://lnkd.in/gQM3S5mr  Spotify - https://lnkd.in/g_5kFXie Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 Pandora - https://lnkd.in/gS-wu_YJ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: 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

    40 min
  7. MADDIE HAMANN: PACHA / BURNING MAN TO BUCKWHEAT

    Apr 27

    MADDIE HAMANN: PACHA / BURNING MAN TO BUCKWHEAT

    Maddie Hamann left classified Navy submarine research and a PhD in oceanography to co-found PACHA — a regenerative, gluten-free sprouted buckwheat bread now on shelves at Whole Foods. This is how that happened. There's a version of this story where Maddie finishes the PhD, takes the nine-to-five, and spends the next forty years in academia. She was already living it. Instead, she blurted one sentence in her kitchen — "I want to work on the bread" — and walked away to build PACHA with her boyfriend of one year, Adam. PACHA is a two-ingredient sprouted buckwheat bread. Buckwheat and sea salt. That's it. Wild-yeast fermented on whole groats (flour doesn't work — we get into why), packaged in 100% home compostable materials, and sourced from farms transitioning to regenerative agriculture. The brand started in a 300 square foot test kitchen, pivoted into direct-to-consumer e-commerce during COVID, hit a peak of $220K a month on Shopify, and went straight to global distribution at Whole Foods. Not because of the bread. Because of the compostable packaging. In this one we dig into why "regenerative" is at risk of becoming the next greenwashed buzzword and what has to happen to protect it. Wild-yeast fermentation — why it works on whole buckwheat groats and dies in flour. The COVID pivot that took PACHA from a couple thousand dollars a month on Shopify to $220K. What running a CPG business with your spouse actually looks like. The calendar trick that finally broke Maddie's mental-load cycle. And where PACHA is headed — including the just-launched buckwheat tortillas (buckwheat, sea salt, psyllium husk) that hit West Coast Target last week. Fun fact on something I didn't see coming: PACHA means "everything that exists" in the Incan language, and it also means "to digest" in Sanskrit. Nobody planned that. Where to find PACHA: • Target: Select locations nationwide (primarily stocking Sourdough Tortillas and Original Loaves). • Whole Foods Market: Availability varies by region, typically found in the frozen bread section. • Sprouts Farmers Market: Reliable stockist for the full loaf lineup and English muffins. • Jewel-Osco: Extensive availability across the Midwest (Chicagoland). • Safeway / Albertsons: Stocked in many "Natural" frozen sets across the West and East Coasts. • Mother’s Market & Jimbo's: Key specialty grocers (California/West Coast). Website: livepacha.com   Instagram: @maddie.hamann   PACHA Instagram: @livepacha 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. YouTube - https://lnkd.in/gQM3S5mr  YouTube - https://lnkd.in/gQM3S5mr  Spotify - https://lnkd.in/g_5kFXie Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 Pandora - https://lnkd.in/gS-wu_YJ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: 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 and welcome: Maddie Hamann, PACHA co-founder00:43 — The common thread: civil engineering, oceanography, Burning Man, bread02:23 — Leaving academia — the nine-to-five version of herself she had to let go04:00 — How self-worth shifts when you step off the "safe" path04:54 — Hiding parts of herself in grad school and how entrepreneurship changed that06:24 — The moment halfway through the PhD she knew academia wasn't it07:59 — Starting PACHA with her then-boyfriend Adam after only a year together08:19 — The bread that changed her life — the only bread she could eat10:16 — "I want to work on the bread" — the kitchen moment11:22 — What PACHA means — the Incan name for "everything that exists"12:50 — The Sanskrit coincidence — PACHA also means "to digest"13:46 — Why the recipe simplified down to two ingredients: buckwheat and sea salt14:42 — Wild yeast, whole groats, and why fermentation doesn't work with flour17:05 — Jeff's reaction to the texture — not what you'd expect from two ingredients18:39 — 100% home compostable packaging — the tray, the clip, the film20:27 — The COVID pivot: from retail-bound to e-commerce overnight23:18 — From a couple thousand dollars a month to a peak of $220K/month on Shopify23:44 — Getting into Whole Foods — but NOT for the bread26:44 — The margin trade-off: why PACHA took the packaging hit other brands won't29:03 — Is "regenerative" about to become the next greenwashed buzzword?31:39 — Pesticides and "regenerative" — where consumer trust will break34:02 — Whole Foods as a gatekeeper for regenerative language on-pack35:00 — Jeff on Fischer Farms, red kelp in cattle diets, and real accountability37:50 — Co-founding with your spouse — the rules that actually work41:08 — The one thing that broke Maddie's mental-load cycle: calendaring her to-do list43:16 — How to handle it when the plan blows up (because it will)44:03 — Staying undistracted — phone on Do Not Disturb, always46:35 — What Maddie is most afraid of getting wrong47:45 — Where PACHA is headed: deeper in natural, then conventional48:47 — The food world needs to hear this: most of what's wrong with your body is your diet50:35 — Your body can heal itself — if you put the right things in50:45 — PACHA tortillas just landed in West Coast Target — buckwheat, sea salt, psyllium husk52:21 — Where to find PACHA online• • 52:41 — Wrap up Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    53 min
  8. NICHOLE BAJKO: SOH / THE HOSPITALITY MATCH MAKER / THE BIGGEST INDUSTRY IN THE SMALLEST WORLD

    Apr 20

    NICHOLE BAJKO: SOH / THE HOSPITALITY MATCH MAKER / THE BIGGEST INDUSTRY IN THE SMALLEST WORLD

    Everybody calls them headhunters. Nichole calls herself a matchmaker — and after this conversation, you'll understand why that one word change says everything about how recruiting in hospitality is supposed to work. Nichole Bajko started in an Italian deli at 15, went to NIU for hospitality (mostly for the kegs and eggs, her words), did seven years with Marriott including opening The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas at 25, ran a restaurant and brewery in South Barrington, and is now about to start her fifth year at Source One Hospitality — a grassroots, referral-driven recruiting agency that doesn't use ads or AI to find people. Just conversations, a real network, and the belief that this industry is the biggest industry in the smallest world. We get into why Chicago is pretentious about outside talent, why the job you see on Indeed has 500 applicants AND is still open, the salary compression happening right now in the city, what actually gets someone from cook to sous chef (hint: it's not a better resume), and the impossible balance of being a mom in restaurant operations. She also drops her three Chicago picks and the story about meeting José Andrés in an elevator at 25. If you've ever felt stuck in your career, burned by a bad hire, or wondered whether working with a recruiter is even worth it — well call Nichole! Find Nichole: Instagram: @findyournicheLinkedIn: Nicole BajkoAgency: sourceonehospitality.comNewsletter: twice-monthly jobs + content: https://mailchi.mp/sourceonehospitality/social?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio CHAPTERS: 00:00 Welcome + is "headhunter" a dirty word? 02:27 From an Italian deli at 15 to Marriott 04:16 Networking: the biggest industry in the smallest world 10:07 Resumes, AI, and what a recruiter actually costs you 17:15 Why Chicago won't hire outside talent 22:39 Tenure, salary compression, and the state of the industry 30:37 Mental health, moms in ops, and the "always on" problem 38:54 The real path from cook to management 48:46 What the industry gets wrong about leaders and training 54:16 Year five, The Cosmopolitan, and meeting José Andrés 01:02:14 Where to find Nichole + three Chicago picks 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.  YouTube - https://lnkd.in/gQM3S5mr  Spotify - https://lnkd.in/g_5kFXie  Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4  Pandora - https://lnkd.in/gS-wu_YJ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood  Linkedin: 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

    1h 7m
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Ratings & Reviews

4.7
out of 5
11 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
    84
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Jeff Fell
  • Show Website
    Fell Into Food Podcast

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