Advertise on podcast: Edible-Alpha® Podcast

In Edible-Alpha® podcast #113, Brad connects with Mark Cottone, founder of Clean Beam, and Jim Rush, the company’s marketing director. Clean Beam’s revolutionary footwear sanitizer powered by DryZap!, its patented pulsed ultraviolet (PUV) light technology, helps processing facilities enhance food safety and security. After Mark’s other company, Cougar Packaging Concepts, began using PUV to sanitize and extend the shelf life of food, the idea arose to apply DryZap! to footwear in food processing facilities. He started Clean Beam about five years ago to develop a dry, fast, chemical-free sanitation solution to replace boot washers and other existing systems, which are notoriously problematic. The initial goal was simply to protect plant employees from slipping. But then, through rigorous testing, the team realized DryZap’s superior speed, efficacy, and consistency in eliminating a wide range of contaminants. PUV kills bacteria, molds, yeasts, and other pathogens in six seconds or less and delivers the kill value of heat without changing a product’s temperature. Plus, as an electronic system, the Clean Beam sanitizer tracks every user and feeds data into the cloud. This enables plants to track movement patterns and pinpoint the source of problems should they occur. Overall, DryZap! has the potential to prevent security breaches while providing total traceability, monitoring, and predictive analytics. Clean Beam’s innovation is especially timely, as all food manufacturers must now comply with Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rules. Through FSMA, FDA requires companies to implement preventative controls, to be proactive about food safety rather than reactive. Although DryZap! would be a stellar solution for most any production facility, there is still a steep education curve for many food companies. In their industry conversations, Mark and Jim explain that FSMA compliance is about more than checking a box. Yes, a standard boot washer might make them compliant, and no, they may not foresee any safety issues now, but the costs of weathering a recall are astronomical. As Jim points out, “this is a cost-avoidance play as much as a cost-savings play.” Along with educating potential customers, Clean Beam also listens to their pain points and needs. This consultative selling approach may be slower than hard-selling, but Brad says it is ultimately more effective. It helps entrepreneurs engender trust in the industry and hone their solutions to better suit the companies they want to help. This has definitely been the case for Clean Beam, which has been evolving its offerings in response to these conversations—and they are definitely not done innovating yet! Tune in to hear the full story of Clean Beam’s inception, development, launch, sales strategy, and goals for growth. This podcast offers great guidance and inspiration for food technology entrepreneurs, as well as food manufacturers looking to safeguard their operations.

Andy talks with Together Farms’ Stephanie Schneider about building a successful diversified farm business from scratch, making mistakes and learning along the way, and honing operations to boost efficiencies.

Brad chats with T4 Solutions’ Steve Mehmert about the rapidly changing grocery industry and exciting technologies helping independent stores compete.

Brad interviews Flavor Temptations co-founder Sara Parthasarathy about dialing in a winning omnichannel strategy, pivoting during a pandemic, and the importance of scenario planning.

In Edible-Alpha® podcast #109, Andy interviews Mark Doudlah, a fifth-generation farmer and owner of Doudlah Farms Organics in southcentral Wisconsin. The 1,625-acre certified-organic, regenerative farm grows 15 different crops for human consumption. Doudlah Farms Organics also has a value-added component, milling, packaging, and selling branded dry beans, seeds, and flours direct-to-consumer and at retail. Mark actually started out as a conventional farmer, just like his father, Earl. But then in 2008, Earl was diagnosed with lymphoma, likely caused by lifelong exposure to chemical ag inputs. Realizing the environmental and human health hazards of conventional farming, Mark grew determined to do things differently—safely for the planet and people. So, to honor his dad, he transitioned 40 acres to organic. This new way of farming had a steep learning curve, but Mark, along with wife Lucy and son Jason, was committed to figuring it out. They learned a lot over the next three years, working out best practices for planting, weed control, combining, cleaning, and storing. Then when Earl passed away in 2011, the Doudlahs began transitioning the rest of their acreage to organic and regenerative. Along the way, they’ve continually sought support and guidance from FFI, Rodale Institute, UW-Madison, MOSES, and other resources to help hone and grow their operations. Today, along with carrying USDA Organic certification, Doudlah Farms Organics is certified by the Real Organic Project and is in the process of becoming Regenerative Organic Certified. The farm is also Yahara Pride Certified, which verifies its efforts to enhance soil and water quality. Mark explains why these measures are so important to truly regenerate the soil, protect surrounding ecosystems, and ensure safe food. As for Doudlah Farms Organics’ consumer products business, Mark wishes he’d taken FFI training courses before writing his first value-added producer grant (VAPG). Our programs gave him a better understanding of various marketing channels, cash flow management, forecasting, and what it really takes to move a product from field to consumer. Now with more value-added experience under his belt, the business is growing steadily and expanding its retail footprint. To wrap up, Andy and Mark discuss financing. Most banks, even ag specialists, don’t understand the nuances of organic and regenerative, let alone value-added, so it’s important to find one that does. Then before signing off, Mark shares his vision for Doudlah Farms Organics and his hope for combatting climate change. 

Brad chats with Field to Freezer founder Matt McCoy about what it takes to build a tech company and product in the food space.

Brad invites in Twi Pods founder Kwadwo Owusu-Ofori for a compelling conversation about the journey of entrepreneurship today and what it takes for food startups to break through and thrive.

Acuity Insurance’s manufacturing consultant Michael Schlagenhaufer discusses the importance of optimizing operations and guarding against risks to the business.

Andy chats with Rustic Road Farm founder Marc Bernard about starting an organic farm from scratch, expanding the operation, and diversifying the business model for sustained success.

Brad chats with Sweet Pea’s founder Rachel Smith about what it takes to launch and grow a small-town food business, from refining the business model to securing financing to fostering careers locally.

In Edible-Alpha® podcast #103, Sarah sits down with Noah Munro, MBA, founder of Taste Profit, a digital marketing and e-commerce consulting firm that supports sustainable farms and specialty food brands. They discuss the importance of crafting a marketing strategy that syncs with the overall business plan, as well as key suggestions, cautions, and benchmarks for growth. After founding an artisan fudge company and then earning his MBA, Noah launched Taste Profit to help food and farm entrepreneurs grow their enterprises. The firm offers specialists in e-commerce, SEO, food photography, blogging, PR, direct advertising, and other aspects of digital marketing to meet each client’s needs. Noah is also part owner of sister company Kitchen Table Consultants, which assists entrepreneurs with financial management and business planning (featured in Edible-Alpha® podcast #62). When thinking about marketing, Noah stresses strategy, as opposed to running random Facebook ads, as many young businesses do. He says a marketing strategy should be informed by business strategy, which should be informed by personal strategy. Thus, entrepreneurs should first figure out their vision for the company, margins, sales goals, and exactly what they want to market. Also, what is their marketing budget? Noah says each case is unique but offers some guidelines for budgeting as a percentage of sales. These percentages are often bigger than entrepreneurs expect—and yes, they’ll eat into profits early on—but marketing spend is crucial for growth. Next, Noah walks through Taste Profit’s framework for helping clients with marketing, which centers on the acronym SPEMA: S for strategy, P for planning, E for execution, M for measurement, and A for adjustment. Listen to the full podcast to get his detailed breakdown of each step. Sarah notes that many new entrepreneurs are intimidated by marketing and don’t know where to start. She and Noah discuss how farmers markets and other direct-selling events can provide invaluable market research in the early stages. Food and farm entrepreneurs can even test out different marketing strategies to see what works and what doesn’t. But no matter what stage a business is at, Noah suggests having a “marketing scoreboard,” a simple spreadsheet that tracks the number of strangers (total web traffic, number of farmers market attendees who don’t stop by, etc.), friends (email subscribers, social media fans, etc.) and customers (number of orders, average order size, etc.). Marketing’s goal is to funnel people from strangers to friends (aka audience) to customers to loyal fans. After talking nuts and bolts, Noah outlines his own fudge business’s marketing journey, complete with missteps, lessons learned, and triumphs. Then he discusses common mistakes food and farm entrepreneurs make, such as overfocusing on sales at the expense of profitability and gross margin. Finally, Sarah roleplays an entrepreneur seeking marketing help from Noah. He asks her crucial questions about her business and goals, and together they work through the SPEMA framework. This podcast offers even more actionable insights to get entrepreneurs on the right track with marketing, so tune in today!

Betterbin founder and CEO Michelle Goetsch shares her story of helping CPG brands and consumers solve the recycling crisis with a machine learning–powered app and valuable data.