Avsnitt
-
You can taste the love someone puts into their cooking. And the opposite is true too.
Norman Fenton is the Michelin starred, James Beard nominated chef and co-owner of Cariño, a modern Mexican restaurant in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood that is, in every sense, a love letter. A love letter to his wife Karina and their sons. A love letter to her family in Quintana Roo. A love letter to Mexican cuisine, culture, and the Latino community that has shaped his entire career and life.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Norman for a conversation that traces an extraordinary arc: From a 14 year old in Detroit cooking purely for a paycheck, to a transformative scallop dish that revealed food could be art, to the demanding kitchens of Alinea Group and five and a half intense years at Schwa under Michael Carlson, to a spontaneous decision to drive his car from Chicago to Tulum, Mexico rather than fly it abroad, which changed the entire trajectory of his life.
That decision led him to WILD, to his now wife Karina, to a years long immigration process he describes candidly and emotionally, and ultimately to Cariño in Chicago, where nearly every single object inside the restaurant, from the chandelier to the place mats, was handmade by artisans Norman personally knows and has visited in Mexico. Nothing in the restaurant was ordered. Everything was sourced directly, with intention, and with the explicit goal of putting money directly into the hands of the families who made it.
Norman also opens up about Cariño's ongoing commitment to Latinos Progresando, a Chicago nonprofit focused on immigration support for the Latino community, through their monthly Tacos and Friends guest chef taco omakase dinners, which have raised nearly $40,000 in two and a half years. And he shares an exciting first look at Molino Los Hermanos, a forthcoming tortilleria and casual sister concept opening at the end of summer right next door to Cariño.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up in a non-food family in Detroit where special occasions meant Red Lobster and Morton’s SteakhouseStarting in restaurant kitchens at 14 purely to earn moneyThe hazelnut crusted scallop dish from mentor chef Derick Watson that changed everythingYears at Andiamo learning real in-house butchery and pasta productionBecoming a de facto executive chef in his early 20s and learning leadership the hard wayDeciding to leave Detroit for a Michelin market and choosing Chicago Staging and working at The Aviary and The Office under Alinea GroupExperiencing kitchen toxicity firsthand and the moment that changed his trajectoryHis first ever Michelin starred meal at Schwa and immediately falling in love with itFive and a half transformative years at Schwa under chef Michael CarlsonFinding his culinary voice through nostalgia, emotion, and personal memoryThe decision to drive his car to Tulum, Mexico rather than pay to fly it to Japan or FranceMeeting his now wife Karina and learning Spanish to fall in love with her properlyBecoming executive chef of WILD under business partner Karen YoungThe pandemic, years of commuting between Chicago and Tulum, and a son born mid chaosBrass Heart, a Chicago restaurant whose menu organically became more and more MexicanThe phone call that closed Brass Heart and the business plan Karen and Norman built on the spotDesigning Cariño: nearly every object in the restaurant handmade and sourced directly from artisans in MexicoThe personal stories behind the framed photos in the restaurant bathroomSingle origin heirloom corn and direct relationships with farmers in Oaxaca and beyondThe four and a half year immigration process for his wife and the toll it took on his familyTacos and Friends: a monthly guest chef taco omakase dinner series benefiting Latinos ProgresandoNearly $40,000 raised for immigration support in two and a half yearsWhy he believes money and voice are the most powerful tools for changeBeing a James Beard finalist and what it means for the broader conversation around Mexican cuisineAn exclusive first look at Molino Los Hermanos: a tortilleria and casual sister restaurant opening end of summerAdvice for founders: sacrifice yourself to your craft and give it everythingFind Norman and Cariño:
Instagram: @carinochicago, @chefnormdoeCariño: 4662 North Broadway, Chicago, IllinoisLearn more about Latinos Progresando: @latinosproTacos and Friends: monthly guest chef series, details on Cariño's InstagramSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
On June 15th, 2026, The Perfect Bite went live from the red carpet of the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. As an official press credential holder, host Sarah Perkins spent two hours on the carpet meeting, interviewing, and asking the world's best and hardest question to some of the most celebrated names in food, hospitality, and beyond.
From the Humanitarian of the Year to lifetime achievement legends, from a chef putting Anchorage, Alaska on the map, to a restaurateur flying his entire Cleveland team to Chicago, this is one of the most special and spontaneous episodes The Perfect Bite has ever produced.
This episode features interviews with nominees, honorees, past winners, award committee members, and food industry luminaries from across the country, all sharing what brought them to Chicago and, of course, their perfect bites.
Timestamps below to let you choose where you want to hop to in the episode!
Timestamps:
0:00 - Welcome and intro from the red carpet at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
0:30 - Who was James Beard? A brief history and foundation overview
2:00 - The James Beard Foundation mission and 35 years of awards
3:30 - The 2026 presenting sponsors, partners, and award programs
4:00 - CHIRLA: Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, 2026 Impact Award winners. Perfect bites: pozole and mom's enchiladas
7:30 - Nikki Fas: Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service nominee. Puerto Rican flavors, pineapple cocktails, and a perfect bite of tostones with garlic
11:30 - Damian Diaz: No Us Without You, 2026 Humanitarian of the Year. On representing the immigrant community and a perfect bite of abuelita's enchiladas verdes
16:00 - Nathan Bentley: Best Chef Pacific Northwest nominee, Altura, Anchorage Alaska. On elevating comfort food and a perfect bite of the sweet prawn biscuit
21:00 - Belinda Chang: Two-time James Beard Award winner, now creating luxury hospitality experiences. On magnetic nails, Lady Gaga concerts, and a perfect bite of crème fraîche with Lipton French onion dip, lumpfish caviar, and a potato chip
26:00 - Johnny Hernandez: Best Chef Mountain nominee, Denver, traditional Mexican cuisine. On representing Denver and Mexico and a perfect bite of molote in the Centro Historico in Oaxaca
32:00 - Finn Walter and Audrey Walter: Best Chef Texas nominee, The Nicolette, Lubbock Texas. On a burgeoning food scene and a perfect bite of green chile posole from Old Mexico Grill in Santa Fe
37:00 - Chris Shepherd and Lindsey Brown: Southern Smoke Foundation, 2026 Impact Luncheon honorees. On mental health access for hospitality workers and perfect bites of the Monteverde meatball and a homemade grilled cheese
45:00 - Omar Tate and Cybille St. Aude-Tate: Best Chef Mid-Atlantic nominees, Honeysuckle, Philadelphia. On memory, storytelling through food, and perfect bites of acorn bread and the first strawberry from the farm
53:00 - Lee Anne Wong: 2026 James Beard Awards Committee member. On the diversity of this year's nominees and a perfect bite of tonkatsu from Budagumi in Tokyo
57:30 - Andrew Zimmern: Host of the 2026 James Beard Media Awards, Substack author of Spilled Milk. On overcoming nerves and a perfect bite of a fried chicken thigh
1:02:30 - Ope Amosu: Best Chef nominee, ChòpnBlọk, Houston, modern West African cuisine. On making culture accessible and a perfect bite of Buka stew
1:06:00 - Sam Toia: President and CEO, Illinois Restaurant Association. On keeping the James Beard Awards in Chicago through 2028 and culinary tourism
1:10:00 - Joe Cash: Best Chef Southeast nominee, Scoundrel, Greenville South Carolina. On classic French bistro in a burgeoning food city and a perfect bite of pristine uni
1:13:00 - Michael Tusk: Outstanding Chef nominee, Quince, San Francisco. On Joe Sasto's time at Quince and a perfect bite of a croque monsieur at Harry's Bar in Venice
1:22:30 - Erick Williams: Virtue, Chicago. On Midwest nice, team-first hospitality, and a perfect bite of Nancy Silverton's pizza dough recipe
1:23:00 - Nancy Silverton: 2026 James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award winner. On not going anywhere and a perfect bite of crusty, flavorful bread
1:30:00 - Vinnie Cimino: Best Chef Great Lakes nominee, Cordelia and ROSY, Cleveland. On bringing the whole team to Chicago and a perfect bite of the bread service at Monteverde
1:37:00 - Historia: Filipino pop-up, Las Vegas. On marrying journalism and food to bring Filipino origin stories to life
1:38:30 - Closing reflections, Soul and Smoke in the press room, and Mayor Brandon Johnson arriving
Subscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
Saknas det avsnitt?
-
Some people learn about the food industry from the outside. Jordan Buckner learned it from all sides at once, and then built the community he wished had existed while he was figuring it out.
Jordan Buckner is the founder of Foodbevy, a community and resource platform now reaching over 5,000 CPG founders and food and beverage professionals, and of Joyful Co., a corporate gifting company built around emerging CPG brands. But before all of that, he was a fifth grade entrepreneur selling Airhead candies out of his cargo pants, a high schooler running a student-operated coffee shop with a $4,000 grant, an architecture student with two degrees from Michigan and Illinois, and the founder of not one but two simultaneous CPG businesses: ChopBox, a meal kit company, and TeaSquares, a green tea energy snack that made it into Whole Foods Chicago in its first four months.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Jordan for one of the most candid, educational, and genuinely warm conversations about what it really takes to build in the CPG space. From a childhood surrounded by entrepreneurship on every side, to the night he collapsed on his kitchen floor in a panic attack and his wife helped him see that TeaSquares had to end, to the decision to build Foodbevy with an intentional stress level of 2 out of 10 and no plans to sell, Jordan is one of the most honest voices in food and beverage today.
He also pulls no punches on the structural realities of the CPG industry: Why it is stacked against brands from the start, how distributors and retailers hold all the leverage, what AI is actually doing for small founders right now, and why building a personal mission statement might be the most important thing any founder can do before building a product.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up surrounded by entrepreneurship on every side: a grandmother with a grocery store, a dad with grocery stores in Chicago, and a mom who got her culinary degree and ran a catering businessSelling Airhead candies out of cargo pants in fifth grade and his mom's leftover cookies in high schoolOpening a student-run coffee shop at Whitney Young High School with a $4,000 grant from the parents associationStudying architecture at University of Michigan and University of Illinois with a dual MBAWhat architecture taught him about creativity within constraints and entrepreneurshipChopBox: a meal kit business born during an internship in Michigan, run out of his mom's commercial kitchenTeaSquares: green tea energy snack bars made from puffed millet, almonds, and pepitas that got into Whole Foods in four monthsWhy having too many points of differentiation created a moat that kept customers out rather than competitorsRunning two CPG businesses simultaneously and almost everything himselfThe night he fell to his kitchen floor in a panic attack and finally realized something had to changeShutting down TeaSquares during COVID after corporate office revenue disappeared overnightWhy the CPG industry is structurally stacked against brands: retailers, distributors, and leverageSuja paying $1 million in slotting fees and getting cut six months laterOne point of differentiation being the right answer instead of white spaceFounding Foodbevy during COVID with a small membership fee and a founder meetup modelFounding Joyful Co. with a COVID relief box for first responders that became a corporate gifting businessHow Foodbevy has evolved: 250+ podcast episodes, webinars, articles, and a retail buyer directoryThe shift in CPG from e-commerce back to retail and what that means for founders right nowAI for CPG brands: three founders using Claude to build dashboards, sales analysts, and full business softwareHis conscious decision to run Foodbevy at a stress level of 2 out of 10, with no plans to sellHis daughter at age three pretend-negotiating with UPS and running her own art marketCreating a personal mission statement as the foundation of every business decisionFind Jordan and Foodbevy:
Website: foodbevy.comInstagram: @foodbevyLinkedIn: Jordan BucknerJoyful Co: joyfulco.comSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
In a world full of AI generated images, there is still nothing quite like a photo that makes you stop scrolling and say: Is that for real?
Laura Scherb is the founder of Page and Plate Studio, a food photography and styling business that brings CPG brands, cookbook authors, and editorial projects to life through imagery so textural and rich it practically pops off the page. She is also the co-founder of Kitchen Sink Studio alongside pastry chef Emily Spurlin, a board member of Les Dames d'Escoffier of Chicago, and a two time IACP Photography Award finalist whose still life recreation of a 1600s oil painting stopped Sarah cold the first time she saw it.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Laura for a warm and detailed conversation about what it actually takes to create the images that sell cookbooks, CPG products, and entire brands. From two grandmothers who shaped her relationship with food in completely different ways, to dying mashed potatoes green as a kid, to a decade long journey from governmental disaster relief consulting to picking up a Canon Rebel and never looking back, to the strobe lights that finally unlocked her signature style.
Laura also pulls back the curtain on what a five day, 35 recipe cookbook shoot actually looks like, how she prices her work fairly for both herself and founders, and why she believes investing in real photography is always worth the wait. Plus a peek into Kitchen Sink Studio's culinary retreats, including an upcoming trip to Normandy with eight women this fall.
In this episode, we cover:
Two grandmothers, two completely different food philosophies, and how both shaped Laura's path into foodDying mashed potatoes green, pink, and blue as a kid and an early lesson in edible colorStudying writing at Carnegie Mellon and picking up her first camera, a Canon Rebel, while travelingA career detour into governmental disaster relief consulting and what it taught her about professionalismStarting the Page and Plate food blog, pairing books with meals, and dabbling in cateringThe moment she realized photography was the piece brands needed mostGoing all in on Page and Plate Studio in 2017 with a six month bet on herselfLil' Bucks and Emily Griffith: An early client relationship that has lasted nearly a decadeThe trial and error of self-teaching photography, manual settings, Capture One, and artificial lightingHow strobe lights and learning to manipulate light unlocked her signature textural styleWhy travel and changing scenery keeps her creative inspiration freshBehind the scenes of a commercial CPG shoot versus an editorial cookbook shootWhat a five day, 35 recipe cookbook shoot actually looks like, recipe by recipePricing fairly: Flexible payment structures and understanding where founders are coming fromPaying it forward: How other women photographers helped her get startedTwo IACP Photography Award finalist pieces, including a recreated 1600s oil painting still lifeKitchen Sink Studio with Emily Spurlin: Culinary retreats in the Driftless region of Wisconsin and an upcoming trip to NormandyHer honest take on AI in food photography and content creationAdvice for founders: find your people and ask for helpFind Laura and her work:
Instagram: @pageandplatestudioKitchen Sink Studio: @kitchensinkstudiosWebsite and portfolio: pageandplate.comSubstack: pageandplate.substack.comSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
Some people spend their entire careers supporting others before they finally step into the light themselves. Adrienne Cheatham spent eight years at Le Bernardin, years supporting Marcus Samuelsson at Red Rooster and Street Bird, and a lifetime believing she was meant to be the operational person behind the scenes. And then a call to Top Chef and a family gumbo challenge changed everything.
Adrienne Cheatham is a Michelin-starred chef, James Beard Media Award nominated cookbook author, Food Network personality, and co-host of The Chef's Cut podcast alongside Top Chef co-finalist Joe Flamm. And now she is launching something brand new: Eating History, a deep-dive food history podcast she is co-hosting with her husband Stephen Bailey, with its first season dedicated entirely to the origins and history of pizza.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Adrienne for one of the most layered and beautiful conversations The Perfect Bite has had yet. From a childhood of chaotic, massive family gatherings with a mom from a family of twelve and a dad from a family of fourteen, to cooking Christmas cookies in batches for a solid week because they were too broke for gifts, to faxing her resume to Charlie Trotter's kitchen and ending up at Le Bernardin instead, to finally finding her voice through her family's Southern food heritage on Top Chef and pouring all of it into her cookbook Sunday Best.
This is a conversation about what happens when someone who spent their whole career making other people shine finally gives themselves permission to be the person out front. And about what a marinara pizza and a husband who nerds out about history on his morning walks can do to change the entire direction of your life.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up in a big, chaotic Chicago family where food was always a massive, joyful productionHer mom's famous "restaurant night" where leftovers became a candlelit dining experienceWhy her parents refused to let her go straight to culinary school and what journalism and business classes taught her insteadGetting her internship at Le Bernardin by faxing, mailing, and physically showing up with her resume for three weeksEight years at Le Bernardin, becoming exec sous chef, and copy editing Eric Ripert's cookbook Why she stayed past the one-year anniversary that most cooks treated as their exit dateLeaving Le Bernardin after a toxic kitchen situation and being recruited by Marcus SamuelssonBeing pushed out front by Marcus before she was ready: The New York Times documentary, meeting Gail Simmons, the De Gustibus demoTop Chef: Going in without watching the show and not knowing who she was as a chef yetThe gumbo challenge that changed everything: Winning with her mom's recipe and discovering the Sunday Best conceptThe real story of Southern fried chicken and why it was only made a few times a yearSunday Best: Writing the cookbook to honor her family's history, her grandfather, her mom, her mixed heritageThe James Beard Media Award nomination and what it meant to have her family's stories recognizedThe Chef's Cut podcast: Why Joe Flamm was always the obvious co-host choiceEating History: Co-founding a podcast production company with her husband Stephen and deep diving into the history of pizzaBarbecue Brawl on Food Network: Her first long-term showWhat it felt like to realize she is now actually a founderAdvice for founders: Perfect is the enemy of progress, just get started
Find Adrienne:
Instagram: @chefadriennecheatham, @chefscutpod, @eatinghistorypodThe Chef's Cut: Available on Apple, Spotify, and YouTubeEating History: Available on Apple, Spotify, and YouTubeSunday Best cookbook: Available wherever books are soldBarbecue Brawl: Airing on Food Network nowSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen!
Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
He broke his back snowboarding, got stuck on his couch, and found the Food Network. Thirteen minutes after submitting his MasterChef application, a producer called him. And he never slowed down from there.
Josh Gale is the founder and private chef behind The Chef Out West, a Canadian food creator and MasterChef and Beat Bobby Flay veteran whose bold, unapologetic, in-your-face food philosophy has taken the internet by storm. After years of corporate tech sales, a decade running restaurants in Vancouver, and a string of celebrity private cheffing gigs, Josh committed fully to content creation at the start of 2025, posting six pieces of content a week for three months. Two months in, a high-protein pistachio ice cream video went to a million views overnight. Everything changed.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Josh for a conversation that is as bold and energetic as his food. From buttered noodles and Shake 'N Bake in a non-food family to obsessing over Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals on his couch, to accidentally building a 100,000 person Facebook following he didn't even know existed, to partnering with his life partner Mackenzie to run one of the most exciting creator businesses in the food space right now. Josh is building a business that lets him play hockey twice a week, go camping on summer weekends, and never miss a birthday again. And his food is an exercise in maximalism the whole way through.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up in a non-food family and not discovering food until his 20sSix years in corporate tech sales and the square peg, round hole feelingBreaking his back snowboarding and finding the Food Network on his couchObsessing over Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, and Bobby Flay during recoveryCooking every day, feeding his friends, and building an early Instagram followingGetting called 13 minutes after submitting his MasterChef applicationQuitting his job before he even went on the showMasterChef as a kid in a candy store moment and total confirmationThe origin of The Chef Out West nameBeat Bobby Flay and the lobster-stuffed ravioli with crispy capers that judge Christian Petroni called an exercise in maximalismA decade running restaurants in Vancouver from cook to head chefPrivate cheffing for celebrities and saying yes to everyone except himselfWhy saying yes to every client in 2024 felt exactly like being back in a restaurantCommitting to content creation at the start of 2025 with a three-month deadlineThe high-protein pistachio ice cream video that went to a million views overnightKorean marinated eggs on rice and the momentum that built from thereThe three revenue streams powering The Chef Out West: brand deals, Facebook and YouTube view monetization, and website ad revenueAccidentally discovering 100,000 Facebook followers and the passive income that followedMackenzie and the creative-technical partnership that makes everything workThe digital cookbook planned for end of 2025 and the print cookbook to followDoing only one or two things at a time really well as a key operating standardBuilding a business around a life, not a life around a businessAdvice for founders: start the thing, film the content, make today day oneFind Josh and The Chef Out West:
Website: thechefoutwest.com (burger blueprint, recipes, stories)Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok: @thechefoutwestCrispy Edges: their insider communitySubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
If you have been sleeping on Cleveland, Chef Vinnie Cimino is here to wake you up.
Vinnie is the co-founder of Cordelia, one of Cleveland's most beloved restaurants, and the brand new ROSY, a wood-fired neighborhood spot that opened just seven weeks before this conversation. He is also a three-time James Beard Award nominee, a community anchor through the Cleveland Family Meal Project and Food Conscious, and one of the warmest, most thoughtful voices in the Midwest food scene today.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Vinnie for a conversation that covers the full arc of a remarkable career. From a childhood surrounded by big Italian-Slovenian family gatherings and his grandmother's restaurant in Kent, Ohio, to working at Greenhouse Tavern under Jonathon Sawyer, to pop-ups and vagabond cooking during COVID, to answering a mysterious Indeed ad posted by his future co-founder Andrew Watts that simply said he wanted to open the next great Cleveland restaurant.
Cordelia, now approaching its fourth year, is exactly what it sounds like: a warm hug. Grandma's dining room meets James Beard-level cooking, with family photos on the walls, vintage 1950s silverware, and a seasonal menu built entirely around what local farm partners bring through the back door. ROSY is Cordelia's sibling, but generationally different: old world techniques, live fire cooking, and an Adriatic and Balkan-inspired menu in a 50-seat neighborhood space where 80% of guests just walk in off the street.
And running underneath all of it is Vinnie's guiding philosophy: hospitality starts inward. Take care of your team and they will take care of your guests. It sounds simple. In practice, it looks like buying James Beard Awards tickets for almost 50 members of his staff, rolling out PTO for part-time employees, and his team eating cake together the day his nomination was announced while he was away cooking a benefit dinner across the country.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up in a big Italian-Slovenian family with a grandmother who ran her own restaurant in Kent, OhioHis first mid-rare steak in college and the moment food really clicked for himGetting pulled into a kitchen at Russo's in Peninsula, Ohio and never really leavingTaking a $30,000 pay cut with a one-year-old and a new house to pursue cooking for realWorking his way up to CDC at Greenhouse Tavern within 10 months of joiningPop-ups, cooking in people's homes, and vagabond cooking during COVIDReconnecting with Andrew Watts through an Indeed ad looking for a chef co-founderOpening Cordelia: the inspiration, the vintage silverware, the family photos on the wallsA seasonal menu built around what the farms bring in, not the other way aroundWhy Cordelia's menu changes frequently while 40% stays as beloved staplesPartnering with 23 to 25 local farms including The Chef's Garden and a mushroom farm in DetroitThe "everyone's got the chef's table" feeling at ROSYROSY's Adriatic and Balkan-inspired wood-fired menu and the 50-inch wood-fired grillThree James Beard nominations and what it means to the whole teamShutting both restaurants down for Beard weekend so almost 50 staff can go to ChicagoCleveland Family Meal Project during COVID and how it has evolved into Food ConsciousA senior living facility in North Ridgeville centered around healthy food and cookingRolling out PTO for all staff, including part-time, because hospitality starts inwardWhat he is most proud of: watching young cooks become sous chefsHis advice for founders: the hardest part is starting, so just start at square oneFind Vinnie and his restaurants:
Cordelia: 2058 East 4th Street, Cleveland | @cordeliacleROSY: 2912 Church Avenue, Hingetown, Cleveland | @rosy.restaurantVinnie on Instagram: @chefvinnieciminoSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
Some brands set out to sell a product. Diaspora Spice Co. set out to change a supply chain, honor a culture, and bring the most potent, story-rich spices in the world into home kitchens across America. Nine years in, they are doing all three.
Sana Javeri Kadri is the CEO and founder of Diaspora Spice Co., a regenerative spice company built on a singular mission: put money, equity, and power into the best spice farms across South Asia and bring wildly delicious, hella potent flavors to your everyday cooking. Asha Loupy is Diaspora Spice Co.'s recipe editor and co-author, the woman behind some of the brand's most beloved and obsessively cooked recipes, including the strawberry cardamom bars that reliably spike website traffic every spring.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with both Sana and Asha for a conversation that covers the full arc: from a 23-year-old Sana buying a 350-kilogram turmeric harvest with her first ever tax refund and storing it in a co-op basement in Oakland, to selling out in four days and waking up to 700 orders after a New York Magazine gift guide mention, to building a company that now works with 100+ regenerative farm partners across South Asia and pays 3.9x above commodity price. And now, a cookbook that took five years, three months of travel across 10 Indian states and Sri Lanka, 14 languages, and one very memorable pumpkin chutney discovered in a kitchen in Kashmir as the cameras were packing up.
Asha's origin story is equally delightful: she cold-walked her resume into Market Hall Foods after college, worked her way to the cheese department because that's where all the cool people were, and eventually slid into Sana's DMs with a photo of perfectly pleated cumin lamb dumplings with a turmeric wrapper that changed both of their lives.
This episode is one of the most joyful, warm, and genuinely inspiring conversations The Perfect Bite has ever had. Two Bay Area women who love good food, care deeply about the people who grow it, and have spent nearly a decade proving that spice can be a vehicle for justice, storytelling, and extraordinary flavor.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up with food: Sana eating all the graduation snacks at preschool, and Asha dictating recipes to her mom at age fourSana's time at high school in Italy and working on a vineyard and olive grove at 15Asha cold-walking into Market Hall Foods and gravitating to the cheese departmentThe turmeric latte trend that sparked Sana's curiosity about who was actually growing the turmericBuying a 350kg turmeric harvest with a $3K tax refund and storing it in a co-op basementSelling out in four days and waking up to 700 orders after Julia Turshen's New York Magazine mentionBuilding trust with farm partners by paying quadruple the commodity price on timeHow Asha slid into Sana's DMs with perfectly pleated dumplings and changed the trajectory of the brandThree months traveling across India and Sri Lanka for the cookbookThe pumpkin chutney discovered at the last possible moment in a kitchen in KashmirWhy they brought in regional cookware for every studio shoot (Kerala clay pots, Manipuri black pottery, Kashmiri copper)The strawberry cardamom bars that spike website traffic every springBusting myths about South Asian cooking: you can make most recipes in the cookbook with six spicesAn exclusive tease: Diaspora Spice Co. is opening a store (location and timing TBD)The Padma Lakshmi collaboration returning later this yearAsha's solo cookbook "Dinner Season" coming June 2027!Advice for founders: just start and get a good therapistFind Diaspora Spice Co.:
Website: diasporaco.comInstagram and TikTok: @diasporacoAvailable in about 900 independent stores across the U.S, including Whole Foods CaliforniaThe Diaspora Spice Co. Cookbook: available wherever books are soldSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
What if food media got the Puck treatment?
That's the question Max Tcheyan asked and Caper is the answer. Max is the CEO and co-founder of Caper, a new food and hospitality media company built on the premise that the food world deserves the kind of serious, insider, character-driven storytelling that business gets from Puck, that sports got from The Athletic, and that Hollywood gets from Vanity Fair. The characters are there. The stories are there. The journalism just hasn't caught up yet.
Max knows how to build this. He was one of the earliest employees at Bleacher Report, grew The Athletic from startup to New York Times acquisition, and co-founded Puck, the subscription media company covering Hollywood, fashion, politics, and business with a talent-led model that changed how premium media gets built. Now he's applying everything he learned to the world he loves most: food, restaurants, and hospitality.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Max for a conversation about what Caper is, why it needed to exist, and how he's building it. The founding team is a genuine Avengers assembly: journalists from The New Yorker, the New York Times, Artnet, Eater, and Bon Appétit who are equity partners in the business, not just employees. The editorial philosophy is built around what Max calls the "power triangle" of food: the hospitality groups (producers), the chefs and restaurants (actors), and the behind-the-scenes agents, the publicists, real estate players, consultants, and advisors, whose influence on food culture nobody is covering yet.
There's also an underground chef competition happening in undisclosed New York City locations that sounds like Top Chef meets an underground rap battle. And yes, a podcast and video strategy is coming.
This is one of the most forward-thinking conversations about the future of food media and food storytelling we've had on The Perfect Bite. If you care about what food journalism can become, and what food entrepreneurship looks like when it's treated like a tech startup, this one is for you.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up with a northern Italian mother and grandmother and the Bolognese that got frozen and shipped to collegeThe double meaning behind the name Caper: the ingredient, the adventure, and why it elevated the brandDropping out of law school to join Bleacher Report as employee number five in 2007Building growth marketing before "growth hacking" was even a termThe Athletic: building a pure subscription model that sold to the New York TimesCo-founding Puck at TPG and what the talent-led subscription model taught himWhy food media felt like sports media in 2016 and why that was the signal to buildThe "power triangle" of food: hospitality groups, chefs/restaurants, and the agent classWhy the agent class in food, the publicists, consultants, designers, and advisors, is the most underreported story in the industryBuilding Caper's founding team: Emma Orlow, Chris Crowley, and Annie ArmstrongWhy equitizing journalists changes everything and protects editorial integrityThe subscription plus advertising model and why multiple revenue streams matterPartnering with Loewe as the first ad partner and the signal it sendsUnderground chef competitions in undisclosed New York locations: the events strategyExpanding beyond New York through contributors and category-anchored storytellingThe podcast and video strategy coming in the back half of the yearHis advice for founders: the hardest thing is to start, and the journey is the rewardFind Caper:
Website: caper.mediaInstagram: @caper.mediaSign up for free or join as a member - two subscription tiers availableMax on LinkedIn: Max TcheyanMax on Instagram: @mtchecheSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
Some brands feel like they were always meant to be national. Killer Brownie is one of them. But it took a 40-year journey, a nurse-turned-founder, and a tagline born from a dad sneaking Oreos to his kids to finally make it happen.
Chimene Mayne-Ross is the CEO of Killer Brownie, a gourmet brownie brand born out of Dorothy Lane Market, the legendary Dayton, Ohio specialty grocer her father built, that has grown over 500% since 2019 and is now coast to coast in Target, Kroger, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, and more. But Chimene didn't come into the business straight from the family table. She spent 25 years as a nurse first, building the people skills, the regulatory knowledge, and the leadership foundation that would make her the right person to take Killer Brownie national.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Chimene for a conversation that is warm, wise, and full of the kind of generational founder insights you rarely hear in one place. From a childhood of carob instead of chocolate (her mom was a health nut ahead of her time) and Oreos snuck by her dad (who always said "sometimes you gotta live a little"), to writing a proposal for her dad at 45 years old, hiring her husband as COO, growing from 300 Instagram followers to 135,000, going through two rebrands, and landing a partnership with Irresistible Foods Group, the family behind Kings Hawaiian, that has accelerated growth without ever touching the product.
This is a story about slow, steady, intentional growth. About knowing who you are and refusing to be diluted by trends. About the tagline that made Chimene cry because it was her dad's phrase all along. And about what it really means to be a third generation founder who takes something beloved and makes it her own.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up with a health nut mom who served liver and onions as an afterschool snack and a dad who snuck them OreosThe family legacy: Dorothy Lane Market, Dayton's beloved specialty grocer since the 1940sWhy she chose nursing over the family business at 22 and what 25 years taught herJoining Killer Brownie in 2013 and writing a proposal to her dad for the chance to grow itWhat makes the original Killer Brownie so special: caramel, layers, and a gooey texture unlike anything elseCurrent flavors: cookie dough, caramel macchiato, Mexican hot chocolate, the Brookie, the Kitchen SinkGrowing 500%+ since 2019 and the three hires that made it possibleThe rebrand journey: two rebrands, and how the latest finally felt like coming homeThe "Live a Little" tagline that made Chimene cry because it was her dad's phrase all alongWhy she's unapologetically a dessert brand in a world of protein bars and fiber snacksQuietly cleaning up the ingredient list since 2013 without ever making it the brand messageThe Irresistible Foods Group acquisition and why the Kings Hawaiian family was the right partnerWhy "distraction leads to dilution" is her north starTaking Killer Brownie to Antarctica and feeding the expedition teamReading 20 books a year and why lifelong learning is her most important leadership toolHer goal: advising female founders and third generation family business ownersAdvice for founders: start with your purpose, know your why, and be prepared to work
Find Killer Brownie:
Website: www.killerbrownie.com (with store locator and direct to consumer ordering)Instagram/TikTok/Facebook: @killerbrownieAvailable at Target, Kroger, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Mariano's, and select retailers coast to coastSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
He hated pasta as a kid. Now he's the self-proclaimed Prince of Pasta, the Ruler of Rigatoni, the Sultan of Spaghetti, and one of the most exciting chef-turned-CPG-founders in the food industry.
Joe Sasto is the founder of Tantos pasta chips, co-founder of Ripi Foods frozen pasta, author of “Breaking The Rules,” and a familiar face across Food Network, Top Chef, and Netflix competitions. But what makes Joe's story genuinely compelling isn't the resume: it's the mustache, the energy, the happy accident that turned a forgotten tray of dried pasta in a Beverly Hills walk-in into a snack brand heading to Targets nationwide.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Joe for a conversation that covers the full arc, from growing up in the Midwest with a mom who served pasta with sauce on top (never married into the noodle), to landing on the pasta station at Quince because a cook was "unwillfully ejected,” to the moment he realized that cooking competitions aren't about ego, they're a sport. From building Tantos out of an accidental kitchen discovery, to getting Ripi Foods into Whole Foods nationwide with an exclusive Cacio e Pepe flavor, to teasing a potential pizza restaurant in New York, Joe is always moving, always building, always with a sauce splatter video ready to go on Instagram.
This episode is packed with genuinely useful CPG insights, including a helpful retail tip about exclusives that could change how you approach your next buyer meeting. And plenty of pasta puns. Because that's just who Joe is.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up hating pasta and how he ended up on the pasta station at QuinceCalifornia farming, Lazy Bear, and why he still thinks California has the world's best produceHow Top Chef changed everything and why he'd never go back (but also maybe would)The evolution from ego-driven competition cooking to approaching it like a sportThe happy accident: finding dried-out pasta in a Beverly Hills walk-in and inventing TantosMeeting co-founder Sean through Instagram DMs and building the brand togetherBreaking The Rules: years of cookbook doubt, writing it anyway, and the black garlic Caesar that everyone makesRipi Foods: fresh frozen pasta, Whole Foods nationwide, and an exclusive Target launchThe retail exclusives tip: why pitching exclusive SKUs to big box retailers gets you in the doorDream collaborations: Matty Matheson for Ripi, and the search for the perfect "pasta chip girl"Why surrounding yourself with smart, powerful women is the key to everythingTreadmill running, cop dramas, and THC beverages as the perfect wind-down comboWhat he's most proud of: the headspace shift and the people around him nowA potential pizza restaurant in New York City, details coming soonAdvice for founders: find a co-founder who fills your voids, not one who mirrors themFind Joe and his work:
Instagram: @chef.joe.sastoCheck out Joe’s new YouTube channel: Make Mama ProudBreaking The Rules: available on Amazon or signed copy via link in bioRipi Foods: Whole Foods nationwide | www.ripifoods.comTantos: Amazon and grocery stores nationwide | www.tantossnacks.comSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
What is Big Dip Energy? You’re about to find out!
Alyse Whitney is a food journalist, cookbook author, Netflix judge, and certified Dip Queen who has spent nearly 15 years building one of the most distinctive voices in food media. Over 1,000 bylines. Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Rachael Ray Every Day. Managing editor of Chrissy Teigan's Cravings. Ina Garten's cell phone number on hand. And a cookbook, Big Dip Energy, that she wrote, art directed, propped, and styled in nine months while convincing her publisher to let her include a "compundium" of puns at the back.
Oh, and she's launching a new podcast and YouTube show called Dippin' In! And she announced it here first!
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Alyse for a conversation that is unlike any other on The Perfect Bite. It covers the Korean American adoptee who started cooking for her family at 12 because she thought their Shake 'n Bake pork chops were boring, the entertainment journalist who burned out writing 15 articles a day recapping Scandal, the food writer who got Ina Garten's cell phone number after a day of cooking together, and the Netflix judge who filmed her first ever TV appearance in Spanx while on her period in Albuquerque.
Alyse is maximalist in every sense, from her food, to her style, her personality, and her puns, and this conversation is a masterclass in what happens when you finally stop trying to make yourself smaller and just show up as the fullest possible version of yourself.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up as a Korean adoptee with non-cooking parents and becoming the family chef at 12The gateway food memory: making kimbap with her Korean Big Sib mentor programWhy she got into dips (Hint: she almost choked as a baby because she hated chewing)Subscribing to Bon Appétit alongside J14 at age 12Burning out as an entertainment journalist writing 15 articles a dayGetting a job at Cooking Channel because she was nice to someone at her Bon Appétit internshipGetting Ina Garten to be Bon Appétit's first ever guest editor and cooking together in the HamptonsBeing laid off from Rachael Ray Every Day and landing the Chrissy Teigan Cravings jobHer first TV appearance on Easy Bake Battle with Antoni Porowski: in Spanx, on her period, in AlbuquerqueGetting called at 9:30am to replace a COVID-positive judge on Nailed It! by 11amBecoming a recurring judge on ChoppedBig Dip Energy: Writing the manuscript in three weeks and art directing every pageHer ADHD diagnosis and why she chose a 9-month book deadline over 18 monthsBeing unapologetically maximalist after years of trying to hide herselfHer Cherry Bombe Jubilee talk "Good Fat" on loving people the way we love butterWhy she's finally treating herself like a brandEXCLUSIVE: Her new podcast and YouTube show Dippin' In!, announced here first!Advice for founders: Be authentic, show up, and stop making yourself smallerFind Alyse:
Website: www.alysewhitney.comInstagram: @alysewhitneyYouTube: @alyse.whitneySubstack: Dippin' In! (Launching soon! Linked in her Instagram)Big Dip Energy: Available wherever books are soldSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
What do you do when the thing you've dedicated your entire career to becomes the thing that's making you sick?
Chef Monica Glass spent years working in some of the most celebrated kitchens in the country, including Gotham Bar and Grill, Le Bernadin, and the Ritz Carlton Philadelphia, mastering the art and science of pastry. And then she was diagnosed with Celiac disease. The flour she had been breathing in and baking with every day was the very thing destroying her health.
She could have walked away. Instead she did something much harder: She stayed, and she figured out how to do it differently.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Monica for a conversation that is equal parts inspiring and deeply personal. Monica shares the journey from a childhood garden in Maryland where her grandparents grew rhubarb and tomatoes, to moonlighting in Deborah Racicot's pastry kitchen at Gotham Bar and Grill after her PR job, to passing out at Union Square Farmers Market from the lowest iron levels her doctors had ever seen, to opening Verveine Cafe and Bakery, a fully gluten-free, dedicated safe space in Philadelphia, alongside her co-founder and mentor Chef Ken Oringer.
And that's before you get to WLDFLR, her gluten-free flour and baking mix line that she's been quietly building from her basement (yes, literally, 14,000 pounds of flour was delivered to her driveway in the snow). Or the 2026 James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for Outstanding Pastry Chef that found her in a Costa Rican rainforest trying very hard to be phone-free.
Monica's story is about inclusion. About food as medicine and joy simultaneously. About building a space where nobody has to feel like a burden at the table. And about the remarkable things that can happen when you refuse to let a diagnosis define the ceiling of what's possible.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up in Maryland with grandparents who grew rhubarb, tomatoes, and berries in their gardenHer dad's crockpot meals, Sunday dinners, and the through line of food as familyFrom Penn State to New York City PR and gravitating toward the food clientsMaking a list of top 10 chefs she wanted to learn from and knocking on doorsMoonlighting at Gotham Bar and Grill under Deborah Racicot, turning it down twice before finally saying yesWhat Eric Ripert taught her about knowing every person's name on day one at Le BernadinThe Celiac diagnosis: years of being dismissed by doctors, passing out in Union Square, and finally getting answersLosing her mother to ovarian cancer and how the stress may have triggered the Celiac geneLearning to recreate gluten-free versions of everything she loved, without telling anyone they were gluten-freeOpening Verveine Cafe and Bakery with Chef Ken OringerThe Picknic allergen software on their site that lets guests filter the menu by their specific needsWLDFLR: the gluten-free flour and baking mix line born in her home kitchenGetting 14,000 pounds of flour delivered to her driveway in the snow and carrying it to her basementThe 2026 James Beard semifinalist nomination that found her in a Costa Rican rainforestWhy she never advertised Verveine as gluten-free and why that was the right callHustle culture, burnout, and why she finally blocked off Mondays for herselfHer two adopted tiny Chihuahuas Quill and StewieAdvice for founders: build the thing that solves your own problem, and standards are your superpowerFind Monica and her work:
Website: www.chefmonicaglass.comInstagram: @chefmoniVerveine Cafe: @verveinecafe | www.verveinecafe.comWLDFLR: @wldflr_glutenfreeSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
Some guests walk into a conversation and immediately make you feel like you've known them forever. Emery Whalen is one of those people.
Emery is the CEO and co-founder of QED Hospitality, a nine-restaurant group with locations across New Orleans, Nashville, and Kentucky that is doing something increasingly rare in the hospitality industry: Putting people first, actually meaning it, and building a business around that belief that has lasted a decade.
QED stands for "quod erat demonstrandum,” Latin for "Thus it has been proven." It's a punctuation mark at the end of a mathematical theorem, and for Emery and her co-founder Chef Brian Landry, it was a declaration: They weren't going to talk about doing things differently. They were going to prove it.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Emery for a conversation that covers the full arc of a remarkable life in food, hospitality, and community. From growing up in New Orleans with a mother who accidentally served potpourri-garnished fish, watching Hurricane Katrina reshape her entire future, teaching French and Spanish in New Orleans public schools through food, and co-creating a culinary scholarship program and micro-loan fund for Louisiana farmers, Emery arrived at restaurant ownership not because she wanted to, but because she realized it was the only way to do things the way she believed they should be done.
QED’s first restaurant Jack Rose is a love letter to New Orleans—maximalist, warm, full of sequins on a Saturday night. And when COVID hit, instead of closing the doors on their team, Emery spun up a telehealth customer service operation in less than a week to keep every single employee working. The image of a sous chef navigating electronic medical records, and a grandmother in New Jersey sending cookies to a Nashville bartender who helped her reset her iPhone, says everything about the kind of organization QED is.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up in New Orleans with a grandmother whose house always turned into a partyWhat makes New Orleans cuisine unlike any other regional food in AmericaHurricane Katrina, Princeton, and the city that shaped everythingTeaching French and Spanish through food and why leaving teaching was one of the hardest decisions she's ever madeMINO (Made in New Orleans): the culinary scholarship program she co-createdMicro-loans for Louisiana farmers and the milk farmer who started it allMeeting co-founder Chef Brian Landry and being wooed into entrepreneurship she didn't wantWhat QED stands for and why they chose the nerdiest name possibleSpinning up a telehealth customer service company in less than a week during COVIDThe "be nice or leave" policy and how she enforces it gracefullyNine restaurants in ten years and what comes nextBrian Landry's upcoming cookbook: Recipes paired with profiles of Bayou Bar musiciansWhat people get wrong about Southern food and why it deserves more respectHer advice for women and minority founders being underestimated: take great pleasure in itThe best advice she's ever gotten: Ask people outside your industryFind Emery and QED Hospitality:
Instagram: @emerywhalen, @qedhospitalityWebsite: www.qedhg.comVenues throughout New Orleans, Nashville, and KentuckySubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
Eric Skae is the CEO and co-founder of Carbone Fine Food, the fastest growing pasta sauce brand in America. In just five years, Carbone Fine Food has gone from zero to over $130 million through the register, adding an average of 156,000 new households every single month. And before that, Eric ran Rao's, where he took it from the number six pasta sauce brand in America and set the foundation that would eventually make it the number one premium sauce in the country.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Eric for one of the most candid, educational, and genuinely fun conversations The Perfect Bite has ever had. Eric doesn't sugarcoat anything— not the $3.2 million personal loss he absorbed when his first brand, New Leaf Iced Tea, went through hard times, not the shareholder battle that forced the sale of Rao's, and not the very specific competitive mindset he brings to a category he has now shaped twice.
What makes Carbone Fine Food special isn't just the branding. It's all about the product. Open kettle cooking. Italian tomatoes from southern Italy. Monthly taste sessions with chef Rich Torrisi. Eric personally tasted every single batch in year one, logging 100,000 miles on United without leaving the country. That obsession with quality is the moat and he knows it!
This conversation covers the full picture: The origin story of building Carbone Fine Food from a handshake deal with Chef Mario Carbone to shelves in five months, why the brand's marketing flywheel is PR, event, and social rather than TV spend, how Costco became their biggest trial driver, what he thinks about the premiumization of pantry staples, and what's coming next, including a brand new Italian chili crunch launching in July that he previewed for the first time right here on The Perfect Bite!
There's also a conversation about tariffs, board dynamics, founder lessons, and what it actually means to stay unapologetically true to your brand in a world where every trend is trying to pull you somewhere new.
If you love Carbone Fine Food, the Carbone brand, work in CPG, or are building anything of your own, this one is unmissable.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up in a big Irish family where food meant togetherness20+ years in beverage and how the fundamentals of CPG are simpler than people thinkFounding New Leaf Iced Tea, losing $3.2 million in 2008, and rebuilding in his fortiesThe call that led to meeting Mario Carbone—and saying yes immediatelyBuilding the brand from scratch: recipes, branding, co-packing, and shelves in five monthsTasting every single batch in year one and logging 100,000 miles domesticallyMonthly taste sessions with Rich Torrisi and why consistency is the real productThe marketing flywheel: PR, events, and social over TV spendCarbone Beach, Post Malone, Alex Cooper, Jimmy Fallon and pop culture authenticityWhy Mario Carbone is a superpower advantage6,000 Costco demos planned for this year and why trial is everythingHousehold penetration growing from 0.08% to 4% in two yearsThe premiumization of pantry staples and how generational shifts are driving itWhy he refuses to add fiber or protein to the sauce ("Add a piece of steak")EXCLUSIVE: Italian chili crunch launching July 2025! Look for the green and red flavorsHis take on tariffs, Italian tomatoes, and solving for quality no matter whatPicking the right board and why smart advisors beat cheerleaders every timeStaying frugal on someone else's money: flying coach and staying at Fairfield InnsHis advice for new foundersWhat's next, including a potential return to his original brand, New LeafFind Carbone Fine Food:
Website: carbonefinefood.comAvailable at most major retailers nationwideInstagram: @carbonefinefoodSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
In this special Podcasthon episode of The Perfect Bite, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Jake Tepperman, founder of Chicago Food Rescue, a nonprofit that rescues fresh, perishable food — produce, baked goods, prepared meals — from grocery stores, corporate offices, restaurants, and events, and delivers it directly to community organizations that feed people in need. No physical location. No warehouse. Just a network of volunteers, a powerful app, and a mission that is quietly changing how Chicago thinks about food waste and food access.
Podcasthon is the world’s largest annual charity podcast event in mid-March. Podcasters around the globe are releasing episodes to support non-profits and causes they believe in.
Jake and Sarah discuss how a Shabbat dinner tradition and seven years working at 412 Food Rescue in Pittsburgh led him to bring this food rescue model to Chicago — and what it took to build it from scratch in just a year and a half.
Jake is one of those founders who isn't doing this for the glory. He's doing it because he saw a disconnect — a city full of food and people going hungry — and realized his background in supply chain and logistics was exactly what was needed to bridge it.
In 2025 alone, Chicago Food Rescue completed over 1,100 rescues, moving more than 250,000 pounds of food and providing the equivalent of 208,000 meals across 44 nonprofit community partners.
This conversation covers the mechanics of how food rescue actually works, the difference between food rescue and food banking, what it has looked like on the ground in Chicago as SNAP access was threatened, and why Jake believes hunger is not a supply problem — it's a logistics problem.
It's also just a really lovely conversation about what it means to show up for your community, build something from nothing, and let the work speak for itself.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing up with Shabbat dinners and the family table that shaped his relationship with foodHis corporate career, early volunteering in Pittsburgh, and finding 412 Food RescueBuilding emergency food response infrastructure during COVIDWhat makes food rescue different from food banks and food pantriesHow the three-way coordination between food donors, volunteers, and nonprofit recipients actually worksThe Chicago Food Rescue app — and how it removes every barrier to volunteering2025 by the numbers: 250,000+ pounds of food, 208,000 meals, 1,100+ rescuesWhat happened in Chicago as SNAP restrictions tightened — and why food rescue is only part of the solutionHow one organization saved $40,000 in food costs and hired a caseworker because of food rescueHis advice for anyone starting something new: just start, even before you have it all figured outHow to get involved:
Download the Chicago Food Rescue app (Google Play or App Store) to volunteer or set up a food rescueFor more information and to donate: chicagofoodrescue.orgInstagram/Facebook/LinkedIn: @chicagofoodrescue_Want to become involved with Podcasthon? Head to podcasthon.orgSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
What if instead of waiting for a big brand to buy you out, you just built something bigger on your own terms?
That's exactly what Stefanie Garcia Turner, Regina Trillo, and Jocelyn Ramirez did when they merged their three beloved brands - Tuyyo Foods, Nemi Snacks, and Todo Verde - into one powerhouse under the Tuyyo Foods umbrella. And the food industry is paying attention.
In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with the full executive team behind Tuyyo Foods 2.0 for a conversation that covers everything: Growing up with food as an act of love, building brands that push back against tired stereotypes of Latino culture, and why three solo founders decided that coming together was the boldest move they could make.
Stefanie spent nearly a decade at Whole Foods before launching Tuyyo's original agua fresca mixes, a better-for-you answer to Kool-Aid, inspired by her grandmother's grapefruit tree and her love for the powdered drink format.
Regina left a legal career in human rights to found Nemi Snacks after being struck by how underrepresented and stereotyped Latino food was on American grocery shelves — and how a nopal cactus chip could change that.
And Jocelyn launched Todo Verde in LA after years as a social justice professor and chef, bringing taco seasonings inspired by real Mexican flavors to a market that had settled for cornstarch and mild spice packets for way too long.
They met through trade shows, DMs, and a shared fellowship. The merger idea was planted on an airport ride back from Texas, and within months it was a reality. No big buyout. No waiting around. Just three women who decided to grow better together.
This one covers the exciting stuff and the real stuff — what it actually takes to merge three companies, how to communicate with co-founders when things get hard, what it means to keep showing up for your community in a moment when so much feels scary, and the single Mexican tablescape vision that has retailers buzzing.
In this episode, we cover:
How food showed up as love in each of their families growing upStefanie's journey from Whole Foods and The Honest Company to founding Tuyyo FoodsRegina leaving law to create Nemi Snacks and finding nopal farmers in MexicoJocelyn's pivot from social justice professor to chef, cookbook author, and Todo Verde founderHow they each met and what planted the seed for the mergerThe nitty gritty of merging three CPG brands — attorneys, operations, finance, brandingWhy they landed on Tuyyo (spoiler: "tú y yo" means you and me)The Mexican tablescape vision: chips, agua fresca, taco seasoning, and a new mole paste coming soonHow they're showing up for their communities right nowWhat fills each of their cups — and how they've built a culture of vulnerability togetherConnect with Tuyyo Foods:
Website: tuyyofoods.com (launching soon with all products + store locator!)Instagram: @tuyyofoodsNemi Snacks: @nemisnacksTodo Verde: @todoverdelaSubscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter!
-
Rachel Mansfield is one of those people where listing her titles doesn't even do her justice — OG food blogger, recipe developer, cookbook author, CPG investor, and now founder of cadootz!, the kids' snack brand that's checking every box health-conscious parents have been begging for. Oh, and she's doing most of it alongside her husband Jordan, while raising three boys and renovating a 90-year-old home. Casual.
In this episode, Rachel gets real with host Sarah Perkins about the winding, messy, beautiful road that got her here — from baking box-mix birthday cakes in high school, to getting fired (her word, not ours) from a PR job at 25 with 10K Instagram followers and a big dream, to building a brand that now reaches millions of people who just want to eat well without it feeling like a chore.
We talked about it all: the moment Jordan convinced her to start a recipe blog instead of selling overnight oats on the streets of Manhattan (truly iconic), what she's learned as an investor in 25+ CPG brands through grt sht Ventures, and why she is not launching new cadootz! flavors quite yet—even though everyone keeps asking.
Rachel also gets candid about navigating fertility challenges in public, the pressure of running a platform where it always looks like you have it together (she does not, and she'd like you to know that), and why she thinks "balance" is kind of a myth—but also why that's okay.
This one is for the founders, the creators, the parents trying to figure out how to feed their families something better, and honestly anyone who's ever been told no and had to figure out what comes next.
In this episode, we cover:
How getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to Rachel's careerBuilding a food and lifestyle brand from scratch in the early days of Instagram + influencersWhat she learned about brand partnerships — then vs. nowLaunching cadootz! and her cookbook More, Please! in the same week (accidentally)Working with your spouse: the real talk on what it's like and how they make it workInvesting in 25+ CPG companies through grt sht Ventures and what she's seen go wrongWhy she's going slow and steady with cadootz!'s retail strategyOn sharing the hard stuff online: fertility, overwhelm, and keeping it realWhat fills her cup: heated sculpt classes and a really good SancerreHer closing advice for anyone thinking about putting themselves out thereConnect with Rachel:
Instagram: @rachlmansfield (no "e" in Rachl!)Website: rachlmansfield.comSubstack: @rachlmansfieldcadootz!: @cadootzsnacks | cadootz.comPre-order More, Please! at rachlmansfield.com
Subscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter on Substack!
-
From sommelier to restaurateur to hospitality consultant, Liz Mendez has built a career rooted in community, beverage expertise, and reinvention.
In this episode of The Perfect Bite, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Liz Mendez, founder of Aldea Hospitality, to talk about building sustainable careers in the restaurant industry, the rise of non-alcoholic beverage programs, and what it really takes to open — and close — a restaurant.
Liz shares her journey from Chicago wine professional to opening the beloved Spanish wine bar Vera, the lessons learned from entrepreneurship, and how she now helps hospitality professionals design more balanced careers through consulting, education, and her concept of the “hospitality hyphenate.”
This conversation covers:
Becoming a sommelier and working in Chicago restaurantsOpening and running a Spanish wine bar focused on sherryThe realities of restaurant ownership and closing a businessTransitioning into consulting and hospitality techBuilding Aldea Hospitality and coaching industry professionalsThe rise of non-alcoholic and dealcoholized wine and Liz’s refocus on these productsCreating sustainable careers in hospitalityWhy community and mentorship matter in entrepreneurshipWhether you’re a restaurant owner, beverage professional, or founder in food & beverage, Liz shares practical advice on building a creative career that evolves over time.
To learn more about Aldea Hospitality, visit www.aldeahospitality.com. You can follow Liz on social media @mendezmusings. Subscribe to Liz’s Substack The Luncheonette!
Subscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter on Substack!
-
When I say Swedish hot dogs will change your life, it’s true! And they did for techie turned chef Amelia Eudailey.
In this episode of The Perfect Bite, host Sarah Perkins sits down with chef and entrepreneur Amelia Eudailey, founder of the cult-favorite pop-up concept Hej Hej (pronounced “hey hey”!). Known for its Scandinavian-inspired hot dogs, Swedish candy, and playful menu, Hej Hej has built a loyal following through pop-ups, catering, and creative storytelling—all before opening a traditional restaurant.
Amelia didn’t follow a typical culinary path. After working in tech and startups, she pivoted into food, working as a line cook at the famed Octavia, and began testing her concept through pop-ups while still working full-time. Today, she’s growing Hej Hej into a recognizable food brand while exploring the future of brick-and-mortar, merchandising, and community-driven hospitality.
This episode is a candid look at building a food business from scratch and learning through experimentation.
In this conversation, we discuss:
Launching a Swedish hot dog pop-upWhat makes Swedish hot dogs and food so specialTransitioning careers into food entrepreneurshipTesting a concept before opening a brick-and-mortar spaceBuilding a brand through pop-ups and communityRevenue streams beyond a brick-and-mortarUsing Substack and social media to grow an audienceDeciding when (or if) to open a permanent spaceStaying creative while building a sustainable businessAmelia’s story is a reminder that there’s no single path into the food industry — and that entrepreneurship often starts with simply trying.
TPB listeners, we have a special code for you to grab Hej Hej merch or Swedish candy mixes on Hej Hej’s site! Use code ‘PERFECTBITE’ on www.chefhejhej.com for 15% off your order of $25 or more through March 15, 2026.
To learn more about Hej Hej and find out about future pop-up dates, visit www.chefhejhej.com. You can follow Hej Hej on social media @chefhejhej. Subscribe to Amelia’s Substack Hotdog Hustle!
Subscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!
You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter on Substack!
- Visa fler
