In this Season 2. wrap-up episode, I share the 3 reasons why and how Food Entrepreneurs, especially those from Small and Medium Sized Businesses, are succeeding in an unprecedented way versus traditional Big Food companies. Over the last 7 years, the most innovative and high growth products are actually coming from Food Entrepreneurs in start-up and scale-up businesses. These products account for less that 3% of sales in the market but are driving more than 30% of category growth. Some industry insiders are predicting that this is a precursor for the demise of traditional mainstream brands al ..read more

Richard Adamson, Oscar McMahon and Dan Hampton are the co-founders and directors of Young Henrys. Young Henrys is a group of brewers, distillers, musicians and artists, united in their passion for making exceptionally good beer, cider and spirits with a deep commitment to supporting their local community. In this episode, you’ll hear about a meeting of minds in 2012, with Richard’s experience in brewing, and Oscar’s hospitality know-how, prompting them to do more than just talk about their love of music and beer, and actually start their own independent brewery. While Dan’s progression from p ..read more

Sam McFarlane owns and operates a social media and content management agency called Sam Says, which creates stand out social and online content for small and medium businesses and solopreneurs. Her philosophy is that no matter what business you’re in, if you're not social online, you’re invisible, because when you’re amazing at what you do, why wouldn’t you want the world to see it? In this episode, Sam shares the ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts‘ of social media, including how to create content pillars, maximise hashtags, leverage software to schedule posts, create engaging images and plan out an annual c ..read more

Franziska Iseli is the co-founder of Basic Bananas, a marketing agency that helps small businesses around the globe to attract customers and grow through marketing education and mentoring. Their philosophy is that the more you upgrade your marketing knowledge and strategy, the more your business will flourish. In this episode Franziska walks us through how to create a simple and powerful 1-page Marketing Plan that will immediately focus and strengthen your marketing efforts. If you’re cynical, fearful or over-thinking your marketing campaigns, this is the podcast that will get you out of that ..read more

Ryan Hartshorn is the co-founder, director and Head Distiller at Hartshorn Distillery, a Tasmanian micro distillery that’s the first in the world to make boutique batches of Vodka and Gin from sheep whey, a by-product from their family business, Grandvewe Cheeses. In this episode, you’ll hear how Ryan and his family ran the Grandvewe sheep cheesery for 13 years, before Ryan bought a copper still off eBay and against all odds, learnt how to ferment and distill sheep’s whey into Vodka. Ryan’s persistence paid off, with his second batch of Sheep Whey Unfiltered Vodka winning the Best Varietal V ..read more

Tristan Kitchener is the Founder and Director at Kitchener Partners. They’re a specialist consulting and advisory firm focused on grocery retailing and the grocery value chain for retailers, manufacturers and growers. Their goal is to increase product ranging, performance and growth of FMCG goods within grocery retailing. In this episode, you’ll hear from Tristan how to gain ranging within a major grocery retailer in Australia, who to speak to, what to prepare for and when is the right time to consider expanding your business into the retail grocery channel. And in the Aftertaste section, I ..read more

Hayley Blieden is the founder of The Australian Superfood Co., which is dedicated to increasing the awareness, accessibility and affordability of the distinct flavours and health-enhancing properties of native Australian superfoods. In this episode, you’ll hear how Hayley was inspired to research the health properties of native foods that were being used by indigenous sports athletes who she worked with as a sports dietician. Determined to harness the impressive nutritional properties of native bush food, Hayley stepped out of dietary practice to start her own food company, which showcases th ..read more

Alison Swindells is the Business Development Manager for Australasia at thefoodpeople. They’re a global food trends and ideas agency who have a shared love of food & drink and a passion for gastronomic trends. Their goal is to help small and large businesses develop market-winning products and big food ideas. In this episode, Alison shares ‘hot off the press’ predictions for 2020 and beyond about global macro drivers and trends for food & drinks. You’ll hear about the two very different sides of a future-looking trend wheel – one of which focuses on mindful consumption, healthy renewa ..read more

Tom Griffith is the co-founder, with friend Emma Welsh, of Emma & Tom’s. It’s a premium natural juice and snack bar business, that uses minimal processing, all natural ingredients and no added sugar to boost people’s health and vitality. In this episode, you’ll hear how Emma & Tom stepped out of international careers with a lot of knowledge about investment banking, Ag-science, Cordon Bleu culinary and financial marketing, but very little about premium juices. However, their commercial acumen and desire to run their own business helped them negotiate the rocky path of bottle molding ..read more

George Gekas is the CEO and co-founder of Badalya, a Melbourne-based food and beverage catalyst that specialises in scaling up food start-ups into national and global markets. Badalya provides individuals and small companies with mentors and a team of professional experts to guide them through the next stage of scaling up their validated business, in the shortest period of time, with the least amount of capital. In this episode, you’ll learn when is the right time to think about scaling up your food and beverage business, how to find a suitable co-manufacturer and some critical ways of worki ..read more