The Tidbit

Thomas Jefferson’s gardening efforts resulted in success and failure. He used his 1,000-ft kitchen garden as a laboratory, growing over 300 types of vegetables. His focus wasn’t profit or production, though; but rather knowledge. Jefferson exchanged seeds with people from all over the world and as a result, introduced new and unusual plants not found elsewhere. One of Monticello's emeritus scholars says that the garden became like an “Ellis Island” of introduced vegetables. On this episode, we explore Monticello's complex history with two academics-in-residence using the garden as an example to highlight the importance of lifelong curiosity, experimentation, and overcoming setbacks.

As your company grows and you can no longer fulfill demand, you have to make a decision: do you invest in a larger production facility, or do you outsource to a co-packer? We're joined on this episode by three incredible industry experts to discuss all of the reasons why co-manufacturing is a great business to get into, how you should do business with a co-packer so all parties are set-up for success, and challenges they have faced along the way. Tune in to hear from Matt Sebastionelli from Lucky Clover Packaging & CraftPack, and Marwan & Ryan from Maryland Packaging.

When I talk about the education and consulting side of our business at Cureate, I often say: you may know how to make jam, but not know how to run a jam business - that’s where we come in! A huge part in figuring out if your food business is going to succeed is understanding how to price your product, and all of the factors to consider when doing so. Grab a piece of paper and pen, because we’re about to discuss three tips on for determing your food cost (wholesale, and MSRP - manufacturer's suggested retail price).

We're joined on this episode by Rahaf Harfoush, a Digital Anthropologist and Best-Selling Author who researches the impacts of emerging technologies on our society. Tune in to hear our discussion around our belief systems of work, the historical tension between creativity and productivity, and how Rahaf became a Beyoncé-ologist while researching the principles highlighted in her latest book, Hustle & Float.

A topic that keeps surfacing these days is around self care and entrepreneurship. On The Tidbit, we're particularly interested in this discussion as it relates to the beliefs we tell ourselves, how the media exacerbates those beliefs, and how cultural collective consciousness norms keep us in race, gender, and/or socio-economic boxes. To discuss this intersection, we’re joined in-studio by Sarah Malphrus - the pastry chef at Rye Street Tavern by Andrew Carmellini in Baltimore, Maryland. Born and raised in Charleston, SC, she received a bachelor's degree in Gender & Women's Studies from Warren Wilson College before deciding to pursue a career in the hospitality industry. She's an avid collector of crystals, loves old cook books, supporting fellow pastry chefs, and smashing the patriarchy one slice of cake at a time.

If you’re an emerging CPG (consumer packed goods) business, and you’re looking to level up your game and get onto a retail shelf in a grocery store or corporate cafeteria, what do you need to do to be prepared? On this minisode we dicuss three tips for winning over a retail buyer. ★ ★ ★ Our mission includes the sharing of education and access to resources - and the best way to reach more listeners like you is to leave a review in iTunes. If you enjoyed this minisode, head over to your app and leave a little tidbit on what you’ve learned here on the show!

The 2018 Farm Bill was signed into effect in an unheard of (for this era!) bipartisan manner. Passage of the Farm Bill marks a watershed event for hemp, a crop planted centuries ago by America’s founding fathers - making it once again legal to grow and sell. Quoting Hemp is Now Legal. That's Huge for CBD Industry. a Vox piece states: "[This] Farm Bill opportunity isn’t just for farmers. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s lackadaisical approach to CBD has helped the CBD industry sell about $350 million worth of products last year, and experts believe it will easily hit $1 billion in sales by 2020.” Why do you think there’s such a craving for CBD-infused products? What benefits do you see hemp having across product lines? How does this reversal in policy affect new business strategies? On this episode we sit down with Erica Berger, award-winning journalist, speaker, and strategist to take a birds-eye view of the hemp and CBD industries to answer those questions posed.

What are the fields emerging in food & beverage broadly that we can begin to think up new ventures and new ways of approaching challenges that are encroaching upon us as a society? Our imaginations soar as we sit down with Jenn Goggin, a co-founder of Startle, an innovation studio for the food ecosystem. On this episode of The Tidbit we discuss new innovations across the food & beverage supply chain from smart packaging, to plastic-free products, to new retail models and technologies.

Many entrepreneurs struggle with creating tangible metrics around focused goals. On today’s minisode, we’re going to discuss the framework created by Google called OKRs - Objectives, and Key Results. It’s a system for tracking your desired objectives and keeping yourself accountable. To supplement this episode, we've created an OKR template digital download for food & beverage small business owners.

As the last show of the season and year, we discuss the framework - Core Desired Feelings by Danielle LaPorte - that is a healthier way of setting oneself up for success. For example, instead of saying: I want to lose weight or I want to make x-amount of dollars - what is it that you’re ACTUALLY looking to achieve by losing weight or making more money? Do you want to feel more confident? Do you want to feel liberated? Those are just means to a feeling - so what is it that you actually want? On this minisode, we share 3 tips for creating a framework for staying focused on that core desired feeling you’d like to achieve.

'Tis the season for holiday shopping! Which means, this is also the season where many food entrepreneurs make at least 40% of their sales for the year. If you’re a longtime listener of The Tidbit, you know that we advocate for shifting our purchasing dollars back into the local economy YEAR ROUND. But, we certainly can not ignore the impact this time of year has on our local economies. Tune in as we provide statistics around shopping local, and feature one incredible local food condiment company that is "spreading" the love of dates while employing refugee women. Meet Lina Zdruli, Founder of Dafero Dates, on this episode of The Tidbit.

At Cureate we get a ton of inbound emails from individuals who are looking to start a career in food. Yes, it is stated as plainly as that - I want to work in food. Now, the food system is extremely vast and there are certainly a lot of challenges - and therefore business opportunities - to tackle. Listeners, you are all at different stages in your food journey so, on this episode, we discuss the complexities of the food system with Alex Moore, Chief Development Officer at DC Central Kitchen. DC Central Kitchen develops and operates 5 different social ventures targeting the cycle of hunger and poverty. Tune in to learn more about how these programs all fit symbiotically together.

At the time of this episode's recording, we are a couple of weeks after the 2018 midterm election and it is also Thanksgiving week. Now, The Tidbit is a show about entrepreneurship lessons learned and tips on starting/running a small business... and, this may be obvious, but - let's state this plainly - a lot of small business owners go into business with their family members; and/or, especially around the holidays, a lot of shit can be brought up around the dinner table. On this episode, we sit down with Mike Malloy, Halcyon Incubator Program Manager, to discuss navigating complex personal and professional relationships and, moreover, how to have difficult conversations.

This season on The Tidbit we’ve discussed ways to increase your access to social capital, and how to create infrastructure and support for entrepreneurial ecosystems. We continue to sit down with business owners to discuss their tidbits of knowledge and lessons learned along the way — and we’ve begun showcasing Buyers and the opportunities presented around increasing demand for local, small business products and services. A CRUCIAL part to this equation is us - the consumer drive. The demand generation that we as citizens, as consumers are placing on these Buyers to force their hand in creating a sizable shift in how they view procurement. What are ways in which consumers are voting with their dollars? We sit down with Andra "AJ" Johnson to learn more the platforms she has bolstered to spread access to knowledge and new business opportunities: DMV Black Restaurant and her upcoming book White Plates, Black Faces.

How can we create ecosystems that build supportive infrastructure where small business owners feel taken care of and supported? Think of the base of Maslow’s Hierarchy - shelter, location. If you can’t rely on your business home to be a constant, how will you ever be able to grow? Naturally you’ll always be operating out of a scarcity mindset. We sit down with entrepreneurship ecosystem builder Dominic Bonaduce to discuss. Dom oversees Alley’s operations in Washington, DC and manages collaboration between Alley and their partners at Verizon to help the community build next-level ecosystems for entrepreneurs.

Have you ever been ready for growth but external factors limited your ability to reach your goals? This is the piece of the supply chain puzzle that Alice Blayne-Allard identified as a problem area as our craft spirits industry continues to boom. Freestate Cooperage is the only #madeinMaryland cooperage, creating heritage new white oak barrels for Mid-Atlantic made spirits. Fun fact: Alice is also the 2nd woman-owned cooperage owner in the entire United States. Tune into this live TED-Style talk to learn more about this fascinating part of the food business supply chain.

Three sisters out of Philadelphia — Jackie, Shelby, and Amy Zitelman — started Soom Foods. Their goal? To make tahini a staple in American pantries. But to start, they began with chefs. Who are your early adopters and how can those customers become your biggest brand advocates? How do you know when to diversify your sales channels? Tune into this episode of The Tidbit to learn the Soom story with CEO, Shelby Zitelman.

We talk a lot about access to financial capital when starting a business - who has capital, how can you pitch to get more capital, what can you do to prove you’re worth capital, etc. What we don't talk enough about is access to social capital. In today’s era, one could plainly state that it is the sum of people you surround yourself with. But… what if you weren’t born into a particular sphere of people? What if you just don’t know how to expand your circle of connection? Tune into this episode of The Tidbit to find out three tips on how-to increase your social capital.

We're live on-site at the Chesapeake Food Summit where we're learning about innovation in food systems change throughout this region. One of the biggest areas of opportunity to effectuate change is through procurement - hello, local sourcing! We sit down with Baltimore Food Policy Director, Holly Freishtat, to talk about government's role in sourcing food and how contracts can be written (and broken!) to better align with our values.

In 1986, Occasions Caterers started in a tiny apartment kitchen with just a few printed business cards and a small van. They gradually built a team of executives, chefs, captains and waiters who were also committed to the Co-Founders’ vision (fun fact: the Co-Founders are also twin brothers!). Fast forward thirty years later and Occasions has indeed grown but the focus remains the same: a boutique approach to full-service catering with a focus on custom menus, creative décor, expert planning and gracious service. We sit down with Co-Founder and Creative Director, Eric Michael, and VP of Business Development, Matt Sipala to ask the questions: from a catering/event perspective, what does the "everything local" movement mean in terms of new business opportunities for local small businesses? How can small businesses ensure they’re on the radar of companies like Occasions? ...and much more! Tune in to find out their tidbits of knowledge on running a business for over 30 years.