The Food Mentor

Hi everyone welcome back to The Food Mentor Podcast, I'm David J Burns your host.

I’m delighted today to chat with Jamie and Kim the founders of ILOVEUBABE XO exclusive womens collagen infused chocolates.

Perfect for gifting, beauty and self indulgence - and just for women! 

Edible beauty as this segment is called is in huge growth hitting $300 mil in the USA, so its perfect timing for Kim and Jamie to capitalise on this opportun...

It’s always very exciting in the food industry when a new segment comes along.

Pistachio nuts are not new but Pistachio Spread certainly is.

I’m delight today to welcome Fuad Baker the Sydney based founder of Pistabella Pistachio Spread.

 This is a classic entrepreneurial story whereby Fuad and the team recently launched one of the first Pistachio Spreads in Australia.

 The thing that really stands out with Pistabella and this pistachi...

Meet Bec and Narelle Thompson. The powerhouse sister duo who this month are celebrating their first birthday for the Cubbyhouse Canteen retail venture.

The Cubbyhouse Canteen brand is a childrens lifestyle brand supporting youth mental health - but the brand is not actually new.

For 15 years Bec & Narelle have enjoyed life within their thriving Cubbyhouse Canteen parkside cafe at Union Park in Armadale in the South East suburbs o...

In this episode of The Food Mentor podcast, I’m chatting with Arianne Sackville, founder of Bell and Bone, a pet food brand all about healthy, natural ingredients for dogs. Arianne shares her career journey, beginning with her university days at Monash and an internship at IBM, where she learned the importance of working for a brand she's passionate about. Arianne then decided  that corporate life wasn’t for her. This led her ...

It’s not often you get the opportunity to chat with a successful brand co founder that sold to a multinational for 200 Million Pounds just 10 years after launching their brand in the UK.

The brand is of course Grenade. Launching in the UK in 2010 with the vision of being an iconic weight loss product and the go to brand within Sports Nutrition.

This really is a fabulous chat with Juliet Barratt who with husband Alan identif...

Today we are talking all things chewing gum.

But not any old chewing gum. 

A big welcome to Marie Hatzimihalis the founder of Honest Gum (other wise known as The Gum Girl) 

Honest Gum is the new frontier of chewing gum - ethically crafted and sustainably made and unlike other chewing gums on the market Honest Gum is made without a synthetic gum base. 

Honest Gum is also packed with real ingredients and all natural flavours. 

Marie found...

Today we are chatting with an industry colleague of mine Tony Hunter.

I met Tony about 5 years ago and I must say my first chat with him was extremely fascinating to say the least.

Tony lives in Brisbane here in Australia and is a Food Futurist, renowned for helping manufacturers, retailers and the food industry in general understand what the future of food will look like in 10, 20 and 30+ years time.

We all love talking about trends ...

This episode of the food mentor podcast takes a slight twist into the hospitality and hotel management world.

On a recent business trip to Indonesia I met a fantastic Australian Brendan Lane Mullins the General Manager of Bali’s leading luxury hotel The Seminyak Spa and resort.

https://www.theseminyak.com

As most people would know Seminyak in Bali is one of the most popular tourists spots in Asia.

I thought Bre...

There’s never a dull moment in the food manufacturing world and this story is no different.

Milo Gaffney has just celebrated his 20th Anniversary of The Outback Pie Company, having founded the business at the end of 2003 with his family.

Milo has created a fabulous business by innovating, differentiating and filling the gaps in the market that major competitors have left behind!

On top of that, The Outback Pie Company is based up in A...

Welcome back to the food mentor podcast I’m David Burns your host and today we are chatting to a delightful couple Cindy and Joe who are based in Sunny Perth, Australia.

 Cindy and Joe established Seven Oaks Catering 10 years ago and it has now  become one of Australia’s leading corporate catering businesses supply 1000’s of platters a month of delicious fair to Perth’s corporate community.

Of course it is now perfect timing to creat...

In this crazy food and hospitality industry, (and for any industry for that matter), looking after our mental and physical health is critical.

 Introducing Parkrun https://www.parkrun.com.au/

 The Parkrun story is nothing short of amazing, and in 2024 celebrates its 20 year anniversary.

 Parkrun for me personally has been a key part of my life for over 10 years now.

 Parkrun is a free 5km timed event where you can run, walk, volunteer ...

Today I’m chatting with David Freeman, the founder and CEO of H2COCO. David is the pioneer of coconut water here in Australia having launched in 2009 so almost 15 years
ago. This is a great story of how David has not only held onto this market leading position but also how he has cleverly diversified into other beverage
segments. David also chats through the importance of having a sustainability
focus as a key part of h...

We get asked this question a lot.

How long does it take, how much does it cost and what is the best process to develop a new food/ beverage product from scratch? Regardless if you are a budding entrepreneur, a small - medium business or a large multinational organisation- the same detail applies.

Zac and I have some fun with this one given we are well qualified to get into the detail of this exciting topic.

I hope you enjoy this podca...

In this episode we are delighted to be chatting with Friska Wirya from Fresh by Friska.

Friska has a wealth of experience in change management consulting and is a renowned thought leader in this space. She shares with us her key insights surrounding change strategies for organisations and budding entrepreneurs. Technological advancements are providing unique opportunities for businesses to change and adapt, and we chat through these...

Throughout 2023 Zac and I were very grateful to have met and chatted with some fabulous insightful guests.

This mash up includes 2022 AFR fastest growing business David Andrew from Naked Life, The founder of Karma Bites Ashwin Ahuja, Tim and Liam from Bae Juice, a personal branding lesson from Tima Elhajj and more recently The Coles grocery GM Leanne White.

Zac and I also chat through the rise of NUFFIN dips along with the optimal ap...

Nana Kwarteng is a delightful Ghanaian lady who has lived in Melbourne for 20 years.
She has always been very passionate about bringing Ghanaian flavours, aromas and culture to Australian shores.
The initial range of Nana Africa meat and seafood spice rubs really do look and taste amazing and I’m sure the splash of colour and pazaz  is well needed within the current supermarket spice section. 

Nana and I talk throu...

I was lucky enough to work with Leanne White at BP Australia between 2006-2009 during a transformational period. We were both with Coles at the same time also.
Leanne is very talented and it’s absolutely no surprise she has enjoyed a fabulous career with Coles having looked after 6 different categories prior to being appointed as General Manager Grocery Merchandise almost 4 years ago.
In this chat we cover a lot of ground f...

This really is a fabulous thought provoking  chat with Tima Elhajj which challenges the norm for entrepreneurs and CEO’s when it comes to their personal brand and purpose. 

Tima says that when you are clear on these two pieces it is then much easier to create content to stand out, connect and engage with your audience and customers. 

Amazingly only 1% of LinkedIn users post on linkedin so the % of people posting images and videos of ...

In 2023, the clients we work with will have achieved 50mil in retail sales from products and brands we have helped develop in the prior 12-24 months.

How?

Because we know where to play and then how to pull the pin on the differentiation hand grenade.

In a crowded market place, if you don't understand your consumer and aren't different you have no chance.

In this podcast we are talking trends, opportunities and gaps for 2024 a...