Happy thanksgiving to all! In this episode we pay thanks to and learn from the all-stars of food. Learnings from five of the most innovative and successful entrepreneurs in the game:

Tim Joseph of Maple Hill Creamery (episode link)

Tim Heydon of Shenandoah Farms (episode link)

Susan MacTavish Best of Living MacTavish (episode link)

Andrew Chae of YinYang Naturals (episode link)

Seth Goldman of Honest Tea (episode link)

Selected links from the episode:

The War of Art and Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield:

If these books don't provide the necessary motivation to work, to become a true professional then nothing will...

Read both, but start with The War of Art.

Recognized as one of Zagat’s 30 under 30 in 2013, Tim West is a Slow Food chef turned Social Entrepreneur. He is a Culinary Institute of America (CIA) graduate and grandson of Arch West, the inventor of Doritos®.

Tim cut his teeth in the the kitchens at The St. Regis Hotel in New York and the Facebook headquarters in California before entering the world of entrepreneurship.

Tim co-created The Food Hackathon + Forum as a business plan competition and alternative educational experience to encourage entrepreneurs to work on more meaningful problems and to expose corporate teams to a more collaborative and inspiring working methodology.

We had a great conversation about the future of food and how to get involved:

• How Tim became a chef
• His family's past food experience
• Definition of "Slow Food"
• What is wrong with food today?
• Tim's realization "that he can feed more people with a cell phone and a computer than a chef knife and a flame."
• True cost accounting
• How do we change the food system?
• What is a "hackathon" and why is it important?
• The Startup Bus Competition
• How to win business plan competitions
• The art of the pitch
• What Tim learned from his time at Facebook
• Thoughts on "digital discipline"

Selected links from the show:
Food Hackathon
Tim West - iFTF Profile
Learning From A Banana Tycoon
Tim's Ted Talks: Cultivate Innovation and Hacking: Food for Thought
Camp Grounded - Summer Camp for Adults
A Taste of Generation Yum
StartupBus
Guy Kawasaki - The Only 10 Slides You Need in Your Pitch
Tim West - AboutMe
Terra Madre
Future Food Institute

He is the founder of Yin Yang Naturals, a food brokerage focused on the natural retail channel.

Andrew Chae worked in his family’s food manufacturing business since his teenage years. In 2004, he oversaw the organic certification of two production facilities, and built a new Asian organic brand, Ohana House, from the ground up.

Ohana House went national with distribution into all Whole Foods and other major natural chains.

Andrew also oversaw the entry of Ohana House into Costco and initiated private label opportunities with Trader Joe’s.

In 2008, Andrew started Yin & Yang Naturals. He discovered a passion for helping entrepreneurs achieve their dreams.

Taking a product from concept, to store shelf, to someone’s kitchen shelf provides an unmatchable level of both personal and professional satisfaction.

Some brands that Yin Yang Naturals works with are Coconut Bliss ice cream, Harmless Harvest, Maple Hill Creamery, and Uncle Matt's. Yin Yang also helped launch EPIC bar, REBBL drinks, and Temple Turmeric.

Andrew is highly skilled, experienced, and successful. He drops serious knowledge for food startup founders: 

• Life in Hawaii
• Showing up as a rookie to ExpoWest
• Definition of a food broker
• What food brokers do from sales to the shelves
• Why use a broker instead of a full time sales person
• On selling a private-label to Trader Joe's
• Keys to selling at Trader Joe's
• When it comes to sales, followups, inventory, etc with distributors and stores, where is the responsibility with the food brand and when is it with the broker?
• What questions to ask a broker when shopping for one
• Qualities YinYang looks for in a food brand
• Retail is about detail
• Why flavor wins in any launch
• Tips for buying machinery
• What is happening in the industry right now?
• How has the industry changed over the past few years?

Selected links from the show:
YIN YANG NATURALS
L.A. Son: My Life, My City, My Food

Featuring cameos from Keely Gerhold of Tinyfield Roofhop Farms and Corey Wood of Elixir Kombucha.

My favorite charity*, Kiva, is a micro-finance platform based on Nobel-prize winner Muhammad Yunus's Grameen Bank. 

On their platform, over $924,000,000 has been lent to over a million borrowers in 82 countries from over a million lenders!

Kiva's awesome international work has a lot of publicity. But small U.S. businesses can also receive loans of up to $10,000 with 0% interest!

We talk with their US Digital Marketing Manager, Adam Kirk. Plus, we hear from two startups that benefitted from a Kiva Zip Loan.

This episode was so much fun and a great way to learn about low-interest money for your startup:

• Life in Albania and how it helped shape Adam's career
• How to get a 0% interest Kiva zip loan for up to $10,000
• After a successful kiva loan what other funding platforms can we look at?
• Why food startups do well on Kiva
• How to use social impact to get loans at your favor
• Essential crowdfunding tips

*Our company has already made 38 loans to Kiva borrowers in Colombia and Peru.

Start a Kiva Loan Application
Elixir Kombucha (Elixir Instagram)
Tinyfield Roofhop Farm (Tinyfield Instagram)
Tinyfield Kiva Video
Adam Kirk on LinkedIn
Square Capital
Mission Economic Development Agency
Urban Solutions
Scrum Methodology
Episode 88 – How to Crush Kickstarter & Business – Lisa Q. of NOMIKU
Elixir Kombucha Kiva Loan
Tinyfield Roofhop Farms Kiva Loan
Tinyfield Roofhop Farms Indiegogo Campaign
Peshkopi, Albania
Banker to The Poor by Muhammed Yunus
Nichols Industrial Art
Strong Rope Brewery
Amazon Smile
Masters International
Reach out to Adam