This week we welcome Tom Vaughan and Nakiska Vaughan of Westmeadow Farm and Dairy. Westmeadow Farm and Dairy is a family-owned and operated farm and creamery making fresh milk, cheese, and ice cream.
We talk about Tom's original path to farming, moving from Ireland to Connecticut and then eventually landing in upstate New York. We also learned how Nakiska's plan to swim with dolphins was thwarted by COVID, but that ultimately led to her running the farm and being an integral part of the family business.

This week's guest is the co-founder of Bjorn Qorn, Bjorn Quenemoen.
Bjorn Qorn is a non-GMO popcorn with all-natural gluten-free and vegan ingredients. They use nutritional yeast instead of butter and cheese, and it's probably the best popcorn I've ever had from a bag.
We talk about how a college party concept with a friend turned into a thriving business, the science behind popping using mirrored reflectors to collect the sun's rays, and how a popcorn business got into the roller skating business.

Bjorn Qorn

This week's guest is the co-founder of Barrel + Brine, RJ Marvin.
Barrel + Brine is a food and beverage company located in Buffalo, New York, specializing in pickled foods, kimchi, and kombucha. We talk about leaving the restaurant business to get into the pickling business and returning to the restaurant business to help complement the store.
RJ shares his thoughts on packaging design, packaging his own food, and how he intends to grow the business thoughtfully. And the Bills- of course we talked about the Buffalo Bills.


Barrel + Brine

In this week's episode, I'm talking with the co-founders of Loisa, Scott Hattis, and Kenny Luna. Loisa is a Latin-owned food company focusing on bringing organic versions of the most famous Latin seasoning to the market. They started with Sazon and Adobo and are growing exponentially, with their most recent partnership with Whole Foods opening doors across the country.
We talk about starting in their kitchen, learning the family recipes, the importance of breaking out of the artificial ingredients for Latin family health, and how they are continuing to expand.

https://loisa.com/

This week we welcome Brian and Dahlia Graham, the co-founders of Fruition Chocolate Works. Fruition is an ethically sourced chocolate company using traditional and modern techniques to make their award-winning chocolate in Catskills.
This episode is a bit of a departure as we met in real life to do the interview. You might hear the sounds of the shop and a change in our voice as we move around, but it led to an intimate and lively conversation and I'm excited to do more of them.

https://www.fruitionchocolateworks.com/

This week's guests are the founders of Our Daily Eats, Caroline and Paul Barrett. Our Daily Eats is an Albany based nuts and granola company founded by a husband and wife team who left their corporate gigs to follow their passion, creating exceptional food that they would be proud of and their kids would actually eat.
We talk about the journey from cooking it in their kitchen, printing the labels and selling it individually at local farm stands to being in stores across the country. They shared their other project, Capital Cooks kitchen and co-op where they have community-based cooking classes and bring in world-renowned chefs.

Our Daily Eats
Capital Cooks

This week's guest is the founder of Heyday Canning, Kat Kavner
Heyday Canning Co. is a canned food company making fun products like harissa lemon chickpeas, kimchi sesame beans, and enchilada beans that are accessible and delicious.
We talk about how the company was started at the height of COVID while in Australia, the importance of bringing the fun back into what is arguably a boring food vertical, the shops that embraced Heyday first, and how they expanded to 2000 stores.

Heyday Canning

This week's guests are the Founders of Weiss Ferments, Erica and Brian Weiss. Weiss Ferments is a family-owned farm, brewery and sourdough bread bakery in Schoharie County, New York. We talk about their past lives working as sommeliers and bartenders at Michelin-rated restaurants, the decision to leave New York City and build their farm, and how they both found their passions in brewing and baking respectively.

Weiss Ferments