Welcome back to The Perfect Bite podcast, your fusion of food and entrepreneurship. I met today's guest over two decades ago in middle school, north of Chicago. One of us became a Michelin starred chef, and the other yaps into a microphone. You can guess who was the cooler of the two of us. But seriously, I am beyond honored to have reconnected with and have on the show today an acclaimed chef and the founder of Hill's Research Kitchen, Chef Henry Hill.

Henry takes us behind the scenes of all the kitchens he’s worked in, from the suburbs of Chicago, to Eleven Madison Park, The NoMad, and eventually becoming executive chef of Dusek’s, the fine-dining establishment that was attached to the iconic Thalia Hall concert venue in Chicago. During this time, Henry not only became one of the youngest chefs to receive a Michelin star, he also learned a lot of lessons. Most importantly—how to be a great manager.

Henry’s stories prove that through grit, a sense of urgency, and a desire to understand and support others, you can become an amazing leader in any type of scenario. He also chats with us about his CPG product founder days for a carbonated coffee called Cafe Racer, and how he became the founder of his own research and development consultancy today, Hill’s Research Kitchen. His personal mission always leads back to enhancing folks’ lives through the power of flavor.

To learn more about Hill’s Research Kitchen, head to www.researchkitchen.com.

You can follow Henry on social media @chefhenryhill.

Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!

Make sure to subscribe, rate and review The Perfect Bite anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and visit our site www.theperfectbitepod.com.

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Welcome back to The Perfect Bite podcast, your fusion of food and entrepreneurship. On this podcast, we obviously talk a lot about food and how delicious it is, how much of an impact it makes on us. But knowing your food is safe and properly taken care of? That's priceless. Jake Simon, CEO & co-founder of ConnectedFresh, is behind an innovation keeping the back of house running smoothly and your meals as fresh as they can be.

ConnectedFresh provides a combination of small sensors and software to help restaurants, convenience stores, catering and other food and bev customers keep track of their most important equipment issues, food safety problems, and compliance incidents. No more having to manually log freezer temperatures or experience costly food waste! ConnectedFresh logs all of these issues for you and lets you know in the moment when something is wrong.

I learned so much in our conversation about back of house practices and how ConnectedFresh is making things easier for restaurants to focus on what they really care about—serving great food and connecting with guests. You could say they keep the mise from becoming a mess! Ultimately, the team is behind an innovation that takes care of the folks that love taking care of other folks.

To learn more about ConnectedFresh, head to www.connectedfresh.com.

You can follow ConnectedFresh and Jake Simon on LinkedIn.

Heading to the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago May 17-20, 2025? Make sure to find ConnectedFresh’s booth!

Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!

Make sure to subscribe, rate and review The Perfect Bite anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and visit our site www.theperfectbitepod.com.

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Welcome back to The Perfect Bite podcast, your fusion of food and entrepreneurship. Today's guest is a big reason why The Perfect Bite even exists today. She helped me find a career working alongside folks in food and bev when I was a little lost leaving my own startup, which she also was incredibly supportive of. And that's really what her job is today, supporting entrepreneurs in the F&B industry through a platform you can buy all their delicious products in one spot. Please welcome today's guest, CEO and founder of Here Here Market, Disha Gulati!

Growing up in a food family, Disha has always been in love with trying new flavors. Though her career journey started more traditionally, focusing on global data analytics for the massive CPG company Mondelez, Disha always held a candle for entrepreneurship. She started one version of Here Here Market, focusing on group dining, in March 2020. You can imagine how that went—she very smartly pivoted when realizing chefs and food artisans needed ways to diversify their revenue streams when unable to cook for folks in person. Now, over 900 SKUS and 300 creators and chefs are on Here Here Market, selling their delicious products for a taste of restaurant quality at home, anywhere in the country.

We chat through Disha’s journey, our funniest moments working together (think celebrity run-ins at the James Beard Awards!), and how to keep facing life’s challenges with grit and grace.

To shop Here Here Market, head to hereheremarket.com.

You can follow Here Here Market on social media @hereheremkt and Disha Gulati on LinkedIn, as well as her Instagram @chitown_disha.

Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!

Make sure to subscribe, rate and review The Perfect Bite anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and visit our site www.theperfectbitepod.com.

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Welcome back to The Perfect Bite podcast, your fusion of food and entrepreneurship. One of the best things about food is how we can traverse continents in a single bite, opening ourselves up to new cultures, backgrounds, and food folks like ourselves all over. Even better, when you can actually connect with someone in another part of the world, learning how they're changing the food and bev industry in their country and beyond for the better.

On this episode of The Perfect Bite, we head to Latin America with Bairu.io CEO and co-founder Xavier Rocabado. Xavier and his team are building a one-stop-shop digital solution for restaurants and guests—all on WhatsApp! WhatsApp is incredibly prevalent in LatAm, and is used not just for communication, but for marketing, operations, and more in the restaurant industry. The Bairu team helps makes this process seamless for restaurant owners, and allows them to focus on what’s most important—connecting with their customers.

To learn more about Bairu and download the app, please visit www.bairu.io.

You can connect with Xavier and the Bairu team on LinkedIn, Instagram at @bairu.io, and TikTok @bairu.io.

Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!

Make sure to subscribe, rate and review The Perfect Bite anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and visit our site www.theperfectbitepod.com.

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Welcome back to The Perfect Bite podcast, your fusion of food and entrepreneurship. Today's guest has paved the way for new world cuisine and modern cooking as we know it. In fact, you wouldn't have the word 'fusion' in the lexicon of cooking without him. It’s my dear friend and James Beard-award winning chef Norman Van Aken!

I just love Norman’s story—from good ol’ Lake County, Illinois, to his chosen home on the beautiful shores of Key West, Florida. Norman has redefined high-quality Florida cuisine, during a time period when folks paid more attention to the coasts. His namesake restaurant Norman’s just celebrated 30 years, and for plenty of good reasons.

Norman discusses his culinary journey with us, the beautiful friendships he has made along the way (such as his late ‘brother’ Charlie Trotter and honoring the great Jacques Pépin for his 90th birthday), along with the prolific books that made an impact on his life philosophies and menus.

You can visit Norman’s in Orlando, Florida.

Make sure to follow Chef Norman on Instagram (@normanvanaken), Facebook, and his Substack—he’s a captivating writer!

Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!

Make sure to subscribe, rate and review The Perfect Bite anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and visit our site www.theperfectbitepod.com.

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Welcome back to The Perfect Bite podcast, your fusion of food and entrepreneurship.Today’s guests are behind the tech that helps your favorite restaurants run smoothly. Software is at the base of any job these days, and that includes the food and bev industry. Science on Call is just a message away to make sure you can focus on food and customers, not in-the-moment tech failures—and they go way beyond sticking your device in rice!

I’m so happy I got to chat with my Science On Call friends, co-founders Luisa Castellanos and Andy Freivogel. They really are a dream team, 10 years of work together in the making. Both bring backgrounds not only in technology, but also the hospitality industry, making sure to infuse their software with the same empathy you get with someone face-to-face at your favorite restaurants. Each of them has their strengths, and they recognize this in their team of now over 30 employees. It may sound counterintuitive, but the Science On Call team is happiest when you can’t recognize their technology hard at work—only the smooth interactions between restaurants and guests.

Learn more about Science On Call at www.scienceoncall.com.

You can follow Science On Call on Instagram @scienceoncall or on LinkedIn.

You also can find Luisa and Andy on LinkedIn.

Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!

Make sure to subscribe, rate and review The Perfect Bite anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and visit our site www.theperfectbitepod.com.

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Welcome back to The Perfect Bite podcast, your fusion of food and entrepreneurship.  Have you ever heard of a Chicago style bagel? Well, thanks to Tilly Bagel, now you can try them, and I'm telling you, they're coming for New York's crown. From pastry chef  Hannah Tillet-Banaszak and architect  Mike Banaszak, Tilly Bagel is continuing to grow its empire, kind of like the yeast in their beautiful bagels.

Prior to starting Tilly Bagel during the pandemic, Hannah was a sous pastry chef at Top Chef Stephanie Izard’s Girl & The Goat and Duck Duck Goat, along with Michelin-starred BOKA, while Mike was an acclaimed senior project architect at Solomon Cordwell Buenz. Hannah and Mike’s perfect Chicago pairing (hello, food and architecture!) led to a story of love, business, and delicious sourdough bagels. There always is a line at their South Loop storefront, and we can guarantee the same will be the case for their Fulton Market location, opening in Spring 2025.

Learn more about why Tilly Bagel became such a viral hit after their early days at the farmer’s market and how to sustainably grow a business in this space!

You can visit Tilly Bagel in Chicago, Illinois. Beat the rush by ordering ahead online!

You can follow Tilly Bagel on social media @tillybagel.

Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!

Make sure to subscribe, rate and review The Perfect Bite anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and visit our site www.theperfectbitepod.com.

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Welcome back to The Perfect Bite podcast, your fusion of food and entrepreneurship. This episode, I'm speaking with one of the hardest working entrepreneurs you'll ever meet. And no, he's not building the next tech unicorn. He's nourishing people around the world with his nutrient rich bites from The Chef's Garden and his infectious personality—it’s Farmer Lee Jones!

Farmer Lee heads up The Chef’s Garden, the Jones family-owned farm in Huron, Ohio, known for the last 40 years as the top source of the most flavorful and nutritious produce for renowned chefs around the world. Lee and his brother Bob Jr. took over the farm from dad Bob Sr., with regenerative farming practices resulting in produce with up to 300% the recommended nutrient levels by the USDA—they even have a lab onsite to test the biochemistry of the soil! Chefs from all over visit The Chef’s Garden’s Culinary Vegetable Institute to test new dishes and work with the most delicious produce you’ll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.

Farmer Lee has been recognized by the James Beard Foundation, written The Chef’s Garden cookbook with his team, and now stars in The Chef’s Garden show on HOME.MADE.NATION—produced by the one and only Rachael Ray!

I had the best time speaking with Lee about the importance of taking care of our Earth, eating freshly, and how we can take care of each other and our planet for the future—as he says,  healthy soil, healthy vegetables, healthy people, healthy environment!

You can visit The Chef’s Garden, the Culinary Vegetable Institute, and the Farm Market in Huron, Ohio. You also can order your own produce boxes from The Chef’s Garden, shipping nationwide, along with your own copy of “The Chef’s Garden” cookbook.

You can watch The Chef’s Garden on HOME.MADE.NATION or Hulu.

Follow Farmer Lee Jones on social media @farmerleejones and The Chef’s Garden at @thechefsgarden_ohio.

Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube!

Make sure to subscribe, rate and review The Perfect Bite anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and visit our site www.theperfectbitepod.com.

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