This Commerce Life: Recent Episodes

Phil Chang / Kenny Vannucci

Curious as hell. Passionate about your business. Love storytelling - sharing successes that inspire life.

Kristyn Carriere went from running taste panels at Cadbury and formulating for Godiva to founding her own Canadian chocolate brand. This is what happens when a real food scientist decides to build a CPG company.

On this episode, Kristyn Carriere of Seven Summit Snacks joins Phil and Kenny to talk about turning deep R&D experience into a grab-and-go energy chocolate — and why a big-company background changes how you launch.

We get into the science of chocolate (conching, flavour optimization, why the same bar tastes different in five countries), the consumer-led product development that got the recipe right in three tries instead of hundreds, and the packaging and branding choices that help the bar stand out in two of the most saturated aisles in the store. Kristyn also shares the deeply personal story that gave the brand its name and brought her back home to Canada.

There's a real lesson in here for founders: making something in your kitchen is one thing — knowing the industry, the iterations, and the science behind market fit is what actually moves a brand forward.

Find Seven Summit Snacks at https://sevensummitssnacks.com/, on Amazon, and in retailers like Running Room, MEC, and Community Natural Foods.

In this episode:

From Disney on Ice to food science to global chocolate R&D
Inside Cadbury and Godiva: how big chocolate really formulates
The origin of Seven Summit Snacks and the story behind the name
Consumer-led development: nailing the recipe in three tries
Building for two customer types — online buyers vs. in-store shoppers
Winning the aisle with packaging, iconography, and clean ingredients

A big thank you to CHFA for sponsoring This Commerce Life. CHFA is the voice of Canada's natural health and organic products industry, and their trade shows are where the best emerging brands and buyers connect.

Heading to Toronto? Sign up for CHFA East and be part of it: https://www.chfanow.ca/toronto

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts. Learn more at https://sevensummitssnacks.com/

Katie Young moved to Whitehorse, Yukon in 2007 for the adventure — dog sledding, mountains, and a winter practicum — and ended up building one of the North's most beloved CPG brands.

In this episode, she sits down with Phil Chang and Kenny Vannucci to tell the full story of Klondike Kettle Corn: from taking over a popcorn kettle at the local farmers market, to testing packaging at Christmas markets, to landing on shelves and now pushing for national distribution.

It's a candid, funny, and genuinely useful conversation about what it actually takes to scale a food brand from one of the hardest logistics environments in Canada — where you can't grow the corn, shipping air isn't cheap, and there's exactly one Save-On-Foods and one Superstore in town.

In this episode:

Growing a business and a family "up alongside each other" at the Whitehorse farmers market
Why the Yukon is both the challenge AND the secret advantage (single-store markets, fierce local pride, built-in test population)
The move from farmers market to retail: learning wholesale vs. retail pricing on the spot
The Venture Park Accelerator, the Sobeys Local conversation, and "get into my competitor first, then come back"
Landing TJX and going coast-to-coast fast — and why a Kamloops co-packer made it possible
Filming Dragon's Den, the hometown watch party, and the e-commerce boost that followed
The reality of the national grind: brokers, funding, and trusting-but-verifying your numbers

Whether you're a founder in a remote market, a CPG operator, or just love a great Canadian entrepreneur story, this one delivers.

Thank you to CHFA for sponsoring this episode. Make sure you're signed up for CHFA East! https://www.chfanow.ca/toronto

🎧 This Commerce Life — Canada's longest-running commerce podcast.

KlondikeKettleCorn #DragonsDen #CanadianCPG #Yukon #Popcorn #FoodAndBeverage #RetailStrategy #Entrepreneurship #ThisCommerceLife #CPGBrand

When Shaw's Ice Cream announced it was closing its doors in 2001, three sisters — Christine, Kelly, and Kim — made a decision most people would call reckless: they dropped out of university and bought the shuttered 1950s manufacturing plant. Their logic? "We know retail. How hard can manufacturing be?"

Twenty-five years later, Shaw's is a Southwestern Ontario institution — and one of the best "green, naive, and figured-it-out" founder stories we've had on the show.

In this episode, Phil and Kenny sit down with the sisters behind Shaw's Ice Cream (based in Tillsonburg & St. Thomas, Ontario) to unpack how they rebuilt a brand from nothing, survived on a two-week crash course and a wrench, and grew into a three-part business spanning retail, wholesale, and co-pack/private-label manufacturing for other brands.

Whether you're a founder, a CPG operator, or just someone who loves a good Ontario road-trip-and-ice-cream day, this one's a treat. 🍦

check them out here: https://www.shawsicecream.com/about-us/

Thank you to CHFA for sponsoring this episode. https://www.chfanow.ca/toronto

🎧 This Commerce Life — Canada's longest-running commerce podcast.

ShawsIceCream #OntarioMade #CanadianCPG #IceCream #FoundersStory #FoodAndBeverage #ThisCommerceLife #Tillsonburg #FamilyBusiness #RetailPodcast

Phil Chang and Kenny Vannucci sit down with Sylvia Bennett, founder of SURCH Foods (that's S-U-R-C-H), a B2B search platform built to solve a problem the food industry has quietly lived with forever: there is no good way to find ingredients, packaging, co-manufacturers, or expertise.

Sylvia spent her career in the industry — starting in a Sobeys bakery, then product development and private label at Sobeys and Walmart, then R&D at a cookie plant — and kept watching sourcing managers dig through old business cards because "I know a guy" was the only system available.

We flipped this episode on its head. Instead of starting with Sylvia's story, we start with the platform, walk through it live, and then back into why someone with her background decided to build it.

The honest takeaway: a search engine for food ingredients shouldn't be revolutionary in 2026. But it is — and it only works if the industry actually shows up and gets listed.

Find Sylvia at surchfoods.com or sylvia@surchfoods.com.

🎧 This Commerce Life is Canada's longest-running commerce podcast — 450+ episodes on food, beverage, and retail.

👉 Subscribe for weekly conversations with the people building Canadian CPG.

FoodIndustry #CPG #Sourcing #FoodManufacturing #SupplyChain #CanadianFood #FoodAndBeverage #Procurement #FoodStartup #ThisCommerceLife

Trish, founder of Kettle & Hive, joins This Commerce Life to share how a coworker's break-time basket of lemons, ginger, and honey sparked the idea for a fresh, spoonable lemon and honey tea — made with just two ingredients, no corn syrup, no thickeners, no shortcuts.

From her first job as a day baker at Tim Hortons to quitting her job after one exhausting-but-successful farmers market season, Trish walks us through the real journey of building a small-batch food business in BC: honing recipes 20 jars at a time, using baker's math to scale batches, moving from a home kitchen to shared commercial kitchens to her own facility with a 60-gallon steam kettle — and learning the hard way what it costs to sell out and cancel a Christmas market because production couldn't keep up.

Whether you're still selling at craft fairs or eyeing your first distributor conversation, this episode is a masterclass in growing a CPG food brand the right way — one honest customer conversation at a time.

Find Kettle & Hive:
🍋 Shop online: https://kettleandhive.com
📍 Available at independent grocers and health food stores across Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland — full store and market list on the website

Thank you to Maritime Good Food for sponsoring this podcast. https://maritimegoodfood.ca/

What do you do when your product is so unique that no five-second pitch can explain it?

This week, Phil and Kenny sit down with Brad and Sheila, founders of Natural Farmworks — a regenerative farm in BC's Boundary Country that grows barley greens and processes them using traditional Chinese tea methods to create green, oolong, and black teas that deliver a serving of greens in every cup. No bitterness, no flavourings, no "barley shivers."

Brad's journey starts with a Crohn's disease diagnosis in the 1980s, runs through buying a decommissioned Saputo spray-drying plant ("How do we even turn it on?"), and lands on two years of WhatsApp messages with a tea master in China to learn an entirely new craft. Sheila shares how they hand-cut greens in their kitchen, trained with a certified herbalist, and turned lab results from BCIT's nutraceutical program into a genuinely new product category.

Whether you're a food and beverage founder, a CPG brand builder, or just love a great Canadian entrepreneur story, this one's packed with honest, practical retail advice.

Check out Natural Farmworks here: https://www.naturalfarmworks.com/

If you think you fit in the Export Navigator program - check it out here: https://exportnavigator.ca/

Ashley Sauve was 12 years old when she started selling mini straw bales to Canadian Tire stores from her family's cash crop farm. Today, she owns Sauve's Country Market in South Woodslee, Ontario — a destination farm market in Windsor-Essex County that customers happily drive 45 minutes to visit, even though there's no gas station, grocery store, or Tim Hortons anywhere nearby.

In this episode, Ashley shares how a $20 fall porch package posted on Facebook — no paid ads — sparked a business that outgrew a 400 sq ft shed built by her dad and uncles, and led to a brand-new 2,400 sq ft store with a walk-in cooler, commercial kitchen, donuts, and ice cream.

Check them out here: https://sauvescountrymarket.my.canva.site/

Thank you to Haddas Lederman and Rebecca Schuetz at Ontario Made for the introduction to Ashley

Check out Ontario Made here: https://supportontariomade.ca/

Thank you to Maritime Good Food for sponsoring today's podcast. If you're interested in getting connected with Dwayne: https://maritimegoodfood.ca/

Special thursday episode: Julie Therrien of Biscuits Leclerc is back — and this time we're picking her brain on one of the biggest opportunities for Canadian food and beverage brands right now: exporting to Mexico.

Julie's export career started in Mexico in the mid-90s, and she's spent nearly 30 years navigating the market — from co-packing for Bimbo to building branded distribution across Mexican retail. Fresh off our own trip to Guadalajara and Mexico City for Expo ANTAD, we asked her the questions every Canadian brand should be asking before shipping a single pallet south.

If you haven't heard her first episode - it's here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5NXPW7QMY06QeWTPeHDUnY?si=1OdnoEk1SmaUA-CkNy8gHg

check out Leclerc here: https://leclercfoods.com/en/

What happens when a food scientist and a hairstylist-turned-entrepreneur team up to reinvent cottage cheese? You get Fromage Protein Pops — a frozen treat that started with a $90 thrifted cart, 170+ recipe iterations, and a whole lot of sister chemistry.

In this episode, Phil Chang and Kenny Vannucci sit down with co-founders Nuala and Fiona to talk about:
🍦 How a trip to Japan and a "better-for-you" Coke sparked the original idea
🧀 Why cottage cheese (not protein powder) is the secret to their creamy, indulgent texture
👨‍👩‍👧 The surprising discovery that families — not just health enthusiasts — are their real target market
🚚 Self-distributing by reefer van across Metro Vancouver while juggling full-time jobs
🏆 Landing recognition at CHFA and the challenge of finding novelty pop co-manufacturing in Canada

check them out at https://fromageprotein.com/

Thank you to Dwayne and Maritime Good Food for sponsoring this episode. https://maritimegoodfood.ca/

Andy Mollica, founder of Anducci's, joins Phil Chang and Kenny Vannucci for an unfiltered look at one of Vancouver's most legendary Italian food stories. Andy shares how he opened his first pasta bar at 19 years old, built Anducci's into a 27-year East Van institution, and accidentally pioneered Costco's Home Meal Replacement (HMR) category by selling lasagnas out of his car trunk to Costco's original Burnaby location.

The conversation also breaks down trends from the BC Grocery & Specialty Food Showcase, including why small and independent food brands deserve better floor placement at trade shows, how Buy BC initiatives are changing the playing field for indie vendors, and what it really takes for a founder to scale a food business in the Canadian grocery industry.

https://www.anduccis.com/

If your brand is trying to scale across Canada, this episode is essential listening. Phil and Kenny sit down with Matthew James, President & CEO of Purity Life Health Products — Canada's largest and only full-service wellness distributor covering dry, frozen, and refrigerated products across all channels, coast to coast.

Matthew shares his 33-year journey in the Canadian natural health industry — from sales rep at Quest Vitamins in 1993 to leading a management buyout of Purity Life in 2012, and now completing the landmark acquisition of Horizon Limited in 2025 that added three new warehouses and unlocked national cold chain distribution.

Check out Purity Life here: https://puritylife.com/

Find Matthew James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-james-67803421/

Zane Caplansky opened what's considered Toronto's first pop-up restaurant — a deli inside a dive bar in Little Italy — and turned it into one of the city's most beloved institutions. Along the way he appeared on Dragon's Den three times, got featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and You Gotta Eat Here, ran a food truck, a catering empire, and a College Street restaurant that had lineups for years.

Then his landlord locked him out at midnight — rent paid, no warning — and it cost him $100,000 in legal fees and nearly broke him.

But that gut punch turned out to be the pivot that changed everything.

Zane joins Phil and Kenny to talk about the full arc: the scrappy pop-up beginnings, the Dragon's Den pitches (including Jim Treliving famously not understanding what a food truck was), the public humiliation of the lockout, closing the deli, moving to Tofino, becoming a dad at 53 — and why reviving the Caplansky's mustard brand as a CPG product might be the smartest thing he's ever done.

What do you do when the brand you built to over $100 million goes bankrupt — and then you get the chance to buy it back? That's exactly what Amelia Warren and Kyle Vucko did with Epicure.

In this episode, Phil and Kenny sit down with the co-managing directors of the relaunched Epicure — a Canadian spice and seasoning brand with a fiercely loyal customer base, a surprising MLM origin story, and a bold new omnichannel strategy.

Amelia served as CEO of the original Epicure for 17 years. Kyle co-founded Indochino before joining Epicure as COO. Together, they acquired the brand's assets out of bankruptcy in April 2025 and relaunched it by September — rebuilding the supply chain, re-engaging customers, and moving the brand into retail for the first time.

Check out Epicure here: https://epicure.com

Phil and Kenny sit down with Bonnie Joyce — the photographer and web designer behind some of the best headshots This Commerce Life has ever had (which, admittedly, is a low bar). Bonnie runs Bonnie Joyce Creative Studio, a photography and Wix web design business based in Eastern Ontario, where she's built over 500 websites and shot everything from brand sessions to adoption hearings.

In this episode, we get into why Bonnie chose Wix over WordPress — and why that decision actually makes more sense for small business owners than the industry gives it credit for. We talk about the real cost of being locked out of your own website, how AI is reshaping both photography and web design (and where it absolutely cannot replace a human), and what it means to intentionally not scale your business.

Bonnie also shares her winding path from political science and copywriting at Zulu Alpha Kilo in Toronto to building a creative studio that she genuinely loves showing up for every day. It's a great conversation about building a business on your own terms — and ignoring everyone who tells you you should be doing more.

Check out Bonnie's website and services here: https://www.bonniejoycecreativestudio.ca/

You can find Bonnie here as well: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-joyce-7215a64/

If you missed our last episode on Expo Antad - you can find it here: https://youtu.be/TnzKD1KBhtw?si=Aqlda7CAFFHmhONd

The survival math behind Vancouver's independent restaurant scene — and why cheap food is never actually cheap.

Phil and Kenny sit down with Robert Belcham — a 35-year Vancouver chef, restaurateur behind Campanolo, Monarch Burger, and Poppina Canteen, and board member of the Chef's Table Society of BC — for one of the most candid conversations about the business of food we've ever had on This Commerce Life.

Robert pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to keep a restaurant alive in one of Canada's most expensive cities: the unforgiving margins, the perception-of-value trap that operators fall into, why independent restaurants are chronically underpricing themselves, and what it would take for the whole industry to collectively raise prices and survive.

Check out: https://chefstablesociety.com/

Julie Therrien has spent 28 years selling Canadian cookies to the world — and she's got the stories to prove it. As Western Canada Sales Rep for Biscuits Leclerc (the family behind Celebration Cookies, Go Pure bars, and that iconic air travel snack you definitely know),

Julie joins Kenny and Phil to talk about her unlikely path from Quebec City to Guadalajara to Vancouver, what it really takes to break into export markets, and why the Canadian food industry's tight-knit community is one of its greatest competitive advantages.

If you're a Canadian food or beverage brand wondering why retailers keep asking for a distributor, this episode is your answer.

Phil and Kenny sit down with Stacey Kravitz, President of UNFI Canada, for one of the most important conversations we've had on the show. Stacey brings 20+ years at Kraft and Kraft Heinz — and nearly 10 years leading UNFI Canada through COVID, supply chain chaos, and a rapidly consolidating grocery landscape — to give brands a rare, unfiltered look at how distribution actually works in this country.

Whether you're still selling out of your car, just hit your first retail listing, or you're scaling nationally — this episode will reshape how you think about distribution as a growth strategy, not just a middleman.

🎯 Key Takeaway: Retailers don't want more vendors. They want trusted distributor partners who can bring them curated, ready-to-sell innovation. If you don't have a distribution strategy, you're leaving listings on the table.

Connect with UNFI Canada: unfi.com Follow This Commerce Life: thiscommercelife.com

Mentioned in this episode:

UNFI Canada's Up Next Incubator Program
Canadian Grocery Sector Code of Conduct
ItSo Coffee (brand shoutout from Stacey)
Rob Mortenson — go-to-market strategy services

If you're looking for online retail classes, we're building our first class already! contact us at podcast@thiscommercelife.com

Most small business owners think they have a brand. What they actually have is a collection of decisions made in a hurry — four shades of blue, six different fonts, and a website built room by room without a blueprint. Sound familiar?

In this episode, Phil and Kenny sit down with Kevin Sotto of Sotto Digital — the digital strategist behind the This Commerce Life rebrand — to talk about what branding actually is, why so many Canadian food and CPG brands get it wrong, and what it takes to build a digital presence that earns trust.

Kevin shares his journey from engineering at McMaster, to RBC, to health-tech startup life, to running his own digital marketing and branding consultancy. He also pulls back the curtain on his experience working with TCL — from cleaning up a messy website to uncovering the three core pillars of the brand and why that "editorial navy" is doing more work than anyone realized.

What does it take to turn a house-made restaurant dressing into a multi-SKU CPG brand with distributors, Power Bowl mixes, and a brand-new line of high-protein soup mixes? This week, Phil and Kenny sit down with Joanna and Stephanie, the co-founders of Umami Crave the Fifth, a Kelowna-based food brand making waves across BC and beyond.

Joanna and Stephanie pull back the curtain on the full journey: starting with a beet quinoa salad dressing at BNA Brewing, surviving a pandemic launch, building their own production facility, and navigating the brutal reality that getting into a store is easy — getting off the shelf is hard.

They share hard-won lessons on SKU naming disasters (50,000 pouches ordered before rebranding), sourcing Canadian pea protein, competing in a crowded condiment category, and why their vegan Worcestershire sauce accidentally became their fastest-growing product.

Check out Umami Crave the Fifth here: https://www.umamicravethefifth.com/

Find out more about the Big Cheese Festival in Armstrong here: https://www.aschamber.com/thebigcheese.html

Find out more about Basin Food Summit here: https://basinfood.ca/

If you want to sign up for one of our classes, email us at podcast@thiscommercelife.com

What does it take to leave a 30-year career at one of the world's biggest consulting firms — and bet it all on a 65-year-old condiment brand that had been sitting dormant for a year?

Marc Whitmore is the CEO and owner of Dennis Horseradish, Canada's only horseradish producer. A former Senior Partner and global leader at Deloitte, Marc walked away from corporate life in his 50s to become a food entrepreneur — and ended up finding his business for sale on MLS.ca like a cottage listing.

In this episode, Marc shares the full journey: the failed hops venture that came first, why he bought a brand with no active customers, how Dennis went from zero to 1,000+ stores across four countries, and what growing 25% looks like when you're still reinvesting every dollar back into the business.

We also dig into the realities of Canadian food entrepreneurship — why you need to "get in the flow" to find deals, how to think about exporting before you've even figured out your own backyard, and why Marc says the best reason to build a business is for Canada itself.

Check out Dennis Horseradish here: https://dennishorseradish.com/

If you're a brand and you need help to scale, or you know a brand that needs help - send them to us! www.thiscommercelife.com

After 37 years running the same grocery store, Peter Boyd is stepping away from the floor — but he's nowhere near done. In this episode of This Commerce Life, Phil and Kenny sit down with one of the most beloved independent grocery operators in the Okanagan to talk about what it actually takes to build a loyal customer base, why kindness isn't the enemy of profit, and what comes next for Peter as he turns his energy toward food banks, local vendors, and community infrastructure.

This one hits different. If you've ever wondered what separates the retailers that champion small brands from the ones that don't — this is the conversation.

What does it look like to bootstrap a CPG brand from your kitchen, survive an acquisition, and then pivot into a category that barely existed? Melissa L'Heureux-Hache, co-founder of Vegain — a Vancouver-based plant-based sports nutrition company — shares the full story with Phil and Kenny on This Commerce Life.

From launching a vegan hemp skincare brand in Toronto (with zero ability to advertise on any major digital platform), to doing 40+ trade shows in a single year, to getting acquired by a public company in 2019, to co-creating Surge — North America's first clear vegan protein in a can — Melissa's entrepreneurial journey is one of the most honest and energizing stories we've told on this podcast.

And if that wasn't enough? She also opened a café and retail storefront on Vancouver's Seawall. Because why not.

In this episode, we get into:

How Melissa and her partner Eden bootstrapped and sold their first CPG company with no science background
The challenge of advertising a hemp-based product when the internet thought you were selling drugs
What it actually feels like to go through an acquisition and work for the acquiring company for a year
The origin story of Vegain and why they launched with one of the most niche SKUs possible — a vegan mass gainer
The accidental innovation behind Surge — and why they pitched it at CHFA Launchpad before the product even existed
Why they opened a café (and what it taught them about food service, staff culture, and community)
The retail expansion push and what's next for Vegain

Connect with Vegain: 🌐 vegain.ca 📍 Find them on the Vancouver Seawall

Connect with This Commerce Life: 🌐 thiscommercelife.com 📱 Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube

Phil and Kenny pull up a chair for a candid check-in — no guest, no agenda, just an honest conversation about where This Commerce Life has been, where it's going, and why what they do matters more than ever for Canadian food and beverage brands.

After 460+ episodes and eight years in, Phil and Kenny reflect on a pivotal shift: This Commerce Life was never just a podcast — it was always an education platform, and they're now building it that way. From a refreshed website and updated brand positioning to formal curricula, national accelerator programs, and a growing roster of food association partnerships, TCL is levelling up.

In this episode:

Why TCL is repositioning as a retail education platform — not just a podcast
The honest truth about how most CPG brands fail (and what to do about it)
Why brokers and distributors should be sending unready brands their way
TCL's plans to bring retail fundamentals workshops to Ontario, the Maritimes, and Newfoundland
Partnerships with BC Food & Beverage, Food & Beverage Manitoba, and beyond
Their upcoming trip to Expo Antad & Alimentaria in Guadalajara, Mexico (May 19–21) — why Canadian brands can't ignore the Mexican market
Why SIAL Paris is next on the radar — and what European trade intelligence means for Canadian exporters
The loneliness of running a food brand — and why community is the underrated competitive advantage
TCL's real download numbers (15,000 in a week — yes, really), and why Kenny still doesn't believe it

Whether you're a food entrepreneur just getting started, a broker looking for retail-ready brands, or a food association supporting Canadian CPG — this episode is your invitation to work with Phil and Kenny.

🌐 Visit: www.thiscommercelife.com 📩 Reach out if you're a brand under $1M trying to grow, or a food association looking for a teaching partner.

What do the Canadian Shield, a fourth-generation family business, and a trade show floor in Germany have in common? Wild rice — and one of the most remarkable food origin stories you've never heard.

In this episode of This Commerce Life, Phil Chang and Kenny Vannucci sit down with Matt Ratuski, fourth-generation owner of Floating Leaf Fine Foods, whose family has been harvesting Canadian wild rice since 1935. From his great-grandfather trading fish with First Nations communities in Keewatin, Ontario, to building one of Canada's first wild rice processing facilities, Matt's story is equal parts frontier history and modern food entrepreneurship.

We dig into how Canadian wild rice is still harvested the old-fashioned way — in remote rivers, streams, and bogs across northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario — and why that makes it fundamentally different from the cultivated rice grown in the U.S. We also cover the deep, multi-generational relationships with First Nations harvesters, the wild crop's two-to-three-week harvest window, and why Europe discovered this superfood long before Canadians did.

Plus: why innovation in food always requires education, what it takes to build a Canadian food brand with global reach, and why Phil is about to start cooking wild rice on camera.

check out Floating Leaf here: https://eatwildrice.ca/

What do you do when the soda you started making to complement your craft brewery ends up outgrowing the brewery itself? That's exactly what happened to Diana, co-founder of Callister Soda.

In this episode, Diana walks us through her unlikely journey — from office worker dreaming of a sustainable farm, to opening Callister Brewing in Vancouver in 2015, to hand-capping bottles and hand-seaming cans as her natural soda line quietly took on a life of its own. She shares the hard lessons of navigating supply chain chaos, a craft beer market in decline, and a rent increase that tripled over a decade — and how a perfectly timed facility opportunity in Port Coquitlam gave Callister Soda the home it needed to grow. If you're a food or beverage founder wondering whether to follow the momentum or stay the course, Diana's story is one you'll want to hear.

Check out Callister here: https://callistersoda.com/

From Istanbul to Grocery Aisles: Arda and the Hummzies Story

In this episode, Kenny and Phil sit down with Arda, the founder of Hummzies — a hummus-based, chickpea snack that's quickly gaining traction across Canadian retail shelves. Arda shares his remarkable journey from growing up in Istanbul, where a bombing near his high school prompted his family to send him to Canada at just 16 years old, to studying political science at the University of Toronto, and eventually finding his passion in the food industry.

He talks about how his mentor Eyub at Red Crown Pomegranate Juice gave him the foundation to learn the business, how honest advice from distributor Ratan at Jiva led him to his current partnership with Star Marketing, and why doing your own demos and treating your distributor like a true partner — not just a service provider — is the key to building a brand the right way. Whether you're a new CPG founder trying to figure out distribution or just love a great immigrant entrepreneur story, this one's packed with real talk and practical lessons.

check out Hummzies at https://www.hummzies.com/

Thank you to LGDF Wholesale for sponsoring this episode: https://www.lgdfwholesale.com/

Natasha Chawla spent 25+ years in the corporate world working on brands like Coca-Cola and Unilever before launching Greens&Beans — a line of vegetable-packed, allergen-free pasta sauces born from her own kitchen.

What started as a mom's mission to feed her allergy-prone, hockey-playing son healthy meals turned into a full-fledged CPG brand now landing on shelves across British Columbia and beyond.

In this episode, Natasha shares the real journey: the R&D nightmare of scaling from 10 litres to 300 (when her sauce turned into dessert), the pivot from glass bottles to shelf-stable pouches for e-commerce, and the hard lesson that getting into a store is only half the battle — you still have to sell it.

Kenny and Phil also dig into the practical side of growing a food brand the right way: why training your distributor matters, how to pace your retail pipeline so you don't outgrow your co-packer, and the power of collaboration with complementary brands.

Whether you're just starting out or scaling up, this conversation is packed with real talk about what it actually takes to get a sauce from your kitchen to the shelf.

🔗 Check out Greens & Beans: https://greensandbeans.ca/ 📍

Thank you to LGDF wholesale for sponsoring this episode: https://www.lgdfwholesale.com/

When Vikki decided to rescue horses with no teeth, she didn't realize it would lead to opening a thriving feed and farm supply business.

In this episode, Vikki and her husband Rob share how Topline Feed and Farm Supply started as a way to "supplement the horses" and evolved into a community hub in Tavistock, Ontario. From navigating the challenges of rural retail and competing with big-box stores to giving back through hospice visits and youth programs, this Ontario Made award-nominated business proves that passion, ADHD-fueled entrepreneurship, and a lot of hard work can build something special.

Plus, we talk about the realities of running a brick-and-mortar store, the importance of doubling down on Canadian entrepreneurship, and why rescuing horses is way cooler than anyone expected.

Find Topline feed here: https://www.toplinefeeds.com/home

thank you to Haddas and Rebecca at Ontario made for connecting us with Vicki and Rob. https://supportontariomade.ca/

Thank you to LGDF Wholesale for sponsoring this episode. https://www.lgdfwholesale.com/

From Salt Spring Island to Small-Town Retail: Angela Donnelly on Running Raise the Root Organic Market

Angela Donnelly, founder of Raise the Root Organic Market in Caledon, Ontario, shares her journey from working on her parents' mobile produce truck on Salt Spring Island to opening her own natural foods store. Angela talks about learning the produce business at Vancouver's terminal markets, the transition from hippie back-to-the-landers to strategic retailer, and the harsh realities of competing against grocery giants in 2025.

Find Raise the Root here: https://www.raisetheroot.ca/

You can find Angela on Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-donnelly-3a73123a/

Thank you to Haddas and Rebecca at Ontario Made for connecting us.

Thank you to LGDF Wholesale for sponsoring this episode. You can find them at https://www.lgdfwholesale.com/

Andrew Warburton from Peak Beverage Co. joins Phil and Kenny to share his journey building a premium fruit soda brand in BC's competitive beverage market. From launching with minimal research to now being in 175+ stores across Western Canada, Andrew opens up about the realities of scaling a local CPG brand.

In this conversation, you'll hear about Peak's channel strategy—why food service and wineries have been their sweet spot, how Amazon opened up eastern markets without expensive direct-to-consumer shipping, and the importance of staying connected to customers through farmer's markets and demos. Andrew discusses navigating distributor relationships, managing seasonal fluctuations in the food and beverage industry, and why understanding your consumer and picking your spots matters more than being everywhere.

Whether you're launching a beverage brand or scaling a local food product, Andrew's honest, practical approach to building Peak Beverage Co. offers valuable lessons on entrepreneurship, distribution strategy, and staying true to your brand.

Thank you to LGDF Wholesale for sponsoring this episode. You can find them at: www.lgdfwholesale.com

You can find Andrew at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewwarburt0n/

Check out Peak Beverage here: https://www.drinkpeak.ca/

Buy it on Amazon here:

Apple Rhubarb: https://a.co/d/eRoHXAP

Haskap Lemonade: https://a.co/d/iXhD0XY

Tell us which one is your favourite here: https://www.instagram.com/thiscommercelife/

Building Canada's Next Generation of Retail Leaders with Dr. Janice Rudkowski

Ever wonder where retail professionals actually learn their craft? Dr. Janice Rudkowski from Toronto Metropolitan University's School of Retail Management joins Phil and Kenny to discuss Canada's only undergraduate degree program dedicated exclusively to retail education. From merchandise planning and supply chain logistics to experiential learning with industry partners, Janice reveals how TMU is preparing students for careers across the entire retail ecosystem—from fashion buying at Sephora and Lululemon to emerging food retail opportunities. The conversation explores the evolution of Canadian grocery retail, the importance of regional players like Sobeys and Metro, and why hands-on industry connections are critical for developing the next generation of retail talent. If you've ever wondered how to bridge the gap between academic theory and real-world retail execution, this episode is for you.

Find Dr Rudkowski here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janicerudkowski/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for their support: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Bryan from Market 49 Fine Foods joins Phil and Kenny to share the story of how a COVID-era side hustle for bored chefs turned into a thriving frozen meal business that's redefining quality in the freezer aisle.

What started as cooking for friends and family who couldn't or wouldn't cook has grown into a multi-location operation across BC's Lower Mainland. Bryan opens up about his culinary journey that began out of challenge (pushing back against his mom's lunches as a kid), his 100+ years of combined chef experience with his partners, and why they saw a massive gap in the frozen food market.

In this conversation, you'll hear about Market 49's unique approach to premium frozen meals, their strategic distribution through independent retailers like Williams and Urban Fare, their pop-up model testing new markets, and the challenges of scaling a food business while maintaining chef-quality standards. Bryan also shares insights on pricing strategy, the realities of running a commercial kitchen, why they've avoided the Big 3 grocery chains, and how they're building a loyal customer base across Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, and beyond.

Whether you're a food entrepreneur looking to break into retail, curious about the frozen food category, or just want to understand how small brands grow in Canada's competitive CPG landscape, this episode delivers practical insights and real talk about building a food business from the ground up.

Check out Market 49 here: https://market49.ca/

Find Bryan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-swartz-936a122b0/

From Quebec Grains to World-Class Spirits: The Dunrobin Distilleries Story

Adrian from Dunrobin Distilleries joins Phil and Kenny to share the fascinating journey of building one of Eastern Ontario's premier craft distilleries. Located halfway between Ottawa and Montreal, Dunrobin has carved out a unique position in Canadian spirits by sourcing local Quebec grains and building a vertically integrated operation from farming to finished product.

Find Adrian here:https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianspitzer/?originalSubdomain=ca

Shop for Dunrobin here: http://dunrobindistilleries.com/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for supporting the podcast : https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

James Rowley of Glenmore Printing pulls back the curtain on the commercial packaging industry, revealing how commodity price volatility, tariff uncertainty, and consolidation are reshaping the business. James shares his philosophy on being a true partner to food brands—absorbing cost pressures, providing strategic guidance beyond just printing boxes, and helping smaller players navigate market opportunities.

Find James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-rowley-8800ab15/

Check out the studio here: https://www.glenmorecustomprint.com/

Shout out to: https://beststudio.ca/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for supporting the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

We catch up with Sonia Strobel, Co-Founder & CEO Of Skipper Otto - Canada's Largest Community-Supported Fishery

Skipper Otto has cracked the code on sustainable, traceable seafood in Canada. Co-founder and CEO Sonia Strobel joins us to share how their community-supported fishery model has grown to serve 8,000 members across the country—and why they finally made the leap into home delivery.

In this conversation, Sonia walks us through the careful, deliberate expansion that's defined Skipper Otto's growth: from community pickup locations at 100+ partners nationwide to launching home delivery in Ontario, Quebec, BC, and Alberta. She explains the logistics challenges they solved (spoiler: dry ice is key), why they operate their own boat in False Creek, and how pre-purchasing shares in the catch guarantees living wages for 45 fishing families while ensuring customers get the freshest, most sustainable seafood possible.

Whether you're curious about alternative food systems, direct-to-consumer distribution, or building a values-driven food business that actually works, this episode offers a masterclass in patient, purposeful scaling.

TOPICS DISCUSSED:

The community-supported fishery model and how it works
Expanding from pickup locations to nationwide home delivery
Solving frozen delivery logistics across Canadian climates
Operating their own fishing vessel and processing facility
Building trust through complete supply chain transparency
Balancing growth with quality and sustainability values

Visit skipperotto.com to learn more about their membership model and home delivery options.

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for supporting the podcast https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

We sit down with Joy Dutcher, co-founder of Mycelyum, to explore how she turned a personal journey with ADHD and functional mushrooms into an innovative Canadian wellness brand. Joy shares the origin story of discovering lion's mane and chaga mushrooms through her partner Jimmy's background in traditional Chinese medicine, and why they chose the gummy format over powders and capsules.

Check out Mycelyum here: https://mycelyum.com/

Find Joy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joydutcher/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for supporting the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Elaine and Cam, the founders behind Not Too Sweet Drinks, join Phil and Kenny to share their journey of creating a sparkling beverage brand that's actually not too sweet. Recording from Phil's car during CHFA prep with special guests Lara and Christine from Munching on Molecules, this episode captures the authentic story of Vancouver Island entrepreneurs who are redefining the sparkling drink category.

From their backgrounds in engineering and graphic design to launching a beverage company during a pandemic, Elaine and Cam discuss the challenges of building distribution across BC, managing cash flow with direct store delivery, and staying focused on sustainable growth. They open up about their mentorship with industry veteran Greg Tolazzi, the decision to stay local rather than rush into broader retail expansion, and why they're committed to keeping manufacturing on the island.

With products ranging from lychee to ginger beer, Not Too Sweet has built a loyal following through farmers markets, independent retailers, and word-of-mouth. This conversation covers the realities of beverage entrepreneurship, the importance of community support, and why sometimes the best growth strategy is knowing when not to scale too fast.

Find Not Too Sweet at @not2sweetdrinks on Instagram or visit www.not2sweetdrinks.ca

thank you to Field Agent Canada for supporting the podcast https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Sarah Kinlin returns to This Commerce Life two and a half years after her first appearance, and the transformation is remarkable. What started as a tentative step toward professional speaking has evolved into a thriving business as a mindset and leadership coach, author, and professional hockey coach.

In this heartfelt conversation, Sarah shares her journey from leaving Johnson & Johnson to building a multi-faceted career centered on helping others go from tired and overwhelmed to rested and focused. She discusses writing her book "Grit, Grace & Goals" – a tribute to her late fathhttps://sarahkinlin.com/pages/grit-grace-mindset-coachinger's leadership lessons from raising nine kids while working at a nuclear station – and how her own childhood shaped her approach to coaching young athletes and business leaders alike.

Sarah opens up about the grief recovery work that led to her book, the unexpected success of her book tour, coaching U15 girls' hockey, and the challenges of entrepreneurship. From meditation practices to managing hockey teams to running leadership workshops, this episode captures the reality of building a purpose-driven business while staying true to your values.

Whether you're considering a career transition, navigating the loneliness of entrepreneurship, or looking for inspiration on how to turn life lessons into impact, Sarah's story offers practical wisdom wrapped in authenticity.

This is Sarah's original podcast episode (episode 314) https://this-commerce-life-fb5a846c.simplecast.com/episodes/we-meet-a-fan-become-fans-sarah-kinlin-will-be-a-world-reknowned-speaker-coach-and-educator-were-proud-to-be-her-first-podcast

Check out Sarah's website here: https://sarahkinlin.com/pages/grit-grace-mindset-coaching

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for supporting the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Shannon and Sarah, Naturopathic Doctors from Guelph, Ontario, are reimagining homeopathy for modern retail. In this episode, they share how they're solving the complexity problem in the homeopathy category by offering curated kits instead of overwhelming individual SKUs.

They discuss their journey from festivals to CHFA, their strategic approach to pricing, navigating Health Canada regulations, and why their next move might be Europe or Asia before conquering traditional Canadian pharmacy chains. Plus, hear about the unique advantages of being sisters in business—and the challenges of selling a category that struggles with mainstream press but has devoted believers.

Check out Hawthorn Homeopathics here: https://hawthornhomeopathics.com/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for supporting the podcast. https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Join Phil and Kenny as they hit the road with Simran Kaur, Sales Manager for Western Canada at Chiba Organics, for an unfiltered conversation about navigating the Canadian CPG and retail landscape.

From her start handling national accounts for McDonald's and Starbucks at Zomato in Delhi to building relationships with independent grocers across Western Canada, Simran shares hard-earned wisdom about what it really takes to succeed in this business. Recorded on a marathon road trip, this episode dives into the realities of selling into retail: managing out-of-stocks honestly, building authentic store relationships, understanding that it's never about you—it's about helping stores serve their customers better, and why owning your mistakes is non-negotiable.

Whether you're breaking into the industry, managing accounts, or just trying to understand how products make it onto shelves, this conversation delivers practical insights and real talk about the challenges and rewards of life in Canadian retail and CPG.

You can find Simran here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaur-mansimran/

In case you're interested in working with Jiva Organics: https://www.jivaorganics.ca/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for supporting the podcast https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

What if your makeup routine is secretly harming your eye health? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Nieka Sabeti, a practicing optometrist and founder of CHESHMA, a groundbreaking line of eye-friendly cosmetics. After countless patients broke down in her exam room—struggling with dry eye disease caused by cosmetics and feeling they had to choose between their appearance and their eye health—Dr. Neeka had a middle-of-the-night revelation that changed everything.

Discover why most cosmetics aren't as eye-safe as you'd think, how proper makeup removal can dramatically improve eye health, and what drove this optometrist to become an entrepreneur. Dr. Neeka shares her journey from chemistry undergrad to eye doctor to beauty brand founder, including why she drove labs crazy with her extensive testing requirements (way beyond Health Canada's standards).

We dive deep into the connection between cosmetics and dry eye disease, the importance of proper eye hygiene, and why education is at the core of changing both consumer behavior and industry standards. Plus, hear the co-hosts debate the challenges of building awareness for health-focused beauty products in a market where convenience often trumps wellness.

Whether you're a makeup lover, deal with dry eyes, or are curious about the intersection of healthcare and beauty innovation, this conversation will open your eyes (pun intended) to what you're really putting on your face.

Check out Cheshma Beauty here: https://cheshmabeauty.ca/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for supporting the show: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

The Knuckleheads talk to each other. Two retail veterans with a combined 50+ years of experience sit down for honest conversations about Canadian business, brands, and the challenges facing small and medium-sized companies.

We talk to each other about where we come from and how we got here. Kenny, it turns out, was always pretty linear. Phil, has nothing linear about his career at all.

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring our podcast. https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

When Nana Daniels returned from a trip to Ghana in 2016, she experienced a severe lupus flare-up that left her skin severely burned. What happened next changed her life forever.

After seven hours in the emergency room with no real solution, Nana turned to her Ghanaian roots and created her own remedy using raw shea butter, vitamin E, and essential oils. The results were so remarkable that friends started asking for their own supply—and Honam Naturals was born.

In this inspiring episode, Nana shares:

Her 25-year journey living with lupus and scleroderma
How a medical crisis became an unexpected business opportunity
The cultural wisdom behind shea butter and African black soap
Selling out her first product batch in one hour and making $1,000
Winning a mentorship with Dragons' Den's Manjit Minhas
Landing products in Winners, Walmart (US and Canada), and Amazon—all while battling imposter syndrome
The challenges of scaling from kitchen countertop to big box retail
Why she chose aluminum containers and eco-friendly packaging
Her vision for getting into more natural health stores across Canada

From Ajax, Ontario, Nana has built a thriving skincare and haircare brand that honors traditional African ingredients while meeting modern clean beauty standards. Her story proves that sometimes the best solutions come from going back to basics—and that a little bit of courage can turn adversity into opportunity.

Products discussed: Body butters, African black soap, hair care for tight curls and chemically-treated hair, home fragrances, and men's grooming

Connect with Honam Naturals: http://honamnaturals.com/collections

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

From Auto Mechanic to Artisan Sausage Maker: D-Original Sausage Haus Story

Join us as we sit down with Clint from D-Original Sausage Haus in Steveston, BC, who shares his unconventional journey from automotive mechanic to box manufacturing to crafting premium German-style cured meats. Clint discusses the challenges of running a brick-and-mortar deli in a post-COVID world, the art of making authentic salamis and pepperoni with BC pork and natural casings, and the frustrations of navigating Canada's inter-provincial trade regulations. From consignment deals with craft breweries to building relationships with loyal customers, Clint reveals what it takes to grow a premium, artisanal meat business while staying true to traditional recipes and quality ingredients. Plus, we debate the merits of truffle pepperoni and why sometimes the best things in life come in irregular shapes.

Check out Clint's online store here: https://www.doriginalsausagehaus.com/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

From Cologne to Canada: What We Learned Walking 10 Football Fields at Anuga

Phil and Kenny take the podcast on the road to Anuga, one of the world's largest food trade shows in Cologne, Germany. Recording their raw observations while navigating German parking lots and autobahns, they share what surprised them most: Bulgaria's emerging food innovation, the surprising absence of crowds at the Chinese pavilion, and how geopolitical tensions are reshaping international food trade.

The episode features candid conversations with Matt and Kim Lebeau from Lebeau Excel and Luca Felicetti from the fifth-generation Italian pasta maker. They discuss practical strategies for attending massive trade shows, the protein trend's different evolution in Europe versus North America, and why Canadian brands should consider looking east instead of south. Topics range from edible utensils and shelf-stable kombucha to the 106% tariff on Italian pasta and why Americans are apologizing for being American.

Our first take on Anuga Cologne. Kenny and I talk about what's happening in Cologne, and we catch up with Matt and Kim LeBeau, Luca Felicetti.

Thank you to Luca and the team at Felicetti for making us feel welcome in your lovely booth. If you're still at the show, head to Hall 10.2, B080

If you're not, head to https://www.felicetti.it/en

You can find Luca here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luca-felicetti-b27b3a279/

Thanks to Matt and Kim for jumping in on the podcast - we love you guys. Check out Lebeau Excel here: https://lebeauexcel.com/

Thank you to Fieldagent Canada for sponsoring the podcast https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Shauna Fidler, founder of Design Farm and producer of the Basin Food Summit, as she takes us deep into British Columbia's Kootenay region—a place where local food culture thrives and producers connect directly with buyers who care.

Shauna shares her journey from running a cookie shop in Calgary to pioneering gluten-free baking before it was mainstream, and eventually finding her home in the Kootenays where she now supports food producers through branding, packaging design, and the annual Basin Food Summit.

Event Details: Basin Food Summit, November 6-8, 2025, Nelson, BC | www.basinfood.ca

Warning: This episode may cause extreme hunger and an irresistible urge to book a trip to the Kootenays.

You can find Shauna here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shauna-fidler-25226b241/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

From Ice Cream Cart to National Brand - The Hazel's Ice Cream Story

In this episode, hosts Kenny and Phil sit down with Sam Vermeulen, co-founder of Hazel's Ice Cream, to discuss the remarkable journey from a COVID-era ice cream cart idea to a growing national frozen novelty brand.

Sam shares how what started as a father-son dream of running an ice cream shop evolved into handcrafted premium ice cream bars. Born out of necessity during the pandemic, Hazel's pivoted from scooped ice cream to bars when traditional retail wasn't an option - a decision that accidentally filled a market gap in Victoria's frozen novelty scene.

Scaling CPG Brands with Roadmap CPG's Michelle Prychidny and Koreann Webster

In this episode of This Commerce Life, hosts Phil and Kenny welcome the dynamic duo behind Roadmap CPG - Michelle Prychidny and Koreann Webster. Together, these industry veterans share their combined decades of experience helping emerging CPG brands navigate the treacherous waters of retail scaling.

From their early days at Vega and their rocket ship journey with SmartSweets to launching their own consultancy, Michelle and Koreann break down the critical foundational pieces that make or break growing brands. They dive deep into the most common pitfalls they see repeatedly: cash flow nightmares, pricing disasters, and the fundamental disconnect between profit and loss versus actual cash in the bank.

check out Roadmap CPG here: https://www.roadmapcpg.com/

Find Koreann here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/koreann-webster-42b43160/

Find Michelle here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-mckay-prychidny-b6b0492/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast. https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

We sit down with Sanaz Bahrami, founder of Melts Infusions, who shares her remarkable journey from aspiring surgeon to herbal wellness entrepreneur. After nerve damage derailed her medical career dreams, Sanaz discovered the power of adaptogenic herbs during a challenging period in graduate school studying biomedical engineering.

What started as brewing "peace tea" in her apartment to manage anxiety and depression has evolved into a thriving business with over 500,000 TikTok followers and a loyal customer base. Sanaz opens up about her early struggles with mental health, the limitations she found with traditional pharmaceutical approaches, and how a lab mate's suggestion to try herbal remedies changed her life.

Check out Melts Infusions here: https://meltsinfusion.com/

Find Sanaz here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanaz-bahrami-7a067014a/

Sanaz's Tiktok page is here: https://www.tiktok.com/@meltsinfusions

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

From Stadium Cleaner to Craft Brewer - The Latina Beer Story

Phil and Kenny sit down with Carlos Castro, the Venezuelan-Canadian founder of Latina Beer, for an inspiring conversation about entrepreneurship, immigration, and following your passion.

Carlos shares his remarkable journey from cleaning Rogers Stadium as an entry-level job to building his own craft brewery in St. Catharines, Ontario. What started as a casual conversation with a coworker during a break led to an eight-year adventure in the beer industry - all beginning with a napkin, a homebrew recipe, and $1,500.

check out Latina beer at https://www.latina.beer/ and @latinabeer

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

The Kristina Farrell Episode: Fighting for Canada's Food System from the Inside

In this episode, hosts Phil and Kenny sit down with Kristina Farrell, CEO of Food & Beverage Canada, to explore the complex world of Canadian food manufacturing policy. Christina, who represents domestic food and beverage manufacturers across the country, breaks down the critical distinction between companies that actually make products in Canada versus those that simply sell here.

From her team-of-two operation in Ottawa, Kristina tackles massive challenges including inter-provincial trade barriers, labor shortages, and the ongoing work on Bill C-5. The conversation reveals how 92% of Canada's food manufacturing companies have fewer than 100 employees, yet the industry remains the country's largest manufacturing sector—a fact that often gets overlooked in policy discussions.

Kristina shares her journey from government bureaucracy to lobbying, explaining how she became the central coordinator between six provincial food and beverage associations and federal policymakers. The discussion touches on everything from why you've probably had more USDA beef than Alberta beef, to the surprising complexities of calling something "recyclable" under new Competition Act provisions.

The hosts and Kristina dig into Canada's tendency to overcomplicate systems that should be straightforward, from food safety standards that vary by province to the challenges of getting recognition for an industry that feeds everyone but struggles to get the political attention given to "sexier" sectors like automotive or mining.

Key topics covered:

The difference between food manufacturers and CPG companies
Inter-provincial trade barriers and Bill C-5
Labor challenges in food manufacturing
Why Canada's food system is simultaneously world-class and poorly understood by Canadians
The role of provincial food and beverage associations
Sustainability challenges and greenwashing regulations

This episode offers an inside look at the people working behind the scenes to keep Canada's food system running, and why understanding these complexities matters for everyone who eats.

Find Kristina here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristina-farrell-b09ba549/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

CHFA Now Toronto 2025 Preview with Aaron Skelton & Lynsey Walker

Join Phil and Kenny as they chat with Aaron Skelton (CEO) and Lynsey Walker (Chief Marketing Officer) from the Canadian Health Food Association for an exciting preview of CHFA Now Toronto 2025, happening September 19 - 21, 2025

What's New This Year:

BDC & Be Local Thursday Night Event - Special networking event at BDC Square (37th floor of CIBC Tower) with stunning lake views
Enhanced Conference Programming - Friday's packed agenda includes a new Quebec session called "Bonjour-Hi" and the highly anticipated data & insights presentation on women's health
Revamped Industry Awards - Saturday's awards ceremony promises to be the biggest yet, with upgraded entertainment and a green carpet experience
Sunday Fun Run - 3km charity run supporting Second Harvest, plus Incubator Alley pitch sessions

Key Dates:

Online registration closes August 31st
VIP retailer perks include free parking, Uber discounts, and food vouchers
Show runs September 6-8 at the CNE Automotive Building (formerly Beanfield)

Whether you're a longtime industry veteran or newcomer to the natural health space, this episode captures why CHFA has become the must-attend event that people plan their entire year around. As Phil notes, it's transformed from "Are you going?" to "When we get to CHFA, let's..."

Don't miss the advocacy update where Aaron explains how grassroots efforts led to real regulatory wins - proving that when the industry comes together, change is possible.

Sign up for CHFA here: https://www.chfanow.ca/toronto/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

From Bartending Tips to 24 Locations: The Foxy Box Story

In this episode of This Commerce Life, we sit down with Kyla, the bold founder and CEO of Foxy Box Laser & Wax Bars, who turned bar tips and brazilian waxes in her dining room into a 24-location franchise empire across Canada.

Starting 12 years ago in her dining room (yes, you read that right), Kyla used her bartending tips to fund her venture into the hair removal industry. What began as giving customers shots of tequila while learning to perfect Brazilian waxes has evolved into a franchise system employing over 250 staff across four provinces.

you can find Kyla here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyla-dufresne-295867149/

check out Foxy box here: https://foxyboxwaxbar.com/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

A celebration of success. Re-sharing Caitlyn Vanderhaeghe's episode from 2022 on the evolution of Kidstar. In light of her announcement last week of getting National distribution, we thought it'd be a good time to re-share Caitlin's journey with Kidstar.

A small Canadian company, that put in a lot of work to get here! Congrats Caitlyn and the Kidstar team!!

Check out Kidstar here: https://kidstarnutrients.com/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Mid-Summer Update - Road Trips, Trade Shows, and What's Next

Phil and Kenny reconnect for a candid mid-summer update on what's been keeping them busy and what's coming up for This Commerce Life. After spending five hours together booking travel (and learning they should have let Keelin handle it), the duo shares their exciting plans for the fall.

In This Episode:

Anuga 2025: The hosts are headed to Germany's massive food trade show (October 4-8) to bring back marketplace intelligence
Ontario Road Trip: Kenny's coming to Toronto in late September/early October for filming across Central Ontario - from London to Barrie, or potentially east to the Belleville-Kingston area
Behind the Scenes: Meet Keelin, their "not-so-secret weapon" who keeps them organized, and why they're crystallizing their three core focuses
The Unsexy Fundamentals: Why they keep returning to the same crucial topics - cost of goods, margins, cash flow - that aren't glamorous but are essential for Canadian retail success
Retail Stories: Their passion for independent Canadian retailers, from Brian Pilau's stores to Peter at Kelowna Your Independent Grocer, and their dream to visit North West Company's Arctic Circle operations
Looking Ahead: BC Food & Bev accelerator program, Manitoba webinars, a mystery Interior BC conference, and their ongoing mission to showcase Canadian retail

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Amy Rempel - From Third-Generation Grocery to Pioneering Kids' Skincare

In this episode, we sit down with Amy Rempel, owner of Elevation Brands and founder of Fresh Faces Skincare, Canada's first skincare line specifically designed for kids. Amy brings a unique perspective to the natural products industry as a third-generation grocery professional whose great-grandfather helped bring Metro stores to Ontario.

What You'll Learn:

How Amy identified a dangerous TikTok trend of kids using adult skincare products and turned it into a business opportunity
The reality of working with brokers vs. distributors and what brands need to know before making the call
Why Amy created a consulting package to bridge the gap between direct-to-consumer and retail-ready brands
The importance of having distribution, funding, and production capacity in place before approaching brokers

Major Announcement: Amy shares her exciting news about receiving a Golden Ticket and getting Fresh Faces Skincare into Walmart stores nationwide starting February 2025 - and how she's already thinking strategically about execution rather than just celebrating the win.

Key Takeaways:

The difference between wants vs. needs in emerging categories
How to position new products in conventional retail (hint: clear shelf signage is everything)
Why understanding your retailer's customer base is crucial for success
The evolution of brand partnerships and when it's time to level up

Amy's pragmatic approach to business development and her deep industry knowledge make this a must-listen for anyone looking to scale their brand or work with brokers effectively.

Check out Fresh faces here: https://freshfacesco.com/

Find Amy Rempel here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-rempel/

Trading Cards to Facebook Fame: How One Collector Built a Digital Empire

Join Phil and Kenny as they dive deep into the fascinating world of modern card collecting with special guest Anthony from Red Light Sports. What started as a COVID hobby digging through childhood collections has evolved into a thriving Facebook Live business that's redefining how collectors buy and sell.

Anthony takes us behind the scenes of his innovative approach to card sales - from mystery bags that guarantee value to live auctions that keep hundreds of viewers engaged for hours. Discover how he built a community of 1,400+ members, created custom entertainment elements (yes, there's a theme song!), and turned what could be mundane transactions into must-watch events.

In This Episode:

The psychology behind mystery pulls and why "the first one's free"
How to pivot from daily auction management to streamlined live shows
Building customer loyalty through entertainment and guaranteed value
The challenges of going live for 5-6 hours twice a week
Why Anthony's girlfriend's AI skills became a game-changer
Phil's continued resistance to card collecting (spoiler: 2,000 cards is apparently "nothing")
Kenny's potential future as a guest auctioneer

Whether you're into cards, curious about Facebook Live selling, or fascinated by how hobbies become businesses, this episode offers insights into community building, digital entrepreneurship, and the passion that drives collectors.

Plus: Plans for an epic Vancouver ice cream tour featuring 218 flavors at La Casa Gelato - because apparently that's how card people network.

Find Anthony at https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CqUYjddbr/

Check out La Casa Gelato here: https://www.instagram.com/lacasagelato?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: www.fieldagentcanada.com

Burgoo Restaurant's Justin Joyce on 24 Years of Comfort Food & Vancouver's Evolving Food Scene

We had an amazing conversation with Justin, owner of the four Burgoo restaurant locations in Vancouver, who joined us despite dealing with a power outage and a sick dog. What started as a discussion about his restaurants quickly evolved into a deep dive about the challenges facing independent operators in today's market.

The Burgoo StoryWe learned how Justin's path to restaurants began with a detour from university. Originally headed to study English literature at the University of Alberta, he stopped in Calgary and met a mentor who offered to lend him money to open a restaurant in Vancouver. At 21, with no stress and plenty of optimism, he made the leap and opened the Funky Armadillo in the early '90s before eventually developing the Burgoo concept in 2001.

What struck us was how Burgoo started as purely comfort food - originally serving only soups and stews in two sizes: "giant and enormous." They didn't even have plates when they first opened, serving everything in bowls. No sandwiches, no appetizers, just 10 soups and 15 stews. The menu has evolved dramatically over 24 years, finally adding french fries just this past year after resisting for over two decades.

Check out Burgoo here: https://www.burgoo.ca/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Food Fraud and Authenticity Testing with Deleo De Leonardis, CEO of Purity IQ

In this eye-opening conversation, Kenny and Phil sit down with Deleo De Leonardis, CEO and co-founder of Purity IQ, to discuss a critical issue that affects every consumer: food fraud and adulteration.

Deleo shares her unexpected journey from 20 years in retail (including VP of Private Label at Sobeys) to becoming an entrepreneur in the science-based world of authenticity testing. Despite not being a scientist herself, she and her co-founders identified a massive gap in the industry - while labs routinely test for identity (is echinacea actually present?), they often miss adulteration, dilution, and substitution.

Key Topics Covered:

Why standard identity testing isn't enough to catch food fraud
The difference between targeted vs. untargeted testing methods
Real examples of adulteration in honey, olive oil, spices, and supplements
How economic pressures and supply chain disruptions create opportunities for fraudsters
The shocking reality that less than 1% of imported products are actually inspected
Why "Product of Italy" doesn't guarantee authentic olive oil
The innovative QR-enabled certification system that educates consumers in real-time

Sobering Statistics:

Some botanical supplements contain over 80% maltodextrin filler instead of active ingredients
Food fraud has existed since ancient Rome and flourishes during economic uncertainty
Most labs focus on facility audits (GMP) rather than actual product testing

This conversation will change how you think about the products on grocery store shelves and highlights why consumers, brands, and retailers need to ask better questions about authenticity testing. As Deleo puts it: "You may think you're doing all the right things - you're missing a really big component."

Find Purity IQ here: https://purity-iq.com/

Find Deleo here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/delsue28/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Automating Food Safety with Normex

In this episode, we sit down with Tanguy Etoga, founder and CEO of Normex, to dive into the often overlooked but critically important world of food safety management.

Tanguy shares his fascinating journey from a childhood in Cameroon—where a conversation with his father about preserving mangoes year-round sparked his passion—to becoming a food safety consultant and tech entrepreneur revolutionizing how small and medium food businesses handle compliance.

What We Discovered:

Why our industry is traditionally slow to adopt new technology (spoiler: we're too busy making food!)
How AI and IoT sensors are transforming tedious paperwork into streamlined digital processes
Real examples of companies saving $60,000+ in six months through automation
The hidden costs of manual food safety processes that most of us don't realize we're paying
Why even small food businesses with just 2 employees need proper food safety systems
How one ice cream company freed up 3 quality employees to move into production

My Key Takeaways: From temperature monitoring that used to require hourly manual checks to AI-powered corrective action plans, Tanguy shows us practical applications of technology that actually work—not just buzzword solutions. This isn't about replacing people; it's about eliminating the mundane tasks so our teams can focus on what matters: making great food safely.

Whether you're a food processor, manufacturer, restaurant, or anywhere in our supply chain, this conversation offers valuable insights into protecting your business, your customers, and your reputation. I'll admit, food safety isn't the sexiest topic we've covered, but it might be one of the most essential.

Connect with Normex at normex.ca or follow their educational content on LinkedIn for weekly food safety insights.

Find Tanguy at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanguyetoga/?originalSubdomain=ca

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast : https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Thank you to LeBeauExcel for sponsoring this episode: https://lebeauexcel.com/

Hot Sauce Without the Heat - Viggy from Toca Foods

What happens when an aerospace engineer meets a sommelier and decides to revolutionize the condiment aisle? In this episode, we sit down with Viggy, co-founder of Tocha Foods, who's created something that sounds impossible: "hot sauce without the heat."

From his journey as a would-be rocket scientist to discovering a gap in the sauce market that left millions of people with nothing but salt and pepper, Viggy shares how he and his MBA classmate Matt built a product category that didn't exist. Their "spiced sauces" deliver all the complex flavors of hot sauce without the burn, creating what they call a "blue ocean" for consumers who were previously left out.

We dive deep into the realities of CPG life - from the importance of sell-through vs. sell-in data to navigating retail relationships and trade marketing. Viggy also shares some surprising use cases customers have discovered (including some that make our Italian co-host Kenny cringe) and why creating something genuinely new is both harder and more rewarding than following established formulas.

Plus, hear about their expansion across Canada, plans for "Tocha Sauce Club" cooking sessions, and why sometimes the best business advice is knowing what problem you're actually solving.

Whether you're a founder looking for inspiration, a food lover curious about innovation, or someone who's always wondered what to put on your eggs besides ketchup, this conversation will leave you hungry for more.

Find Toca Foods: https://tochafoods.com/ | @tochafoods on Instagram

Available: Online across Canada, Country Grocer, Gourmet Warehouse, and growing retail locations

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Thank you to LeBeau Excel for sponsoring this episode https://lebeauexcel.com/

Ashlyn Newlove, Founder of SmartSipAshlyn Newlove, Founder of SmartSip. We had an absolute blast talking with Ashlyn Newlove, the competitive and charismatic founder behind SmartSip - a calorie-friendly, fiber-rich powdered coconut oil creamer that's taking the health and wellness world by storm.

Ashlyn proves that with the right product, solid margins, authentic social media presence, and enough competitive fire to power a small city, you can turn a road trip idea into a thriving CPG business. Even if it means staying at Holiday Inns while building your empire.

Find SmartSip at https://smartsipcreamco.com/ - and yes, Kenny's sending Ashlyn some matcha for her next video.

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Thank you to LeBeauExcel for sponsoring this episode: https://lebeauexcel.com/

Getting Graded: Inside the Wild World of Card Authentication with TGA's TylerEver wondered how a piece of cardboard can be worth millions of dollars? This week, we dive deep into the fascinating (and slightly insane) world of sports card grading with Tyler, founder of TGA(True Grade Authentication), a new Canadian authentication company that's shaking up an industry dominated by American giants.

What You'll Learn:

Why getting a Wayne Gretzky card graded can cost you $1,000+ (hint: it's not just the grading fee)
How the hobby transformed from 25-cent packs to $25,000 boxes with "bounty" cards worth seven figures
The four critical factors that determine if your childhood card collection is treasure or trash
Why Canadian collectors were getting squeezed out by tariffs and how one entrepreneur saw an opportunity

The Real Talk: Tyler shares his journey from 11-year-old collector to business owner, explaining how a $25 Darryl Sittler rookie card sparked a 30+ year passion that led to launching TGA. We explore the tension between old-school collecting (nostalgia, sentiment, fun) and the new reality where cards are treated like stock investments.

Phil's Journey: Watch our co-host Phil go from complete card skeptic to cautiously intrigued, despite his horror at modern pack prices and complexity. Spoiler alert: Kenny's still trying to drag him to a Toronto card show, and Phil's still saying absolutely not.

Find Tyler at: https://tgagrading.com/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Thank you to LeBeau Excel for sponsoring this episode: https://lebeauexcel.com/

Kyle Schumacher, founder and owner of Caliente Hot Sauce Company, joins the podcast to discuss his entrepreneurial journey from trades worker to successful hot sauce manufacturer. Based in British Columbia, Kyle has built a unique fresh hot sauce business that operates exclusively in refrigerated retail sections.

find Kyle here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-schumacher-1a345190/

Check out Caliente here: https://calientehotsauceco.ca/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Thank you to LeBeau Excel for sponsoring this episode: https://lebeauexcel.com/

In this special episode of "This Commerce Life," host Phil travels to St. John's, Newfoundland, where he tours the Newfoundland Chocolate Company with founder Christina Dove. Christina shares her remarkable journey from neuroscientist to chocolatier and gelato expert, detailing how she built her thriving business from her basement to a factory producing 40,000 chocolates daily.

The conversation explores Christina's commitment to all-natural ingredients, avoiding preservatives and artificial dyes by using fruit-infused white chocolate for coloring. Listeners will discover how the brand has grown from a small operation to wholesaling across Canada while promoting Newfoundland's culture through its packaging and products.

Christina provides insights into her inclusive workplace philosophy, highlighting how she designs her production processes to accommodate neurodiversity and support employees from various backgrounds. The factory incorporates braille, multiple languages, and color-coding systems to ensure everyone can communicate effectively.

From navigating pandemic challenges with 113 staff to creating innovative treats like chocolate capelin and gelato made with Newfoundland ingredients, this episode offers an inspiring look at a business that combines scientific precision with cultural celebration and human-centered management.

Find Christina here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-dove/

Check out Newfoundland Chocolate Company here: https://www.newfoundlandchocolatecompany.com/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast. https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Sarah Harper and the Fiery World of Stoke The Fire Hot Sauce

Join hosts Phil and Kenny for an engaging conversation with Sarah Harper, the self-proclaimed "Sauceress" and CEO of Stoke The Fire Hot Sauce. This episode takes you on a journey from Sarah's fascinating background as a performance artist and Arctic chef to her current life as a passionate pepper farmer and hot sauce creator in British Columbia's Similkameen Valley.

Sarah shares the story of how she and her partner Stu transformed their backyard garden into a thriving 7-acre farm with over 40 varieties of specialty hot peppers. Discover how their brand "Stoke The Fire" was born, the inspiration behind their best-selling "Bear Spray" sauce (hint: it involves actual bears!), and their commitment to organic, honey-sweetened products with no refined sugars.

The conversation explores Sarah's unique approach to farming, her indigenous partnerships, and her vision for connecting food producers across British Columbia. From her beekeeping adventures to her new commercial kitchen facility, Sarah offers insights into sustainable small-scale farming and the supportive community of food producers in BC.

Whether you're a hot sauce enthusiast, a farming aficionado, or simply love stories of passion-driven entrepreneurship, this heartwarming episode showcases the authentic connection between good people, great food, and the land they cultivate.

Check out Stoke the fire here: https://www.stokethefirehotsauce.com/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

From Restaurant Owner to Tea Entrepreneur with Nicole Keats

Join hosts Phil and Kenny as they sit down with Nicole Keating, founder of The Newfoundland Tea Company. In this candid and energetic conversation, Nicole shares her remarkable journey from running a fine-dining bistro in Gander to building a premium organic tea brand that's rapidly expanding beyond Newfoundland's shores.

Nicole opens up about weathering personal and professional challenges—including a divorce, health struggles, and the devastating impact of the pandemic on her restaurant business—before finding unexpected success in the tea industry. Learn how her distinctive moose logo came to be, why premium tea is finding its market in a coffee-dominated world, and the creative ways she's incorporated tea into everything from cocktails to merchandise.

This episode showcases an entrepreneur whose resilience, gut instincts, and commitment to quality have helped her navigate career transitions while staying true to her roots. Whether you're a tea lover, an aspiring entrepreneur, or simply enjoy stories of reinvention, Nicole's authentic and spirited take on building a business from the heart offers inspiration and practical insights for the commerce life.

check out Nicole's product here: https://www.thenewfoundlandteaco.com/

Find Nicole here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-keats-084444266/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Owner of Wild Moon Organics Sean Smith looks at brands, owning a bone broth company a little differently.

Check out Wild Moon Organics here: https://wildmoon.ca/

Find Sean here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-smith-1551b953/overlay/photo/

Thank you to Fieldagent for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Nathanael Hollands and Kinvest Impact Foundation are building market innovations in Rural Africa. They invest in agribusiness farms near marketplace communities. By combining development in marketplaces with commercial farms, they help foster a complete economic system where value is created, jobs and wages grow, and money is recirculated into the local economy.

Connect with Nathanael here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fixr/

check out Kinvest here: https://kinvestglobal.com/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Be sure you sign up for CHFA West - see you there! https://www.chfanow.ca/vancouver/

Dinner with Christos. The founder of Aelo, talks about their new launch, Limoncello and how this one is special. He also talks about how he thinks about flavours, and keeping Aelo special.

Check out Aelo here: https://www.drinkaelo.com/

Connect with Christos here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christos-kalaitzis-b7942378/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

We're excited to go to CHFA West - head to https://www.chfanow.ca/vancouver/

Throwback episode. We walked the Kelowna Farmer's Market with Peter Boyd last summer and this is some of the footage. We get a buyer's perspective on brands and what he wants to accomplish, and we hear just a sample of amazing stories at that market.

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast. Head to https://www.fieldagentcanada.com to find out more

Get more details on Grocery Showcase West: https://gsfshow.com/

Sign up to head to CHFA West: https://www.chfanow.ca/vancouver/

Off Script with Phil & Kenny: April Events Preview

Join Phil Chang and Kenny Vannucci as they discuss upcoming food industry events and initiatives in Canada this April. The duo shares their plans for CHFA (April 26-27), where they'll run a unique connection hub using Polaroid photos to match brands with distributors, brokers, and partners. They'll also be attending Grocery Showcase West (April 14-15), supporting BC brands and connecting industry players.

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast. Head to https://www.fieldagentcanada.com to find out more

Get more details on Grocery Showcase West: https://gsfshow.com/

Sign up to head to CHFA West: https://www.chfanow.ca/vancouver/

Melanie's episode is here (aired April 1st., 2024) https://www.thiscommercelife.com/tclpodcast/episode/1f1ab546/melanie-macinnes-talks-about-being-flexible-nimble-the-irrational-fear-of-losing-the-farm

From ice cream bicycles to national distribution: Meet Melissa Leung of TransCold, the powerhouse behind Canada's frozen food logistics. Learn why small frozen brands need distribution partners, how TransCold expanded from ice cream to nationwide frozen food delivery, and why factoring in distribution costs from day one is crucial for frozen food startups. A must-listen for anyone in the frozen category or considering entering it.

Get in touch with Melissa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissacoughlan/

Check out Transcold here: https://www.transcold.com/

Thank you to Fieldagent Canada for sponsoring this podcast: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

In this episode, hosts Phil and Kenny welcome Brittany from HIVE Naturals and Jeff Doucette from Field Agent Canada to announce their groundbreaking partnership: the world's first hybrid merchandising agency.

The collaboration combines Field Agent's powerful audit capabilities with HIVE's expert merchandising team to create a "find and fix" solution for brands. This innovative partnership allows brands of all sizes to efficiently identify in-store execution issues and target resources where they're needed most, making retail visibility and compliance more accessible and affordable.

The conversation also explores the current state of Canadian retail amidst tariff uncertainties, discussing how retailers and brands are adapting to growing consumer demand for Canadian products, and the challenges of clearly identifying and promoting local options in stores.

Join us for candid insights, practical advice, and lively discussion on navigating today's complex retail environment.

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast. You can find them here: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Check out Hive Canada here: https://www.hiveretailsolutions.com/

Find Jeff Doucette here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-doucette-72b3556/

Find Brittany here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-kroetsch-74248744/

Lisa Simonsen packs eggs for a living...just kidding. If you're looking for a designer's view of front of pack labels that are upcoming, this is the episode for you.

Connect with Lisa here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-simonsen/

Find out more at Lisa's website: https://www.simonsendesigns.com/

Tamales are an ancient dish from Mesoamerica, with about 500 variations in Mexico alone, differing by region and ingredients. Generally, almost anyone who has tried one, smiles when they reminisce about having a coffee, hot chocolate with a tamale. We're smiling ear to ear - Nadia Toledo plus talking about tamales is a win/win!

Check out Nadia's tamales here: https://www.antojosysabores.com/

Find Nadia here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadiatoledo/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast. You can check them out here: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/drive-trial

She found me with one of her buttermilk biscuits in my mouth. Dawn Chapman owner and CEO of Toronto's Lazy Daisy's Café and inaugural winner of WXN Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Food Industry Award, presented by Skip

Check out Lazy Daisy's Cafe: https://lazydaisyscafe.ca/

Thank you to our sponsor Fieldagent Canada: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Rochelle Minagawa, Founder of MotherLove Ferments jumps in to talk about the ending of the year, and what comes next for the business.

Check out Motherlove Ferments here: https://www.motherloveferments.com/

Find Rochelle here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rochelle-minagawa-7617491a5/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast. https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Brody talks production and quality issues. How to know what you don't know? Brody Hanson, CEO of Work Water talks about jumping into beverage making, starting from scratch with no industry experience.

check out work water here: https://buyworkwater.com

Find Brody here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brody-hanson-2774205b/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for being our sponsor: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Taking control. We don't have a lot of it, but a chance to take a breath, make changes and continue to push for changes. Even though we have 30 days, let's not take our foot off the gas.

In case you're interested - Kenny's Linkedin post is here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kennyvannucci_buycanadian-shopcanadian-supportcanadian-activity-7291664605431402496-goGh?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAHLzV0B66Ny63xfoPTffiJK3tQ6g2ZDISM

Just us today. Things you can do in your day to day to change the conversation around tariffs. Places and resources that you can go to find local brands, Canadian brands.

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring the podcast.

Head to https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/ratings-and-reviews

Some resources:

https://buybc.gov.bc.ca/

https://madeinalberta.co/

https://supportontariomade.ca/

https://lesproduitsduquebec.com/en

Great places to ask questions and learn about brands and retailers:

https://bcfb.ca/

https://atlanticfood.ca/

https://chfa.ca/

https://foodbeveragemb.ca/

https://www.afpa.com/

We're sure we missed some more - send us a note and we'll amend this list!

Jennay Oliver is a fourth-generation farmer, that runs Paynter's Fruit Market in Kelowna. Her great-grandfather started the farm in 1919. We need more farmers in this country.

check out Paynter's here: https://www.payntersfruitmarket.ca/

Find Jennay here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennay-oliver-131420b3/?originalSubdomain=ca

Thank you to Peter Boyd for connecting us.

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring this podcast. www.fieldagentcanada.com

Mike Nunn comes on to talk automation, AI and how to help companies save some time and free up their folks to do other things.

Find Mike Nunn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikednunn/

Check out TLC solutions here: https://tlcitsolutions.com/

Thank you to David Vannucci for our new music in our intro.

She's committed to the economic advancement of women. Natalie Frederick Wilson is from Barbados, raised in New York City, and currently living in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-frederick-wilson-338b1873/

We finish the year with the fabulous Kyla King, CEO and Founder of Rad Jamz. She's a Red Seal Chef that leaned into her love for jam.

You can find Kyla here: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/kyla-king-32911b2a9

If you want to check out Rad Jamz, you can head here: https://radjamz.co/store/

use coupon code: PK20 for a discount!

Thank you to LGDF Wholesale for sponsoring this episode: www.lgdf.ca

Claudio Perazzo started Italian Meat Master with one goal in mind: to make a positive impact on Canadians' diet, cleaning and improving iconic comfort foods like sausages and cured meats

Check out Italian Meat Master here: https://www.italianmeatmaster.com/

You can find Claudio here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudio-perazzo-22747317a/

Thank you to La Grotta Del Formaggio (LGDF Wholesale) for sponsoring this episode. You can find them at www.lgdf.ca

Brian Bradley started working at Safeway in high school, initially with no plans to stay long-term, but he ended up rising through the ranks due to mentorship and opportunities. Find out what he thinks about Stong's and what comes next.

Find Brian Bradley here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-bradley-a404199/

Shop Stong's here: https://www.stongs.com/

If you're curious about the retailer panel - you can find it here: https://youtu.be/Faxa7MbPhao?si=PVHakwVFjo59Vd9_

Thank you to LGDF Wholesale (La Grotta Del Formaggio) - you can see what they do here: www.lgdf.ca

People are always thirsty. Wolseley Kombucha is on track for it's best year ever. Michelle Leclerc talks about their success and what's next. In case you think this is an ordinary podcast hint, it's not - they've saved over 150,000 1L bottles from landfills.

Check out Wolseley Kombucha here: https://www.wolseleykombucha.com/

Find Michelle Leclerc here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-leclair-a39382236/

Tatsuo Kan is the owner of Kojo, and founder of Kizuna. He came to Canada because he felt like it was the right thing to do. 4 kids, a bunch of restaurants later, he hasn't stopped moving - he now has two restaurants and a sake line and a sauce line.

check out Kizuna here: https://www.kizunasauces.com/

Find Kojo here: https://sushikojo.com/

He retired, started a business, retired again. Ran a triathalon, got his bike stolen, bought a bar and the rest is history.

Blair Wilson is the Founder of Forbidden Spirits. We wouldn't have met him if Peter Boyd didn't drag us to the Kelowna Farmer's Market.

Find Blair here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairwilsonforbiddenspirits/

shop Forbidden spirits here: https://forbiddenspirits.ca/

We take a tour of Pealow's Your Independent Grocer with Brian Pealow. We're blown away by his focus on local, and helping the community out. Surprise surprise, he knows Peter Boyd.

Pealow YIG is here: https://www.yourindependentgrocer.ca/store-locator/details/1734

Find Brian here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-pealow-b-b-a-h-130a844a/

Rochelle teaches us about kombucha. Phil meets Oprah.

MotherLove Ferments is a Kelowna-based business that is dedicated to creating healthy and tasty ferments. We had a great talk with Founder Rochelle to learn more about their story.

Shop MotherLove here: https://www.motherloveferments.com/

Find Rochelle here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rochelle-minagawa-7617491a5/

Stephanie Horman has a plan to give back. It's called Cabin 5 granola, and it's awesome. This was recorded during our last trip out to Kelowna at the end of August, and we're sorry it took so long to get this out.

check them out here: https://cabin5granola.ca/

Find Stephanie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-horman-a9046759/

Cam Bruce, owner of Famous Foods in Vancouver talks about coming to retail late in life, and what it takes to be successful as an independent grocer.

Shop Famous Foods here: https://www.famousfoods.ca/

From 1 to 150. Ben Osmow talks about the Osmow family hustle, building a business from scratch and introducing Ontarians to shwarma. If you're from Ontario, "chicken on the rocks" is like a whopper or a big mac. You have the Osmows to thank for that.

check out Osmow's here: https://osmows.com/

find Ben Osmow here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benosmow/

We talk to Kurstin Leith and Christine about helping brands, how to know when you're ready for expert help like Agency Brand Management.

Find Kurstin Leith here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurstin-leith-68832131/

Find Christine De Biasio here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-de-biasio-1444a914/

Check out Agency here: https://agencybrands.ca/

We hung out with Marie Morden and Haddas Lederman to talk about Ontario Made. A pandemic initiative that has been growing like crazy and creates a lot of exposure for SMBs.

This podcast is produced in Ontario, but without amazing Canadian made brands, we wouldn't be here ❤

Find Marie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-morden-61529814/

Find Haddas here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haddas-lederman-201575120/

Check out Ontario made here: https://supportontariomade.ca/

There's always time to talk about coffee. Founder of Smoking Gun Coffee Brandon Liton talks about moving from social work to roasting coffee.

Connect with Brandon here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-litun-739b242b0/

Find the cafe and Smoking Gun products here: https://smokingguncoffee.com/

We get a chance to talk to the guy who might make the best butter we've ever tasted. Bill van Nes talks about his transition to organic farming and the establishment of his creamery, St Brigid's butter. Wondering about the dairy industry? Heard about the milk quota but don't know what it is? Bill talks about this. We learn a ton about the dairy industry.

shop St Brigid's Butter: https://www.stbrigidscreamery.ca/

Find Bill Van Nes here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-van-nes-a7902b24/

We get a whole episode this time with Tareq Hadhad, Founder of Peace by Chocolate.

check out Peace by chocolate here: https://peacebychocolate.ca/

You can find Tareq here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tareqhadhad/

"All tomato school stories stay in tomato school." Dwayne Boudreau talks about challenges for brands growing up in Atlantic Canada. We talk about his experience from HJ Heinz, Cavendish Farms, Nestlé Foods, and Greco Pizza and celebrate some of the amazing brands that have come out of Atlantic Canada.

Find Dwayne here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwayne-boudreau

If you're not signed up for the FBA awards ceremony - it's not too late! sign up here:

https://atlanticfood.ca/fba-conference-awards-2024/

In 1999, it all started as a labour of love with Nova Scotian entrepreneurs Gerry McConnell and the late Dara Gordon. Head Winemaker Jean-Benoit Deslauriers talks about the process of setting up a "new" winery, and how long it takes for great wine to take hold.

Thank you to Food and Beverage Atlantic for connecting us with Benjamin Bridge. To find out more about FBA:

https://atlanticfood.ca/

To shop for Benjamin Bridge: https://benjaminbridge.com/

We'll be at FBA's award ceremony : https://atlanticfood.ca/fba-conference-awards-2024/

We're walking the show in today's episode. If you ever wanted to know what retail folks talk about during show walks, this is the episode for you. Come along with us, we're going to walk some aisles with some of our friends.

Thank you to Izzy (Izabella Shaker), Christine De Biasio and Coby Palidwar for walking us through some of their really cool brands.

Find:
Izabella here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izabella-shaker-96504422/

Izzy took us to:
https://www.allergysmart.com/
https://www.umyum.ca/
https://www.egglifefoods.com/

Christine here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-de-biasio-1444a914/

Christine took us to:

https://chiwis.co/

https://earthsown.com

Coby Palidwar here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coby-palidwar-1246608a/
Coby took us to:
https://www.leftcoastnaturals.com/

https://carbsbakery.com/

https://www.madewithlocal.com

Paloma & Andrew created a place where culture, quality and respect come together as Paz Bakery. As the maker of the ball-shaped Cheese Dots, Lara and her husband Andrew Hoto have spent a good amount of time distinguishing between their Brazilian-inspired snack and that sedate, spherical milk product taking up space on charcuterie boards or the deep-fried bad decision also bearing the cheese ball name.

Check out Paz Bakery here: https://www.pazbakery.ca/

Thank you to Haddas at Ontario made for introducing us. To find out more head to: https://supportontariomade.ca/

Like many pet food companies, Rob & Geraldine Brouwer didn't start out thinking they would create a dog food company. They started by simply trying to feed their dog the best food possible. Big Country Raw started d2c and never looked back.

Check out Big Country Raw here: https://bigcountryraw.ca/

Check out Ontario made here: https://supportontariomade.ca/

Michael Clark is the Winemaker, General Manager and co-owner of Clos du Soleil. We stop to sample some beautiful wines, talk about the winery, how Michael approaches wine making, and what consumers should know about the wine business in the Okanagan and Similkameen Valley

Check out Clos du Soleil here: https://www.closdusoleil.ca/

We're on a roadtrip. We get some real feedback on wine in the Okanagan valley, and the BC Fruit Grower's situation.

If you're curious what we're doing, head to our instagram to check out where we are and what we're doing.

Thank you for Paul Martin from Peter's YIG, Avi and Binne from Farming Karma and of course, to Peter Boyd, Peter's YIG for setting all this up.

David Giffin shares his journey in establishing a hemp business. We talk about the challenges of hemp - the launch of the Earthli brand, addressing marketing challenges and consumer misconceptions about hemp.

Find David here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-giffin-899947163/

Find Earthli foods here: https://earthli.ca/

Andrew Elliott, former President of Foley's Chocolates comes on to talk about growing companies and the importance of leadership. This was our first live podcast, filmed and recorded at JJ Bean's in East Vancouver.

You can find Andrew here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-elliott-936bba26/

A coast to coast podcast. Patrick Griffin, the Founder of the Oat Company joins us from Newfoundland. We talk about Patrick's move from public policy to oat maker, the logistics of manufacturing product from the east coast and trying to make it across the country.

Check out the Oat Company here: https://www.oatcompany.com/

Find Patrick here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-griffin-94397556/

We catch up with Michael Mazur, President at Freshfield Naturals, Inc. Freshfield won the 2024 CHFA Launchpad award in Vancouver

To check out Freshfield, head to https://freshfield.life/

To reach Michael: https://www.linkedin.com/in/micmazur/

Spreading the popcorn gospel. Tanner Townsend talks about switching crops, and becoming Canada's largest popcorn grower.

check out Uncle Bob's popcorn here: https://www.ontariopoppingcorn.com/

Tanner isn't on Linkedin much, but he's here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanner-townsend/

Retailing is an art and a grind. Kristina Cavallari has both - the art to retailing and the grit to grind it out in retail. We talk about Aura Natural Market, how Kristina thinks about retail and serving her customers.

In case you're wondering what the store looks like...we filmed a tour. https://youtu.be/Pshrw-SMKbk

To find Kristina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristina-cavallari-923341b4/

To find Kurt Astle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurt-astle-22343a170/

To find Aura Natural Market: https://www.auramarket.ca/

We got together with Todd Fisher from KC and Sukaina Sumar-Ebrahim from Foodbanks Mississauga to talk about the partnership they've built, and the new challenges that a "temporary" solution like a food bank is supposed to solve.

To find out more about Mississauga Food Banks: https://www.foodbanksmississauga.ca/

Find Sukaina here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sukaina-sumar-ebrahim/

Find Todd here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-fisher-0b56493/

We get into it, and totally forget to introduce Steve Rad, CEO of Abacus. We get into AI, how Steve is using AI and how he and Abacus thinks about AI and the future.

Check out Abacus brands here: https://www.abacusbrands.com/

Find Steve Rad here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-rad-5959943b/

Thanks to Gainops for sponsoring this episode. www.gainops.com

Find Nimesh here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nimesh-jaspal-462615/

This episode is a little overdue. Carmen Wakeling, Co-Owner of Eatmore Sprouts comes on to talk about sprouts and turning the tide on a 25 year old incident.

Find Carmen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-wakeling/

Find Eat More Sprouts here: https://eatmoresprouts.com/

We're building some ties here in case you're wondering. Last week, you heard from Mike Nunn on security. This week you're hearing from Sam Wong, Data executive at Marc Anthony leading organizations to work smarter with Data and AI.

Phil has known Sam for a long long time. Fun fact, Sam was Phil's pianist at his wedding.

You can find Sam here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-wong-analytics/

Max's store is interesting enough that Kenny would drive there.

Max saw the future of trading cards before we all caught on. A fascinating take on a childhood past time that has grown into something for grown-ups

Check out Max's website: www.zephryepic.com

Mike Nunn is the CEO of TLC Solutions. We talk about how to keep yourself cyber safe, and the things that brands and businesses should worry about

Find Mike here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikednunn/

Find TLC solutions here: https://tlcsolutions.ca/

Mike has a webinar hosted by BC Food & Beverage on Sept 19th. We'll post about this when we get the link.

It's a good time to continue the conversation about having a good time in the summer and have options on beverages. Mitch Cobb is the founder of Libra Non-Alcoholic Craft Beer. We talk about his experiences "crossing over" from Upstreet Craft Brewing to the non-alcoholic side.

To find Mitch : https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchacobb/

To find Libra: https://drinklibra.ca/

This episode is sponsored by Food & Beverage Atlantic. You can find them here: https://atlanticfood.ca/

Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletters at www.thiscommercelife.com ,we promise to make it worth your while!

Michelle Mckay-Prychidny is the CRO at Shelfgram. She talks about super-charging the store visit, and the new thing they've built for students.

To find Michelle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-mckay-prychidny-b6b0492/

Shelfgram is here: https://www.shelfgram.com/

Congratulations to the teams at Shelfgram and Fieldagent - this is a great match!!

"Why can't I have a craft (non-alcoholic) beer with my friends?"

Diagnosed with Crohn's disease, having a kid made him give up alcohol. Being mocked and derided for asking for non-alcoholic choices at bars and restaurants made Ted Fleming make his own.

check out Partake here: https://drinkpartake.com/

Find Ted here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ted-fleming-4370199/

Special episode today. We named him "Amazon Master" but in truth, Deepak is really really good at Amazon.

We usually save thursdays for industry experts that can help you build, solve and grow your business.

Find Deepak here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pateldpk/

Kristin Matthews, CEO of Tom&Sawyer comes back to tell us about her new partnership and product launch with Dr Joe Inglis.

To find Kristin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinlmatthews/

To find Dr Joe Inglis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeinglis/

Check out Vetchef here: https://www.vetchef.pet/

Always be ready. Toronto based Shop Shndy got discovered in Scarborough, and is being featured in Paris Fashion Week 2024.

Shindy Gu shows off some old fashioned work ethic and customer service skills to retain and grow her consumer base.

Find Shindy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shindy-gu-92a895164/?originalSubdomain=ca

Check out Shop Shndy here: https://shopshndy.com/

We meet up with the remarkable Winnie Hsu. Founder of Vision2Reality Foundation & CEO of NexGen Accounting takes a few mins to catch us up on her amazing journey from having no skills to running an organization to help people start their dreams.

Find Winnie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/winniehsu-v2rf/

Check out Vision2Reality here: https://www.v2rf.org/

Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter www.thiscommercelife.com

We catch up with the amazing Corwin Hiebert. We talk about his podcast, the work he does and how to stay focused on your consumer.

Find Corwin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corwinhiebert/

Check out Aisle 42 podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/aisle-42/id1709520061

John Doherty has to put up with us city mice. Stonepost Farms’ mission is to farm ethically, to produce nutrient dense food using ethical and regenerative farming practices that are both economically viable and sustainable for future generations.

Check out Stone Post Farms here: https://stonepostfarms.ca/

Mitch needs a hug. The founder of Rviita talks about starting in the CPG world from scratch.

Connect with Mitch here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitch-jacobsen-p-eng-89277649/

check out Rviita here: https://rviitalize.com/

Our first food scientist! Lara Tiro comes on to talk about our favorite topic...FOOD!

Lara talks about how she helps brands and how she thinks about food development.

Lara's Linkedin is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laratiro/

Her website is here: https://rebelbotanica.ca/

Lara and her partner DID launch their first episode. You can find it here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1ph6xKO7td6ADDeXS2Z176?si=p6IEIDdcTv-Mp8yfiAzeeg

We can still taste their cider. Val Steinmann and Brent Klassen moved from Toronto to get back farming. Kieran and Brent talk about what it takes to run a farm in southern Ontario, their amazing Heartwood Sparkle, and what it takes to be in a family based business.

Check out Heartwood Farms here: https://heartwoodfarm.ca/

Find Kieran Klassen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kieran-klassen-879b38b8/

Jared talks about: being a dad, an ex-CPG founder, relationship builder, researchers & strategist. We do not talk about him being a really tall guy

Find Jared here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredkligerman/

Subscribe to our emails to stay connected to more things: www.thiscommercelife.com

They planted 36 acres of cottonwood trees and then the papermill shut down.
Melanie MacInnes talks about being flexible, nimble, the irrational fear of losing the farm. Locality Brewing talks about going field to glass, and what they've had to do to stay open.

Check out Locality Brewing: https://www.localitybrewing.ca/
You can find Melanie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-macinnes-691a4094/

Jan Stenc, Co-Founder and Head Distiller at Copperpenny Distilling Co. teaches us about gin, and also sorts of yummy alcoholic things.

To reach Jan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-stenc-9651a955/

To find Copper Penny: https://copperpennydistilling.com/

Thank you to our sponsor today. The Food Executives Club of Vancouver https://fecov.com/

Aeryon came on to talk about lady bits and chlamydia. We had some internet issues, but the CEO of Aeryon Wellness Nutraceuticals was super informative and lots of fun!

Find Aeryon here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aeryon-ashlie-027040105/
check out the website here: https://www.aeryonwellness.com/
You can find Aeryon's podcast, Friends you keep here: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/friends-you-keep/id1668005542

He's fixated on data. We know how hard it is to get good data - Nimesh finds your data, fixes it, and helps you tell the story.

CEO of Gainops, Nimesh Jaspal talks about what does the data tells us.

to check out Gainops: https://www.gainops.com/

to find Nimesh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nimesh-jaspal-462615/

Happy 10th birthday to Moonshine Mama's! Mel Divers talks about putting summer in a bottle.

I could have sworn I produced it, but I can't find it!(Phil)

Check out Moonshine Mama's here: https://moonshinemamas.ca/

Melinda is here on Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/melinda-divers-75a32259/

Her episode on Hearts & Carts is here: https://podcasts.apple.com/bg/podcast/melinda-divers-ceo-founder-moonshine-mamas/id1653692647?i=1000632562460

He has 18+ years of real estate development, and he knows music spaces. But now, he knows kitchens too. COO of Coho Collective Kitchens, Amrit Maharaj talks about one of our favorite subjects - food!

check out Coho Commissary here: https://www.cohocollectivekitchens.com/

Find Amrit here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amrit-maharaj-00334b193/

This one is a different episode. Daniel Rabu is an aquaculturist. We didn't really know what that was.

Daniel talks about his work with First Nations, he talks about growing seaweed, abalone, oysters, sea cucumbers and many more things.

You can find Daniel here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-rabu-177b3b16/?originalSubdomain=ca

We get naked and saucy (sortof) with Founder Paul Gill.

Paul talks about his sauces, but he also gives an episode full of tips & tricks for founders - things that he's learned along the way.

You can find Paul here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gillpaul/

Check out Naked & Saucy here: https://nakedandsaucy.com/

Make sure you subscribe here: www.thiscommercelife.com

John Danyluk and Michael Rende from Earth's Own come on to talk milks - oat, almond and we get a bit of masterclass in how to look at category analytics and how they look at strategy.

John Danyluk - https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-danyluk-7194405b/

Michael Rende - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelrende/

Check out Earth's Own here: https://earthsown.com/

We spend some time with Hope Aylen. We learn a few things and see how a designer sees the process of designing our hopes and dreams in packaging and labels.

To find Hope https://www.linkedin.com/in/hope-aylen-designfulhope/

check out her services here: https://www.designfulhope.com/

We brought her back to talk about her! Cheryl Grant, the founder of Vitality comes on to talk about her journey.

Last time she was on, she spent a lot of time talking about Save our Supplements. We wanted to make sure we got a chance to talk to Cheryl about Cheryl. We're glad we did. We talk about work life balance, taking time for oneself, and what it takes to "unplug"

To find Cheryl: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylgrant25/

Shop Vitality here: https://www.vitality.ca/

Former broadcaster Patrice Mousseau started making eczema lotion, and now she's moving into helping other businesses.

Find Patrice here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrice-mousseau-1109791a/

Shop Satya here: https://satya.ca/

Tamara Wensley sent us the best pork rinds we'd ever had. The founder of Primal Sisters talks about how a vegetarian nutritionist got into pork rinds.

Find Tamara here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamara-wensley-96a445209/?originalSubdomain=ca

You can shop for her amazing pork rinds here: https://www.primalsisters.com/

They got voted off the island...literally. Salt Spring Island Founder Mickey McLeod comes on to talk about their origin story, regenerative farming, organic, fair trade standards.

check out Salt Spring Island coffee here: https://www.saltspringcoffee.com/

you can find Mickey on linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickey-mcleod-8829598/

Mickey talks about Regenerative Organic Alliance https://regenorganic.org/

Will Harris' book that Mickey refers to, is called 'A Bold Return to Giving a Damn: One Farm, Six Generations, and the Future of Food' https://www.amazon.ca/Bold-Return-Giving-Damn-Generations-ebook/dp/B0BS2TYFTW

None

He likes to break down silos and move between things. Michael Mikulak, Executive Director of Food and Beverage Manitoba comes on to talk about his winding path to helping food processors and brands today in Manitoba.

Find Michael here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-mikulak-5057b531/

Check out Manitoba Food and Beverage here: https://foodbeveragemb.ca/

find out more about Cultivate here: https://members.foodbeveragemb.ca/eventscalendar/Details/cultivate-sustainability-conference-and-trade-show-945577?sourceTypeId=Website

She's done a fast thought with us, but we finally got a chance to hang out for real with her. This started with a journey to switch the family to vegan, and she realized how hard it was to get healthy, tasty and relatively to make.

check out Yumasoy here: https://yumasoy.com/

Find Gina here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-arsens-cpa-ca-cbv-05533312/

Cedar Valley founder Ameen Fadel talks about how he got started at 16 and how he and his family have built a national business

Find Ameen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameen-fadel-48175514b/

Shop Cedar Valley here:

A colouring cookie kit. Who knew? Chris Goodrow and his wife, Kristy, that's who. They began baking out of a licensed kitchen in their basement part-time and frantically juggling 3 small children, a travel work schedule and growing demand. Today, they're pioneering a whole new category, and pushing the borders on decorating kits.

check out https://bysweetness.com/

Find Chris here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgoodrow/

They bought their uncle's business, got orders by fax machine, and didnt' know who their end customers were. It took a pandemic, and a timely instagram post by Ryan Reynolds, and a lot of sweat and selling to get this business into what it is today.

shop Grandpa J's here: https://www.grandpajs.com/

Find Jenny here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennygrandpajs/

A father/daughter podcast on families in business together.

We spent some time with Randy Sihota at Nationwide, and this time, his daughter Kamryn joins us and talks about working with her dad. She talks about reconsidering working with her dad and Nationwide. The two of them talk about family dynamics and what it takes to try and continue to build a family business together.

You can find Kamryn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamryn-sihota-4865b826b/

Randy is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randy-sihota-04593444/

check out Nationwide here: https://nnfd.ca/

check out Wescana foods here: https://wescanafoods.com/

Randy's original episode is here: https://www.thiscommercelife.com/tclpodcast/episode/231333c0/they-could-have-bought-a-mcdonalds-in-1976-but-his-dad-and-his-brother-chose-to-get-into-granola-instead-fast-forward-randy-sihota-is-still-in-the-family-business

Old Growth beverages tea will make a great Christmas gift! www.oldgrowthbeverages.com

This episode finally happened. We get a chance to talk to Aaron Chin about 30+ years in the Organika business. He always knew that he wanted to be in the business of helping others. Watching his dad do it served as role model for what he's trying to do with the business today.

You can find Aaron here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-chin-b1336336/

check out Organika here: https://organika.com/

check out our microground teas here: https://oldgrowthbeverages.com/

CEO and a partner of Unity Brands Inc., David Lui comes on to talk about the company he cofounded with Joe Mimran and Frank Rocchetti. We talk to David about his wide and varied past, and how he's lived right across Canada.

Find David here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidymlui/

Check out Kit and Ace here: https://www.kitandace.com/

Mayumi Bae and her siblings are committed to bringing Asian inspired, innovative plant based products to market. Their newest product Noods, surprised us at CHFA East. In case you want to check out their food offerings in person, head to their cafe - the Plant Based Workshop

find Mayumi here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayumi-bae-b735b1277/?originalSubdomain=ca

their cafe is here: https://plantbasedworkshop.com/

If you're interested in microground tea, head to www.oldgrowthbeverages.com

Sonia Strobel talks about supporting Canadian fishing families and keeping small-scale fishing alive in BC and providing transparency around what they are catching, where and how.

Find Sonia here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonia-strobel/

Sign up for Skipper Otto here: https://skipperotto.com/

Homework for our listeners - watch the cbc documentary on Skipper Otto here:: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2256028739565

Thank you to Fieldagent Canada for sponsoring this episode. You can find Buy and try here: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/buyandtry

Celebrating small business month, releasing a special episode with Christina Santini from CFIB. 92% Canadians said they love having small businesses in their community, but only 13% do most of their shopping at small businesses

Christina Santini from Canadian Federation of Independent Business talks about influencing goverment policy, helping small businesses and fighting for a CEBA extension.

Connect with Christina here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-santini-711ba5222/

On CEBA, fighting for an extension while providing information on refinancing for those who will need it.

New CEBA Provisions - https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/ceba-update
CFIB’s CEBA Petition – https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/en/petition/national-petition-ceba-loans
NDP Petition in the House of Commons: https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4624 (Closes December 5th)
Tips if refinancing - https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/en/tools-resources/financing-options-ceba-loan

On payroll taxes, here is a link to resources, as well as to a report that speaks to all the payroll taxes that exist across the country and their impacts: https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/2023-payroll-tax-deductions

Link to our Cybercecurity Academy, as well as Webinars and Qs&As on the issue: https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/cybersecurity

It is October. Small Business Month. Our #SmallBusinessEveryDaycampaign is on! Resources to promote small businesses and shopping local are included below.

https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/celebrate-small-business
Toolkit for business owners: https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/celebrate-small-business/toolkits
Big Thank You contest open October 30, 2023 at 11:59 pm ET: https://www.smallbusinesseveryday.ca/big-thank-you-contest. Small business supporters can enter the weekly draw by visiting SmallBusinessEveryDay.ca and leaving a thank-you note to their favourite small Canadian business. The winners— one supporter and the business they thanked—are announced every week. The winning businesses will receive a $2,500 cash prize sponsored by Interac Corp., a one-year CFIB membership and a Big Thank You box. Small business supporters can also win $1,000 cash to shop local and a Big Thank You Box that includes small business products from every province and territory.
Small retailers’ local contributions report: https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/en/research-economic-analysis/small-retailers-local-contributions

Membership benefits and how to become a member: https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/en/membership-benefits or https://members.cfib-fcei.ca/en-ca/join-now

"Who the heck cuts out sugar??" This got her thinking. Alice Grey talks about finding monk fruit, and making the best chocolate she can make with monk fruit.

Find Alice at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-grey/

Shop for monk fruit sweetened chocolate at https://mindfulmonk.co/

thank you to Fieldagent Canada for sponsoring today's episode. check out buy and try here: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/buyandtry

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for great insights www.thiscommerclife.com

Chocxo just won an award at BCFB. Wondering what their story is? Scott Sulz comes on to talk about great chocolate.

On top of that, we spend some time talking to Scott about how you figure out how to work somewhere that you love.

You can find Scott here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-sulz-5301b967/

Check out Chocxo here: https://chocxo.com/

Interested in Fieldagent's Buy and try? hit this link: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/buyandtry

The CEO of Vitality, Cheryl Grant sounds the alarm on Health Canada putting more red tape on our world class supplements process.

Thank you to the Boss for telling us that we had to have Cheryl Grant on. On a totally different note, Cheryl's decided that she's going to screw with Phil the time she sees him.

You can find Cheryl here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylgrant25/

check out Vitality here: https://www.vitality.ca/

check out the SOS campaign here: https://www.saveoursupplements.ca/

Fieldagent's Buy and Try program is here: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/buyandtry

She inherited her dad's meat smoker and decided that she'd smoke tofu instead. Founder Miki Talebi talks about coming from public policy to slinging tofu.

find her here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miki-talebi-22587a43/?originalSubdomain=ca

check out Oome here: https://www.thisisoome.com/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring our episodes. Check out their Ratings and Review program here: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/ratings-and-reviews

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter at www.thiscommercelife.com

It's a thursday, and we're talking to a functional expert you can call or ask questions of. Bryan Horsley is a CA/CPA who has an accounting background, consulting and been a retailer.

You can find Bryan in Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-horsley/

or bryan@bryanhorsley.cpa

Thank you to Fieldagent Canada for sponsoring this epsiode, you can find out more about their ratings and review program here: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/ratings-and-reviews

Be sure to head to www.thiscommercelife.com to subscribe to our newsletter to keep track of more tips and tricks in retail

"People want real tangible holistic frameworks for healing" Angela and Yarrow Willard talk about Harmonic Arts, how they became a national brand, and the shift from being a small business owner to a business leader.

Find out more about Harmonic Arts here: https://harmonicarts.ca/

Find Yarrow here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yarrow-willard-b0b09839/

Find Angela here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-willard-9a92a611b/

Check out their webinar page here: https://harmonicarts.ca/pages/webinars

Thank you to our sponsor - Fieldagent Canada. Find out more about Ratings and Reviews here: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/ratings-and-reviews

For every dollar they've given a company, those companies are able to attract another $64. Who is NPC? Coueslan explains. If you were at CHFA, you saw Shelley King on stage, helping Launchpad finalists, and if you walked the show, you definitely walked through innovation alley.

Find NPC here: https://www.naturalproductscanada.com/en/

Find Sue here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sue-coueslan-6864748/

Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter at www.thiscommercelife.com

Mitsoh ("Eat" in Cree Nehiyaw) was founded by Ian Gladue of Wabasca's Bigstone Cree Nation in Alberta. We talk to Ian and his partner Brandon about restoring, preserving and sharing North American Indigenous culture while bringing great products to market.

Find Brandon here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-markiw-071b0946/

Find Mitsoh here: https://www.mitsoh.com/

Be sure to sign up for CHFA Now here: https://www.chfanow.ca/toronto/

Thank you to CHFA for sponsoring our September Podcasts.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter here: www.thiscommercelife.com

If you had 250,000 people at your disposal what would you ask for? Jeff Doucette talks about some of the retail wishes he and Fieldagent fulfill every week for brands.

Find Jeff here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-doucette-72b3556/

Check out Fieldagent here: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Make sure you sign up to CHFA Now here: https://chfa.ca/en/Events/chfa-now#upcoming

A what? A dacquoise + macaron = Dacaron. Jimmy Kim talks about their journey to bring the Dacaron to Canadian consumers.

Find wonderful Dacarons at: https://www.earthlingfoods.ca/

Talk to Jimmy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmy-kim-8219838b/

Vote for Jimmy here: https://www.bcfbawards.com/vote

Make sure you sign up for CHFA here: https://www.chfanow.ca/toronto/

Riaz Meghji, Author of Every Conversation counts comes on to talk about conversations, journaling and connections.

Find Riaz here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/riazmeghji/

Riaz's book is here: https://riazmeghji.com/book

Make sure you sign up for CHFA here: https://chfa.ca/en/Events/chfa-now

Sign up for our newsletter here: www.thiscommercelife.com

Karen Danudjaja the founder of Blume comes by to talk about startups, not knowing retail and celebrating wins. We were pretty excited to talk to Karen - she's an incredible founder with a wonderful outlook on how she wants to approach her business.

Find Karen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-danudjaja-8275682a/

Shop Blume here: https://itsblume.com/

Make sure you sign up for CHFA here: https://chfa.ca/en/Events/chfa-now

We get the '101' about chocolate and social enterprises. Mara Mennicken is the 'GOOD' in the The GOOD Chocolatier. After studying about social enterprises, she wondered why companies don't give back every step of their journey to growth.

Find Mara here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mara-mennicken-24609469/

Shop the Good Chocolatier here: https://thegoodchocolatier.com/

Make sure you sign up for CHFA NOW at https://chfa.ca/en/Events/chfa-now

Sign up for our newsletter at www.thiscommercelife.com

She takes risks. She loves learning and she's made a habit of sharing her wins and mistakes. Bro-Dough founder Erica Rankin comes on to talk about learning CPG and selling a product that she loves.

Find Erica here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericabrodough/

Shop bro dough here: https://eatbrodough.com/

Make sure you subscribe to the This Commerce life Podcast at www.thiscommercelife.com

Thank you to CHFA for sponsoring this episode. If you're a retailer, sign up at https://www.microspec.com/reg/CHFAE2023/

One of his greatest fears is that he will talk without saying anything. That isn't true - while he was with us, VP Strategic Partnerships / Ethical Food Group Corwin Hiebert has a lot to say about helping brands grow.

Find out more about Ethical Food Group here: https://www.ethicalfoodgroup.com/

Check out Corwin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corwinhiebert/

Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter here: www.thiscommercelife.com

If you're a retailer, make sure you sign up for CHFA NOW here: https://www.microspec.com/reg/CHFAE2023/

This guy finally makes it onto the podcast. Kirk Homenick talks about getting kicked out of London Drugs in his first week, and the long hard road back to being a Canadian made, hand-crafted snack.

shop Hardbite here: https://hardbitechips.com/

Find Kirk here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirk-homenick-a19bb71/

Make sure you subscribe to the podcast newsletter here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirk-homenick-a19bb71/

Near 90 years of farming in Pitt Meadows BC, Hopcott Farms continues to thrive as a Family Farming Business. Started by their Grandparents in the 1930's and then run by their parents Bob & Debbie, it's now been the mission and passion of the 3 siblings, Jean, Travis and Brad, to continue and expand this family enterprise and truly become your one stop shop for locally raised meats, vegetables and specialty grocery items.

check out Hopcott Farms here: https://hopcottfarms.ca/

be sure to subscribe to our newsletter here: www.thiscommercelife.com

It's not about fear, it's about being aware. Mike Nunn from TLC Solutions walks us through the threats we face today in the world of Cybersecurity whether from a business stand point or personal. Mike chats with the Knuckleheads and goes through how we can do a better job and make some relatively easy changes to how we view and protect our data online.

check out Mike here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikednunn/

check out Mike's company here: https://tlcsolutions.ca/

Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter at www.thiscommercelife.com

Still hurting from a de-llsting years ago with Kenny; we catch up with our CPG Industry Recruiting Guru, Trevor Baker. A chat about the workplace today, post Covid, the job market now and what people are looking for in employees and employers, and we ask, and seek Trevor's wisdom, when asking the proverbial "Where has everyone gone?" Whether you are looking for work or looking to hire, what does it look like for the prospective candidates and those looking to fill positions. Always an informative discussion with Trevor.

Find Trevor here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevoratmacdonaldsearchgroup/

Find MacDonald Search Group here: https://www.macdonaldsearchgroup.com/

make sure you subscribe to our newsletter: www.thiscommercelife.com

We meet a fan, become fans. Sarah Kinlin will be a world reknowned speaker, coach and educator. We're proud to be her first podcast.

talk to Sarah here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-kinlin-253917137/

check out Sarah's website here: https://sarahkinlin.com/pages/podcast

make sure you subscribe to our newsletter at www.thiscommercelife.com

Mushrooms! We talk mushrooms and building a mushroom farm from scratch with Brian Thomas. Brian’s career started as a mental health and addictions counsellor working in detox facilities, treatment centres and later on adult outreach for mental health and addiction for Fraser Health. During that time his passion for supporting communities and helping people led him to start co-op food buying programs and daily juice clubs.

Check out Myca Farms here: https://mycafarms.ca/

Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter at www.thiscommercelife.com

"It's like running up a down escalator" CEO of BC Food and Beverage James Donaldson talks about member challenges, being a not-for-profit industry association representing food and beverage manufacturers in British Columbia.

Find James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamessdonaldson/

If you're in BC, you should be signing up to be a member of BC Food and Beverage. https://bcfb.ca/

Sign up to our newsletter: www.thiscommercelife.com

A ballet dancer, model, actress, and scuba instructor turned to beverage maker. GnuSante Chief Strategy & Ideation Officer Autumn Kendrick talks about making kid friendly, nutritional drinks.

Talk to Autumn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/autumn-kendrick-829015184/

Shop for Gnubees here: https://www.gnusante.com/

Make sure you subscribe to our podcast newsletter here: www.thiscommercelife.com

Dean Yachison jumps in to talk about Health First network - the first network of independent natural food stores joined together to reduce costs and increase effectiveness of marketing and communication giving consumers greater access to the benefits of natural products in Canada.

To find Dean: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-yachison-63497315/

to subscribe to our newsletter: www.thiscommercelife.com

We take a road trip to Fancy Food show in New York City. Favorite brands, how we think about imported products and costing are a few of the things we talk about.

If there's anything you want to know, shoot us a question at podcast@thiscommercelife.com

Could be anything - something retail related, or just if you want to know something about Kenny and I that's ok too.

sign up at www.thiscommercelife.com to get additional content we're building on retail.

They met in law school. While they were there, they decided that the health benefits of a plant-based diet was a worthy cause to work on as a side hustle.

Fast forward, Emily and Kyle have made it their mission to knock down barriers to eating a plant-based diet by making accessible vegan versions of traditional products, being uncompromising on taste and quality.

talk to Emily here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-wilson-61050a134/

check out their products here: https://livingtreefoods.ca/

make sure you subscribe to the podcast newsletter here: www.thiscommercelife.com

He's a CPA by training, but he was employee #2 with Choices. It turns out that retail stuck, and now Arif Ahmed runs two stores, and has ambitions for more locally focused, community driven stores.

Get in touch with Arif here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hwmarif/

Sign up and subscribe to our newsletter at www.thiscommercelife.com

Jeff Ball talks about his family, and their journey thru farming. Trudi-Ann and Jeff talk about the process of getting Thrive Provisions to market, and packaging wagyu beef as a snack.

find Jeff here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-ball-3b51a169/

find Trudi-Ann here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trudi-ann-webster-651bbb2/

Buy Thrive Provisions here: https://thriveprovisions.ca/

Head to www.thiscommercelife.com to subscribe

Retailer Spotlight: Peter Boyd, YIG Kelowna. We finally get Peter Boyd on. He's a local legend, and a brand favorite grocer - he's helped so many brands, retail folks, store folks to find their feet, we were honored to have him on the podcast.

To read more about Peter: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/kelowna-grocery-store-recognized-for-hiring-new-canadians-1.4018591

To talk to Peter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-boyd-b6b733ba/

She'd never made guacamole before. While mashing the avocados, Dyana saw a bottle of Aji condiment, a speciality in Colombia and South America. The rest, they say is history.

Talk to Nicholas here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-gonzalez-biagi-7b3193101/

Shop for Dyana's Aji Sauces here: https://www.ajigourmetproducts.com/

She's an OG. Took us awhile to bring her back. Kelly Ison updates us from episode 27 and what's happening today at Einstein Pets.

check out her first episode here: https://this-commerce-life-fb5a846c.simplecast.com/episodes/062f1c64

Shop Einstein Pet here: https://www.einsteinpets.com/

Get in touch with Pareen and Salud Management here: https://saludbrandmanagement.com/

She got fired from being an admin assistant job, but rocked a sales job. She wondered if she was going to sell olive oil forever. Instead, she built Hive, the merchandising company that helps brands be visible and standout on shelf.

To find Amanda: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandakenny01/

Check out Hive Naturals : https://www.hivenaturals.ca/

Talk to

A recipe for yeast based salad dressing turns into a gluten free product that solves Paul Kleinschmidt's health concerns and puts flavour back in his food. Yeshi starts in Paul and Barbara's kitchen and now is found nationwide.

Contact Paul here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pkleinschmidt/

Shop Yeshi here: https://www.yeshifoods.com/

Ken Anderson, friend to the podcast and long time CPG guy (now retired) comes on to give a history lesson on how and why retailers do what they do that makes us so mad.

Find Ken here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-anderson-188a8b17/

A tech guy and a forensic account decide to make fresh cooked dog food. We talk to Co-founders Peter Zakarow and Kristin Matthews about Tom & Sawyer, the pet industry, pet food standards (or lackthereof)

Sign up for a subscription to Tom & Sawyer here: https://tomandsawyer.com/

Contact Peter here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterzakarow/

Contact Kristin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinlmatthews/

To find Matt LeBeau and his team: https://www.lebeauexcel.com/?utm_source=TCL&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=pdcstspnsr_lebeau&utm_id=pdcstspnsr_lebeau

When Kenny reads his stuff now, he likes it. Jared Kilgerman is a smart guy that will talk to you about your business without pitching you. Founder, Agency guy, he's gonna tell you the way it is.

Find Jared here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredkligerman/

Jared runs : https://tttmrktg.com/

Find Matt LeBeau here: https://www.lebeauexcel.com/?utm_source=TCL&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=pdcstspnsr_lebeau&utm_id=pdcstspnsr_lebeau

She's not a baker. She's an entrepreneur. Jenna Ross and her Co-Founder saw a need and decided to jump in. As tourist season arrives in the Maritimes, you'll find her lighthouse shaped shortbread cookies all over Nova Scotia.

You can find Jenna here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jjennapoirierross/

Shop for cookies here: https://nscookieco.com/

shop for our favorite tea here: https://oldgrowthbeverages.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=sponsor&utm_id=OGB

Find Matt LeBeau here: https://www.lebeauexcel.com/?utm_source=TCL&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=pdcstspnsr_lebeau&utm_id=pdcstspnsr_lebeau

This team of students built a brand that supplies food banks and schools with fruit snaps. In the process, they won the Canadian Nationals, placed in the world finals. And..while they're not winning, they sell apple juice to grocery stores and markets.

If you're looking for talented people, the two entrepreneurs/students that were on the podcast were:

MacKenna Lenarcic: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackenna-lenarcic/

Mandi Kohout: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandi-kohout-17669b205/

Check out Unusally Good Food here: https://www.unusuallygood.ca/

The world cup for Enactus is here: https://enactus.org/results-2022/

Find OGB here: https://oldgrowthbeverages.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=sponsor&utm_id=OGB

Check out LeBeauExcel here: https://www.lebeauexcel.com/?utm_source=TCL&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=pdcstspnsr_lebeau&utm_id=pdcstspnsr_lebeau

"What the hell does Scott do?" A few firsts. First time caller, long time listener, and Kenny was his first retail buyer to call on in Canada. Scott has had an advantage of being in our living rooms for almost 5 years. Scott Miller finally gets to explain what he does for a living.

Connect with Scott here; https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottcameronmiller/

Sign up for FoodPro here: https://www.bcfb.ca/events/foodpro23-thrive-conference?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=sponsor&utm_id=BCFB_FoodPro

Buy OGB here: https://oldgrowthbeverages.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=sponsor&utm_id=OGB

Co-Founder + Chief Executive Officer at TMRW Foods, Dean Blignaut comes to talk about tomorrow, and how to effect change in the way we eat, and the way we think about 'protein' Caveat - Phil (me) talks about lying and deception as a marketing plan - I don't really believe that. :)

Find Dean here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-blignaut-7779a3210/

Shop TMRW foods here: https://tmrwfoods.com/

Most grocery stores now carry Greenhouse Juice Co. We talk to Hana James about where and how this all started. We get a special appearance from Hana's little boy too!

Find Hana here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hana-james-1791824a/

Shop Greenhouse here: https://www.greenhouse.ca/

Check out Heart & Carts here: https://canadian-podcasts.com/podcast/hearts-carts

Sign up for CHFA here: https://chfanow.ca/vancouver/

We talk about the need to know what's happening in stores, how to use new tools to understand trends that are coming, or to find out what you're missing. Jeff and Bram come on to talk new innovation that you've heard us advertise here. We get deep on what new launches look like and how to fix flaws to assessing how a new launch is going.

Contact Bram here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bramw/

Shelfgram can be found here: https://www.shelfgram.com/

Find Jeff Doucette here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-doucette-72b3556/

check out Fieldagent here: http://fieldagentcanada.com/360

Head to CHFA Now to sign up - see you there!

Pareen Hassanally is the Founder & Managing Partner of Salud Brand Management. She talks about helping brands find their footing, how she represents brands and how she sees retail today. Pareen and Phil commiserate about being Kenny's friends.

Find Pareen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pareen-hassanally-02a522b/

Find Pareen's company Salud Management here: https://saludbrandmanagement.com/

shop Old Growth Beverages here: https://oldgrowthbeverages.com/

A pink slip on the fridge started a journey that wound up with Kurt running The Organic Grocer. A letter of gratitude got Kurt Astle on the show with us.

Find Kurt here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurt-astle-22343a170/

Shop Organic Grocer here: https://theorganicgrocer.ca/

Sam Rayner is a purpose driven marketer that wants to leave the world better than she found it. As the Co-founder of Better Basics, she's taking plastic out of the world, by offering simple eco swaps help you say no to plastic and yes to better products

Get in touch with Samantha here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantharrayner/

Go shop https://www.betterbasics.co/

When you're bored with us, go listen to Hearts & Carts: https://canadian-podcasts.com/podcast/hearts-carts

Sign up for CHFA Now here: https://chfanow.ca/vancouver/

The road not travelled. Steve Lee surprises Kenny - VPresident, eCommerce Grocery comes on to talk SkipExpressLane at SkipTheDishes

Steve's unconventional past surprises Kenny and we spend time wandering through his journey, and ultimately talking about how he sees SkipExpressLane changing the dynamics of grocery.

Find Steve Lee here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-jh-lee/

Skip Express Lane here: https://www.skipthedishes.com/skip-express-lane

This episode is sponsored by CHFA. Be sure to register here: https://chfanow.ca/vancouver/

Find OGB (Old Growth Brands) Tea here: https://oldgrowthbeverages.com/

Eat For Life Grocery Store Founder, Cookbook Author, Solopreneur Coach, Speaker Marsha Hebert talks about doing too much and how that's just enough. Marsha has an incredible journey.

Find Marsha here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marshashebert/

Shop Eat for Life here: https://eatforlifebymarsha.com/

make sure you sign up for CHFA Now here: https://chfanow.ca/vancouver/

find Nuts to You here: https://www.nutstoyou.ca/

Jocknerd Marc Wandler took his love of sport nutrition and accidentally on purpose started rescuing spent grain from breweries and transforming it into delicious baking mixes that the whole family can enjoy.

Find Marc here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcwandler/

Check out Susgrainable here: https://susgrainable.com/

A retailer's point of view. We talk to Beth Potter, Marketing Manager, Community Natural Foods about how she got to CNF, and the role that Natural Health Stores play in local markets and the Canadian retail landscape.

Find Beth here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-potter-90b71b16/

Shop Community Natural Foods here: https://communitynaturalfoods.com/

Register for CHFA Now: https://chfanow.ca/vancouver/

Shop OGB here: https://oldgrowthbeverages.com/

She's designed snowboards, shoes and wanted to open a restaurant. Sonya Laurenssen talks about taking over Jusu and the brand's origin story.

You can find Hearts & Carts here: https://canadian-podcasts.com/podcast/hearts-carts

Find Sonya here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonya-laurenssen-983946b/

Shop Jusu here: https://getjusu.com/

Find Fieldagent here: fieldagentcanada.com/360 or email Jeff and his team at client@ca.fieldagent.net

Founder of P3 Natural Muscle & Joint Pain Relieving Cream, Registered Massage Therapist, Sports Therapist, owner of multiple clinics, lavender farmer makes John Forde an interesting guest. His stories about the Vancouver Canucks is probably the most ordinary of his stories when you start looking at what he's built so far.

Find John here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-forde-96190a49/

Find P3 Cream here: https://www.p3cream.com/

This episode is sponsored by Fieldagent Canada. Find their 360 Innovation booster here: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/360

They could have bought a McDonald's in 1976, but his dad and his brother chose to get into granola instead. Fast forward, Randy Sihota is still in the family business. He talks about the ups and downs of being in a family business, what it's like to figure out how to be independent yet connected to the family.

Find Randy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randy-sihota-04593444/

Find Nationwide Natural Foods: https://nationwidenaturalfoods.com/

This episode is sponsored by Field Agent Canada.
Check them out at: fieldagentcanada.com/360 or

email client@ca.fieldagent.net

She appeared on Dragon's Den. Got her chocolate bar listed at Sobey's based on the name alone. It all started because she wanted to get her mom her favorite chocolate bar and discovered it had been discontinued. Crystal Regehr Westergard talks about becoming a Heritage chocolate bar brand specialist.

Find Crystal here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystal-regehr-westergard-11692948/

Find Cuban Lunch here: https://cubanlunch.ca/

Thank you to Field Agent Canada for sponsoring this episode. You can find Field Agent 360 Innovation Booster here: fieldagentcanada.com/360 or you can email them at client@ca.fieldagent.net

This one was burning a hole in our pocket. Cristina Bardorf comes on to talk Negroni, Lowgroni, (Low-Proof Negroni)

If you're celebrating a Dry January, this episode with Cristina and the knuckleheads talk about Lyre's and the growing non-alcoholic spirits segment. Cristina talks about her time growing up at J&J, and her journey to this new emerging category.

You can find Cristina here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinabardorf/

Shop Lyre's here: https://lyres.ca/

He started as a bag boy at Save-On Foods. He faxed his resume in for an advertising assistant, and next thing you know, Kyle Leslie has spent a lifetime in retail. Today, he's the President of Star Marketing Ltd.

Check out Star Marketing here: https://starmarketingcanada.com/

Find Kyle here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-leslie-45b17b21/

One of the first six organic farms in Canada - Filsinger's is named for it's founder Alvin Filsinger. When he decided to sell, Shaun Becker and his cousin decided to buy the place, with no experience in farming or making ciders or vinegars.

Check out Filsinger's here: http://www.filsingersorganic.com/

Find Shaun here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaun-becker-56935295/

We talk about the gift of time. This podcast was recorded before Christmas, but the conversation around "time" is definitely relevant. If anyone has solved the mystery - hit us up - we'd love to hear it. But really, we had Gage Mitchell on, he runs Modern Species - he helps impact-driven CPG brands grow through strategic branding, sustainable design, and community.

Check out Modern Species here: https://modernspecies.com/

Contact Gage here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gagemitchell/

Just the Knuckleheads today. We talk about what we want out of the podcast this year, what to expect from the podcast this year. We also do something we don't do well - we ask for what we want.

First timers on the podcast, Avi and Binny talk about Good Karma Farming from the Okanagan. One is a pharmacist and the other an engineer, but wind up taking over Avi's parents' farm. They talk about learning the business, becoming part of a family business, and how they look to evolve the business.

They've recently won BC Food & Beverage Silver Product of the Year Award for their Pear Soda.

Check out Farming Karma here: https://www.farmingkarma.ca/good-karma/

She might be the missing link on our podcast. Simona Irwin, Managing Director of Uprising Naturals started her retail journey starts at 7 in Shakespeare Ontario. We've had Simona on a #fastthoughts already and we were glad to hear her story finally.

To contact Simona: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonairwin/

To contact Uprising Naturals: https://www.uprisingnaturals.com/

She pretty much grew up in the industry and didn't know that there was anything else in the world.

From listening to her mom on early morning radio shows and helping to pack boxes from a young age, she's got retail in her blood.

Caitlyn Vanderhaeghe, President and CEO at Kidstar Nutrients dishes on growing up in a retail family, and her own search for a solution, not finding one, and building one.

You can find Caitlyn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlyn-vanderhaeghe-134486101/

Shop Kidstar here: https://kidstarnutrients.com/

He always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Scott Currie talks about what the journey looks like after drinking the corporate cool aid. "Growing up" at P&G, then breaking away to build his own business, then finally becoming CEO of Wakewater Beverage Company.

You can find Scott here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-currie-2400ba1a/

Shop Wakewater here: https://wakewater.ca/

Drew Butterworth talks about doing something worthwhile and doing something better than working for money. He left tech space and started making juice with his buddy Lloyd (Arbour). We talk about their hero sku - Sick Day and the unique format, and the challenges of merchandising a single sku. Today, they're in Loblaws, Goodness Me, Nature's Emporium and just about everywhere else.

Find Drew here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-edward-butterworth-5834a139/

Find sick day and goodvibes juice here: https://goodvibesjuice.com/collections/sick-day

Christos Kalaitzis is the Founder of OPUS and he talks about expertly handcrafted cocktails and the rocky road to making and selling alcohol free drinks. Christos is a fountain of knowledge on alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and the social behaviours that come with drinking

Shop Opus here: https://www.drinkopus.com/shop-alcohol-free-drinks

Talk to Christos here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christos-kalaitzis-b7942378/

The founder of Two Bears talks about doing things that you love versus doing what everyone expects of you. What happens when you do? Coffee - cold cofee, hot coffee, oat milk, oh my! FRESH ROASTED COFFEE. ON REPEAT.

Check David out here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/twobearscoffee/

Shop Two Bears: https://www.twobears.ca/

ps - I love their coffee spot. If you're around, message me, I'll meet you there. (this is Phil) 195 Norseman St Unit 16, Toronto

Inspired by her time in France, she looked for, couldn't find yogurt that tasted the way it should. So she did what came natural. She started on her kitchen floor, recipe testing, cracking open her own coconuts. Fast forward today, she's just won the 2022 BCFB Award for Woman Entrepreneur of the Year . Jade Herrmann talks about the path to making great, non-dairy, thick, creamy and delicious alt yogurt.

Find Jade here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jade-herrmann-51540b63/

Shop Yoggu! here: https://yoggu.ca/collections/all

Rattan Bagga is a Forty under 40 Winner in 2021, and is the CEO of Jiva Organics. We talk to Rattan about the heritage and legacy of being part a family business and how he and his family approach work and family life together.

You can connect with Rattan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rattanbagga/

Check out Jiva Organics here: https://www.jivaorganics.ca/

Rattan also built a notforprofit called Yell Canada, Canada’s first high school Entrepreneurship course eligible for university credit, providing youth with practical tools and experiences they need to succeed in the real world. Check it out here: https://yellcanada.org/

He's baack!! Jim Shopland comes back to bring an update. Jim was the original guest on This Commerce Life. (episode #7) He comes back to talk about how his business has shifted and now how he's working with Laurie Shopland, and how he helps them with business coaching, integrating family and business together.

Contact Jim here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimshopland/

Find out more about his business here: https://shoplandhealth.ca/coaching/

Gutsy Kombucha is dedicated to making the healthiest and tastiest fermented and powered by plants drinks. Founder Pierrich Picard talks about the focus on the best drink they can deliver, not world domination. We're impressed with his focus and his agility - changing formats to make sure Gutsy gets into the most hands possible.

Find Pierrich here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierrichpicard/

Shop Gutsy here: https://gutsykombucha.com/

Comeback Snacks, Emily O’Brien’s evolution from convict to entrepreneur is a story about lessons learned, resilience, determination, forgiveness and how to take a bad situation and turn it into endless positive opportunities.

She talks about taking a bad situation, turning this into an opportunity, and creating a social enterprise that could also provide reintegration opportunities for the formerly incarcerated.

Connect with Emily here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-o-brien-b628a4132/

Shop Comeback Snacks here: https://comebacksnacks.com/

Grown using only sea and sunlight, Kove snacks are here to help change the world. VP Sales & Marketing at Cascadia Seaweed and Kove Ocean Foods, Desirée Dupuis talks about working with indigenous tribes and the in and outs of growing one of the world's most sustainable crops.

Shop Kove here: https://koveocean.com/

Find Desirée here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ddupuis/

First zoom, first podcast. Tim (Timmie) Moorhead comes on to talk pharmacy, pharmacy pharmacy. Tim runs a Pharmasave in Trail BC, and we talk about his career in retail, the difficulty of hiring these days and out of stocks. Kenny and Tim talk the old days, and changes in the town and how it affects retail.

Find Tim here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-moorhead-657b0033/

Shop Pharmasave Trail here: https://pharmasave.com/trail/

What would Laurie do? Actually, what did Laurie do? We talk to Laurie about the changes she's made, and she talks about her pivot and getting back into business with her husband Jim.

find Laurie here: https://laurieshopland.com/

or on Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-shopland-86b86218/

Danny Ferraro talks about a lifetime of retailing - his and his family's passion for serving the consumer and finding the best products. We explore what it was like to try and keep retail open and available during Covid, and Danny gives us insight on what kind of mindset it takes to make sure you look after staff and consumers like family.

Check out Ferraro Foods here: https://ferrarofoods.ca/

Live from the show! The Knuckleheads make it to CHFA East and we spend time talking to guests that were live and in attendance. We had a great time - thanks to Bruce Singer, Kyle Marsham, Sasha Rajamani and Kelsey Reidl for coming on with us.

You can find Bruce here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucesinger/

Find Kyle Marsham here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-marsham-08178583/

You can find Sasha here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sasha-rajamani-02872618/

and more importantly, you can shop Pokko here: https://pokko.ca/

A big thank you to Kelsey Reidl for being a gem of a human being and for being an fellow OG on the podcast scene.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelsey-reidl-1aba1a31/

Follow and listen to Kelsey's podcast here: https://www.kelseyreidl.com/podcast

Find Gavin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavin-mah-712a0041/

Shop Finlandia at : https://www.finlandiahealthstore.com/

Lorna Vanderhaeghe comes on the show. We talk history and what it takes to succeed in the Natural Health Industry. We were pretty excited to get Lorna on the show - she's a legend in the industry, and such a wonderful person to boot. Knowing who Lorna is, is really required knowledge to be in the Natural Health space

Find Lorna here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorna-vanderhaeghe-96773027/

He leaves a big CPG, jumps into a small business and 50 years later, he's helping brands of all shapes and sizes. We're inspired by Tony's humble nature and how many things he's help to build.

Connect with Tony here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-luongo-84b3228/

Find Concord National here: https://concordnational.com/

From fighting forest fires to driving buses, Jamie Parker and his partner learned about coffee roasting and set about building a brand that wants to be the most influential outdoor lifestyle brand. Calgary Heritage Roasting Company is growing one coffee lover at a time!

Check out Calgary Heritage Roasting Company : https://www.calgaryheritageroastingco.com/

Find Jamie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-parker-a45a63112/

Find Mike here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-wenzlawe-329987122

Kenny is worried about Wendy Yeung. She's amazing - thank you for listening to our podcast so faithfully. The knuckleheads get together and talk for the first time in a month. (did you miss us?) We talk vacations, taking a break, getting back in retail stores. We also talk about the business we launched. (the fractional COO business)

CHFA Launchpad details are here: https://chfanow.ca/toronto/chfa-launch-pad/

Check out Tao Tea here: https://www.taotealeaf.com/

An early pioneer to the natural products industry in Canada. Michael Theodor's story has some intrigue and lots of ingenuity and straight up sweat equity An industry icon comes on the show. We take a little longer to get thru his story, but such a compelling story nonetheless. If you've ever eaten Rice Dream, Jason, Blue Sky, Lightlife, KIND Bar, Silk, Annie’s, Blue Diamond, Yogi Tea (and many more) - Michael brought those flavours to Canada for tasting.

Find Michael here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-theodor-3299848/

Michael's company website is here: http://www.mtconsulting.ca/

When a pancake...isn't a pancake. Andrew Maida is building a breakfast brand that brings delicious, healthier choices to the consumer

He had a choice -become a tax lawyer, a doctor or run his dad's company. Instead he becomes...a pancake man? Except it's not really a pancake. Andrew takes his experience as a self-taught Ecommerce guy, and becomes an omnichannel retail brand.

check out Andrew here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-m-13b098a3/

Check out Flourish pancake here: https://www.flourishpancakes.com/

Devin Powell, GM @ Pulp & Press North America stops by to talk juice, the business of juice and how he went from a home services company to making cold pressed, raw, organic juices that use only the highest quality Canadian ingredients.

Find Devin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinpowellpp/

Shop Pulp & Press here: https://www.pulpandpress.com/

He didn't want to be a snake oil salesman. SierraSil Health President Michael Bentley talks about pioneering research on bioaccessibility and bioavailbility. A big thank you to Michael for doing this episode after having a major bike accident the week before. (3 broken ribs and a punctured lung.) oh and welcome home Daniel Vanucci!!!

Find Michael here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-bentley-5154755/

Shop Sierra Sil here: https://sierrasil.com/

CEO and CMO of Five Strands, Austin Collins talks about taking career left turns, seeking better ways to help customers feel healthier. Austin, friend of Tazz Latifi, former college athlete and perpetual seeker of healthier ways to live talks about how to take back control of your health & wellness, and providing personalized results to live a healthier lifestyle.

Find Austin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-collins-b087a2160/

Check out 5Strands here: https://www.5strands.com/

BONUS: Austin has a youtube channel that talks about Bus / Vanlife. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/c/AwakenDaze

Alicia and Jeff Lahey talk about their journeys - from moving to natural and organic and searching and finding sustainable packaging, their knack for unbelievable timing - to producing a wonderful chip in a bag was compostable. Oh...and they're in every major grocery in Canada already.

Find Alicia here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-lahey-3019b954/

Find Jeff here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laheyjeff/

Shop for Humble Snacks here: https://humblechips.ca/

A friend of Angie Baker comes on the show. Justin Osborne, Vice President of Sales at Eat & Beyond Global Holdings Inc. dishes on moving from CPG to the natural space. We talk to Justin about working for a publicly traded company that invests, owns and grows amazing natural brands.

Find Justin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-osborne-mba-21012821/

Find out more about Eat & Beyond Global Holdings here: https://eatandbeyond.com/

Chef Dennis comes on to talk about how he got started, and what it takes to grow an audience. We get a chance to walk through Chef Dennis' kitchens, and he talks about the origins of his blog, and how to grow the audience to what it is today.

Check out Chef Dennis on his page: https://www.askchefdennis.com/

Be warned - if you subscribe, you could get unsubscribed if you don't interact with his list!

Find him here on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/askchefdennis/

The cannabis industry has been a hot topic for awhile. Michele Rebiere talks about the opportunities and challenges, and the knuckleheads wander in with some OTC frustrations and hopes and dreams for this category. #michelerebiereforprimeminister

If you're wondering what it takes sometimes to break into a new regulated industry, this episode is for you.

Find Michele here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-rebiere-7252764/

Find Pacific Brands here: https://pacificrimbrands.ca/

She survived Kenny's basement from the old days and didn't go blind from his homemade wine. COO of BC Food & Beverage Alisa Hutton talks about the learning journey and helping people and how that brought her to where she is now.

Find Alisa here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisa-hutton-907824155/

Find BC Food & Beverage here: https://bcfb.ca/

We catch up with Jerin Mece (pronounced Meh-che) while he's on vacation.

Jerin's a serial entrepreneur that has gone from building a brand from scratch to now helping brands build healthy, prosperous businesses.

Find Jerin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerinmece/

A trainer, mom, marketer, now Sales & Marketing leader, Chelan Wilkins talks about learning, reinvention and embracing new challenges.

Find Chelan here:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelan-wilkins-rhn-cse-934a30129/

Check out Herbaland here: https://www.herbaland.com/

Would you rather be right than rich? Tazz talks about providing the opportunity for retailers to get out of their own way. Ex-retailer Tazz Latifi is one of our favorite people and she comes on to talk about now sharing her experience with other retailers and helping them find profitability.

Find Tazz here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tazzlatifi/

Three Farmers, Two Sisters, One Vision. CEO Natasha Vandenhurk talks beans, peas and lentils oh my! The vision that turned 3 Saskatchewan farms into something amazing. Their goal now? Make amazing snacks, and put Saskatchewan on the map as a destination for beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas.

Shop here: https://threefarmers.ca/

Find Natasha here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-vandenhurk-61a89b26/

If you like what we do and want to help keep the mic's on: https://www.patreon.com/join/thiscommercelife

She's building an alternate dimension for cheese. CEO of Lumi Foods (Blue Heron Creamery) Karen McAthy goes visionary on the knuckleheads. She goes deep on how to make 100% dairy-free, plant based vegan cheeses that doesn't sacrifice taste or tradition.

Find Blue Heron Cheese here: https://blueheroncheese.com/

Find Karen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-mcathy-26728019/

If you love what we do and want to help keep the mics on: https://www.patreon.com/join/thiscommercelife

Cupcakes to Ice Cream. Lori Joyce talks about her journey from being on tv to now making wickedly good ice cream. Founder of Betterwith Ice Cream comes on to talk about learning how dairy works in Canada to her mission of making amazing ice cream.

Find Lori here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-joyce/

Betterwith is here: https://www.betterwith.com/

If you love what we do and want to help keep the lights on - become a Patron of the show - https://www.patreon.com/join/thiscommercelife

Gelato season is upon us. James Boettcher, Chief Empowerment Officer & Custodian of Culture 🤙 at Righteous Gelato comes on to talk about buying the business on a handshake, the adversity that took him from a single retail store to being sold all over Canada. This one was really interesting because we also talk about culture and how to build a great culture.

Find James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesboettcher/

Shop Righteous gelato here: https://www.righteousgelato.com/

If you're a CEO here are essential reads from James' reading list:

Pour your Heat into It - Howard Schultz

Delivering Happiness - Tony Hsieh

Work rules - Lazlo Bock

No rules rules - Reed Hastings, Erin Meyer

Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility: Patty McChord

Story Driven: Bernadette Jiwa

Check out Tout De Suite: https://www.toutdesweet.ca/

Find Jeanette here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanettemillertout/

Matt LeBeau - President at LeBeau Excel Sales & Marketing, comes on to talk about interviewing brands, choosing who to represent and the value that he brings to the retail space, retailers and brands.

Find Matt here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattlebeau/

Check out LeBeau Excel here: https://www.lebeauexcel.com/

If you like what we do and want to support us keeping the microphones on...https://www.patreon.com/thiscommercelife

An unusual guest for us, David Perry is the CEO & Co-Founder of the eCommerce Network Carro. He talks about influencers, brands and retailers and how he sees the dynamics changing in the next few years.

You can find David here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dperry/

We stop fooling around. Steve Rad prepared to be taken seriously. Abacus Toys has new merch, new toys - virtual reality kicking up a notch. We also bend Kenny's brain with a virtual reality

Check out Abacus brands here: https://www.abacusbrands.com/

Find Steve Rad : https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-rad-5959943b/

Help us keep the mic's on: https://www.patreon.com/join/thiscommercelife

Shop Made with Local here: https://www.madewithlocal.com/

Find Sheena here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheena-russell-0459b728/

If you like what we do on this podcast and would like to help us out: https://www.patreon.com/join/thiscommercelife

You can find Jordan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-james-rogers-ba-dipt-80331b6/

You can find Martino here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martino-ciambrelli-47648836/

Brands that we found and love at the show:

https://notco.com/ca-en/

https://nutmegmylk.com/

https://store.threefarmers.ca/pages/about

https://www.calgaryheritageroastingco.com/

If you love our podcasts and want to become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/join/thiscommercelife

Intuity Performance Whole Person Performance Sign up: https://bit.ly/3OiBHKT

Shop Chiwis here: https://chiwis.co/shop/

Find Sarah Goodman here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-goodman-48b89173/

Love what we do? Help us keep the lights on. Head to Patreon and become a patron of the show.

https://www.patreon.com/join/thiscommercelife

check out the CHFA show here: https://chfa.ca/en/Events/chfa-2022-events

Aaron's Linkedin is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronskelton/

Hayden Thomson's Linkedin is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haydenbthomson/

The Pack Heavy Podcast can be found here: https://thepackheavy.podbean.com/

As mentioned in the podcast - Ange and Scott at Intuity Performance are hosting a Leadership Cohort.

Check it out here: https://www.intuityperformance.com/whole-person-leadership

Check out CHFA West here: https://chfa.ca/en/Events/chfa-2022-events

Shoot us a note if you're going - name, booth number, email : thiscommercelife@gmail.com

Find Mike's profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-pilato-b31a75/

Shop Jamieson Vitamins here: https://www.jamiesonvitamins.com/

To shop Good Juju: https://hellogoodjuju.com/

Find Lisa Karandat: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-karandat-50b69821/

Find Alexa Monahan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-monahan-82a73678/

Check out Ener-C here: https://www.tryenerc.com

Check out Harmony here: https://www.takeharmony.com/

Check out Ki here: https://www.kihealthdefence.ca/

Contact Chloe here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-holyman-7b328656/

Find Ange here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ange-maccabe-67a07616/

Check out Intuity Performance here: https://www.intuityperformance.com/

Want to support the podcast? Become a Patron here: https://www.patreon.com/join/thiscommercelife

Find Lorne here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lornecraig/

Check out Unicycle Creative here: https://unicyclecreative.com/

Check out Unitoons here: https://www.unitoons.ca/

If you love us, you can support us by becoming a Patron. https://www.patreon.com/join/thiscommercelife

Find Casey Karls here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/casey-karls-691b2229/

Shop Wilder Games here: https://www.wildergames.shop/

Support the podcast by becoming a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/join/thiscommercelife

Check out Sprout World here: https://sproutworld.com/

Connect with Michael Stausholm here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelstausholm/

To become a Patron of the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/thiscommercelife/

To contact us: https://www.thiscommercelife.com/tclabout

or email us at thiscommercelife@gmail.com

Find Dean at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-mosca-34329111/

To become a Patron of the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/thiscommercelife/

Just the knuckleheads today. They talk about how Kenny qualifies a distributor, retail trends and what's in store (guest wise) for the show in the next couple of months.

Find out more about Hayden here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haydenbthomson/

Check out his podcast here: https://thepackheavy.podbean.com/

Find Ryan Benn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-benn-88606b51/

Find the online version of Alive here: https://www.alive.com/

Check out Umy Brands and Pokko here: https://www.umybrands.ca/

Find Sasha here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sasha-rajamani-02872618/

We'd appreciate it if you took our survey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9VG55TC

If you want to support us, you can head to our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/join/thiscommercelife

Just the knuckleheads on this show. We look back at our last bunch of episodes and find that family owned brands have something to teach us. Success looks and feels different in all cases. We have more questions about Social Nature and Annalea and Jessica.

Contact Annalea Krebs here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krebs/

Contact Jessica Malach here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-malach-she-her-06644316/

You can find Social Nature here: https://www.socialnature.com/

To find Jessica's wonderful use cases here: https://www.socialnature.com/marketing/

Buy Neil's Real Deal here: https://www.neilsrealdeal.com/our-sauces

To find out more about Yellofruit: https://www.yellofruit.com/

To reach Andrew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewkinnear/

Rohan Marley jumps on with us to talk about finding success, avoiding the cold of winter and the choices he had to make to business happen.

check out Celadon house here: https://www.celadonhouse.ca/

We look back at the last few episodes and we're thankful for the things we learn from guests. It's never to late to reinvent who you are, or to start something new, entrepreneurs show us unique ways to sell product based on their passions.

Check out Amy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-remark/

Want to buy some stuff? https://www.dirtyjane.com/

To find Kemp: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kempedmonds/

To see an explainer of the Canadian Workplace Culture Index Explainer: https://youtu.be/iozPIY185-E

Check out Beast and Buckle here: https://beastandbuckle.com/

Find Stew here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stewartjanderson/

Find Intuity Performance here: https://www.intuityperformance.com/

Contact Ange here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ange-maccabe-67a07616/

Contact Scott here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott1rust/

To find Ave Maria here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avemariabell/

Check out Ave's store here: https://avemariabell.com/

you can find Jeff here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-b-smith/

shop Rise Market : https://risemarket.ca/

check out Honed: https://livehoned.com

You can find Viren here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/virenmalik/

If you've never had Ethical Bean Coffee, you can find them here: https://www.ethicalbean.com/

To find Patrick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-higgins-4424761/

Propel Natural Brands: http://www.propelbrands.ca/

If you fit what Nick is looking for from an experience level and mentality for growth, you can find him here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-saltarelli-063a5965/

Check out Midday Squares here:

https://www.middaysquares.com/

To reach Liza: https://www.themerchantlife.com/

The article we were talking about: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/24/style/cotton-totes-climate-crisis.html

Some of Liza's tweets from Retail X:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1430273345690419206

https://twitter.com/i/status/1430166923355074566

To find out more about Will and Shoshauna and the Functional Beverage Group: https://funbevgroup.com/

check out Sweet Reads here: https://sweetreadsbox.com/

To find Kerrie: https://sweetreadsbox.com/pages/contact

We'd love to hear from you. You can reach us at thiscommercelife@gmail.com - we'd love to know what you think of our plans, if you'd support us.

To find SwitchGrocery: https://www.switchgrocery.com

To find Neha: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neha-charnalia-a1193612/

You can find Denise here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denise-c-wong-cpa-ca-2a28519/

Check out Denise and DSquared: https://www.dsquaredgroup.ca/

Z0vV6hVtJxt60pZ9Kkmx

To find out more about Field Agent: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/

Contact Jeff here: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/contact-us

or https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-doucette-72b3556/

Find Liza Amlani here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizaamlani/

Sign up for The Merchant Life here: https://www.themerchantlife.com/

To find out more about Tim:

www.servusleadership.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU8ZOAFq1u8&t=3s

To find Mid-Day Squares: https://www.middaysquares.com

To find Jake: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-karls-653106ba/

To find Bram: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bramw/

To find Shelfgram: https://app.shelfgram.com/feed

Find John here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-antulov-0441a8a2/

Check out Thompson River University Soccer here: https://gowolfpack.ca/sports/mens-soccer

Find Aaron here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronskelton/

Find out if CHFA is for you by clicking here:

https://chfa.ca/en/

If you worked CPG, and spent any time in Vancouver, you probably know Alan, met Alan or heard of Alan. He's a local legend of sorts.

You can find him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-bates-88b2b332/

Find out more about Remedy Drinks here: https://www.remedydrinks.com/ca/

Check out Parissa Labs here:

https://parissa.com/

Find Fardad here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fardadm/

To find out more about the Nooks: https://thenooks.ca/

The Linkedin Page that she doesn't want you to check out:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleenimrie/

To find out more about Peter -

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-rodriguez-marketing/

To find Brand Igniter: https://www.brandigniter.ca/webinar

To find Kyle:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleewing/

Kyle's company and waterproof paper:

https://terraslatepaper.com/

To find out more about ClearAngel:

https://angel.clearbanc.com/

We also talk agencies, when to use an agency, when to leave and strike out on your own, what brands should expect from agencies.

To find out more about Social Nature: https://www.socialnature.com/

To find Jessica:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-malach-she-her-06644316/

What a great brand! We were fascinated by what Lisa and Alexa have built. We were equally appalled at how these two wonderful founders have been viewed - anything other than wonderful people and brillant business people.

Check out Good Juju here: https://hellogoodjuju.com/

Find Lisa on Linkedin here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-karandat-50b69821/

A great conversation with a Natural Foods Industry Icon.

Happy belated Birthday to Ian Walker

and Happy Birthday to Kenny! (he's still not 60 yet)

To find Ian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-walker-a8725318/

Hippie Snacks: https://www.hippiesnacks.com/

Left Coast Naturals: https://www.leftcoastnaturals.com/

You can find the Shoplands here:

https://laurieshopland.com/

https://shoplandhealth.ca/

This episode was inspired by the article below.

https://financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/the-reasons-behind-a-bitter-battle-between-food-makers-and-canadas-big-grocers

We owe this podcast to Kent Fenwick in more ways than one.

Kenny talks about his Covid experience. Philly complains about his boss. (himself)

Find out about Clearbanc here: https://clearbanc.com/en-eu/

Think you could use investment? ClearAngel is here: https://angel.clearbanc.com/

Andrew's Linkedin is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewdsouza/

We don't have a new episode this week - Kenny hasn't been feeling well, but in light of how popular Trevor Baker's episode was, we thought personal branding is something critical to anyone facing career changes.

This episode first aired Feb 10, 2020.

Peter Rodriguez MBA, Chartered Marketer, comes on the show to talk about his Award-Winning Brand Igniter™
Peter is a former CMO, Ex Kellogg’s, Pfizer, Nestle, J&J, Smucker. His new marketing program helps individuals build their personal brand image.

Philly still sounds like he's in witness protection - he's going to drown this mic and get a new one.

As a courtesy for the boys, Peter has provided a link for This Commerce Life users to see some of Peter's BRANDMI™ Personal Branding Framework https://www.brandigniter.ca/brandmisample

Alain (Alan) teaches us a few things about the cooking industry, talks about his first job at Canoe. With the pandemic, he gets laid off and winds up making creme brulee.

Alain could use some help here - so if our audience can help out, he could use a contact for some jars at a better cost. Reach out to us at @thiscommercelife or thiscommercelife@gmail.com or contact Alain directly at @crystalcr3me

To check out his Instagram and order creme brulee:

https://www.instagram.com/crystalcr3me/

The BlogTo article:

https://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2021/01/coconut-ube-creme-brulee-toronto/

20-25 years with a single company, and structured out...these folks are facing steep challenges. Trevor has some suggestions on how to find your next career change.

To find Trevor:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevoratmacdonaldsearchgroup/

https://www.macdonaldsearchgroup.com/headhunter-in-vancouver

Tim practices in the areas of business law and intellectual property, and has a broad range of experience dealing with commercial transactions and technology law matters, as well as resolution of business disputes. He acts for clients in all manner of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, start-ups, financings, corporate governance and contract negotiations.

To check out Tim's firm: http://www.murphyandcompany.com/lawyer/timothy-murphy/

Now 4 stores, and making ice cream - Sarah and her husband Adam are rocking chocolate on the Rock.

Check out Aunt Sarah's Chocolate shop here:

http://www.auntsarahschocolate.ca/

Find Sarah here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rochacewich-686b061/

Aside from the fact that Liza thinks Kenny looks like George Clooney (in the dark in poor lighting), we talk retail - click and collect, omnichannel retailing and Liza's work to help retailers understand how to live and work in today

Find Liza at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizaamlani/

Liza's blog: https://www.themerchantlife.com/

Retail Strategy Group: https://www.retailstrategygroup.com/

An incredible conversation with a talented individual, Alys has a lot to say about how to think about your skills differently, and how to approach looking at opportunities differently.

To find Alys: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alysrichards/

Doug DuMars comes from Kraft/Heinz and Pepsi, talks about his experience working for two of the biggest CPG companies in the world, to jumping in as a startup in the drink space, founding Rebellious Infusions.

To find Doug:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougdumars/

https://drinkrebellious.com/

If you're interested in samples, head to https://Samples.DrinkRebellious.com

Philly and Nicole laugh about how long they've known each other, they geek out about email marketing and how it can power a business' growth. The boys are amazed at Nicole's skills and how many pots she's had her hands in.

To find Nicole: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolemjmurphy/

Check out Bell Curve here: https://www.bellcurve.com/

Shelby started working on Chickapea in 2015. Today, Chickapea is everywhere!

Check out Chickpea here: https://chickapea.ca/

You can find Shelby here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylorshelby/

Phil and Angie talk old J&J days and Philly relives some battle scars that left marks. Angie talks about putting her strategic skills to work with the Save the Children Organization, getting deployed to El Paso and helping children reunite with their families.

To find Angie Baker - https://www.linkedin.com/in/angiembaker/

The boys talk about getting their businesses right, how they're thinking about the year. Philly struggles to help an owner become a CEO. Philly talks about how to think about client hours and how and when to work a little harder, when to balance versus family life.

Philly's pro-tip for the month - last month was WIFI Mesh, and now Philly wants you to think about buying a budget gaming laptop. (sub-$1000, light weight gaming)

We had lots of guest come and hang out for our last podcast of the year.

This one is pretty fun - if you want to watch it, it'll put faces to voices.

Head to https://youtu.be/QI4iS-Gsrso

Some of our guests that came by:

Tim Dumas, Jaks Alcohol

Stephen Sotto, Bed Bath & Beyond Mexico

Mark Stirling, Orion Sales

Cherry Yang, Air Ops Consulting https://www.airopsconsulting.org/

Tazz Latifi, https://petropolisnyc.com/the-petropolist-podcast/

Chloe Holyman, Brand Manager for https://www.tryenerc.com/

April May Bellia, formerly of Granola Girl now The Optimystic Soul life coach

Bram Warshafsky, Shelfgram, https://www.shelfgram.com/

Laurie Shopland, https://laurieshopland.com/

Jim Shopland, https://shoplandhealth.ca/

Richard Pollock, https://www.takeharmony.ca/, https://www.kihealthdefence.ca/

Long time "rock" of the retail industry...Alan Bates comes up, we talk career progression and Philly drools (as usual) over Daiya's new lineup of products.

You can find Chris here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-bailey-4130958/

You can find Daiya here: https://daiyafoods.com/

Drool over Daiya's food lineup here: https://www.youtube.com/user/daiyafoods/videos

The Boss, Linda, talks about the pandemic from a manufacturer's perspective...A manufacturer that makes hand sanitizer. The boys and the Boss talk about concerns about the upcoming year, how to look at growth differently, and they talk growing up and ethnic backgrounds.

Check out Linda's profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindambwebb/

find Prolab here: http://www.prolabhealth.com/

When businesses land funding and have a chance to grow, it's always exciting. It's even more exciting when it's a business that helps other businesses solve communication and operational issues.

On top of that, the business is a friend of the show - that's very exciting! CEO of Intelocate, Yulia Vasilyeva comes on to talk about her $1 million in funding from TCap Private Equity.

To find Yulia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuliavas/

Intelocate: www.intelocate.com

TCap Private Equity : https://www.tcapequity.com/

Yulia's first episode with us is here:
https://this-commerce-life-fb5a846c.simplecast.com/episodes/3f43fcd5

Parachute Software rolls out a new menu ordering platform that's simple to use and cost effective. Calling all restaurants - a profitable way to do take out!

To check out Parachute Software: https://www.parachutesoftware.com/

Check out their ordering page here: https://order.parachutesoftware.com/order/

You can find David here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidlinton/

We talk to Shane Pounder, Vice President Operations and Interim Vice President Marketing at Flipp and we talk about consumer behaviour vis a vis digital shopping, the struggle of getting good content and some new channels Flipp is exploring.

To find Shane, click here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanepounder/

To get Flipp, click here: https://flipp.com/

AnneMarie runs a great after school tutoring centre that was doing a steady business before Covid. Covid shut her down and she had to do things differently and bring her tutoring online.

Word of mouth used to drive the business but she had to change how she did things, used Facebook ads, Google ads to drive traffic into her centre.

To find AnneMarie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annemariebrosnan/

To check out her Tuition Centre: https://premiertuition.ie

Philly and Winnie reminisce about the good old days, and comes on the show to talk multicultural marketing. Winnie has serious experience marketing to the Canadian population, and we talk about the intricacies of cultural marketing.

To find Winnie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/winniebmittal/

The distributor discussion continues - some real life examples on how companies approach this. The knuckleheads talk innovation and what comes next in this pandemic era. We've had a lot of cool guests on talking about innovation and how to look at things differently. We had a chance to just sit and chat and talk about cool stuff that we think might be coming.

At the end, we talk about WIFI Mesh networks and how this changes your WIFI game.

This is a great article:

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-mesh-router,review-5191.html

Phil has this router: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01NCZ2UBL/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_x_UpFQFbGYRYW8E

Other good ones:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07WGJ9TY3/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_x_HrFQFbXJMNKKB

https://store.google.com/ca/config/nest_wifi?hl=en-CA

Linksys Velop Tri-Band AC4400 Whole Home WiFi Mesh System- 2-Pack (Coverage up to 4000 sq. ft)

None

Canada’s leading distributor of natural health products. From dietary supplements, vitamins and natural body care to eco friendly household products and natural health food products, Purity Life supplies products to over 7,000 stores across Canada.

To check out Purity Life click here: https://www.puritylife.com/

You can find Mike at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mroberts6/

We were inspired enough to put this episode in the same week as another game changer. (see prior episode about Kelly Pigeon and Dresst)

Green Planet Wholesale is the supplier of equipment, a new kind of garden store. We were inspired to here where they're going, and how they've approached this growing and emerging segment of the market.

To find Green Planet Wholesale click here: https://www.mygreenplanet.com/

To find Mark, his Linkedin is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-walman-082a6830/

The Youtube channel we were talking about is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7no6ZJE1_PK756fpWy70lw

Kelly Pigeon started with the big "WHY," founds two game changing platforms -Dresst, then Loopt. We talk about how to reduce consumption and waste in durable goods, and change the way the industry builds clothing, and the way consumers see clothing.

She doesn't stop there - she takes the platform she builds on Dresst and turns it into a model that other businesses can use to also run a rental business.

Check out Dresst: https://www.dresst.ca/

Loopt is here: https://www.looptplatform.com/

You can find Kelly here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-pigeon-6630607/

We talk about how business owners / solopreneurs need to embrace teams and let their people help them grow. The guys get into the weeds and talk about the planning process, how to make sure departments stitch plans together so they function as a cohesive unit.

The book we were talking about:

https://www.eosworldwide.com/traction-book

We head to Africa to learn from "Fats" Diamini, Founder of Maneli Foods. We get a crash course on building a brand in South Africa and the joys and challenges of running a global brand.

To find Nhlanhla "Fats"

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nhlanhla-dlamini-0671531/

Maneli Foods is here: http://manelipets.com/

Wondering what a tradeshow online looks like? How do you get good conversations while you're virtually minding your virtual tradeshow booth? Joe Tarnowski. VP, Content at ECRM & Host of The ECRM Podcast comes on to talk about making conversations happen between vendors and retailers. BONUS content - Joe loves content (like Phil).

To find Joe - you can find him here.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarnowskijoseph/

You can find ECRM here. https://ecrm.marketgate.com/

All hands on deck: Bed Bath and Beyond Mexico CEO Stephen Sotto talks about great retail during the pandemic.

Bed Bath and and Beyond Mexico has found success catering to their consumer in new and innovative ways. We talk to Steve about his career and his pandemic journey with Bed Bath and Beyond.

To reach Steve, you can find him at

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-sotto-08b605b/

Founder of Manitoba Harvest, Mike Fata comes on to talk about his remarkable journey to making hemp mainstream again.

Mike talks about how he began looking at hemp, his incredible struggle to bring hemp back to mainstream, and how he's giving back now.

To reach Mike, you can find him on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manitoba-mikefata/

Bram Warshafsky, marketer, entrepreneur and Founder of 5Crowd comes on talk about his latest venture, Shelfgram. [Think Nielsen meets Pinterest]

Store checks now come to you digitally. Imagine being able to do store checks virtually

Check out Shelfgram here: https://www.shelfgram.com/

To find Bram, hit this link. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bramw/

This one is all about us. Philly breaks his own rules, Kenny leans into less-than-40-hours...

We talk trade shows - do the online versions work? If you've been to one that you like, please let us know.

We were also talking about - https://ecrm.marketgate.com/

The deadline is Sept 4th.

Apply here: https://www.intuit.com/ca/prosperity-accelerator/

Highline Beta and Intuit Accelerator closing Sept 4th - This program focuses on solving the most pressing financial problems for Canadian small businesses and consumers in the wake of COVID-19. Work with Intuit experts and Highline Beta to bring your solutions to market and make a difference!

Wondering what a good influencer / industry expert looks like? You'll like what Pindy has to say. Pindy talks a lot about how to work with brands, what an expert looks like.

You can find Pindy at:

https://censeopharm.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pindy-janda-rph/

Daryna Kulya, Co-Founder at OpenPhone comes on to talk about changing the business phone for modern businesses. Kenny wants to be like Phil when he grows up and Phil has an aw-shucks moment.

We talk to Daryna about her past - from founding Product Hunt in Toronto, and her time at Vidyard, to her current venture at OpenPhone.

Kenny gets super stoked and downloads Openphone, gets set up and running in less than the time it takes for us to talk about Openphone.

Check out OpenPhone here: https://www.openphone.co/

Find Daryna on Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darynakulya/

We head to Singapore to meet Richard Loat who helped to create Five Hole for Food talks about his journey of learning. We also talk to Richard about what brands can learn about cultures overseas.

Richard's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardloat/

Richard's book recommendation for brands wanting to head overseas

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22085568-the-culture-map

A great conversation with Simrit, founder of Treatsmarts. She made a treat in her kitchen, and 3 years later, it's Treatsmarts and listed at Whole Foods and 16 other retailers

To find out more about Treatsmarts, head to

https://www.treatsmarts.ca/

Instagram: @TREATSMARTS

You can find Simrit at https://www.linkedin.com/in/simrit-ollek-566b14168/

Kenny is STOKED. Arjan Stephens, President of Que Pasa Mexican Foods and EVP for Nature’s Path Foods comes on the show. A great story...where to begin?

A great look at one of the pioneers of organic products, and the struggle to take organic foods mainstream. Nature's Path is now found in 55 countries.

Find out about Que Pasa's unique story and Arjan's wedding present to his guests that became maybe one of the best cereals that Phil's ever tasted.

Nature's Path website is here: https://www.naturespath.com/en-ca/

Que Pasa can be found here: www.quepasafoods.com

Arjan's linkedin profile is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arjan-stephens-4a84067a/

WWLD: _Laurie Shopland quotes Wonderman "I have super powers and I'll use it for good" She talks about how it feels to accomplish a goal, and how to find people who are ahead of you in the process to help guide you.

Laurie was published in the print version of https://www.optimyz.com/

Fardad Moayeri, Executive VP, Janitor & Chief Esthetics Officer at Parissa talks about making the world a smoother place and the effect of TikTok.

An incredible story about Parissa's origins that includes the Iranian revolution, straight door to door selling and pandemic times.

Find out more about Parissa Wax here: https://parissa.com

You can reach Fardad at his Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fardadm/

From 0 to 18,000 locations supported since 2015. Intelocate founder, Yulia Vasilyeva comes on to explain how and why so many companies and locations use Intelocate.

We jump into the world of solving retail issues and hear some crazy stats like retailers solving 50,000 issues per 100 locations every 10 months! (on average)

You can find:

Yulia at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuliavas/

Intelocate at https://www.intelocate.com/

If you ever have questions, you can email us at thiscommercelife@gmail.com or find us at @thiscommercelife on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Special Episode. Cheryl Policastro from TPN Retail talks to the guys about 'The Future of the Buy' a Buy Online Pickup In Store (BOPIS) study done during Covid-19.

The infographic can be found here: http://tpnweb.com/infographics/tpn_pandemic.pdf

To find Cheryl on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheryl-policastro-0622674/

The boys "plan" an episode. This episode is all about Kenny and Phil. The new "About Us Episode"

We talk to a long time fan, first time caller, Mark Stirling about a brand's perspective on COVID-19. We talk through things like allocating inventory, manfacturing as fast as possible, and how to manage customers that might be unhappy with out of stock situations.

To find Mark:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-stirling-a3038511/?originalSubdomain=ca

Cherry Yang, connector extraordinaire. Airtable expert, general smartie pants comes on. She talks connectors, analytics and making things automated. Cherry is a critical integrator to helping businesses build sales funnel tracking, CRM projects and lead attribution are a few of the things she can help with.

Here's how to find Cherry:

https://www.airopsconsulting.org/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherry-yang-12368141/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5qlky4Sf1pZJnTYJLj_gWQ

What is marketing to clients? Phil runs into a bunch of brands that are asking for marketing but maybe doesn't know what they're asking for.

Tazz Latifi, owner of Petropolis comes on the show. They talk about her retail store, and her consulting business.

To find Tazz, you can head to https://petropolisnyc.com/about-tazz-latifi/

The podcast: https://petropolisnyc.com/the-petropolist-podcast/

Her Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tazzlatifi/

WWLD! Philly talks about being out and on his own again - how it feels to leave Nymi, and work with clients that he loves. He's focused on shit that he loves, shit that he likes and none of the shit that's just shit, and trying not to do too much shit.

Kenny wants to be like Phil.

600 doors to 20 000 in 3 years. Smart Sweets is the Queen of the #kicksugar movement. We talk to Koreann Webster about their sweet success

https://smartsweets.ca/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/koreann-webster-42b43160/

Kenny gives Jake gas. We talk to Jake from Mid-Day-Squares about success and adjusting for Covid-19. These guys are the real deal...over a million bars sold. Mad magazine?? Spy vs Spy? Kenny shows his age, Philly admits he loves Spy vs Spy.

To order some chocolate, head to https://www.middaysquares.com/

You can find Mid-Day-Squares on Instagram at @middaysquares

Covid retailing continues. A retailer/wholesaler/distributer comes on. Struggles of government subsidies, rent subsidies and how to adapt without precendent.

Domenic Bruzzese of La Grotta Del Formaggio came on the show to talk about retailing during Covid, and how to adjust for a new normal

https://www.linkedin.com/company/lgdf-wholesale/?originalSubdomain=ca

Peter Winstanley of Jaks comes on the show. We talk to him about COVID retailing, all the things that retailers have to deal with during Covid. We also talk about what to think about when you're coming out of social distancing and the new stage of retail.

You can check out JAK'S Beer Wine Spirits here: www.jaks.com

Peter Winstanley's Linkedin is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-winstanley-14174baa/

Philly does a disappearing act on Kenny, the guys talk cybersecurity, the additional market effects of Covid and how the market will look when things open

Businesses need to adjust to Covid and an extended period away. More importantly, they need to adjust to the fact that shopping behaviour won't be the same again at all. The guys talk about changes that could happen and how retailers should think about changing their business models.

Thank you to all the people who are out there working to keep us safe so we can stay home and podcast.

In today's WWLD - Give it air time, and give equal air time to thinking the opposite. COVID-19 is different now, not worse, just different. Laurie Shopland gets on the show and we talk about how Covid 19 is different, maybe even better, but not worse. How do we think about the business differently as well. It's a good time to inflect on what the future holds for you and your business.

Happy Birthday to Kenny who turns another year older and maybe a little wiser.

Jordan Rogers, Guru of plant based products stops in to chat with the guys on the plant based segment of the market.

He talks through his business model, how he founded Lloyd-James Sales & Marketing, Canada’s plant-based sales & marketing agency.

We find out what's in store for plant based products and what to look for next.

Philly, Kenny and Jordan talk through how to market during Covid-19.

You can find Jordan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-james-rogers-80331b6/

Extra long episode this week. Steve Rad founder of Abacus Brands (https://www.abacusbrands.com) comes on the show to talk about Virtual Reality, teaching kids and how brands can use this technology.

The guys talk about the future of retail, post Covid-19, how to use some of this VR technology and Philly needs to find a way to slow down a little.

Where do you leave your laptop? Social Isolation and the impacts on work balance. The guys talk about how things change, experiential marketing in new times. If you're a business and you're trying to get out marketing messages, now is a good time.

Covid 19 and supply chain challenges that come with that. Digital media comes with some responsibilities...stop sharing click-bait-y videos. Retailers have responsibilities in pandemic stock-up situations. Philly tells a funny story about a moment in a grocery store. Things that you can and should be doing to keep up some social interaction during this pandemic.

WWLD Laurie talks about her business, and how to think about Covid 19. A special offer for This Commerce Life folks

Join Laurie Shopland for a free masterclass this wednesday! Click the link below:

https://laurieshopland.com/findingcalmnessamongcrisis/

Short special episode. Things that small medium retailers can do to help during Covid-19.

Thanks to Jim Shopland for the idea! Stay safe, tell us how you're doing.

Net effect of Coronavirus, the impact to shows and net effect on businesses. Not all of it is though - think about opportunities for being able to grow the business during tough times. Philly talks about a sticky situation with an owner who wants to own something they don't know anything about.

Kenny and Phil record live for the first time in 115 episodes. They do a walk through of an aisle at Global Pet and tell you what they see, and then talk about how the show went.

If you're looking for our presentations, head to the bottom of the page at www.retailphil.com

New setup for Philly. He starts the day with Kenny and finishes with Kenny. We talk about the importance of bricks and mortar, and how they have a competitive edge over online stores.

On Philly's reading list: Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B015MOJ80G/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets

WWLD Kenny tunes in from Mexico, Laurie's thought work turns into an unanticipated opportunity. Laurie looks at Philly's choices (or not choices).

Philly ties Laurie's work to examples of how SEO, funnel conversion, digital marketing and content marketing works.

Will the real Phil stand up? Thank you - a new mic - thanks for your patience.

For your reference - witness protection episode was recorded with a Shure MV5-LTG Digital Condenser Microphone.

This short recording was done with a Samson Go Mic Compact USB Microphone

Peter Rodriguez MBA, Chartered Marketer, comes on the show to talk about his Award-Winning Brand Igniter™

Peter is a former CMO, Ex Kellogg’s, Pfizer, Nestle, J&J, Smucker. His new marketing program helps individuals build their personal brand image.

Philly still sounds like he's in witness protection - he's going to drown this mic and get a new one.

As a courtesy for the boys, Peter has provided a link for This Commerce Life users to see some of Peter's BRANDMI™ Personal Branding Framework https://www.brandigniter.ca/brandmisample

Finding innovative ways to pitch a buyer a new product. Philly has a new mic and sounds like Kermit the frog (with a cold)

Kenny talks about pitching a product with a different angle.

*apologies for Phil's voice this week. He was using a new mic - and he really sounds like a full frog in his throat.

(he didn't buy it at full price - never pay full price)

Philly seeks balance - trying to make changes and have it all. Qualifying jobs, how to find balance

Kenny gets new equipment...looks like a podcaster finally. Kenny goes pro - new equipment, looks like a podcaster. We talk digital minimalism, getting focused on what you love The books that Kenny is talking about:

Digital Minimalism https://www.calnewport.com/books/digital-minimalism/

Love is just damn good business https://www.stevefarber.com/books/love-is-just-damn-good-business/

WWLD turns the podcast upside down. Laurie needs coaching, Kenny drops wisdom, Philly is speechless.

In all seriousness, Laurie gets coached - we have a full discussion about skills, when to discount your skills, and how to approach balancing work, money and loving what you do.

Happy New Year to our audience. We love you all. (even if Kenny doesn't have feelings)

Philly talks about planned obsolescence, and how all the marketing efforts from last year have come together. The guys get into the effects on online, and how businesses compete with online today. (don't give up! Amazon doesn't own it all!)

The guys have the founder of Ener-C, Richard Pollock on the show. Great story about his dog's half brother, and a career in entrepreneurship. From 25 cent puppet shows to now enriching people's lives with better water.

Find Richard on Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-pollock-7586a63/?originalSubdomain=ca

Check out Ener-C here: https://www.tryenerc.com/

WWLD is back. Kenny gets some help finding focus, and Laurie uses palm trees as part of her calming strategy. (works on Philly)

No pop filter on Kenny this week. Overstretched Kenny needs to unload. Finding the balance between entrepreneurship and happiness. Philly finds an awesome boutique brand - #navkcollection https://www.navkcollection.com/

Did you buy anything for Black Friday? The importance of a pitch deck for creating business, how to build a business to scale

This is the Thankful episode. Big thanks to Geoff Wong, being thankful for a wonderful year - the importance of celebrating wins. We want to hear from you - how do you celebrate? what do you celebrate? tell us how your business year went!

EPISODE 100! We celebrate our milestone with our first "WWLD" (What would Laurie Do?) The Guys also talk end of year prep, making sure that you end the year with great holiday sales. Fitting new products into planogram timing with major accounts, what to think about, when to prep.

Lanh was a full time CPA that quit her job to design, build and sell houses. She took a passion in art and design and turned it into a livelihood. Kenny and Phil talk through the risks and considerations of going from a full time job to entrepreneurship.

Philly tries a macbook. The guys take the session to talk about podcasts that we love and Philly talks about kicking up his next stage of learning, his next evolution. (stay tuned!) Philly admits that he wanted Laurie all to himself. Eventually, they get to talking about cool boutique health stores, and carrying inventory

Kenny lookin' and feelin' better. Getting out of the weeds and back into the clouds....er the strategy. How to make the rest of the team better.

Kenny sounds different, Philly talks about new startups that he's working with. They talk Global Pet, WWLD, coming up to episode 100

Kenny feeling a little tired and has a lot to do. When and who to outsource to. Your "expert" isn't the expert at everything. Philly's marketing plans are coming together.

WWLD picks up steam. Kenny starts following his own advice. Philly's marketing efforts are coming together

Philly apologizes for loses his sh*t. GDPR, privacy - taking it seriously. Kenny talks about office resources, and job resourcing. The guys think about a 'WWLD' section on the podcast. Philly's videographer can be found at edwardsrapha.wixsite.com/video

Philly loses his sh*t. Kenny helps him vent, they talk about lost opportunities, and what to do when a PR opporuntity happens. A standing offer to our listeners...Philly wishes his wife a Happy Birthday

early morning podcast. Trade shows, a philosophical look at retail, Linkedin promotions

Kenny under the weather. Philly talks about travel, Kenny gets fixated on "experiential"

Maturing, evolving and growth. Philly talks about someone whose found the perfect job but doesn't know it. He talks about his marketing campaign coming together

Cooking with Chang. Looking for mentors - do you need 'em? Finding, looking for places that have peers, mentors and sounding boards.

The guys talk about elevating their game, and figure out Kenny's "why." Philly talks about finding more balance, losing weight and getting better focus.

Phil's been listening to this podcast - https://www.jimstengel.com/the-cmo-podcast/

If you're a Director of Marketing, the only marketing person in your organization or a CMO, we'd love to hear from you.

The guys have a big announcement at the end!

Tim Dumas, Chief Operating Officer from Jak's Liquor stops by to talk customer service, looking after employees and teaching great customer experience. Philly and Ken talk to Tim about great customer experience, how Jak's teaches and invests in their employees.

https://www.jaks.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/servusleadership/?originalSubdomain=ca

Tim would love to help you find the perfect bottle of liquor.

tim.dumas@jaks.com

Philly stops to do something fun. Kenny pushes for return on investment. The guys talk about the roles that little stores play in consumers' minds. Phil gives an update on his email marketing automation plan.

This is the article we were talking about

https://www.sheknows.com/health-and-wellness/articles/2049318/the-brewing-backlash-against-hustle-culture-and-its-effects-on-mental-health/

The guys answer questions, talk about when to outsource email automation, Kenny starts forecasting for next year. The importance of running numbers for next year to make an educated guess on what's to come.

Kenny gets overloaded and takes on more. (naturally) The boys talk about privacy, social networks and Linkedin. The guys are all over the place this episode. Philly theorizes on the war of search and how Amazon is winning search from Google, what the next social network might look like.

What Kenny looks like out of control....

Carrie Doyle makes an appearance. She talks about leaving her big job at a big company and what's next. Philly gets excited to connect two of his favorite people. Kenny becomes a Doyle fan (like Phil).

Philly and Ken make good on their vacation promise. How to tell if you should be looking for a new job. Philly does email automation and what the heck that means.

Some of the email automation platforms we were talking about:

Marketo, Hubspot, and Pardot

Philly and Ken also looked at https://www.tryenerc.com/ when they were talking about insights. (in case you want to follow along)

The guys talk about working while on vacation. Do it or don’t do it? How to do it to remove stress and still get a vacation. Philly talks about email automation and how to go about setting up. The guys give Linda new job. Phil explains SEO in layman terms, and spills the beans on how Kent Fenwick is a voodoo magician at SEO.

Shnane has arrived. Vive Social in the house, the boys talk PR, social and digital representation, and what small/medium businesses should be doing on awareness.

You can reach Shnane and Vive Social at info@vivesocialpr.com or https://www.facebook.com/vivesocialpr/ on Facebook.

The boys are tired but not complaining. When you're happy, tired is a good sign. Kenny talks about gap analysis - finding the right places to optimize your business. Philly makes a prediction about the demise of iPhone. They break in and out of watching game 6 of the Raptors vs Warriors Championship finals. Phil talks marketing numbers and conversion rates.

These two guys bicker over Apple and Android, Kenny tells Phil he's full of poo poo. Philly gets excited and talks content, why to have it, how to keep all the keywords together, how to outrun old content.

Marketing and the pressure to bear fruit early. Philly and Ken talk about getting the right information to make the right content

This one episode is longer because of the complexity of the conversation. Price increases is part of everybody's business, but they seldom talk about it. Phil and Kenny get into and talk about different approaches you can take to introduce a price increase, what to expect as pushback from retailers, why you should be thinking about a price increase every year.

Kenny celebrates his wedding anniversary with Amelia. Barry comes on the show. More on transitions and how he made the jump from corporate life to entrepreneurship. Philly wonders how Barry put up with Kenny for 29 years!

To reach Barry, you can find him at : barrygmark@mac.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-mark-3b01182a

Ken wants Philly to get in touch with his feelings but can't take a compliment. Laurie continues to haunt Kenny.

The guys talk about when "good enough" is really good enough, and how to strike a balance in getting things done.

We follow up and bring Life coach Laurie Shopland on. How to power through the things that are blocking your way. Laurie Shopland https://shoplandhealth.ca comes on the show and coaches Ken and Philly on how to power through blockers.

Philly talks about not doing things that aren't in his wheelhouse, and that prompts a discussion about what to do when you need to change what you're working on. Kenny talks about adapting for change, the guys confirm that they're not normal. Ken picks on Philly.

You'll want to check her out. https://www.facebook.com/thegranolagirl/

Philly and Ken walk through April's journey from cake maker to hobby granola maker turned entrepreneur. She's gone from giving out samples at local markets to selling in 300 stores.

Websites, merchandising and experiential oh my! Philly and Ken be their ADD selves and range on a series of topics. Philly talks about research and how finding facts to build a plan isn't different from small companies to big companies. They talk website builders and style guides. They talk CRM - https://www.zoho.com, https://www.hubspot.com/, https://www.marketo.com, https://www.zendesk.com/

Philly looks inside Ken's head to find out what a buyer sees when they do store visits. Kenny spends time in liquor stores and comes out sober. Philly finds out why, and what he's looking for. They talk retailing and retail strategy, and pet peeves about their shopping experience.

Marketing spend....it's not enough. Make sure you measure what you spend on to get the right return on investment. (ROI) Be clear on what your goals are. Philly talks about #marketinggoals and loading up the funnel with opportunities for sales to convert. #mathtomarketing

Philly and Ken talk about the vitamin company that they're working with. What happens when you build a plan, and they change their minds...the team talks more cannabis and Shopland Health's insight cannabis/cbd episode.

Kenny talks about his ADD. Philly wants to do a joint session together next year at Global Pet. Philly wants to get Kenny in front of a lot of owner operators.

The guys talk Global Pet Expo, Kenny plays career counsellor. Philly talks about creating content in the middle of the night. Work hard, play hard - Philly also talks about the talks that he did at the show. You can find them here. https://retailphil.com/presentations

Ken and Philly talk about what to call Kenny. Owner operator guidance counsellor? If you have an idea - send us a note!

Philly gets ready for #GlobalPetExpo and the two sessions he's teaching there. (https://globalpetexpo.org/buyer/seminars.asp) He's teaching "Like.Follow.Share" and "What's Your Time Worth?" Ken and Philly get into how and when you do your own thing versus hiring out work to people to keep yourself moving.

Shout out to Sara Carvalho (http://sarasunshine.com/) for her magical graphic touch.

Philly talks about sweating a marketing budget and how to figure out where to find dollars from.

Kenny talks about Natural Expo West and how huge it is. Milk substitutes is a huge and trending category, and alternative protein sources is a growing trend. Plant based trends are one of the biggest growth trend at the show. Kenny talks about the clearout show in Las Vegas. Philly panics about Kenny going and spending the lights out.

What happens if Ken and Philly go to the same show? Ken guests from the Natural Expo West

Kenny gets dressed up, everyone gets confused. The value of knowing your 'why' and how that helps the team around you.

Kenny the Amazon guy. A plus content. Philly lives breathes and dreams about brand stories.

The famous Linda Webb makes her debut. First of many (we hope) Tips on what you need to do to get to production. Linda Webb talks through ingredients, packaging, order quantities, and all sorts of things that first time product people encounter.

Philly rants on why everybody needs to look after their own careers. Kenny plays nice guy. To quote or not to quote a job? Philly and Ken talk through launch decks, the nuances of selling B2B and how it's different from B2C marketing. When you figure out your audience...things get easier.

Know your customer...really. Do you have buyer personas? Looking after the basics to ensure you know who you're building a plan for. Philly talks about buyer personas and how critical they are to building plans and knowing where and when to execute your plan. Calling out Linda Webb to come on the show, and a shout out for Rachel Farewell and This Commerce Life's new kickass socials. www.rachelfarewell.com

Sku rationalization, marketing messages, Google Ads and seasonal businesses. The guys are all over the place today. Plug for Satya Organics and Patrice's wonderful ezcema cream.

Philly has some news. The guys get geared up to help a business on a joint venture. The power of Linda Webb, building a node or hub where our people can help our people.

What to do when your seasonal business has no season? Phil talks about dealing with excess inventory and no demand, and some of the tough choices businesses have to make Phil also talks about the importance of paying it forward and helping others.

We decide we don't like Kent that much. (too smart, too talented etc. etc.) More love for Linda Webb, Rachel Farewell. Philly and Kenny try and figure out what to call themselves (not agency...but what? a node? a connector? something fancy please) Start the year with the right audience. Does your marketing plan match your consumer?

Happy New Year. Philly talks about Mexico, and the retail scene and then we get real serious about investment and where to spend cash to grow a business.

Kenny goes straight to WordPress. Philly resurrects Kent's SEO consultancy and creates a ranking for SEO experts in the world. It's the end of 2018 - is your content plan ready for 2019? Is your ad plan ready for late 2019 or early 2020?

Phil and Kenny talk price elasticity and the value of knowing how much you can or should discount.

A re-take on a botched episode. The guys talk about taking on bigger projects, bringing on people they can trust to outsource. An open invite for Linda Webb to jump on the show. Shout out to Rachel Farewell and her social media magic skills.

A fullplate - Philly talks about the ups and downs as a contractor. The evolution of freelance - when you start choosing who you work with, and what happiness looks like.

An apology to Kent, the importance of cash flow and what happens when you get a customer that doesn't pay you or the business goes bonkers

All laughs and SEO. Phil talks keywords and organic SEO, how to find, build and rank keywords for your business. This one is a good episode to check out on Youtube. Phil goes through keyword planner, how to check your competition for keywords and what you're supposed to do with keywords.

Content Marketing. What does it really mean? Getting past the gobbly gook and getting into what makes a consumer pay attention to your brand. Phil talks about helping Laura Dunkley teach Content Marketing 101 and Kenny pushes for "what the heck am I supposed to do?" The benefits of digital media versus old world market message testing. The love for Satya continues from last episode. Kenny gets excited and starts thinking about things. Geo-tagging the bar and the importance of video.

Phil plugs Wave for Small Businesses (www.waveapps.com) and dreads tax season and accounting for his business. Phil and Kenny talk about how amazing small business are and the potentials for explosive growth. Free plug for Satya.ca, Quest Vitamins and Pink Solution. Kenny jokes about cutting Linda Webb lose, but Philly won't talk about it. They talk about return on investment and proper spending in the right buckets to make businesses grow. Sara Carvalho and her magic photography skills gets the Commercial Drive coffee really great photos.

What retailers value and how to deliver it without giving everything away. Phil talks about helping a brand be valuable to a retailer while still keeping profit in their pocket. Phil talks about Kenny's coffee and the duo talks about how freelancers network and work together.

Plugs this week to Vive Social and their founder Shnane Liem, a wonderful all round wonderful person.

The Linda Webb love fest continues. This week we catch up with the fabulous Laura Dunkley who tells us about her marketing and PR skills and the ONE Network, the Mississauga Business Enterprise Centre and free resources for up and coming entrepreneurs.

A walk down buyer-memory-lane. Kenny and Phil talk pricing, pitch decks and what makes a buyer cranky. They reminisce the old days and the power of a good team. Kenny celebrates freedom and they both wonder if having their faces on Youtube negates any SEO benefits. Shout out this week to yellcanada.org

Old school trade shows, cricket powder, Youtube, and brand takeovers. Phil talks about his experience at Pet Connections Expo, calls out some brands, and talks about crickets. Kenny is being strategic and ditches some roles to keep himself happy. Brand callouts to https://www.petconexpo.com, http://www.jiminys.com/, https://www.apetwithpaws.com/

This episode starts rough. Phil pushes his luck, Kenny spends 20 minutes getting on the internet. Phil and Kenny talk about winning the holidays and Phil's webinar with Intelocate on "Hacking the Holidays, Keep calm and retail on." Phil shares a pro tip for when to get great discounts to buy an item.

Kenny tells a funny story about Black Friday Sales . Phil loves Linda Webb some more, and introduces Kenny's friend (Linda) to Kenny's friend (Shnane). Kenny's at the Gangzhou Fair, and Phil's going to Pet Connections Expo

Our first Youtube video on content creation and social media testing...Phil, Jim and Laurie go to M'eat, a big thank you to Linda for looking after Kenny. Shout outs to Pro lab and Linda Webb, M'eat, Shopland Health podcast, Laura Dunkley, Intelocate, UpperCase and Openphone

Check out the content portion of our podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iYNxMUFJAY

Are marketers uncaring opportunists? Maybe, but we're really nice people. Really. Intricacies of a price increase, What A/B testing really means.

School gets started, Philly is looking for live test subjects. Basic PR steps for holiday season, webinar secrets and Philly and Ken reveal their GOT obsession

Kenny forgets Phil. Phil gets ready for school, Cathy gets her house back. The importance of building the retail equation, Amazon buy box, seller central and buyer central

Seriously, wtf is content and how do we do it?? Kenny conquers the mic, Phil gives away his batch of Mama Vannucci's biscotti to Linda. Building content involves following the data. Call outs: Jim and Laurie at Shopland Health (https://goo.gl/XE35if), Laura Dunkley @lauraldunkley, @jaykana that runs Modern Mississauga Magazine, and Diego Cortes @edge.

The podcast ditches Skype, we talk threesomes and Zoom, the anatomy of a sales deck, and ageism in the retail industry.

Who wins? Kenny or the microphone? Content strategy and how to reach a wider audience. We go deep on promotional spend, and knowing when to jump in with your Customer.

Free plugs to Luciano Scatozza, Sandra Milligan, MBEC and Askuity....just for being wonderful people!

What tomato plants and retail have in common. PR - how to make it happen, what to do with it when it does. Private label, sangria and angry Italian men

This is a packed episode.

What now? Where to drive traffic if Facebook isn't it - Phil talks about alternatives and how to take control of your impressions and reach.

Always selling your brand? Keep doing it, the role of brokers. Don't rely on anyone else to have your sell story. Phil talks about the importance of a sales deck, what a broker can and cannot do for you.

Shout out to the Mississauga Business Enterprise Center The folks at @MississaugaEDO doing good things for entrepreneurs. There's an SBEC near almost everybody in Canada. Go find them. Special shout out to @lauraldunkley for her unending job of teaching digital knowledge.

Retail price people! Phil interupts Kenny mid-rant. They talk retail pricing, distributors, direct to store door delivery, high/low and Every Day Low Price strategies.

Kenny wanders through Big Sky Country and gets a new sound. We talk small town businesses and the benefit of having someone with a different point of view. Phil gets excited about Flexday

Mama Vannucci's biscotti, Phil gets paid, Kenny is on the road, doing what's right for the customer and what happens when buyers get together

Influencers and Microphones. Kenny is on point! Kenny ups his social game, Phil and Kenny talk cannabis, and three cool apps make the list this week.

They talk useful apps this week - TOGGL, Canva, Snapseed make their list, as does Google Alerts.

Kenny keeps his clothes on, Phil distracts Kenny with new apps that every entrepreneur needs. Wait for it...Phil plays Project Manager

Our guest, Kelly Ison talks about the importance of strategy and vision, and lessons learned. Kelly and Kenny pick on Phil's corporate ways. They talk about Einstein Pet's success, and what's next. To find out more about Einstein Pet, head to https://www.einsteinpets.com/

Einstein Pets is proud to be a sponsored perk for "Pet Fooled 2.0", the “Pet Fooled” sequel. The campaign and fundraising perks for purchase can be found here: https://igg.me/at/Yu-X8hDTGFk/x/18621731

Phil and Kenny are all over the place this week. They talk Penny Profit vs lowest price, Mary Meeker's Internet Report, the lonely life of an entrepreneur and Google's Adword review policies.

Mary Meeker's Internet Trends Report can be found here. http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends

Do you know the cost of your products? Phil left speechless by Kenny's story. Google Adwords driving traffic, but the right audience? We answer questions from last week, the power you wield as the leader of your company.

How to beat the Amazon effect, the sports industry, and Einstein Pets. Phil and Kenny talk experiential and how small biz wins.

Kenny gets embarrassed, Phil and Kenny walk through the difference between markup and margin, Phil tells you where not to drop your drawers. The two walk through Google ads, how to drive traffic to Kenny's webiste.

Phil geeks out and gets excited about email marketing. Kenny and Phil talk about how important it is to be able to outsource things and to learn new things

Kenny talks about being useless and Phil bestows him the title of 'Retail Badass' Kenny abolishes the term 'retail mark-up' and Phil talks about his crazy sleep patterns

Guest episode. In honor of #smallbusinessweek Kent comes on the show and Kenny and Phil get super excited about cash flow, out of stocks, assortment planning.

Kenny re-orders biscotti, Phil feels left out because his mom doesn't make him cookies, so he talks about his webinar with Askuity instead. Both Kenny and Phil love Ikea's Omnichannel experience. They're also looking for their Japanese listeners - if you're listening from Japan, you could get some of Nona Vannucci's biscotti.

Kenny and Phil decide they have faces made for radio. Phil talks about meeting openphone and Kenny complains about Phil's cool friends. It's Q&A episode, Kenny and Phil answer some listener questions on cash flow, and where to buy 420 grasshopper gourmet.

We talk to a super smart guest, Lia Ollo who shares a little bit of her brain with us. We talk about Point of Sale systems, what small business owners need to worry about and how to choose a POS system. Want the inside scoop on one of the biggest pain points in your retail space? Tune in here!

Something a little bit different. We had this discussion at the end of recording the next podcast, so it seemed logical to put this out before the next podcast. (Make sense?) Facebook. The cost of personal data, #deleteFacebook. Kenny and Phil and special guest Lia Olla talk about Facebook's gaffes and what it means to them.

Kenny and Phil get into the secret dialogue buyer's have when brands present products. Phil talks about getting yelled by his buyer, and Kenny and Phil talk about the benefit of bringing your buyer into your plans early for a strategic advantage. Phil spends some time with Askuity, and Ecobee, and he's super impressed with both companies. Kenny is waiting for images so he can keep pushing Grasshopper forward.

Traveling podcasters. Phil is in Orlando at Global Pet Expo and Kenny is in Portland. Voodoo donuts, pet store owners, and how brands drive online traffic to their retailers. Kenny has a rant about boring retail.

Phil and Kenny talk about the anxiety of being small business owners. Phil talks about the lessons he's teaching at Global Pet Expo and being alone.

They talk about Ecommerce and what small business can do to in ecommerce that helps them grow their business. They also talk Google analytics, and how to get more data to be able to run the business.

Phil talks about leaving Hubba, shifting to being a consultant and what that means and how he wants to help. Kenny and Phil talk about people losing jobs and how to approach the first six months. Phil explains what the heck omnichannel means, and Kenny confirms he's not dead.

Kenny talks about results from the tradeshow, and retailers reaction to his new product launch. A plan to gather the community at the coffeebar - is this what small business needs? Last but not least, what do to when you get listed? (hint: Phil thinks you should stop celebrating and get back to work!)

Phil and Kenny try a new format - they talk about an article written by the @RetailProphet on paid loyalty (article is here http://Thscommercelife.shortcm.li/HZdRqs) and how that could apply to small business. They also talk tradeshow season and what to think about, how to be ready.

Phil tells the story about meeting a friend for lunch and the perils of perception. Kenny and Phil talk price fixing bread and the fine line between 'managing retails' and actually collusion and price fixing. They also talk about Facebook and the recent changes to the newsfeed and what it might mean to small businesses running Facebook ads.

Kenny and Phil talk about keeping Kenny's coffee brand up to date and current, and they talk the future of retail. Phil talks about Hubba's latest whitepaper and how SMB's are going to win. They talk experiential and find out they both love Donald's market.

Check out Kenny's Commercial Drive Coffee Company here: https://www.facebook.com/thedrivecoffee/

Check out Hubba's whitepaper here: http://bit.ly/2GwfkPs

Visit Donald's Market: http://www.donaldsmarket.com/

Brokers can be a key component of your sales strategy if you know when to use them. Jim Shopland from www.shoplandhealth.ca joins Kenny and Phil to talk brokers, when to engage them, and how they can help you gain an inside track to working with retailers. Find out the difference between brokers and distributors and more.

This episode talks about concept to creation. Kenny and Phil get into distribution strategy, pricing, minimum order quantities, case quantities, and the perils of success and failure. They talk about things like expiry dates, how fast a brand needs to move, and how excited they get about doing new things like this.

Phil and Kenny talk small business and knowing when to size up, and when to quit. They talk about two brands - one that's growing but too ambitious, and the other that's been working hard at it, but should probably choose another path.

Phil and Kenny are also looking for listeners to chime in. What do you want these two to talk about? Is there something you're working on?

Phil and Kenny talk Whole Foods and their move to "pay for play." They talk about promotional costs and how "pay for play" affects indie brands. They also take apart all the different costs associated for listing products in traditional grocery, store operations, and planograms. Funny story about Phil's first experience calling on a buyer.

Phil and Kenny talk Walmart and Amazon and holiday shopping and what bricks and mortar can do to keep sales from going online completely. They share a laugh about going from being "against" Walmart for most of their careers to now celebrating some of Walmart's successes.

Phil and Kenny talk about retail apocalypse and what Sears employees bring to the marketplace. They also talk about the importance of meaningful relationships in commerce and even spend some time talking about the Hip.

Our first episode of This Commerce Life. Get to know Phil and Kenny and what we'll bring to your podcast life! Find out a little about us and what we can do to help your commerce life.