Blog & Article Archive 2024 7 Ways AI is Changing the Food Industry TODAY – Notes From the Food AI Summit2023 How I Built This Podcasts of Food Company Stories Want your snack food startup to get acquired for millions by SnackFutures? 7 top natural food trends for 2023 – a list of lists2022 Those Drink Machines Are Money-Making Machines California Homebased Cottage Food Business Law is Even Better in 2022 12 Specialty Foods That Powered My Cross Country Road Trip During Covid2021 Will a New Whole Foods Market Increase Oakland Home Values Even With Online Grocery Ordering ? How an Oakland Home-based Restaurant Runs a Healthy Soup Business You Get More Fruit Flies With Fruit 7 Food Funding, Selling, Pitching Opportunities in APRIL 2021 Food Business Reflections From 2020 (Part 1: Re-imagining Good Food Business) Wisdom From Food Business Leaders for 2021 and Beyond (Part 2: Re-imagining Good Food Business) Good Food Business Ideas For the Post Pandemic World (Part 3: Re-imagining Good Food Business) Future Thinking on Food Business and Your Life (Part 4: Re-imagining Good Food Business) Watch the 2021 Good Food Awards Online It’s Amazing How Food Packaging Typography Relates To Perception 2021 Specialty Food Trade Shows Online and IN PERSON (Gasp!)2020 Create an Energy Bar Business the Easy Way – Find a Co-packer To Produce Bars For You Good Food Award Finalists in 2021 Best Cities for Coffee Lovers 2020 + Coffee Trends Natural Products Expo Online – Spark Change is the Name Sell Your Products On Instagram With Square Books About How to Sell and Develop Specialty and Natural Food Products Thrive Market Expanded Its Online Organic Delivery During the Pandemic Why I Installed Sliding Metal Drawers in ALL My Kitchen Cabinets and How To Do It Easily Set Up an Online Store With Pickup and Local Delivery Food Trends Changed Drastically Due to COVID-19 Dry January is good for everyone – especially beverage makers See the package design trend specialty food brands are rocking in 2020 Trends and new food picks from the Winter 2020 Fancy Food Show after relentless tasting Winners & Losers From the European Food Tariffs Social Food Entrepreneur Talks About Inspiration for Kuli Kuli Bars2019 Best and Worst Food Trends of the Decade Perfect Storms in 2019 Changed the Landscape of California Specialty Food Stores These Charming Food Jar Labels Have a Few Awesome Things in Common This Austrian Cheesemaker Puts the A in Artisanal How Small Food Startups Can Grow With 3 Big Food Business Accelerators What’s the Best Online Store System For Selling Food ? Here’s Why You Need the Unicorn of Kitchen Gadgets – A Vitamix Blender 7 Sweet Food Branding & Packaging Picks – 2019 Fancy Food Show & Good Food Awards Best New Food Products of 2019 at the Winter Fancy Foods Show & Good Food Awards The Year of the Bee, Honey and Hemp2018 Costco’s Gone Wild With Holiday Food Gifts How to Handle Threats of Bad Reviews or Customer Scams Should Trader Joe’s Run the Country? Um, No. Plastic in 90% of Table and Sea Salts? Disgusting. Radical 3D Printed Drink Inclusions – The Latest in Culinary Entertainment A Visit to Cafe Ohlone – Reclaiming and Celebrating Indigenous Cuisine RECIPE: Low Carb Fresh Cranberry Sauce When All Else Fails: Think Recycled Bag Designed to Be a Rag Are There Really Cursed Retail Locations? The Ancient Superfood Ingredient Everyone Needs to Chew On What Happens to Boba Tea With the Plastic Straw Bans? RECIPE: Crazy Rich Pumpkin Walnut Bread How to Start a Microenterprise Homemade Meal Business in California 9 Sidewalk Chalkboard Signs Made to Stop, Laugh and Shop Innovative & Irresistible Food Trends & Tastes at the Summer 2018 Fancy Food Show RECIPE: Amazing Apricot Upside Down Olive Oil Cake Retail Community Idea: A Small Town General Store With Cheer Good Food Industry Events 2018 Specialty Food Trend Predictions vs Reality If My Phone Could Talk (Or: Lessons in Paying Attention) Even More Amazing Heirloom Quality Cacao Beans + a Taste of Guittard Chocolate History What’s the Best Place to Live To Start a Food Business? 2018 Winter Fancy Food Show Picks & Discoveries Delicious 2018 Good Food Award Winners with Great Food & Packaging Convenience Store Pilot Tests Show How to Increase Better-for-You Snack Sales 2018 Food Startup To Do List Getting Your Food Seen On Amazon2017 Pressing Issues Facing Food Startups Our Trader Joe’s Food History Book & Cocktail Party Was a Hit – How To Have One Fantasizing About Instant Food Why Can’t I Get My Food Business Started? The Day Amazon Took Over Whole Foods He’s a startup guy. He ate ramen and oreos for 3 years straight while building his ecommerce startup. Unusual Specialty Food Finds at the Summer 2017 Fancy Food Show Before You Start a Food Business From Scratch Some Genius Innovators Creating the Future of Food Tips For Planning Your Business Legacy Women Entrepreneurs Sweep 2017 Specialty Food Awards 7 Notable Natural Snacks at Expo West 2017 The Accurate Way to Test Cannabis Edibles A Case For Capitalism As a Force of Good – Expo West Keynote My Favorite Brand & New Product at the 2017 Natural Products Expo This Humble Bakery Chain is Yelp’s Best Restaurant In the Country Interesting Tidbits From Natural Products Expo West 2017 Insights On the Plant-based Meat Trend Fun New Twist on a Popular Treat at Expo West 2017 Tasty Heirloom Chocolate Varieties: The Next Thing in Terroir Listen to 4 Food Business Pitches @ the Fancy Food Show Oh That Italian Knack for Package & Brand Design 12 Sweet Discoveries at the 2017 Winter Fancy Food Show Updates on 5 Specialty Food Entrepreneurs Who Pitched on Shark Tank Will the Fancy Food Show Reveal the Ultimate Healthy Snack? Good News for Food Startups in Japan – Good Food, Great Business in Japanese We Eat Well Thanks to Women Food Industry Leaders2016 Are Your Customers Looking for Old Favorites or New Experiences? Amazon Primed to Take a Bite Out of Snacks Free to Blog Thanks To A Couple of Free Apps Beverage Flavor Trends for 2017 Get 0% interest loans for your U.S. food business with Kiva Food & Beverage Companies On the 2016 Inc 500 List The Joy of Regional Food – That’s Only Local A perfect mashup of comfort food flavor and specialty food What people eat for breakfast at Starbucks You Can’t Buy Publicity Like This Can I start a home-based food business with pets in the house? [FoodStarter Q&A] How do ice cream businesses in cold places make it? Price is Not Why Whole Foods 365 May Win Trader Joe’s Shoppers Who Knew We NEEDED Extra Long Fluffy Cheesy Corn Puffs? Proof That Packaging Can Make the Product Favorite Natural Food & Packaging Finds at 2016 Expo West – PHOTO GALLERY What does hand crafted and small batch mean…and does it matter? 7 Fizzy Fruity and Functional Drinks, Craft Booze and Other Drinkable Finds for 2016 Intriguing Natural Ingredients Picks From the 2016 Fancy Food Show / Good Food Show American Apple Cider is Going To Keep Growing2015 The Oven Broke on Christmas and No One Cared (Sign of the Food Trends) The Problem With Crafting a Company Story That’s Beyond Your Actual Craft A Big Fun Idea for Changing How Kids Eat. And Think. And Make Decisions. Stay at My Huge Airbnb in Oakland & Get Connected to the Bay Area Food Scene What do you think Natural Food is? 5 Reasons Why It’s Not Bad to Miss a Day Blogging Everyone Should Shop Online With This Ridiculously Easy Way to Save Try These 3 Old-Fashioned Polite Phrases For a Week Susie on the Street: Poly pizzary For Love of Sequim’s Lavender Honey & Hairy Bees Cherished Memories of Coffee and Joy in Paris Susie on the Street: Does Italian coffee need to be hacked? Susie on the Street: Applying the Lean Startup method to food development What the Good Food Awards Judging Felt Like Susie on the Street: The champagne story we all wanted to believe Susie on the Street: How quickly is your town changing? Susie on the Street: Do you ever do something you shouldn’t? Susie on the Street: When Does Old Become Vintage? Susie on the Street: What’s the Future of Food? It’s In Your Hands! Susie on the Street: For the Love of Glazed Old Fashioned Doughnuts Susie on the Street: From Refugee Journalist to Cookbook Author Susie on the Street: Bullish on Costco, For Food Makers & Stock Susie on the Street: The Bacon-Cancer Story Smells Like Hogwash Ideas For Buzz-worthy, Crave-worthy Food Mashups The Portland Artisan Food Scene is Real – and It’s Fabulous Learn How to Create Italian Artisan Foods – IN ITALY! Why You Should Always Get a Second Opinion The Problem With Knowing the Solution Stonewall Kitchen’s Amazing Journey Continues Time to Enter the 2016 Good Food Awards! (Till July 31) Who Woulda Thunk It Moments at the 2015 Summer Fancy Food Show Those darn drains, an epiphany, and a Fancy Food Show book giveaway 7 must-know food business news bites & a good supermarket idea Yes, There are Seafood Bargain Shoppers! Want to Expand Your Food Sales With a Regional Distributor? Free Cookie Friday (Well, May 15 Anyway) Love This: Underserved Youth Chefing for Special Needs Prom Searching for the right CRM is a vast amount of info to wade through Join This Online Conference For Creative Businesses – May 14-16, 2015 Why Does an Organic Eater Keep Going Back to See’s Candies? Rediscovering the Unfettered Joy of Mobile Blogging Listeria is a (Food Business) Killer Is Your Website Impacted By Google’s Major Mobile Ranking Change? From Farm to Fashion: the sustainable accessory answer to nose to tail eating Why Sonoma Syrup is a Great Business The Secret Sauce Behind Successful Small Food Businesses The Joys of Being an Artisan Food Crafter: Hello Seasonal, Small Batch SF Food Entrepreneurs – Save April 18 for a great book event Q1 2015 Food Trends Wrapup: From Bone Broth to Nut Butter Meet 3 Food Company Founders Who Get It [PHOTOS] Where to Become a Wine, Beer, Food Science or Honey Expert This Girl Genius Food Entrepreneur Makes Me Smile Answers To Your Recent Food Business Questions 2015 Food Trends Podcast with Dear Handmade Life Building a FoodStarter Team So You Found Awesome Compostable Biodegradable Packaging The Power of Partnerships for Production and Marketing Trending at the Winter 2015 Fancy Food Show: Trend Reports and Lots of Snacks Good Food Awards 2015 in Pictures 3 Women-Led Food Businesses Talk Success and Best Practices at the Commonwealth Club How Hodo Soy Beanery, Allstar Organics and Nana Joes Granola Got to Where They Are Good Food Anthem & a Hilarious Speech by Olympic Provisions Secret Recipe for a Successful Cooking Party Business2014 How Do You Test an Aphrodisiac Food Like Pandora’s Pops ? Do your recipes and food photos violate these so-over trends? The magic power I’d like is to clone myself for these Q1 2015 food events On the Radio! A Show About Food Business FoodStarter Photo Story: Lucy’s Granola SF Ferry Building – 3-Food Producer Panel & Book Signing | Dec 13, 2014 Is this why we love pizza so much? Are you the next Chobani? What, a future without chocolate? Stop the madness Ingredients Tip: Sourcing Clean Nuts 3 Feel Good Food Business Stories How to Hire for Your Trade Show Booth Why One Smart Cookie is Rocking the American Made Contest How a Few Artisans Make Their Food Products, from Home to Commercial Kitchen Shark Tank for Food Inventions – CASTING THIS WEEK Organic Candy Bars & Chocolate Nut Butter Cups Abound Enter the 2014 Martha Stewart American Made Awards NOW Foods Behaving Badly Has the Sriracha rooster jumped the shark? Notes from the Summer 2014 Fancy Food Show How Much to Put in Packages? Look to M&M Candy Fruitilicious 2014 Specialty Food Awards Finalists Ask the Right Questions to Find the Right Answers Lessons Learned From Changing NuttyFig.com to FoodStarter.com Bee Mindful When Making Almond-Based Foods Cleaning With Vinegar – A Natural for Natural Businesses 5 Food Business Things to Know – April Craftcation Conference – Where Crafts & Food Craft Intersect Food Trends from 2014 Natural Products Expo West How a New Yogurt Company Got My Attention (It’s the Beard) Royally Good Organic Shortbread From Across the Pond Food Trend Soup – Just a Few 2014 Winter Fancy Food Show Trends In Anticipation of the 2014 Winter Fancy Food Show2013 Artisanal Doesn’t Mean Poor and Business Doesn’t Mean You Have to Grow Customized Lip Balm – Artisanal Meets Alchemy Solving the Food Desert Problem With Common Sense – California FreshWorks Fund 2014 Good Food Confections & Chocolate Finalists – Just in Time for the Holidays Award-Winning Hot Sauce for Charity – Meet Palo Alto Firefighters Hot Sauce How Annie’s Homegrown Triumphed and Avoided Selling Out by Having Customers Buy In Skip the Beer Brewing, Skip the Calories…Make a Mint 5 Creative Problem Solving Tips From a Growing Food Business [Guest Post] Product Idea: Popular Food Not Available In the U.S. Inside the Wonderful Organic OCHO Candy Bar Non-GMO Cane Sugar Syrup Instead of Corn Syrup in Candy The Couple That Grows Together Jams Together : Pennington Farms Profile Good Food Awards Confections Tips for 2014 How Small Food Businesses Can Get Help From Shared & Crowdsourced Services Ready To Exhibit at a Food Tradeshow – or Not ? What Do Farmers Drive to Market ? Are You Selling Instant Maple Oatmeal or Cobbler Topper? It’s a Good Time For New York Food Entrepreneurs Food Entrepreneur Update: The Cookie Department’s Well-Baked Strategy It’s Not Imperfect, It’s Artisanal (Or, It’s Artisanal, Stupid) 5 Tips for Working With Professional Food Photographers Ah-Ah-Ah Chia! Natural Foods Ingredients Trends at ExpoWest 2013 10 Food Product Highlights at ExpoWest 2013 Quinn Popcorn – My ExpoWest 2013 All Around Product Pick Doughnut shop or ice cream shop ? Wild Caught Tuna Anyone Can Open: Product Review Food Businesses Could Spend March Food Tripping California Many Good Food Trends at 2013 Winter Fancy Food Show How to Prep for Entering the Good Food Awards (and Any Food Awards) A Damn Fine Week to Research Your Food Business Wisconsin Organic Caramels Discovery – Becky’s Blissful Bakery Review2012 Good Food Awards Coffee Finalists Bucket List Good Food Award Finalists Announced! Here’s My Take Bay Area Food Artisans : #1 Baia Pasta – Thanksgiving Macaroni? Crafting the Perfect Food Gift Pack A Great Month For Good Food Very Cool Free Retail Space Opp for Bay Area Food Entrepreneurs Add Drama to Starting Your Food Business – On a Reality Show! California Passed the Homemade Food Act ! How to Manage Your New Goat Herd With Cool Tech Fun Way to Test Drive Your Chef Potential A Cheesemaker’s Story Local & Organic Candy Makers – Enter the Good Food Awards – Aug 15-31, 2012 At Oaktown Spice Shop Spice is the Variety of Life Artisan Food Delivered – A Twist On the CSA Idea The Cheapest Commercial Kitchen in San Francisco – Make It Happen Start a Pickle n Kraut Company – Learn at the Food Craft Institute Cafes, Coffee, Loitering and Laptops : A Love Story Pinterest: Secret Ingredient for Food Marketers Bar Gelato – Local Ice Cream On the Go How 2 Food Entrepreneurs Kick Started With Kickstarter California Homemade Food Act – Epic Progress Scone Baker Keeps It Sweet and Simple Where Chocolate Easter Bunnies Come From Oregon Cheese Festival 2012 Discoveries Cookies for the People! Good Business Case Study: Coppenrath Cookie Bakery Want to Start a Preserves Business? Here’s One Way… Fancy Food Show Exhibiting Success Tips from Coach Maz Do You Shoot Figs? My Winter Fancy Food Un-trend List Good Food Awards + Fancy Food Show Celebrate the Makers Teaching Your Craft – Do Food Products & Classes Compete ? Built to Last: 135 Marzipan Makers and Niederegger2011 Tis the Season for Good Food Synchronicity No Brainer Food Gift Basket Idea That Keeps On Giving Celebrate the Power of One – Awesome Gifts from Single-Food Businesses Hot off the Chocolate Press: 2012 Valrhona Vintage Bar Hits San Francisco Spice-capies – Ex-Corporate Gone Spice Entrepreneurs Cottage Food Laws Keep the Home Stoves Burning What is Artisan Food Anyway? It’s Not… Thoughts on Food Day From a Privileged Bay Area Dweller How to Make Bean to Bar Chocolate the DIY Way California Cottage Food Law – What If? Interviews Infused Cocktails Now Legal in California – Cheers to Jerry Brown Starting Something Big in the Middle of Somewhere Small – Mary’s Gone Crackers Choose Your Food Business Investors Carefully The Dramas of Food Entrepreneurship ala Entourage Mast Brothers Chocolate Sets Sail on a Chocolate Making Adventure Memorable Fancy Food Show Pairings Mainely Good Food at sofi Awards – Summer 2011 Food Crafters – Enter the 2012 Good Food Awards ! Oh the sofi Silver Award Winners I Have Known Third Coast Coffee Roasting Tour in Austin Barilla Tortellini Foodbuzz “Cinque Colore” Feast Raising Money for a Farm or Food Business A Tale of Two Marin Organic Farms Debut at 2 San Francisco Underground Markets My Fair Farmer’s Market Shopper 2011 Chocolate Salon: Conversations With Chocolatiers Can Bakers Make Cookies for Medical Marijuana Dispensaries? Spring Diet Secret: Splurge on Good Food Italian Onion Soup ala Barilla Tortellini Sunflower Seed Butter : Make or Buy ? Food Entrepreneur Profile: The Cookie Department Requests Your Appetite The Art of Winging It In Food and Business Starting a Successful CSA – Tips from the California Small Farm Conference Food Entrepreneur Profile: Nory Locum Turkish Delight Good Cashews, Bad Weather – That’s Nuts+Nuts Jewish Deli is San Francisco’s Hot New Food. Yes Really. Careers for Women in Chocolate: A Panel Discussion A Bay Area Chocolate History Keep Your Eyes Peeled for a New Orange What do Telltale Preserves, Poco Dolce, & Au Coeur de Chocolats have in common? Starting a Food Movement: Lessons from 2010 Leaders2010 Feed Your Soul With Year End Donations 5 Reasons to Live Like Julia Child Free & Food-ish Bay Area Shopping Picks – Dec 10-12 Food Entrepreneur Profile: From Chinese to Chocolate Salt’s Cure : My Last Meal in L.A. You’ll Never Forget Your First Finger Lime Good Food Awards Finalists Announced! Fun Los Angeles Food Events: Nov 12-14 Slow Food Meets Food Craft Visual Food Writing – My New Commitment! Meet a Citron and Buddha’s Hand Grower – Nov 7th in Berkeley Small Giant Zingerman’s Guided by a Vision Making It Easy to Preserve Organic Farm Bounty Walnuts to Walnut Oil, a Visit to Glashoff Family Farm Great Oakland & LA Food Events – October 23-24 Making the Daily Candy Top Cookies List Sea Salt Caramel Innovation Gluten Free Cheddar Cheese Crackers Poll: Influential Food Thinkers Over 40 Soozie’s Boozies: Early Lessons Learned Finding Ingredient Sources for Your Food Business Discoveries from Food Travels in Ann Arbor, Chicago & Madison Learn, Eat, Imbibe – Late Sept. Bay Area Events Owen’s Creek Olive Oil at Zingerman’s Making Change & Chocolate Great Ideas from the Street Food Conference Walnut Harvest Tour – Brentwood CA Oct 17 Cupcakes & Product Design @ UC Berkeley Eat Real – The Perfect Summer Food Festival Many Ate Well @ Street Food SF & Will Eat Real This Weekend Great Contest – From Daily Candy Making to Daily Candy The Elmwood in Berkeley – Come for Jeremy’s, Stay for the Food East Bay Underground Market Goes Outdoors Homeroom Cooks Up a Community-Powered Mac & Cheese Restaurant LA Food Fest – A Taste of Street Food Trucks Amazing East Coast Food Job Postings Which Weekend Farmers’ Markets to Visit in Los Angeles? Fun Food Job: Sensory Manager @ Amy’s Kitchen Bay Area Food Festivals in August How to Smoke a Brisket Texas Style – Step by Step New Amsterdam Market – Early Summer From Lisa’s Cookie Shop to Emmy’s Gift Bags Visit to Krugerrand Farms – Farmstead Goat Cheese Maker Foodie Gamers – Try This Cheesy Game Amazing Muffins in Portland Oregon – Random Coffee Foodie Heaven in Southern Oregon – Rogue Creamery & Lillie Belle Farms Tasting Rooms Caramelized Peanut Fantasies Local Food in Oakland with Happy Girl Kitchen – and Great Party Ideas Pistachio Lovers Note – Feb 26th is National Pistachio Day! Underground Farmer’s Market Not So Underground2009 2010 Food Related Goals Best Gourmet Food Cyber Monday Sale The Best Unique Food Gifts for 2009 Holidays – Part 1 Walnut Baking Contest Amazing Coffee Chocolate Candy Pick Me Upper How did I become a foodie? Tasting the Original Spanish Horchata in Valencia McDonald’s: My Friend in Valencia Spain Delicious Cheap Lunch in Valencia Spain Creative Candy Ideas from Spain Cook at Chez Panisse Fresh Fava Beans – Worth the Effort Fig Season! Pig Roasts in Berkeley ? Ce N’est Pas Un Peep Perfect Berkeley Food Tour What makes a coffee worth $3.50? Gouda Gone Good The Ultimate Food Writers’ Workshop – Feb 25 in SF How to Eat Well on a Roadtrip Start a Food Business Based on a Tradition?2008 Counterfeit Chocolates! Sweet Holiday Food Gifts on Foodzie Let Them Eat Parmesan! Tomato Fight Comes Home to Roost Tired of Pluots? Stay Tuned for Peacotums Local Thanksgiving Dinner. Does Costco Count? What I Want for Christmas: Artisan Salt & Pepper Grinders Red Walnuts: Favorite Seasonal Discovery Learn to Make Creative Iced Cakes and Cookies at La Cocina Alemany Farmers Market in San Francisco – A Must Visit! St George Spirits Orange Creamsicle – DIY Not DUI Heritage Turkeys Running Out! (SF Bay Area) A Life Lived Fully Cowgirl Creamery Cottage Cheese Compared to Steak Scharffen Berger Chocolate’s Cacao Expert Shares… Ancient Spice in the Cupboard Discoveries at Cheese Plus Harvest Festival Obama’s Stars in “Bean There” America’s Future Food Capitals Canvas Underground / Ghetto Gourmet Restaurant Experience Cheese Plus Fall Harvest Festival in San Francisco Niman Gets His Goat Coolest Job Ever: Livestock Manager at Skywalker Ranch Growing Esrogs for Sukkot (October 14) Fall Day at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market Local Food Movement Invigorating Local Economies New York Bargain Eats: Sahadi International Market Citron Cooking and Learning With Slow Food A Fig Obsession Up to Her Ears in Tomatoes Ferry Plaza – Meet Juniper Ridge "Western Wild Goods" Slow Food Event in Berkeley – Sept 28 Tribute to Robert Steinberg of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker Special Deal on Drunken Chocolate Figs from John & Kira’s La Cocina – Incubating Heavenly Goodness Hey, Mrs. Tangerine Woman Visit Harley Farms – Delicious Award-Winning Goat Cheese Want to Start an Online Artisan Food Business? Slow Food Nation Highlights San Francisco Food Lovers Event @ La Cocina in September Veldhuizen Farmstead Cheese, Discovered at Slow Food Nation Patric Chocolate from Missouri – Discovery! When Is Food Not Slow? June Taylor Jams Demo Event in Berkeley – August 29 Taza Chocolates Graber Olives – Old Time Obscure California Goodness2004 Real Time Anecdotes from a Culinary Adventurer, Slow Food Fanatic, and self-professed glutton : January 2004
