Ep. 023 – From Military Chef to Industry Chef with Michael Bunn, Sr. Manager of Product Dev. and QA at Sam’s Club

For today’s episode, we have Chef Michael Bunn, Senior Manager of Sam’s Club where he takes on a Quality and an R and D role.

This guy has an amazing food career. From culinary school in the military, to academia, to being a research Chef, so many things. This guy loves what he does.

The RCA loves this dude too. He’s had articles published about him, and Kim also has a great podcast about him as well.

Enjoy Chef Bunn’s interview, where we talk about chef school, retorting, and…Baltimore crab…

About Chef Michael Bunn

As a former military cook and current Sam;’s Club senior quality and product development manager, semper fidelis- the “always faithful” motto of the Marines – guides Michael Bunn’s life and work.

I cannot do this justice, but this amazing article about the Chef will be the best bio I’ve ever seen.

http://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/rca/2016_09_01/index.php?startid=1#/30

Key Takeaways

• Why Mike decided to go into research instead of being a chef
• Whether Mike enjoys Product Developing versus Quality
• What the heck is Clean Label? How do Chefs help the clean label trend
• How to ship Baltimore crab to your house
• Why the industry is looking for both chefs and food scientists

What We Talk About

Being a Chef
Culinary School in the Marine Corps
Culinary and Hospitality Management
University of Akron, Ohio
Food Science at Akron, Ohio
University of Cincinnati Food Science Program
The Werner Company Retort Intern (company disbanded)
JR Simplot
Masters Degree in Food Science in Kansas State
Sam’s Club
Retorting
MREs
Private Label
Research Chef Association
Important Skills: Communication, Networking, Flexibility. Be Humble
Interview Article for the Culinology Magazine
Food Trends: High Pressure Processing versus Thermal Processing
Sous Vide
Ramen egg
Biggest Challenge we need to face: Sodium and Clean label
How Mike talks about Clean Label: Depends who’s asking. Panera Bread, Subway have different views for instance
What Mike wants to learn more about: GMO’s, Sodium
Who inspired you to get into food?: His grandmother
Quote: Poor Planning equals Poor Results
Book: Culinology Book: Interaction between culinary arts and food science (actually called this)
Kitchen Item: Hand blender
Favorite Food: Sea food. Crabs and Shrimp. Steam garlic crab, whole boiled crab.
Baltimore Crab (they will ship live to you)
Google: Live crab for sale online (Maryland)
Mayland Blue Crab Express
Advice about the food industry: for the chef Learn the craft and skill set very well