Phil Saneski has worked in Michelin-Star and James Beard Award finalist kitchens. He led the launch of the Research Chefs Association Upcycled Foods product development student competition–the world’s first event focused on manufacturing byproducts. His curiosity about ingredients historically considered “waste,” and his passion for formulating delicious products led him to be VP or Product at ReGrained, an innovative upcycled food start-up helping to change the way the world thinks about “waste” ingredients. Phil has spoken about upcycled foods at numerous local events as well as SXSW, New Products, Cereal & Grains Association, and Stanford Design Thinking conferences. After Regrained, Phil moved on to product development for CCD Innovation, a chef-driven food & beverage consultancy in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now Phil is the Culinary Manager of Farming Hope, a culinary job training non-profit that uses recovered food to train Apprentices experiencing major social and economic barriers to employment. He believes in a more equitable food system that uses ingredients that already exist in our supply chain and that neither food nor people should ever go to waste. Phil looks for any reason to do a collaboration popup, too.

Show Notes

Check out Phil’s old episodes!
Episode 17
Episode 2
Farming Hope
Manny’s Plant-based Mediterranean Cafe
Upcycling
CCD Innovation
Jaime Stark – Executive Director Farming Hope
Ideo

Intro

Today  we have 3rd time guest Phil Saneski. Who is currently the Culinary Manager at Farming Hope, which manages a garden-to-table job training program for formerly incarcerated or homeless San Franciscans. If you remember Phil I interviewed him as an ambitious student where he was just getting off the ground a food waste competition, and also when he was working at ReGrained while I was working at Better Meat Co. We’ve always kept in touch, and he’s been a very good friend. Part of my kitchen cabinet as you will, of friends I call to when I’m stuck with a hard decision.

What I’ve always liked about Phil is just how much of an asset he is in his community. Unlike me, who just leaves states, Phil has a great group of friends and is so well-known as this stand-up guy who will do anything for his friends. Like 3 times now since I’ve been back to California, he tells ALL of his friends that I’m here and we have a nice party.

We do this live at a beautiful kitchen where Farming Hope does their events. We might sound a little tired, because it was like 10pm at night, we’re a few beers in, winding down from a fun party. Yep, that’s what you get for the first episode.

What’s Up

Ok, so this is the section where I’m just gonna say what’s up! I’m in Melbourne Australia and I gotta tell you, there’s so much good food. Their downtown, or Central Buisness District, is just packed with restaurants of all shapes and sizes. What’s even better, you see people eating there until like 2am! Crazy! Anyways, what’s new in the food world? Well, the Choco Taco has been discontinued. Is it a marketing ploy or just a cheap trick?

Also, apparently, France has given up on their crusade to relabel plant-based meat! Basically, France had a decree that all alternative meat couldn’t be called meat or derivatives of meat like say carpacchio. This news came out in the aftermath of a heatwave that devastated Europe, which killed a lot of people, did who knows what to the crops, and caused everyone to panic. Once climate starts to affect your livelihood, is when politicians, law makers, and average people will think more about the sustainable choices that they make. Unfortunately, when that happens, it might be too late for the planet.

Closing Thoughts

This is the part of the show where I talk about what’s on my mind as I have a lot of free time on my hands.  A Lot of time to think for myself when traveling.

So some may recall that I left during a layoff. I put in a month’s notice, 2 weeks later, a lot of my friends got let go at my last job. What was supposed to be a fun time transitioning, became a somber one.

It’s been a month, but it still kind of makes me sad. It doesn’t help that every day, a company is laying someone off. Compared to other tech company’s layoffs, which took out thousands, ours were a mere lowly double digits.

Being laidoff sucks. It really affects your self worth even though most likely, the company doesn’t consider that as a reason, as layoffs, especially deep ones, are mor sstrategic than that. However, a few bits of advice for those of you who are experiencing a layoff either surviving it or being one of the ones out, first. Everyone should grieve. Be sad for a day or two. Let it out. Two, accept that it is not your fault. On both sides, this is important to understand that this is an executive/board decision to increase the chance of survival. Three, honestly? Take a vacation unless you really need the money. Now’s the perfect time. Four, ask for help. Being transparent on Linkedin is so helpful now a days. If your colleague lost a job, support them by writing a post to help them. As we all know in the food industry, being helpful is a sign of being connected. Even though layoffs hurt, your community will always have your back.

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