31 episodes

You need more than inspiration to build your food business. Launch and scale your restaurant, bakery, CPG brand, food blog, or food truck with tips, strategies, and lessons learned from your favorite Black chefs, Black owned restaurants and Black content creators from around the world.

Join the host, Mercedes Gosby, at the intersection of food, tech, business, and finance as she interviews food professionals and entrepreneurs every week to discover how to get started in the hospitality industry, and how to build a profitable food business.

Visit profoodmaker.com for show notes, articles & more.

Pro Food Maker Mercedes Gosby | Black Food & Black Owned Restaurants

    • Arts
    • 5.0 • 11 Ratings

You need more than inspiration to build your food business. Launch and scale your restaurant, bakery, CPG brand, food blog, or food truck with tips, strategies, and lessons learned from your favorite Black chefs, Black owned restaurants and Black content creators from around the world.

Join the host, Mercedes Gosby, at the intersection of food, tech, business, and finance as she interviews food professionals and entrepreneurs every week to discover how to get started in the hospitality industry, and how to build a profitable food business.

Visit profoodmaker.com for show notes, articles & more.

    30: Tips for getting your product into grocery stores w/ Planted Foods Co.

    30: Tips for getting your product into grocery stores w/ Planted Foods Co.

    Getting your product into grocery stores takes time and requires networking with retailers & buyers in the food industry. Ashley Kirk, Founder of Planted Foods Co, a plant based food company walks us through:
    How to get your products onto store shelves by networking and other strategies The consumer research Ashley conducted to decide the products she would sell Her winding career path that led to going vegan and building a plant based food business Full show notes at profoodmaker.com

    • 43 min
    29: How to find investors for small food businesses w/Kube Nice Cream

    29: How to find investors for small food businesses w/Kube Nice Cream

    You won’t be able to bootstrap your food business forever and might need investors, says Kai Nortey, co-founder & CEO of Kube Nice Cream. This Black owned vegan ice cream manufacturer explains:
    Why venture capital (VC) may not be right for you as a food business owner The types of conversations you might have with potential investors  Potential problems working with co-packers & getting into grocery stores Full show notes at profoodmaker.com

    • 39 min
    28: Food truck marketing w/ The Food Truck Scholar

    28: Food truck marketing w/ The Food Truck Scholar

    Are you a food truck owner having trouble with marketing and keeping your social media pages updated? Ariel D. Smith, The Food Truck Scholar, has quick & easy tips for you. Ariel also chats about:
    How she created an audio diary for food truckers using her podcast Opportunities for current and future food truck owners The importance of insuring your deposit for events Full show notes at profoodmaker.com

    • 45 min
    27: Get more press features without hiring PR

    27: Get more press features without hiring PR

    Interested in getting more press for your business? Mercedes outlines common mistakes we make when pitching to media outlets and tips on how to successfully pitch to journalists, podcasters, YouTubers, and bloggers.
    Full show notes: https://profoodmaker.com/how-to-write-a-media-pitch

    • 19 min
    26: Navigating social media to grow your brand with Geo’s Table

    26: Navigating social media to grow your brand with Geo’s Table

    Geo Darwin, a Philadelphia-based food & lifestyle blogger and content creator, is on a mission to highlight underrepresented people in food & beverage. We chat about:
    Being consistent as a content creator Why blogging isn’t dead and the evolution of blogging The Philly food scene Full show notes: https://profoodmaker.com/geos-table

    • 41 min
    25: Before Mo Better Brews, there was Houston Sauce Co. vegan food truck

    25: Before Mo Better Brews, there was Houston Sauce Co. vegan food truck

    Courtney Lindsay is the chef & owner of Houston Sauce Co, a super popular vegan food company in Houston, TX. Courtney shares:
    how a hot sauce turned into a food truck, BBQ trailer, storefront, and more what food truck owners need to do to grow their business and who they need to hire how much a food truck costs  
    Mentioned in this episode
    $2 tacos, Drippy Southwest Burger, the lump crab gumbo, and the garlic parmesan wangz Texas Southern University Food Network’s Chopped Max’s Wine Dive restaurant New York Film Academy  Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern DJ Reel Chill (Chasitie Lindsay) Pro Food Maker’s Instagram post about the $2 tacos Jarrett Milton, co-owner of Houston Sauce Pit  Sauce Co Shoppette provides grab & go items (non-fried) (cajun alfredo, gumbo, chik’n & mac, lemonade, etc) TRUE Laundry Detergent (Black owned). Order from TRUE’s website or Sauce Co. Shoppette. Tennessee Hot Tacos Big Hot Chik’n Sammich  
    Listen to this episode
    Apple Podcasts | Libsyn | Soundcloud | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify
    Subscribe to the RSS feed: http://profoodmaker.libsyn.com/rss
     
    Connect with Courtney Lindsay & Houston Sauce Co.
    Instagram: @houstonsauceco
    Twitter: @houstonsauceco
    Website: houstonsauceco.com
     
    Reach out to the Pro Food Maker Podcast
    Website: profoodmaker.com
    Instagram: instagram.com/profoodmaker
    Facebook: facebook.com/profoodmaker
    Twitter: twitter.com/profoodmakerpod
    Hashtags: #profoodmaker #profoodmakerpodcast

    • 45 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
11 Ratings

11 Ratings

Milley___ ,

Eye-opening topics that are fun and inspiring!!!

This is definitely the podcast I’ve been waiting for! Such great information for black food blogger, content creators, and really anyone in the food space. So much valuable information and topics in each episode. I love love love the host Mercedes and how she leads the conversation, ask all the right questions, and let’s her guest fully answer questions and give their input. Can’t wait to keep listening.

pecansoutherntruth ,

Building a food business? Listen to this podcast!

No other food podcast is focusing on Black people in food, beverage, and hospitality. This host is shining a light on all the cool things we're doing in food that most podcasts, food magazines, and food media, ignore. If you are a restaurant owner, food truck owner, or CPG owner, you need to be listening to this podcast!!!!!

Drew Da Genius ,

Wow! This Host is Amazing!

The intro music reals you in and the to the introduction of the guest really glues you to your seat. But the shows itself makes you put everything down and listen intently. The guest was amazing and Mercedes has amazing questions to allow me to learn about the guest journey. I will be tuning in for sure and have subscribed to make sure that I don’t miss any episodes. Keep up the good work.
- Drew Vs The World

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