Podcast

Transcript

Joshua Miller (00:20.022)

Welcome, and thank you for tuning in for the first episode of the 5 in 20 podcast by Remarkable Academic Foods. I'm your host, Joshua Miller. In this first episode, I'm gonna discuss what the 5 in 20 podcast is all about. I was gonna call it the 5 in 15, but I actually decided to change it up and I'll get more into that a little bit later. 

But first, who is this podcast for by this company called Remarkable Academic Foods? You may be thinking, I'm in academic, foodservice, maybe it's for me. Well, you're absolutely right. So there might be some episodes that are geared more towards college and universities. And every now and again, there might be some episodes geared more towards K-12. Obviously, there is some overlap every now and again, which is great. However, just know if you're part of that community, feel free to tune in, get some valuable content out of it.

and I will definitely try to strike a balance between the two. Now you might be asking, well, what exactly is this goal here? And there isn't a goal for a number of listeners, there isn't a goal for a number of episodes. It's none of that. It's just creating great valuable information, great valuable content for the listeners that want to tune in and get that kind of information. My mission, however, if you happen to go on my website, if you didn't, I'll go over here right now. 

So my mission at Remarkable Academic Foods is to positively impact the daily school meals of over 50,000 students daily through hyper-collaboration. And this podcast is one vehicle that is going to help with that mission. So if you're seeing it or you just heard it, you might be thinking, this guy is absolutely crazy. I don't know what he's about. What is he thinking? And I don't care because guess what? It's not me. 

Believe it or not, if you do want to know a little bit about me, all right, I'm just a guy I love working off of step-by-step frameworks. I'm not an off-the-cuff kind of person, right? I love getting after solutions in this big world of academic food service and just getting after it with people, getting after those solutions with other people, which is that C word I love, which is collaboration, right? No matter, you know, what person, where you are.

Joshua Miller (02:43.442)

I love collaborating with others, getting to learn from others. And that's what this podcast is all about. There's going to be guests on each episode, except this one, obviously. This is the first one, just giving the introduction of it. And then we'll get into bringing in the fun people after that, and hopefully stick around for that. Now, you might be asking what kind of topics is he going to discuss? Great question. 

So there are essentially five pillars we're going to discuss here. The first is going to be food and beverage. Shocker, I know, why would we be talking about food and beverage on a podcast about remarkable academic foods, right? So it could be trending new products, could be just some solutions that are out there for you. That's definitely something we have to discuss in some episodes. 

Two is operations. So food and beverage, got to talk about operations, could be best practices, shared practices, things of that sort. And number three is going to be equipment and design because it's kind of hard to talk about food and beverage and operations without getting into design and equipment in some way, shape, or form. It's such a huge part of this industry. And then that leads us into, of course, number four. 

You can't really talk about those other three without somehow talking about the subject of technology, that big T word. You might not love it. I know that I don't when it's not working properly, but guess what? It's not going anywhere. It's here to stay, and it's only going to become more and more immersed in our operations through the years. So we might as well learn how to take advantage of some of the opportunities that it brings to the table. And then we have number five.

Number five is going to be sustainability. That's a word that some of you might be rolling your eyes to. Here we go with that word again. Well, guess what? Just like with technology, it's not going anywhere. And personally, I'm an absolute proponent of it. I'm not saying you need to be totally green, zero waste, or anything like that. But I am saying in the year 2023, if you are not in some way, shape, or form planning and forecasting how you can increase your sustainability efforts, whether it's what you do today and can start today, or whether it's a plan, a roadmap for how to improve next year, the next five years, the next 10 years. I think it's a little bit crazy to not have some kind of roadmap, that's just my opinion there. So going through those five pillars again, food and beverage, operations, design and equipment, technology, and sustainability.

Everyone here in some way shape or form is dealing with all five of those, I'm sure. So make sure you stick around for some information on those five pillars there. In terms of frequency of episodes, I am going to start off every other week. Might increase the frequency, might be in general, you know, I might test out a once a week or maybe it's more of like a seasonal thing where there's some part of the year where I just start rolling out a bunch of episodes. Who knows? But I'm definitely going to start off a little bit lower and slower with the Every Other Week format. So make sure you're going to look out for those episodes. They will be available on the video version on YouTube and then audio, of course, on Spotify at the very least. And then we'll blast it out to some other platforms as well. Now going back to the guests that will be on this podcast. 

So subject matter experts everyone is in some way, shape or form, we're all working towards the same goal of feeding the millions of students, the billions of meals that are required every school year in this country. And it requires a very intricate collaborative effort to make it happen. So many backgrounds, so many experts in their respective fields that are needed to make it happen. I mean, just think about everything, not only from the manufacturing of food and the delivery of it, but think about even all the different concepts that you're essentially having in your food service operation, or could be. Right? You have grab and go. You have all you care to eat, which I mean, you go down that rabbit hole, you could have literally hundreds of menu items if you're a college campus.

Joshua Miller (07:18.762)

And then you have the nutritionals and allergens that goes in with everything. You have all the equipment and the design of everything and how it fits together and works together seamlessly. You have all the production that's happening in the back. You have technology suites and having it all integrate together. You have food insecurity, unfortunately, to worry about. You have engagement, keeping the students engaged and excited about your food program and what you're bringing to it each day, each week, each school year. 

There's so many aspects to this industry and I'm not discounting any other industry whatsoever. That's not what I'm here for. They all require hard work in some way, shape or form. I mean, but at the end of the day, this is kind of like a melting pot. And I consider it a melting pot of a bunch of different industries and it's not easy. 

And thank you all for everything that you do. So before I get more into how you can contribute to these episodes, first I want to say reach out if you have any, any suggestions whatsoever for topics for guests you want to see on this podcast. Don't hesitate to reach out. Best way to do so, email address is hello@rfoodsolutions.com.

Again, that is hello @ the letter R, foodsolutions.com. And going back to that 5 in 20 format that I was discussing earlier, we're gonna focus on around five topics-ish and around 20 minutes-ish. And absolutely pay attention to that flexible terms and that I'm kinda throwing in there a little bit. So don't hold me to it. But the goal is, let's discuss with these subject matter experts that we bring on. Let's talk about give or take five questions. I might have some follow-up questions. They might have questions for me. Who knows? But the format, the starting of the format is five and then 20 minutes-ish. So don't hold me to that timeline. So again, the goal is to keep this in a shorter format.

Joshua Miller (09:41.822)

It might not always happen. I’m definitely going to avoid the longer formats. I want to keep it around 20, maybe 25 minutes tops. And part of the reason for that is so that you can easily and accessibly get to episodes, whether you're commuting to and from work, tune in. If you're doing some household tasks, tune in. Maybe you're multitasking in the office, you tune in.

And that's part of the purpose of me trying to keep them a little bit shorter. Plus, if we start getting into technical questions, it's gonna be a little bit harder to keep everyone's attention, including mine, for the longer formats. So I'm hoping that you're gonna enjoy that. Again, submit that feedback at that email address. Do not, however, email me and say, "'Josh, your episode last week was 21 minutes and 12 seconds.' It was not the five and 20 format I thought it was gonna be. Cause if you email me that…

I'm going to respond and let you know how I feel. All right, so now finally, let's talk about Remarkable Academic Foods, the initials, RAF or “RAF”. If you see my logo, the pineapple with those letters in it, RAF, I think that we are all a part of what I consider the Remarkable Academic Food Service. And no matter what your role is, any way, shape, or form. If you're contributing to the academic food service community, I consider you an ambassador of it. So with those initials, RAF, you are a remarkable academic food ambassador, a RAF ambassador. And together, we all make up RAF Nation. So thank you to all the RAF ambassadors out there for everything you do. 

And until next time we have exciting conversations coming up, valuable insights, and a passionate community. That's the goal here, passionate about what we are doing in this world. So until then, RAF Nation, this is your host, Joshua Miller, signing off.