This week Nick Portillo talks with Andrea Todd, Culinary Business Development Director of Foodservice for Dessert Holdings. Andrea explains how she fell into the food industry and developed her skills in baking and running a business. She talks about the importance of organization and efficiency in mass production and shares valuable insights from her nine years as a culinary salesperson. 

QUOTES

• “One of the biggest learnings is just ensuring that you can sell your product for what will be meaningful to you from the amount of work you're putting into it, as well as making sure that it covers your cost of goods and gives you some money in the end as well.” -Andrea Todd [08:34]
• “I think a lot of sales are built around how you are at networking and relationship building. When you come from somewhere where you know everyone, I would say it sets you up to know how important a network is. My parents were entrepreneurs, so you realize how much those relationships matter. That's a big part of how the sales side of it became successful is just through the relationship building side of it.” -Andrea Todd [16:48]

TIMESTAMPS

05:17 Baking and the Food Network

09:38 Transitioning from the Baking Industry to Food Manufacturing

17:28 Product Creation and Collaboration in Manufacturing

35:29 The Benefits of Social Media for Restaurants and Operators 

37:22 Andrea’s Advice for Entering the Manufacturing and Sales Industry

RESOURCES

Portillo Sales

CONTACT 

Nick: nick.portillo@portillosales.com

Andrea: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreatodd1/