The Flavor of a Better World: The Ohio Pizza Company You Will Love

Welcome back to our podcast, Tasting Terroir ––  a journey that helps you cut through the marketing claims of “better for you food” by understanding the link between healthy soil and the flavor and health of your food.

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As you may recall from our episode last week, …..the big brands you have heard of are not really bringing regenerative ingredients to your door.  

To find them, you need to think small….and local.  Like the farmers we have interviewed in the podcast so far…..who are not only growing food in a regenerative way, but also, creating ways for the public to buy directly from them.

This week, we explore how a small food manufacturer sees the issue……and how her dedication and perseverance are almost single-handedly bringing you an opportunity to taste the difference regenerative rice can make.

Jennifer Kocher is one of those people who just never quits.  A finance major turned baker and then small business owner……Jennifer has been making some of the best gluten-free pizza crusts on the market. 

In this episode…..I want you to really absorb just what it takes to bring better ingredients into the products you buy…….and HOW MUCH power you have to really shape the course of the food industry by supporting dedicated true-believers like Jennifer and the others we are profiling on this podcast.

For sure if you are in the Pittsburgh, PA or Columbus, OH areas…..and you care about better food, the planet – or both…..you are going to LOVE this brand and this woman……just like I do.

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Go Further:

Support & Connect with Jennifer Kocher & Around the World Gourmet on these sites:

Website:  https://aroundtheworldgourmetmarketplace.com/ 

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferkocher/ 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/aroundtheworldgourmet 

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/kocherfoods/ 

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Transcript

Jennifer Kocher: 0:25

We're starting out with Adam Chapels regeneratively grown rice. I'm super excited. He's been texting me the last few days asking how the milling has been going. We are actually going to be milling brown rice flour, white rice flour, and then we also have his rice that we're going to bag up and just sell his rice.

Sara Harper: 0:46

So exciting. You've been following this journey for years, you've gotten to know Adam, you've met in person, you really have looked at his growing practices, and it's a return to the most simple thing, which is a farmer working directly with a brand. What I had hoped for all day. You're making it happen, Dan.

Jennifer Kocher: 1:06

You're living. You made it happen, actually, because if it wasn't for me knowing you through another business that we worked with and then came you started grounded growth network, I would have never met any of the farmers. And now we're even. Grounded Growth is part of even a bigger system. Joe Clapperton's Network and I'm glad that Grounded Growth still exists and that you're still here doing this, because I just was thinking about it and it made me cheer up too. Like, I don't think I'd be here without you.

Sara Harper: 1:37

You make me tear up.

Jennifer Kocher: 1:38

Look, now you're making me cry. Yes, whatever.

Sara Harper: 1:43

Interviewer aspires to make the guests cry.

Jennifer Kocher: 1:47

My passion for saving the earth and being nice to it since I was a kid, I didn't know how I was going to go about doing that as an adult. And this is my way of contributing, is through supporting the regenerative farmers who are trying to save our planet from climate change and in exchange, being able to support them by having my own food brand and putting their product directly into our food and then providing that to the consumer and then just keeps going on and on and on.

Sara Harper: 2:33

Welcome back to our podcast, tasting terroir, a journey that helps you cut through the marketing claims of, quote, better for you food by understanding the link between healthy soil and the flavor and health of your food. I'm your host, Sarah Harper. That clip was from an interview I did with my dear friend Jennifer Cower, owner of around the world gourmet pizza company. Jennifer has been working hard to bring the regenerative products farmers grow to market for several years now, and she is now actually doing it. As you may recall from our episode last week, the big brands that you've heard about are not really bringing regenerative ingredients to your door. They're doing a lot of marketing about it, but they're not really buying in a big way the ingredients that could make the products you buy regenerative. To find this regenerative food source, you need to think small and local, like the farmers we've interviewed in the podcast so far who are not only growing food in a regenerative way, but also creating ways for the public to buy directly from them. This week, we explore how a small food manufacturer sees the issue and how her dedication and perseverance are almost single handedly bringing you the opportunity to taste the difference Regenerative Rice can make. Jennifer Cohen is one of those people who just never quits. A finance major turned baker and then small business owner, jennifer has been making some of the best gluten free pizza crusts on the market for several years. Being a gluten free consumer myself for some twelve years now, I can tell you I've tried every possible GF pizza option out there. And while some of them have gotten pretty good, there are still a number of them that are far less delicious than their gluteny counterparts. Jennifer's pizza, however, is so good that it can pass as a regular thin pizza crust. In fact, some of the folks that buy her pizzas in her store in rural Ohio don't even know that they're gluten free. More about all that later in this episode. I want you to really absorb just what it takes to bring better ingredients into the products that you buy. How much effort and risk and expense and how much of it is being borne by those who can least afford to do it because they believe in it so much. You really have so much power to shape the course of the food industry by supporting dedicated true believers like Jennifer and the others that were profiling in this podcast. For sure, if you are in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania or Columbus, Ohio areas and you care about better food and the planet or both, you are going to love this brand and this woman just like I do. Here's my interview with Jennifer COHR, owner of around the World. Gourmet. Henry. Jen. Hi, Jen. How are you?

Jennifer Kocher: 5:53

Hi. I am good. I've been a little bit emotional this morning thinking about all the things that we're doing. It's so great. Yeah, well, very exciting. Good.

Sara Harper: 6:04

Before we get into that, tell everybody who you are and what's your businesses, what you're doing and where you're at.

Jennifer Kocher: 6:11

It's Jennifer Cohen, and I'm in eastern Ohio. I'm right near the Ohio River. I'm about 45 minutes southwest of Pittsburgh and about 2 hours east of Columbus. So this is my hometown area. I live in St. Clairsville, I'm from Belmont County, and all our business is located in Belair, Ohio.

Sara Harper: 6:36

So anybody in the Pittsburgh area that wanted to take a Regenerative trip could just hop in the car. 45 minutes.

Jennifer Kocher: 6:42

45 minutes.

Sara Harper: 6:43

There you go. Not that far.

Jennifer Kocher: 6:47

Here I am with a business food company. Coer Foods International is the corporate name, doing business as around the World Gourmet, which is my food brand, and now also doing business as Regenerative Mills. And we'll talk about that here in a minute.

Sara Harper: 7:07

What products do you make?

Jennifer Kocher: 7:09

So we are a manufacturer of gluten free vegan pizza crusts. I have other recipes that I have.

Sara Harper: 7:17

That don't taste like it, I might.

Jennifer Kocher: 7:19

Add, because yes, that does not.

Sara Harper: 7:23

Some of those can be a little taste challenged, if you will, and I have had the good fortune to sample them many times and can attest that they are you really can't tell the difference. And in fact, a number of your patrons don't even know that they're that's true.

Jennifer Kocher: 7:42

We are manufacturing these gluten free pizza crusts and having distributors pick them up, and then we ship things out as well that are to, like the University of Iowa and Dennison University here in Ohio. We just got into a pizza chain called Pizza Joe's out of Pennsylvania, Western PA that has 42 units, and all those pizza crusts just got picked up today. So, yeah, the pizza crust that you're talking about, we do have a small retail front, and I wanted to prove to everybody that our pizza crusts are the best, and they do not taste like the typical gluten free crust. And so I force the entire Ohio Valley here to eat, and they can't tell the difference. Online apps like DoorDash and Delivery.com, we don't even say that it's gluten free even on our menu. It doesn't say that it's just pizza.

Sara Harper: 8:44

Well, maybe you should in case there are people nearby that could say you have a gluten free option.

Jennifer Kocher: 8:50

We do. We have that on there, too. Yes, we have a gluten free option, but it's actually all the same crust, so good.

Sara Harper: 8:58

I love that story because you took over, there had been a convenience store there, and it had been famous for its pepperoni rolls, and people really loved them. But you added to this beloved tradition by creating a gluten free version of the pepperoni rolls for people, right?

Jennifer Kocher: 9:14

That's correct, yes. Pepperoni rolls aren't well known outside of our area regionally. A lot of people would say that they're kind of like a Hot Pocket, but literally all it is is dough that you have pepperoni and cheese, and you roll it up, you bake it. Yeah.

Sara Harper: 9:34

The exciting part that you'll talk more about later is that you've added a meal to your business, too. And what are you going to be milling?

Jennifer Kocher: 9:41

We're going to be milling flour, and specifically, as much as possible, regenerative flour made out of made, not wheat, because it has to be gluten free in my building. But I can't have wheat, barley, or rye in here. It would just get through all it would get everywhere. And we can't have the cross contamination. But we're starting out with Adam Chappell's regeneratively grown rice. I'm super excited. He's been texting me the last two days asking how the milling has been going. We're starting with £16,000 because I don't have enough space for anymore at the moment. And he has the space. He's keeping it there on his farm until I'm ready for the next shipment. We are actually going to be milling brown rice flour. White rice flour. We can do 100 mash. We can do 200 mash even finer. And then we also have his rice that we're going to bag up and just sell his rice for cooking.

Sara Harper: 10:45

This is so exciting. I've been following this journey for years. You've gotten to know Adam, you've met in person. You really have looked at his growing practices and so many hurdles to overcome to get a direct relationship, to return to the most simple thing, which is a farmer working directly with a brand. What I had hoped for all day. You're making it happen, Dan.

Jennifer Kocher: 11:13

You're living. You made it happen, actually, because if it wasn't for me knowing you through another business that we worked with and then came you started Grounded Growth Network, I would have never met any of the farmers. And now Grounded Growth is part of even a bigger system. Joe Clapperton's Network and I'm glad that Grounded Growth still exists and that you're still here doing this, because I just was thinking about it and it made me tear up too. Like, I don't think I'd be here without you.

Sara Harper: 11:45

Make me europe.

Jennifer Kocher: 11:47

Look, now you're making me cry.

Sara Harper: 11:51

Yeah, whatever. Interviewer aspires to make the guests cry.

Jennifer Kocher: 11:56

My passion for saving the Earth and being nice to it since I was a kid, I didn't know how I was going to go about doing that as an adult. And this is my way of contributing to supporting the Regenerative farmers who are trying to save our planet from climate change. And in exchange, being able to support them by having my own food brand and putting their product directly into our food and then providing that to the consumer, and then just keeps going on and on and on. Now I have other farmers reaching out that want sorghum that they've grown regeneratively, milled and Millet test another brand.

Sara Harper: 12:41

We can buy the flour from you and put it into their ingredients.

Jennifer Kocher: 12:44

Yeah, exactly.

Sara Harper: 12:45

All these great people in our community that you're able to you're on the same path, but, you know, it's hard to overcome these hurdles alone. So that's part of the point. The community. Well, the other thing, in doing these interviews, I have heard a lot of great insights about what is Regenerative, but a number of people have talked about it beyond just the practices on the farm, but regenerating the community around them and regenerating themselves and their family as part of being part of this work. And it really struck me with you in a whole different level. I mean, certainly there's the Regenerative work that you're doing with the farmer, but really taking on that small retail store. There aren't a whole lot of you're in kind of a food desert, right? I mean, there aren't a lot of places to get fresh food around you, and certainly not ones that are gluten free, probably. So by taking over that and milling your manufacturing, your pizza crust, and now milling where you are in rural Ohio, you're keeping those jobs and the impact that I know you've had in those people's lives, it's been challenging. There are a lot of things that are challenging in the rural economy and that your business keeps them going as well as the planet. It's a really regenerative beyond the agriculture.

Jennifer Kocher: 14:12

It's a lot of education, for sure. And I think that is what we have to do in general, even across the world, is to just continue to educate everyone on regenerative agriculture. The education part is just continuing to tell people what regenerative is, why I'm doing it. And we actually have a ribbon cutting going on tomorrow where a lot of the people here locally are invited to come for our new meal and we're doing pizza tasting, so I think that will even be more education. The local news stations are here and we've sent press releases out.

Sara Harper: 14:44

What is your definition of regenerative agriculture?

Jennifer Kocher: 14:47

The definition of regenerative agriculture to me is about the climate change part of it. And I know that there are other benefits, obviously, but regenerative agriculture is a process that I think is a continuing process. It's not just one thing, it's multiple things that can be done on the farm. You know, the no till, obviously, that has to the no till has to happen is what I mean, the killing has to stop. The first thing that has to happen is I feel like if you're going to be a regenerative farmer is you have to know no till or low till for sure. Then there's other things that you can do, like the inner cropping and the cover cropping and not using as much water. And then I know that they have difficulty with the weed control, so then you have to think about that. And then there's also the animals being brought on. So there's a lot of different ways to be regenerative. But definitely the first thing for me is that this carbon needs to stay in the soil and to keep the planet cool and help with the climate change issues that we have. That definitely is mandatory.

Sara Harper: 15:59

And from what we've learned, there aren't a whole lot of rice growers that are doing what Adam is doing in Arkansas. So that's kind of a rare thing to give him a specific market and a path to keep doing what he's doing and for other farmers to maybe follow his practices. He's been featured in all sorts of different places. If you just do a search for Adam Chapel, you'll find all sorts of interviews he's done in the Forum World. He's kind of famous, so it's such a wonderful step forward that that is a market for him and a signal to other farmers that making these changes. They can actually benefit from that financially. Not just a pat on the back and Beecher does a box, which is nice and all, but yeah, it's a real market connection.

Jennifer Kocher: 16:52

It is. And there are going to be for the farmers out there that are listening to this, you are going to struggle. There are going to be things that you're not going to know. Just like in our process, the farmers normally go and just drop off their grains to a silo and they never had to think about how long is it going to take for me to get into the cleaners, because they already have customers in line. So that was one of the things we had to figure out. And rice being harvested in November, thinking we're going to get it immediately. And then, you know, learning that we had to wait in line for the cleaner, take the brand or take the haul off, and then also finding out that this rice has to be dried to a certain point and then tested it before you can even take it to the cleaner. We had some growing pains with that and there's going to be growing pains for everybody. But you just take some deep breaths and you keep going because I certainly I do not want to go live on the moon and I don't live on Mars. We have a beautiful planet and we just need to make sure that we're not destroying it. It's been given to us as a gift. And I feel like there's a lot of people who don't think like that. They just trash it. They just throw their cups out, litter all over the place. Very destructive behavior. So regeneration of this Earth is very important to me and future generations. The farmers that are doing this and practicing this way and leading us all down the right path, that's who I want to have relationships with because I.

Sara Harper: 18:26

Know we've been on a small business journey. Solopreneur, you have more than you're not solo, but small business path. You've been on that path for some time and it's so hard and especially through covet and there are all sorts of curves that you've been thrown. And it seems like, I know a lot of people would have let go of this Regenerative path of sourcing because it is an added, potentially an added expense. I think it's going to be added value too. But there's been such pressure and I've talked with so many bigger brands that aren't willing to do what you are doing that are marketing on Regenerative but aren't anywhere near the direct connection to a farm. And knowing of the practices that you have and that you're going to make possible for all these brands now to buy regeneratively grown rice and rice flour and other free flowers, I always feel.

Jennifer Kocher: 19:27

Like I'm behind and that we're behind. Yes, we are behind. So I don't want to wait. I'm not sure what the big companies are waiting for or what their strategy is.

Sara Harper: 19:37

They're waiting for you to be successful and then they'll fall, waiting for someone else to prove the concept that consumers do actually want it. And it saddens me because the people with the most money to take the risk have not done it.

Jennifer Kocher: 19:52

Yeah. And the ones that don't have the money, we have to go out.

Sara Harper: 19:56

Well, you're living on the belief in it.

Jennifer Kocher: 20:00

Yeah. We have to go through the struggle to get there, but it'll be worth it.

Sara Harper: 20:04

Yes, I know. This is such a huge breakthrough to actually have flower like, you texted me a picture of the first flower that I made and how exciting, I mean, how exciting that you now have the ability to turn this that's been the big barrier to take a crop and get it into an ingredient, because most of the mills just don't want to deal with it. It's too small of a project, or they don't want to separate it out, or it's too new. Any excuse you can imagine. We've heard it because the first option wasn't for you to necessarily build your own.

Jennifer Kocher: 20:39

No, I wasn't anticipating that. And then one day I'm like, I don't know, these things don't scare me like it scares some people.

Sara Harper: 20:47

I feel like Me told me, you're going to do the next thing. I'm like.

Jennifer Kocher: 20:53

What are you doing? Yes, well, and I got to learn how to use it. Yesterday, the engineering company that I bought the milling equipment from, he drove in from Iowa two days ago. We started it up Tuesday, and then yesterday I got my training, and it's really not that hard. Yeah, I'm going to have to lift some bags or somebody here is going to have to lift some bags. But this equipment, I mean, it's not a small it's not small, but it's also huge. The biggest one, either the milling equipment that we have can run up to I really maxed it out. 842. That's a smaller that's like one of the smaller of this titan mill, a pulverizer that does just that. If you go with a hammer mill for milling rice, you basically have to run it through more than one time to try to get the fineness to it. So this one, you do not have to do that. I can run it through one time and still get 200 match, which is really fine, really baby powder on it. I did pay a little extra in upgrading some pieces of equipment so that when we do need to expand to the bigger size pulverizer, the other pieces are already in place and can handle the bigger motor size.

Sara Harper: 22:18

We talked about your definition of regenerative and in some of the ways you're describing what you're doing working with Adam, that's how you're practicing it, right? That's how your company is practicing it. But are there any other pieces you want to add about that?

Jennifer Kocher: 22:30

What other things that we're doing as a brand?

Sara Harper: 22:32

Yeah.

Jennifer Kocher: 22:33

All of our containers that we have here are like, go containers. I've gotten rid of all styrofoam that was in this building when I took over. And we now have plant based containers and compostable containers that we use. We have energy efficient equipment. We try not to waste water. We don't waste water. We don't like to waste anything. We recycle. So when I called the local recycling and company and they have a bunch of bins that they brought down to us, we could recycle. We're wanting to be a benefit corporation, so I think we're ready for that. I just felt the flower. I stuck it in my hand yesterday and it was just very fulfilling on my face and holding Adam's rice. Should I walk out so you can see? Should I take my laptop?

Sara Harper: 23:23

Sure. And that is what you're using now to make your pizza?

Jennifer Kocher: 23:27

Yes. The pizza crust. Yeah.

Sara Harper: 23:29

And other brands are now lucky enough to be able to buy flour from you, right. To make their regenerative rice products.

Jennifer Kocher: 23:36

Yeah.

Sara Harper: 23:37

Rice flour products.

Jennifer Kocher: 23:38

Yeah, yeah. And then after that, I've been in some conversations with other farmers that they've got sorghum and the white sorghum. So we'll be talking to them further about milling that coming back around.

Sara Harper: 23:56

You've talked all about all this great stuff. I'm going to have you sum up what regenerative means to you in a couple of sentences, which I know that's hard, hard to define. So fill in the sentence.

Jennifer Kocher: 24:07

Regenerative agriculture is regenerative agriculture is a way of helping with climate change and global warming by no telling on our farms, keeping the Earth and all its ecosystem in place, we can have more nutrientdense foods from this. It's important for us to continue down this path and having regenerative agriculture and the farmers doing these practices so that we can help with, as I said, the global warming, having more nutrientdense foods, and that's what it means to me.

Sara Harper: 24:45

Do you think it's something that consumers are looking for?

Jennifer Kocher: 24:49

Yeah, I think that there are some consumers that definitely care about this. We've seen that they've cared a lot about organic in the past, and this is just the next step of them carrying. There are people that care about your bodies and what you are, what you eat. The thing with the organic right now is that most of them still have to till because of weeds control. But I do believe that consumers are going to love this. They're going to love the connection with the farmer. They're going to love the fact that it's helping, but they're actually able to by eating, let's say, our pizza, we actually have a tagline healthier for you and our planet and also save the planet one pizza at a time. I think they're going to feel like they're part of something bigger. Again, it's education. Education and marketing. You have to let people know that you exist.

Sara Harper: 25:47

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is not that far from you. That's a nice sized city.

Jennifer Kocher: 25:54

Columbus is not that far. And it's columbus huge. It's amazing. Normally you wouldn't see a place like what I have here, especially on the retail end being where I'm at. We are listed on some of the apps for finding gluten free locations, like restaurants. And let's see, in the last two weeks, I've served somebody from the DC area in Northern Virginia. They were a mother and daughter, were in Indiana, I believe, visiting a college, and they were coming back through and they found my place because Interstate 70 runs right through our county. And so they stopped here for a bite, and we actually had some tables up so they could sit down finally because we were just a takeout place, but now we have dining, and they were so excited. And they actually said to me, I wish we had a place like this where I lived. And I'm like you live near DC. I'm like, Is there not? And I'm thinking, wow, okay, well, maybe that was a compliment. Was it yesterday or day before? A woman came in with her two children and her son had celiac disease. And they were excited. And I said, if, you know, I've been here before. She's like, no, I'm from Massachusetts. I said, okay, what are you doing here? She said, Well, I have family that live in Steubenville and Martin Ferry, which are two towns north of here, about 30 minutes and about 15 minutes away. And she had not been here for like, six years. She came back to visit and got the app out and saw that there was a gluten free place here and came down and she's like, this is amazing. The food is great. The pizza is great. So they were really happy.

Sara Harper: 27:41

If you have people in Columbus, in Pittsburgh that want to be connected to a brand and to a farm, they're really blazing the path. They can do it. They can order flower from you. They can order products from you. They can help you help this whole market grow. They can be part of that.

Jennifer Kocher: 28:02

And you know how we had talked previously, Sarah, about we thought it was going to be a challenge because I'm in mostly food service and not in retail stores. We didn't think that food service would care as much. Well, that chain restaurant that I just told you about, the Pizza Joe's out of Newcastle, PA, they have the 42 units. When I went up there to meet with them, they actually have a sustainability program. And that was one of the obviously the pizza crust had to taste good or they're not going to buy it. But they liked that I was checking off all the boxes for them because their father had started the champagne. But then the two daughters who are adults and are running it now, he's still involved. They've created the sustainability program and love the fact that we were going to have a regenerative product here in Pennsylvania.

Sara Harper: 29:02

Let's go have a pizza. Pizza Joe's.

Jennifer Kocher: 29:04

Pizza, Joe's? Yes. Or even in Youngstown. I think in Youngstown. Youngstown, Ohio. They even have some of their shops.

Sara Harper: 29:12

I mean, how easy do we have to make it for you people, right? How easy has Jen made it for you?

Jennifer Kocher: 29:21

Adam Chapel grew the rice. We have a cleaner down there that he knew that he got it clean. It gets to me. I mill it, making it into a pizza crust, and then the pizza crust gets shipped out through Pennsylvania Macaroni, one of my distributors, out of Pittsburgh, and then it gets to Pizza Jets.

Sara Harper: 29:38

That's awesome. It's such a great story. I'm so glad it has a happy end.

Jennifer Kocher: 29:44

I know it's very exciting, and I'm as tired as I am this week from last week and this week and getting to this point. I am ecstatic that I feel like it's Christmas because it's Earth Day tomorrow. I'm just so happy this is happening right on Earth. Deck.

Sara Harper: 30:13

You've been listening to Tasting Terroir, a podcast made possible by a magical collaboration between the following companies and supporters, all working together to help farmers, chefs, food companies and consumers to build healthier soil for a healthier world. Risottra owned by Dr. Joe Clapperton, Rhizotara is an international food security consulting company providing expert guidance for creating healthy soils that yield tasty, nutrientdense foods. Check us out@rizotera.com. That's Rhizoterra.com and the Global Food and Farm Online Community, an ad free global social network and soil health streaming service that provides information and connections that help you apply the science and practice of improving soil health. Join us@globalfoodandfarm.com and from listeners like you to support us through our Patreon account at patreon. Comtastingtawar. Patrons receive access to our full length interviews and selected additional materials. Patrons will also have the opportunity to submit questions that we will answer on the podcast. Tune in next week to hear more interviews and insights with myself, Sarah Harper and Dr. Joe Clapperton, as well as the regenerative farmers, chefs and emerging food companies in the Global Food and Farm online community. If you like our work, please give us a five star rating and share the podcast with your friends. Thanks so much for listening and for helping us get the word out about this new resource to taste the health of your food. Until next week, stay curious, keep improving, and don't stop believing that better is possible when knowledge is available.