Fell Into Food Podcast

Brittney Miller is the President and second-generation owner of Manchester Farms, America’s oldest and largest quail farm, where she has helped transform her family’s South Carolina operation into a nationwide supplier of quail and quail eggs. A Clemson University graduate with a B.S. in Poultry Science, Miller grew up on the farm before building experience in animal health and fine dining, then returning home to take the reins of the family business. Today, she leads every facet of the operation, combining her poultry expertise, foodservice experience, and entrepreneurial approach to grow the specialty quail market while preserving her family’s agricultural legacy. This week, Brittney sits down with Jeff to pull back the curtain on what it really takes to scale an heirloom game bird farm from a small family operation into a $20 million commercial powerhouse. We dig into the realities of multi-generational succession, the challenges of commercial barn husbandry, and how Manchester Farms unlocked massive retail growth by distributing over 50 million quail eggs a year. Plus, Brittney shares practical culinary knowledge every chef and home cook needs—from the 3:1 baking ratio and the foolproof trick to peeling quail eggs, to why you need specialized scissors and what’s ahead for ready-to-eat sous-vide confit quail. Website: manchesterfarms.com Instagram: @manchesterquail TikTok: @manchesterquail Facebook: Manchester Farms Quail YouTube: @manchesterfarmsquail1102 Chapters 00:00 – Intro: Growing up on America’s oldest commercial quail farm 05:12 – The Campbell Soup job offer and walking away for hunting season 07:16 – Early days of Manchester Farms, trade shows, and distribution growth 10:15 – Clemson Poultry Science, corporate gigs, and the Vail ski club detour 13:37 – Navigating family business dynamics and stepping into sole ownership 17:50 – Scaling from $7M to $20M: Barn biology, risk tolerance, and agribusiness banking 22:25 – The Quail Egg explosion: Nutrition profile, Costco rollout, and heritage Pharaoh genetics 26:47 – The banana-peel trick and why you need quail egg scissors 30:49 – Kitchen applications: 3:1 baking ratio, deviled eggs, and Brittney’s pan-fried hack 34:36 – Kid food exploration, Jewel-Osco / Midwest retail distribution, and grocery buyer buy-in 40:15 – Innovation pipeline: Sous-vide duck fat confit quail and grilling tips 43:13 – Outro and closing thoughts Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91 Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood FellintoFood.com Until next time, we’ll catch you on the sunny side! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Born into a poor family in Peru as the youngest of five children, Daniel Valverde’s path to winemaking began far from the vineyard. At nineteen, without a college degree, he followed his older siblings to the United States and took a job busing tables on weekends in New Jersey while juggling shifts at a local supermarket. Grinding his way across restaurant floors, he eventually made the leap to New York City to work at the historic steakhouse The Palm, rising through the ranks from server to floor manager, beverage manager, and eventually sales manager. It was there that he met fellow server Max, sparking a late-night pact to one day make wine together in Peru. Driven by an entrepreneurial streak forged in the US, Daniel later stepped away from the corporate dining world, survived a battle with thyroid cancer, and relocated to Puerto Rico on an impulse in 2021. There, he founded Green Rose Cleaners—scaling it from a solo hustle into the island’s highest-rated commercial and residential cleaning service. That venture provided the operational freedom to return home to Peru and finally fulfill his promise: founding Valtierro to prove that Peru’s heritage grapes belong on the world’s finest dining tables. Long before Valtierro existed, Daniel and his coworker Max made an offhand promise over shift drinks in Manhattan that they would one day make wine together. Daniel walks through the forgotten history that fueled that dream: how Peru actually produced wine before Chile and Argentina in the 1500s, why Spanish Crown tariffs and natural disasters crushed the industry, and the exact phone call a decade later that convinced Max to hop on a plane to Ica. Instead of raising millions to buy real estate, Daniel hit the road and scouted bodegas across southern Peru, landing in the high-desert valley of Tacna right on the Chilean border. He explains the art of tenant winemaking—how he convinced an independent, multigenerational grape farmer to sell him two tons of fruit and rent out cellar space so they could vinify on their own terms. Valtierro Website: https://www.valtierro.com/ Valtierro Instagram: @valtierrowine Episode Timestamps & Chapters 00:00 – Intro: Welcome Daniel Valverde to Fell Into Food 00:23 – Leaving Peru at 19: Busing tables and rising through NYC dining rooms 01:40 – The 15-year pact with sommelier Max at The Palm 02:20 – The lost history: Why Peru made wine before Chile and Argentina 03:53 – Ground zero: Scouting Ica and sending the text that started Valtierro 05:41 – The entrepreneurial mindset, early failures, and launching Green Rose Cleaners 12:44 – Arriving in Tacna: Renting tanks and partnering with a generational grower 14:55 – Bringing in 40 years of Argentine winemaking expertise 15:36 – The Malbec of Peru? Why bet on Negra Criolla 17:26 – Overcoming the Pisco legacy and leaning into fine dining momentum 19:50 – The NYC restaurant story: Confronting the domestic wine stigma 21:38 – The go-to-market: 1,500 bottles, allocation math, and scaling up 24:20 – Direct-to-consumer club plans vs. retail placement 25:09 – Rejecting tourist kitsch: Burgundy glass, clean labels, and wax stamps 26:15 – Cellar details: 50% whole-cluster, manual picking, and nitrogen bottling 28:44 – Pairing wine with Peruvian cuisine: What to ask your server 30:00 – Full circle: What the 19-year-old busboy would say today 31:05 – Where to find Valtierro and closing thoughts Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91 Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood FellintoFood.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

First time in New Orleans, and I nearly choked on powdered sugar within the first hour. Worth it. Down for three days, so I did what I do and ate everything. I have opinions on the turtle soup (I grew up in the sticks, it's turtle soup, guys). I found a boudin egg roll that was one of my favorite thing I ate all trip. I walked Bourbon Street after everyone told me it'd be a disaster, and it wasn't. Best meal of the trip? Lufu which is Indian food. In New Orleans. Go figure. Go watch this one on YouTube, because me describing a plate of food with audio only gets old fast. Everything I mentioned is listed below. Tell me what I missed, because I'm going back, and next time it's crawfish season. Catch you on the sunny side. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Stephanie Noto is a Registered Dietitian, Child Nutrition Program, and School Food Expert. In partnership with school districts, Stephanie evaluates and enhances school meal programs by integrating sound nutrition principles with operational and sustainable best practices. Her career in school nutrition spans 17 years, self-employed as a consultant for the last 8 years. She brings experience as a former K12 Food Service Director, Regional Food Production Specialist, and National Support Resource for K12 operators, which has given her first hand view of the opportunities and challenges school food service teams face. Districts often struggle with staffing capacity, limited training, the complexity of institutional procurement, and the need to balance regulatory compliance with increased expectations around fresh, minimally processed ingredients. School nutrition is one of the most complex, misunderstood sectors in the entire culinary landscape. Between federal reimbursement guidelines, strict meal pattern requirements, and tight bottom lines, serving high-quality, scratch-cooked food to students is an uphill battle. In this episode, registered dietitian, former K-12 Food Service Director, and school food consultant Stephanie Noto (Noto Nutrition Consulting) breaks down the true state of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). We explore recent changes in USDA nutrition regulations—including added sugar limits and sodium tier targets—and unpack the execution disconnect that leads to "cop-out" meals like grab bags and mealy red delicious apples. Stephanie Noto’s Website: https://www.notonutrition.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notonutrition LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-noto-rd-cdn-sns-23410878/ 0:00 Intro: Meet Stephanie Noto 1:14 State of school nutrition — what's changed in 3–5 years 2:43 NSLP, SBP, and the sodium/sugar rollout explained 6:23 The "compliant" lunch that isn't really a meal 10:31 Self-op vs. contract management: the training gap 13:49 Fixing the middle of the P&L 17:45 Writing real food into the contract 21:59 From 24-year-old regional resource to independent consultant 27:19 Do chefs belong in school kitchens? 32:01 Her fix: mandatory training before you get the job Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91 Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood FellintoFood.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Chef Adrianne Calvo is an award-winning Miami-based restaurateur, best-selling cookbook author, and Emmy-nominated, 9x Telly Award-winning media personality known for her signature "Maximum Flavor" style. Her flagship restaurant, Chef Adrianne's Vineyard, has grown from a strip-mall startup into a national "must-eat" institution, and she's built a full media presence around it — TV appearances on Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay, a million-plus social following, and a newest cookbook, Maximum Flavor at Home, bringing that same cooking into everyday home kitchens. At 22, with no investors and no real restaurant experience beyond an internship, she opened Chef Adrianne's Vineyard in a Kendall strip mall — right before the 2008 financial crash. Nineteen years later, it's a national "must-eat" institution, and she's built an entire "Maximum Flavor" world around it: an Emmy nomination, nine Telly Awards, appearances on Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay, a million-plus followers, and a new book, Maximum Flavor at Home, out November 3rd. Website: chefadriannes.com Instagram: @chefadrianne YouTube: youtube.com/user/ChefAdrianne Maximum Flavor at Home (out November 3, 2026) Book Tour Dates November 6 — The Last Bookstore, Los Angeles November 12 — Books & Books, Coral Gables, FL November 18 — The Chopping Block, Chicago Timestamps 01:14 — The accidental cooking class and the French toast that rerouted her life 04:56 — Opening the restaurant at 22, right before the 2008 crash, and leading a kitchen full of veterans twice her age 07:55 — Inside Dark Dining: blindfolds, heightened senses, and the champagne trick that still gets 19-year regulars 14:13 — Where AI helps in the kitchen — and where it can't touch human creativity 17:16 — Maximum Flavor at Home (out November 3): the new book, standout recipes, and the tour 30:57 — Her sister Jennifer, "Make It Count," and the difference between burnout and dedication 33:24 — 19 years as St. Jude's Culinary Ambassador, and the one standard she wants tied to her name Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91 Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood FellintoFood.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy