In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Brian Berger, principal and founding partner of JBH Advisory Group, which provides a variety of advisory services to stakeholders involved in scalable food service throughout the hospitality industry. They discuss the challenge of trying to maintain consistency in an industry where the product experience can never be the same twice, and how tools such as data analytics and strategic purchasing can be leveraged to that end. They also examine how innovations developed years ago, such as ghost kitchens and ventless cooking methodologies, have helped operators in the food and beverage industry adapt to pandemic-related challenges, particularly labor shortages and supply chain issues.
In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with colleague Jennifer Beidel, co-chair of the firm’s White Collar and Government Enforcement Practice and a former federal prosecutor, about internal investigations. Jen and Jonathan discuss that, given the heavily regulated nature of the food, beverage, and agribusiness industries, internal investigations regarding potential regulatory violations are common. The two further discuss that internal investigations in the space could also involve allegations of misconduct or criminal issues. Jen guides listeners through the goals of the investigation at the outset, looking for potential conflicts between the group running the investigation and the witnesses to be interviewed, how best to keep the information being investigated privileged, and deciding how and when to report findings to the appropriate regulatory body. Jen and Jonathan emphasize the importance of having a robust compliance program in place and thinking through a preliminary investigative plan before it is needed to understand compliance trends and help reduce risk.
In this episode, host Kermit Nash, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, and colleague Casey Grabenstein, a partner in the firm’s Litigation Practice, speak with Mark Haraburda, CEO of Barchart, a leading provider of commodities and exchange data. They discuss how the digital age has not only impacted boards of trade going from the open-outcry days of traders shouting and giving hand signals on the trading floor to a two-way electronic trading environment, but also how today’s technology has leveled the playing field for all sizes of farmers, cooperatives and agriculture companies to easily and quickly access real-time data and seamlessly conduct business. For example, the traditional way of farmers selling grain has evolved from face-to-face interactions at the co-op or grain elevator to transactions being conducted over mobile apps that connect farmers to merchandisers instantly.
In this episode, host Kermit Nash, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with colleague Sandy Bilus, co-chair of the firm’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Practice, about how cyber criminals are targeting agribusiness and food companies and the ways these companies are vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks, such as ransomware attacks that significantly disrupt operations. They discuss three key steps that companies should be taking right now to help handle and prepare for cyber threats, including having comprehensive information security programs, viable data backups, and written incident response plans in place, as well as cyber insurance.
In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Cannabis Law Practice and of the firm’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Ken VandeVrede, CEO of Hillview, a New Jersey-based cannabis company that has developed a portfolio of ethical, forward-thinking cannabis brands, including fast-growing hemp-infused seltzer product Kaló. Ken talks about his family’s commercial agricultural background that led him to first get involved in the cannabis space in 2010 and how he seized on the hemp product opportunities coming out of the enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill. Ken addresses the challenges of the federal and state regulatory framework and how, because the landscape is always evolving, he wants his products and company to be very nimble, specifically with their product labels. Jonathan and Ken also discuss the upcoming launch of Hillview’s new Kaló THC product in certain markets and how, in some ways, specific state-based regulations make it easier to produce a THC-infused beverage than a hemp-infused or a CBD-infused beverage.
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