Most chefs are trained to think in dishes.
But what happens when culinary thinking becomes a product, a company, and eventually an entire system?
In this episode of Fugitive Chefs, I speak with Leif Friedmann and Jorge Aguilar from Eat Wasted — a startup turning surplus bread into pasta.
What began as frustration around food waste inside restaurant kitchens slowly evolved into a broader conversation around entrepreneurship, product development, branding, manufacturing, and how chefs create value outside traditional restaurant systems.
We talk about:
• Why food waste pushed Leif beyond restaurants
• The transition from chef to startup founder
• Building a scalable food product
• Sustainability vs desirability in branding
• Why chefs underestimate their transferable skills
• The tension between craftsmanship and scale
• How culinary thinking translates into startups
• What modern food entrepreneurship actually looks like
This conversation is not really about pasta.
It’s about what happens when chefs stop thinking only like cooks and start thinking like builders.
👤 Connect with Eat Wasted:
Website:https://www.eatwasted.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatwasted/
🎧 Fugitive Chefs is your window into how culinary work and chef identity are evolving beyond traditional kitchens.
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