Founder Feature: Chef V of Alchemy of Food

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1:08being a chef it's an amazing profession you get to play with food and make people happy but also there are other sciences that are involved with operating a restaurant i still like the profession i still admire the work but it is very stressful everyday operations where Things are changing like every minute. But in the CPG world, all those good habits needs to be transferred as well. So getting the right ingredients, torturing it. But it's not about buying five pounds of honey anymore. It's about buying 55 ,000 pounds of honey. So the whole process changes, but the principle remains the same. So that's a lot of hard work in this aspect as well.

1:50But it's just now volumes you're talking and not just the flavors. Hey, everybody. This is Caitlin Bricker, Managing Editor at Startup CPG. We are back with another founder feature. Today, I'm chatting with Chef V, founder of Alchemy of Food, a sauce brand elevating plates whenever possible. Alchemy of Food was born out of Chef V's loss of taste after having COVID and became a rediscovery of his own palate. We got into what it's like to go from chef to food brand founder, taking over shelves as part of Sprout's innovation set, and what it's like being an immigrant founder in today's world. I truly enjoy chatting with Chef V, and I hope you'll find joy in this episode.

2:29As always, enjoy.

2:34Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. This is Caitlin, and today I'm here with Chef V, founder of Alchemy of Food. Chef V, welcome to the show. Hi, thank you so much. For anybody who's listening and is not familiar with the Alchemy of Food, can you just tell us a little bit about what Alchemy of Food is? You know, we live in a world where everything feels so fake from people, their LinkedIn profiles, heck even we have accepted intelligence to be artificial. But there's one thing that does not need to be, that is our food. Most food products and condiments you find on the shelves these days are filled with ultra processed junk and ingredients you don't even want in your food.

3:15So we want to change the narrative. So at Alchemy of Food, we have one principal belief that real ingredients make real magic. I love it. I love hearing that insight from you. And I will say our team was so impressed by your products during the Shelfie Awards. You were a finalist in the sauce category, which is a feat in itself. I think beverages and sauces were probably the most jam-packed categories that we had for the Shelfies in 2025. and to make it to the finals says a lot. And you're touching on that like artificial aspect of food and even everything that we're having right now, these human interactions, which might not even be human.

3:56Your labels are so clean. And it was, I say this word a lot, it was very refreshing because it is when you get to see the bottle and the bottle looks beautiful and then you flip it and you can see those clean ingredients is just the perfect pairing. So tell us a little bit about how you landed on the ingredients that you're using in your products? So my background is I've been a chef all my life. I came to the States to attend culinary school. I went to the Culinary Institute of America, which I call as the Hogwarts of cooking schools. And after working for some really well-known chefs and opening restaurants for them all over the world, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, COVID happened.

4:36And a side effect of that was losing my sense of taste and smell, Maybe just devastating for anyone, but particularly for a chef. So I decided to take a sabbatical from the restaurant world and take care of my health. And thankfully, my taste buds did come back. And I attribute that to eating clean, living a relatively healthy lifestyle. And during that phase, that's when I realized there's a gap in the market. Everything you taste, everything you see is filled with things you don't want in your food. and the honey was one of the first things that I was able to taste and appreciate. And the local beekeeper that I was getting my honey from during winter, she had surplus and started to crystallize.

5:18So it's sort of, usually they just discard it. So I took that from her and made that into sauces and then gave it to her. She sold it at her tents at farmer's market, which gave me an idea to test the products at markets. So we did that. Sold at five farmer's markets elite last year. in summer of 2025, we got a chance to display at the Fancy Food Show, which is one of the world's biggest food shows. And also we got selected as a finalist for the Sheltie Awards. So that was our proof of product in the product market fit also was there. And Sprouts gave us an opportunity. We got selected into their innovation set and we're on the shelves now.

6:03And it's been three weeks since the launch and seeing some really good momentum. Now it's a chance to propel. Yes. Oh my God. You are giving me so much to unpack right now. I have to start with, and I have to say too, I think everything you just shared is such a testament to how good your product is and retailers are noticing. The trade shows and the trade show attendees are noticing. We are noticing. It's a very cool thing to witness. So let's unpack everything you just told us because I need to hear more about your COVID experience and losing your senses. I have the same experience, but I'm not a chef.

6:43So I can't imagine what it was like to be in that position. And also, I have to say this too. Have you ever heard of the movie? I think it's called Perfect Sense with Jew Law. Not yet. 2011, if I'm not mistaken. And it's about chefs that start losing their senses in a pandemic and this is obviously pre-covid you might see some parallels there with your own life but tell me like was there a specific moment where you went to taste something specific and you were like i can't taste this item i can't taste this ingredient yes taste for sure and even smell that's the first thing so if you like any chef before they eat anything the first thing they do is smell and then everyone my family said so weird no first thing is yeah okay the aroma is what makes it right so I love to cook every day at home cinnamon and cardamom are one of my favorite spices so I put that in my rice and then rice is like a staple so the day I made it and then sat down and the first day like smelt it and like I don't smell anything now and then I take a taste and then I had made some curry and I tasted that and like, this is weird.

7:59I can't taste anything. It's just bland. It's just like some mass in your mouth and it's like nothing, which did not give pleasure. It's like, what is happening? I mean. Did you think it was you being sick or did you think it was maybe like stale ingredients? What was going through your mind? I couldn't taste anything. Even when, as a chef, the first thing we've tasted, smell as far as the product good or bad. If it's sour, so you can throw it out, things like that. I could not taste anything. I could smell anything. And also, I knew that I had COVID because of the other symptoms. So I recovered from COVID.

8:36And that's when it really hit me. Because I knew like, okay, during COVID, as the side effect is going to come back, but actually when it started sealing, it was a few days after I had recovered. Oh my gosh. My experience, I lost my sense of smell, at least I wasn't tasting at this point in time when I was in the shower. And I had opened up a mint scalp scrub that I have. And I could like feel that cool feeling on my nose, but I couldn't smell it. I freaked out. And of course, I like get out of the shower. I'm trying to taste things. I had Olbas. They're like high powered eucalyptus peppermint lozenges.

9:18Nothing. Again, I could just feel the coolness, but I couldn't taste anything. It was an experience. It was not OK. Like those are senses. Obviously, all of our senses are things that we want to keep. And when they fail, it's just it's indescribable. Like I think in those moments, and you probably felt this too, like what have I taken for granted when it comes to my senses up until this moment? And what will I do when they come back? What am I going to change about my life? Exactly. Or even if it's going to come back. Right. Which don't let that enter your mind. I know. And it's for me as a chef, my job was to train people and then taste food.

10:00So when I'm working, I still was traveling. I still had a job to do. I could only sake it for a little bit. Thankfully, I had all the recipes standardized so I can look at things and say if it's good or not. But tasting it and judging it was not very easy. But you're right. You take things for granted. The hands still work and still do all those things. But when you can taste it, it's like, yeah, very depressing. With food, we have this. It's this point of connection that we have with other people. So if you can't talk about the flavor with each other as you're enjoying that food together, as you're serving it to somebody, like that's a big piece of connection and communication that's just lost.

10:40Yeah, you're absolutely correct there. So I grew up a Hindu. One of my best friends was a Muslim and then the other best friend was a Bengali. And then we had people who spoke Marathi-ling, people from all over India. And one really common connection was the festivals and the foods that they need during those festivals. So every week there'd be some festival, some celebration, and then a special food associated with that. And it was just a very amazing experience, like growing with so many people and still live in unity and still work together, still have the same ideas and we celebrate and then we go to each other's house and have a good time.

11:18And food was one of my connections. So I did not eat meat growing up, but the aromas of the rice and the spices that they use, our neighbors would make vegetarian versions of that. And that would still be amazing. And then we all sat down together and shared meals. And yeah, you're absolutely right. I think music and food connects people. And that was definitely one of my love languages. That's how I connected with people, was food. And thankfully, I was given the gift and the skill to make flavors work. And that's how I got the nickname of the flavorsmith. Because my name is Vasish Ramasubramanian.

11:58It's very, it's a mouthful. Vashius Rama Subramanian. Did I do that? Very close. So just V, Chef V, and then had so many names. The one that I enjoyed was the flavorsmith. So I thought, let's keep it. I like it. I'm associating your brand. We just talked about this before we started recording, but you're the flavorsmith and this is the alchemy of food. It's very official. It is, definitely. I need to talk to you more about your restaurant background because I think the restaurant to retail pipeline is very fascinating. And I think it adds this other layer of authenticity and authority when it comes to buying products, because you know it's somebody who's really looking into the science of food and ingredients rather than just tossing stuff into a bottle.

12:49So tell me what it was like going from your restaurant background to then becoming a food founder. What did that feel like and what did that journey look like for you? Being a chef, it's an amazing profession. You get to play with food and make people happy. But also there are other sciences that are involved with operating a restaurant, cars, getting the right training in place, getting the right SOPs in place, and then working with the right ingredients, which changes every day. So you have to be there at the restaurant every day checking things, if it's the right quality or not, and then discard things and not use the subparped ingredients.

13:26So that was a habit that we had to work with. And that's very key for a good, successful restaurant. There are other issues associated with that too, which I don't want to get into. I still like the profession. I still admire the work. But it is very stressful everyday operations where things are changing like every minute. But in the CPG world, all those good habits needs to be transferred as well. So getting the right ingredients, sourcing it. But it's not about buying five pounds of honey anymore. It's about buying 55 ,000 pounds of honey. So the whole process changes, but the principle remains the same.

14:07So that's a lot of hard work in this aspect as well. But it's just now volumes you're talking and not just the flavors. And then when you're working in a restaurant, it's about a bunch of other ingredients that needs to come together and make the plate look amazing. Visually smell everything. Same thing has to transfer to sauces too. And then getting that without adding preservatives and emulsifiers and things like that, it is a challenge. So it's very process oriented too. And then figuring all that out, working with the right co-packer. But now the recipes are more scientific. What's the pH level that you need to maintain?

14:48What's the temperature that needs to be maintained? What's the refractor readings in your specific density? Things like that. I'll pretend I know what you're talking about. Sorry, might not be very interesting for... I can learn something too. Yes, that has been the major shift is keeping the principles the same in your everyday operations and the ethos of the business and also figuring out how you can scale without losing it. Yeah. And how does it feel going from being that person who's chefing everything up, cooking it and then serving it to becoming that founder that's then relying on and trusting a co-packer to then take your formula, put it into a bottle and then make sure it's perfected?

15:31The perfect example for this would be my eight-year-old daughter. She likes to cook, and she got a cookbook as a gift for Christmas. And then when I cook food, it's completely up to intuitions, right? It's like, add this. But then I had to put that in a piece of paper, so it's consistent. So the best way is to do testing, and then my daughter just buys the ingredients, and then she does the cooking. And then she loves it. We love it. So we have to do some tweaking, you know, the recipe and you find the right recipe. If you add something and you need more stuff, though it needs to be adjusted, then that's the opportunity.

16:09So I did that testing a couple of times. And then it's not just me who was making it. I can make stuff. And then that was my job, coming with new flavors every day. But keeping it scientific and handing the recipes to others who want to help. And then it was a task. I had to work with three different co-pagnons to finalize on one where we can work together to scale at that level and keeping the quality consistent. Totally. Ultimate test of trial and error and then perfecting your product. Yes. All those are scientific learnings that I got to do after I switched my career to CPG Focus. We'll be right back.

16:51friends did you know that a party has been going on this whole time with 35 000 people and you're invited it's our startup cpg slack you hear about it all the time on here and if you haven't yet joined in this is your moment take out your phone type in startup cpg.com and then click to join our community you'll be at the party you'll hear about all our events you'll get in front of buyers investors, brands, whatever's most important to you. We have such big plans ahead, but you got to be in the community to hear about all of it. See you on the Slack.

17:29And I'm curious too, like, how did you land on using honey and maple syrup versus other sweeteners in your products? And I know that you're pretty big on following your heart when it comes to ingredients rather than focusing on trends that are happening right now. So how did you land on those sweeteners? And then how did you just stick to your guns or follow your heart when it comes to picking your ingredients rather than saying, okay, this is functional. It's going in the bottle because it's going to follow a trend. Oh, I believe that I'm more of a trend setter than a trend follower. So like Truff was big a few years ago and then Hot Honey was big last year.

18:10So my thing is why go to Italy to get expensive truffles or go to China to get cheap honey when you have some really amazing things in our own backyard? It's maple. And one of the flagship products is a chipotle maple. And it has all the ingredients that are sourced within the United States. We don't have to travel far for it. And adding some spices that are grown in the Carolinas, it has a time-release mechanism. It's sweet first, it's smoky, and then the heat comes in. No one else is doing that. So it's about figuring out those ingredients which are local to us. And then even the honey aspect is, you use local honey that is sourced in Tennessee.

18:52So yeah, it has more nuances to it, more flavor to it. I love it. And it seems like Sprouts loved it too. So tell me what it's been like gearing up for your launch with the Sprouts Innovation Set. And what is that looking like for you right now? Oh, it is a fantastic opportunity. That was one of the best things that happened for the business last year. It was a process figuring out the exact amounts, fundraising and packaging, labels, everything. All those were the exciting time, but also onboarding with our distributor. I joke that they brokered world peace and almost found the cure for cancer at the time it took to on board with just Zelda.

19:35And then getting on the shelves the first time, you know, figuring out the logistics, if all the products went to the different distributors, any damages happened, all those things. And then now they're finding the shelves. And it was amazing to see our products right next to some of the biggest players in the market. AL Foods and Molly Bars is amazing. and then we have Yellowbird and then Chef Scott Connors products. So all in the same vicinity. And all very unique from each other too. They're all very unique from each other and they're one of the best in the market now and they are trendsetters.

20:12So just being seen with them was a big achievement by itself. Congratulations. Thank you. Now we are working to see what we can do next. We have some exciting things happening, working on some new flavors. That's always the question, like, hey, what's next? I'll be traveling too. I'll probably see you at the Alley Rally. Yes. At Expo West. Yes, you will. So I'm curious, like, there's sauces. Of course, you can mix sauces in to anything. You can put them on anything. What are your favorite pairings? Oh, one of those really popular ones I do is a bacon-wrapped date. I love dates. Oh, yeah, of course.

20:51Yes, who doesn't? And it's with candy, but nature's candy. and the California dates are amazing. I would say par with Saudi Arabian dates, but yeah, it's bacon seasoned with a little bit of chipotle maple barbecue rub and then grab the dates, bake it nice and crispy for like 20 minutes and then drizzle it with the chipotle maple sauce. It is amazing. I've done so many of those and that's definitely the crowd favorite. And then hot honey, it goes great on everything from pizzas to chicken. Even ice cream. I like to put that on fruits. And then the other really popular one is the lime salsa verde.

21:30And that has been definitely a lot of repeat customers for that. It's her everyday sauce for tacos to eggs to burritos on everything. Patty, our head of marketing and community, I think her husband, Kevin, might be your number one fan when it comes to the salsa verde. Oh, wow. OK, I love that. Yep. Just so you know. Thanks, Kevin. Thanks, Patty. Do you see yourself expanding beyond sauces anytime? time? There has been a lot of demand for spice rubs and that makes cooking so much easier. But again, there is an opportunity there too. We are working on a few spices. I have to work with the cold packer to source the grease.

22:08That's the phase we are in right now. So yeah, spice rubs, which also add some functionality, not just flavor. I love it. And I know that you were talking a lot about your upbringing too and passing flavors among your friends. And I'm curious before we wrap up here, if there's anything that you want to add about being an immigrant founder and navigating the culture in the U.S. while still keeping your identity. Oh, that has always been an interview. We can talk about this for hours. So like I was telling you that I grew up in a community where so many different languages, religions, we all live together, still live happily.

22:45and when I came to the States, I had very severe experience, to be honest. At the Color East of America, they elected me to be the group leader, which happens the first few days and then I still am in touch with a bunch of them and they're super supportive. And then you also have some bad aspects in the society that happens to you, but I applied for my visa through my job. I got it. And then the day I went to celebrate with my family, one of the managers there made a comment saying, hey, now this guy's our slave. And then navigating that experience because after that, life just changed with that.

23:27Hey, I'm sorry to cut you off. I am outraged for you. And I'm so sorry that happened. Not cool. It's not that's the life of an immigrant, you or else you're a chef, right? You put your head down and then work towards the next goal. And there'll also be comments where they would say, go back to your country, things like that. But then when they miss you, they also apologize and they tell you they're sorry about whatever happened. Yeah, sure. But it is sad the way things are going. And my wife is American. She is from Oklahoma. And then just today, I got my ancestry report back. And that was my gift from my wife for Christmas.

24:07And I was concerted and that 100 % Indian, there's nothing else. And that was my prediction. And then I was 99 % right. I am 99 % Indian. And then one person comes from the Nepal and the Indus region, but still very Indian. And then the wife, she has German and English in her. And our daughter, of course, will have both now. So it just says that, yeah, we can still live together. It doesn't matter which country, which language you speak, which food you eat, which God you believe in. We can still live harmoniously. That's the hope that I live in. And thank whatever God for you expanding my palate and all the other brands that are bringing these culinary flavors from all over the world to expand our palates.

24:58Because, damn, my food would be so boring if it weren't for founders like you. Thank you. You're very generous with your compliments. I mean, it's the truth, though. I think we are experiencing this. I don't even know how to eloquently say this. I feel like I'm a much better writer than speaker. But I do think that we're experiencing this almost like cleansing of the palate, which is not what we need. Like we need more flavor in the world. We need more flavors from all over the world, from diverse backgrounds, from people like yourself. again like this is a connection point for all of us we connect over food we connect over conversation and to see those things kind of like almost be forced to disappear is not okay not cool so I just needed to say that and also thank you too for continuing to do this even in the climate that we're living in right now where it might feel like scary or I don't even know like I can't even speak for how you feel right now.

25:58But as an outsider looking in, I can imagine that it probably feels uncomfortable at times. Completely agree. You know, ice is bad. Just last week, we had ice storm. I was not home, but my family was. And everything was covered in ice. And most of that died. Now it's all thawed. And it's going to start rotting. And see, ice is not good. It just rots things. Interesting way to put things. Thanks. I fully agree with you. Well, Chef V, it has been a pleasure to connect with you, to learn more about your brand, to learn more about your background. And again, I just want to thank you for sticking with it, sharing your flavors with the world.

26:41Let's get your flavors and your products into more hands. Where can people find you online? Tell us your website and tell us your Instagram handle. So our website is www.theflavorsmith.com. Instagram is at real slaversmith and they can find us on our website through we're also available at Amazon and we are also on wholesale at unfair so yeah the two avenues and of course right now sprouts would be the easiest way to find us go to your closest sprout store and then find us at the innovation set yes everyone if you have a sprouts close to you go pick up the Alchemy of Food products from sprouts asap signal to sprouts that you want to keep seeing them stopped so that you can have your hands on them constantly that is the best way to support these brands in retail go to the stores grab them send that signal chefie thank you so much again this has been a pleasure i'm sure i'll catch you very soon alley rally for sure but i feel like i see you constantly so i'll be sure to grab some samples next time i see you thank you so much kevin thank you for everything.