The Business of Food with Steve Alexander | WGN Radio 720 - Chicago's Very Own

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/8337452/8337452_2026-04-27-164752.64kmono.mp3 Synthetic fertilizer is arguably the most important life-saving innovation of all time, credited with preventing 2.7 billion premature deaths. In the audio clip above, Susan Stroud, the founder of No Bull Agriculture, tells WGN’s Steve Alexander we have a couple of Germans to thank for that. In the early 1900s, Fritz Haber, a German […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/8331390/8331390_2026-04-23-202030.64kmono.mp3 Whether you pronounce it “NUT-tella” or “NEW-tella” doesn’t matter. “We are very accepting of both pronunciations,” says Seth Gonzales, Director of Nutella for the Ferrero candy group. In the audio clip above, he tells WGN’s Steve Alexander the origins of Nutella go back to post-World War II Italy, where poverty was rampant, chocolate was […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/8079514/8079514_2026-04-06-160814.64kmono.mp3 When Danielle Marshall’s doctor told her she was on the verge of pre-diabetes, it got her attention. Her parents were diabetic and she had seen the difficulties they endured. She took her doctor’s advice to lose weight to heart, began exercising regularly and juicing — as in grinding veggies and fruit into juices that […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/8030357/8030357_2026-03-12-172957.64kmono.mp3 When an email from Northwestern University landed in my inbox, I thought I was reading a very early April Fools joke, or maybe something from The Onion. “I thought it was a joke, too,” says Dr. Fred Turek, a professor in the Departments of Neurobiology and Neurology, and director of the Center on Sleep […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7945359/7945359_2026-01-30-153359.64kmono.mp3 There’s a company in Chicago’s Medical District that has figured out how to replace petroleum in the manufacture of many everyday items, from house paint to bandages to diapers. In the audio clip above, Justin Brown, the CEO of Låkril Technologies, tells how its proprietary technology converts low-cost lactic acid (from renewable sugars like […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7933188/7933188_2026-01-24-170628.64kmono.mp3 Once again, corn is proving it can replace petroleum-based plastics in a commonly-used product: filters for HVAC systems in home and commercial systems. Aer-Terra, a Chicago-area company, spins fiber for the filters from a by-product of corn. In the audio clip above, Mike Malloy, co-founder of Aer-Terra, tells WGN’s Steve Alexander about the process […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7894379/7894379_2026-01-05-173619.64kmono.mp3 The City of Chicago has 27 locations where you can take your Christmas tree to be recycled, and where you can later pick up mulch for your garden. The full list and a link to a map are shown below. There are eco-friendly alternatives, though, as noted in the audio clip above with WGN’s […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7870255/7870255_2025-12-22-155255.64kmono.mp3 To understand why Revolution Brewing named its Christmas beer “Fistmas,” look no further than the company’s logo: a raised fist. “Craft beer is nothing short of a revolution,” says the founder, CEO, and self-described Chairman of the Party, Josh Deth. In the audio clip above, he tells WGN’s Steve Alexander, “When we came along, […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7867669/7867669_2025-12-19-164709.64kmono.mp3 Remember those kids birthday parties where you had to be sooooo careful about serving your child’s friends anything containing peanuts? The allergies were real. The scientific advice to deal with allergens by total avoidance, it turns out, was wrong. Around the turn of the century, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended delaying exposing babies and […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7861990/7861990_2025-12-16-222730.64kmono.mp3 When you think of Denny’s, the breakfast served 24/7, the Grand Slam, or the cleverly named breakfast sandwich “Moons Over My Hammy” probably stand out. Any time, day or night, Denny’s is there to sate your appetite. What you don’t think of when you think of Denny’s, and what I’m confident Harold Butler and Richard […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7846670/7846670_2025-12-08-013910.64kmono.mp3 Until Sunday’s loss at Green Bay, the Bears had won eight in a row. Is it a coincidence that the Bears began their winning streak after the co-owners and operators of Kneads and Wants, a Skokie bakery, were featured as a Chicago Bears Small Business All-Pro? Perhaps, but Madeleine England, who runs the bakery […]

Stan’s Donuts began in Los Angeles in 1963, after founder Stan Berman moved there in 1954 and opened the first location in Westwood. After forming a friendship and partnership, Rich Labriola of Labriola Baking Company opened the first Chicago location in 2014, and now owns and operates 17 Chicago area locations. For a National Donut […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7785455/7785455_2025-10-28-222955.64kmono.mp3 We hear a lot about omega-3 fatty acids and most of what we hear is that we don’t get enough of them in our diets. In the audio clip above, Dr. Daniel Robinson, an associate professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and an attending physician in the Division of Neonatology […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7778825/7778825_2025-10-23-231225.64kmono.mp3 As a child, Emilia D’Albero loved cheese. Most kids do, but few take it as far as she did, all the way to the “Olympics of Cheese” — the Mondial du Fromage, a biennial event held in Tours, France, that combines a trade show for dairy professionals with a juried cheese tasting and the […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7765758/7765758_2025-10-16-171158.64kmono.mp3 Sunday, October 12, was National Farmer’s Day in the United States. Traditionally, when people think “farmer,” they don’t think of a woman. “It’s usually expected that it’s her husband, or her father, or her brother,” says Kate Huffman. Not in her case. She owns two farms, and was recently honored by the Illinois Farm […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7757079/7757079_2025-10-12-204619.64kmono.mp3 “I love Choco Chimps,” Jane Goodall told Nature’s Path Organic CEO Arjan Stephens. “I’m really proud to partner with you guys,” she told him in 2014 when the company teamed up with her to protect chimpanzees and raise money for the Institute. “She loved that Choco Chimps were vegan,” as she had been since […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7745106/7745106_2025-10-05-163506.64kmono.mp3 In the film The Irishman, Teamsters Union boss Jimmy Hoffa, played by Al Pacino, rallies an audience by pointing out how vital trucks, and the men and women who drive them, are to our way of living. “If you got it, a truck brought it. If you got your food, your clothing, your medicine, […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7741200/7741200_2025-10-02-164000.64kmono.mp3 So there you are, minding your own business as you inspect and squeeze the fresh produce in the supermarket when a robot named Servi, loaded with shelves of bananas and/or pineapples, glides up to you and says, “Hey you. Yes, you.” It’s happening daily at Jewel stores in Fox Lake, Huntley, and Westmont, Illinois. […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7736402/7736402_2025-09-30-165202.64kmono.mp3 It was just another busy day in the Loyola Medical Center cafeteria in Maywood, Illinois. Cashier Ketzly Angel was helping a line of hungry customers. ER physician Dr. Joan Dimopoulos rushed in to grab a quick bite during a busy shift. While she was eating a chicken sandwich, things got scary: A piece of […]

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7735456/7735456_2025-09-30-011556.64kmono.mp3 When Holly Simon gave birth, “The doctors and the nurses all said that they were sorry,” she recalls. Baby Nate had Down syndrome. Right away she knew she had her work cut out for her, not only raising her child but making sure no other new mom has to hear those words. You may […]