On this episode of The Food Professor Podcast, Michael and Sylvain welcome back Rob Sengotta, chef and co-founder of Von Slick’s Finishing Touch, the award-winning Manitoba company redefining butter. Rob shares how his culinary roots and Dragon’s Den debut helped shape a growing Canadian brand now expanding from Thunder Bay to Vancouver Island. Plus, Sylvain reports from Colombia on rural food economies, cloned-meat regulation, Canada’s food-price outlook, and why transparency—not technology—remains the real ingredient for trust in our food system.
In this flavorful new episode of The Food Professor Podcast—presented by Caddle—Michael LeBlanc and Dr. Sylvain Charlebois serve up an inspiring conversation with Rob Sengotta, chef and co-founder of Von Slick’s Finishing Touch, the award-winning Manitoba-based producer of gourmet compound butters.
Rob takes listeners behind the scenes of his chef-to-entrepreneur journey—from fine-dining kitchens in London and France to building a small-batch butter business on the prairies. He shares how curiosity and culinary discipline led to Von Slick’s signature push-tube packaging and eight imaginative flavours, including garlic confit, roasted red pepper, mushroom duxelle, and cowboy butter.
Listeners learn how Rob and partner Landon Craker turned a spark of an idea into a thriving Western Canadian brand by mastering distribution, leveraging farmers’ markets, and staying creative on social media. Rob reflects on his early appearance on Dragon’s Den, the lessons learned about timing and valuation, and the advantages of remaining proudly local. He also reveals new restaurant-format products, growing online sales nationwide, and why Canadians’ appetite for supporting homegrown brands continues to expand.
In the first half, Sylvain reports live from Medellín, Colombia, where he’s attending an international conference on rural food economies. He offers a fascinating window into Colombia’s agricultural transformation—how coffee and cocoa remain vital exports and how farmers are striving to move beyond decades of narcotics-driven instability.
Back in Canada, Michael and Sylvain unpack the latest headlines:
This episode blends global perspective, policy insight, and entrepreneurial inspiration—proving again that from farm to fork, the Canadian food economy is as complex as it is delicious.