Jeffrey Strah Miyoko’s

In the Pizza World a company by the name of Miyoko’s is on the verge of changing the way pizza is made.

Their product is called Liquid Vegan Pizza Mozzarella.

We spoke with Miyoko’s representative Jeffrey Strah about their revolutionary product.

Q – Jeff, I see under your name, the National Director of Culinary and Industrial Sales. Is that the same thing as saying you’re the Director of Marketing?
A – No. We have a Vice President of Marketing. She’s the head of it. There’s not too many people in the office. It’s still a small company. So, we have Miyoko who’s the CEO and underneath her is the executive team which is our Chief Financial Officer, our Chief Operations Officer, our Senior Vice President of Sales, our Senior Vice President of Brands and our Senior Vice President of Marketing. I believe those are the five current individuals who reports directly to Miyoko. Miyoko is an amazing woman. That’s as much as it gets and then it drops down from there. My job encompasses everything that has to be culinary which is high end, food service which is all restaurants and anything that has to do with food service, theaters, restaurants, and industrial in terms of supply for ingredients for manufacturers that make other items like pizzas or entrées, etc.

Q – Who in the company knew there would be a market for Liquid Vegan Pizza Mozzarella?
A – That’s an interesting question. To be quite honest, I’m not quite sure of that story. I’ve heard a couple of different versions, but rather than quote something I’m not sure of… It was actually going to be frozen item that you kind a crumbled and melted and put on top of the pizza and before I got here someone figured out that wasn’t the right, correct way to do it and then when I got here my background was in pizza or 40 years. So, I took the item and ran with it. To be honest, Miyoko’s Food Service Department, there really was a Food Service Industrial peace. So, that was my opportunity to come in and basically not reinvent it and take it and determine what it is, how it works. I’ve done extensive research through my life and especially in the last year with Miyoko’s on the item itself, how it performed in every possible item at different temperatures from 450° all the way up to 950°, in coal, wood, deck, gas, electric, impinger, conveyor, every oven on different crusts, with different sauces and toppings and every way you can spin pizzas. Although the pizza industry appears simple, it’s a lot more complex when it comes into baking and the development of pizza pies. So, when I came in, figured it out, and there we go. We ended up with Liquid Mozzarella which is technically if I wanted to explain it to somebody who wouldn’t know it’s like pancake batter. It’s edible. It doesn’t taste very good at all. You can’t eat it. You’re probably not going to get sick but, you certainly won’t like it. But, once it bakes and has heat applied to it, it becomes something, like a pancake does, it becomes something. If forms into a cheese like crumble. There’s many advantages of our product over the other 11 to 12 brands of shredded pizza cheese, shredded pizza of vegan cheese which I can elaborate on, should you be interested in or if not we can just go in a different direction. I’m sorry if that was a long answer.

Q – You said earlier you had 40 years in the pizza business. What were you doing?
A – Well that’s a great question. I started with my father back in 1980. We had a food brokerage business primarily retail, but, I had a number of friends that had pizzerias as I was growing up as a kid and I had a couple of gigs in pizza. So, I was around pizza a lot of times. Then, when I changed my career path in 1989, still in the food business. I went from a food brokerage business to a different manufacturer business which at that time was Sorrento Cheese Company and they specialized in pizza. So, I’ve been around pizza primarily since the early 90s which is encompassed 33 years of being in and around pizzas products whether it’s fresh mozzarella for pizza mozzarella. So, I’ve been in the gig for a long time and I got a chance to not only meet a tremendous amount of people but inundate myself with how pizzas are put together, how they’re made, how their baked. Not just pizza, but 90% of my life has been spent in pizza.

Q – Were your skills learned on the job or did you have to get some college preparation?
A – My college was basically a couple of years in Junior college. After that it was all practical application. I started with my father when I was 20 in the business and that’s where I cut my teeth. I developed everything on the retail side from calling on everybody from Joe’s Market to Costco and then in the pizza world from Joe’s Pizza to Pizza Hut. So, I’ve called on everybody and anybody in between that has to do with pizza or grocery stores or convenience stores or whatever. I pretty much did everything at one point or another in my career.

Q – You mentioned Pizza Hut. Did you ever speak to Frank Carni (one of the founders of Pizza Hut)?
A – I have not.

Q – I did speak to Frank Carni. I asked him if he would grant me an interview. He said he would, if I could promise him that no one would contact him asking for money. How can I make such a promise? So, the interview was never done. In all of the interviews I’ve ever done I never had anyone ask that of me.
A – Wow! I wonder where that came out of and what was behind his thinking. I’ve never heard anything like that before. Maybe he had opened himself up and everybody saw him as a charity. I don’t know.

Q – Do you know why it is were speaking today? I happen to be watching an old Johnny Carson Tonight Show. He has as one of his guests someone who was either in or affiliated with the Pizza Today Magazine. So, Johnny Carson turns to Ed McMahon and says “did you know there was a magazine devoted entirely to pizza?” And Ed McMahon says, “No” after the show, I did some research, got a hold of the magazine, saw Miyoko’s ad in the magazine and here we are!
A – (Laughs). That’s actually pretty amazing how one step takes you to your destination ultimately. I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you.

Q – I just wanted to make sure I told you those two stories. Now, why would there be a marketplace for Miyoko’s liquid vegan pizza mozzarella? Is it because mozzarella can sometimes stick to the back of your throat?
A – Here’s how it goes. Pizza has had cheese on it forever. The original pizza had fresh mozzarella before there was mass-produced mozzarella and it ended up being mozzarella. There’s always been mozzarella on pizza. When it comes to how we got to where we are now, the first thing was people started becoming lactose intolerant years ago. So, the lactose intolerance were unable to eat cheese so basically they would have to order a crust that did not have any lactose on it and or they wouldn’t have any toppings on it. So, you started seeing people do lactose free alternatives on the pizza and as people gravitated towards veganism; obviously vegan is a lifestyle choice. It’s not what you think it is. A lot of people think vegan is healthy. It’s really truly got nothing to do with health. The primary reason behind veganism is the fact of the sustainability of the planet and the ethical treatment of animals. That’s really what it’s all about. What happened is people rushed to get something vegan on a cheese because cheese is really the heart of any pizza. Between the crust and the cheese that’s the heart. Without that gooey cheesy goodness and the crust of that New York crust, or Detroit style crust or Chicago crust, that’s what makes pizza. So, people came out making vegan cheese. In their development of vegan cheese they took out a couple of things which makes us different. All the other brands make their product very similar to each other. They are technically plant-based because they don’t have any animal products in them, their primarily oils, starches, waters, and gums that are made into an emulsion and formed into blocks of technically American cheese like substance. Then those are subsequently shredded and put anti caking so they don’t stick together, and put into a bag and they go on pizza. Because they don’t have any quote, unquote melk in them or any proteins in them they don’t melt very well. Also, when you heat anti caking, gum, oil and starch it becomes a gummy flemmy substance which sticks to dental work. It sticks to the inside of your mouth and it’s very un-pleasing to the palate. You end up spending more time trying to get a cheese off the inside of your mouth then otherwise. So, in the development of our product which is truly unlike anything I’ve ever seen and I’ve done now well over 150 tests and cuttings with the product and every application it’s an amazing product because it whacks most of that. So when you put it on like a pancake it bakes up. It doesn’t stick to your mouth because it doesn’t have the amount of gum and anti-caking together then the other stuff does. In the case of the item you probably saw it’s 100% organic. It’s nut based. We’ve developed a nut free version for the anti-allergens which will be debuting soon, but, it just gives you a better option. Because of how it bakes up, it’s primarily made of plant milk instead of plant-based; the milk of the nut or the milk of the seed. It actually contains protein. We take that milk and we ferment it, add cultures to it so it’s got some flavor to it. Natural flavor versus adding in non-natural flavors and it becomes a cheese like substance. It’s an amazing product we were fortunate enough to have our coming out party last week at the Pizza Expo. We debuted and exhibited for the first time and the reception for the product was amazing, from everyone, independent pizzerias all the way up to major chains and all of our competitors were there. All 11 of them. It was a very successful show for us to debut. We created a lot of interest, a tremendous amount of follow-up I’ll tell you that. A lot of follow-up. But, that’s all good. I’d much rather have more stuff to do than less stuff to do.

Q – Are you a vegan?
A – I am not a vegan. I’ve never been a vegan, however I will say I’ve been aware of veganism for probably five or six years because a couple of my daughter’s friends from high school are vegan. There are a lot of kids around who are vegan. I spend a lot of time talking to them so I know more about vegan in the last year than I ever thought I would know. I understand it more. Consciously I’m aware of what veganism is and I actually think differently now subconsciously. My diet has shifted a little bit. I still can’t get away from my ribeye or salmon or eggs but nonetheless I have a different viewpoint than I had before.

Q – Miyoko’s started out with four employees in what year?
A – 2014. Fairfax California.

Q – In just a few short years the company’s products made their way onto shelves in thousands of stores across America. How did that happen?
A – Basically, without Miyoko telling the story, the story how I heard it and how she’s told it to me and how I understand it; she’s been a vegan for a long time, I believe 35 years. She finally woke up one day and said I want to do this. I want to make a difference. She’s an exceptional chef and she’s done a lot of R and D (research and development) work in her past and she decided to develop the product. The original product she started with was vegan butter. It’s the premier butter in the country. There’s nothing like it. There’s a bunch of substitutes and a bunch of people that are close and they make technically vegan margarine like smart balance and follow your heart. Those are technically just margarines because again they don’t have the plant milk in them that we use. Our product is cashew based. It’s a phenomenal product because of the proteins and how it’s made. It melts like real butter. It brown’s like real butter. It tastes like real butter. You can sheet it and use it in baking application and that was her shining star that she hooked onto and the development of the other items that came after that which was our cream cheese and our artesian cheese which are amazing. We actually have artesian cheese that would measure up to any cheese you would put on a cheese board whether it was a cow cheese, a sheep cheese or a goat cheese. It’s plant cheese now and since we’ve aged some of our cheese up to 70 days they develop flavor, they develop texture. It’s not just like an American cheese slice. They are more like true artesian cheese. We have our soft cheese line and are harder cheese line. There are amazing products and again they’re not the same as dairy but if you’re putting them on a cheese board with the other accoutrements that go along with cheese boards, it’s definitely an excellent vegan option.

Q – How many vegans are there in the United States? Do you know?
A – You know, that’s a great question. I don’t know the amount. From what I understand, I’ve heard numbers from 3 to 4% (per cent). There’s so many variants now Gary when it comes down to flexitarians, part-time people, pescatarians. It really is a matter of going from a meat eater to a non-meat eater and then everything in between. And, you throw in the fact of lactose intolerant, there’s so many dietary variables that the goal is to change the perception one person at a time. Are you going to take a guy from New York that’s a 55 year pizza maker that chooses dairy cheese and pork pepperoni and tell him tomorrow he’s got to sell a vegan cheese? No. But, if he sells three more vegan pizzas a day multiplied by 365 days, the effect on the planet and the greenhouse gases… Plants use what 98% less greenhouse gases than animals do. Just the space dairy animals take up, everything that has to do with the dairy industry versus the plant industry, the sustainability of the planet and how good for the environment it is to be plant-based, it’s taking its toll on the world. I look at my daughter’s generation, she’s 17 and she has four good friends and one is fully vegan because her parents were, and one that’s a converted vegan. You look at her high school. 15% of her high school are recognized as vegan. That’s significantly more than the national average. That’s the next generation, or from my standpoint, two generations. So, it’s not going away ever. It will be the future. It’s good for the planet. It’s good for the animals, and will see where it goes.

Q – Since the interview is for famousinterviews.com do you know of any famous people who use your products?
A – I would say most all famous vegans are familiar with our product. In terms of my knowledge of famous people who are vegan, the one that’s off the top of my head is a promotion that we just did with the company and I’ve only been with Miyoko’s for nine months now; the first big promotion we did was with an independent pizzerias down in Los Angeles. The name of it is Pizza Nista. It’s in a questionable part of LA but, he’s very famous for his pizzas and his vegan pizza as well. Well, he did a big promotion with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Joan Jett is a vegan. I didn’t know that until the owner of Solomon came to me and said, I love your cheese. I’ve been using it for a long time. Would you guys be interested in doing, this thing with PETA? I said, well, what is it? He said, I’m going to paint the side of my building with the mural of Joan Jett and were doing a black heart pizza for Valentine’s Day and I’d love to have the the Miyoko’s logo up there because I love your product and there is a lot of vegans we know that love your product. Would you like to do it? I said, yeah, absolutely! So, I got Miyoko’s blessing and they did a big mural on the side of his building that’s been all over social media-Joan Jett and then promoted the black heart pizza. And there’s a big logo of Miyoko’s there. There’s many vegans that I didn’t realize, Alicia Silverstone, Terrel Davis who is the MVP of the Super Bowl for the Denver Broncos. I’m finding out that more people are vegan or converting to vegan. I don’t know them but, they’re are out there.

Official website: miyokos.com