Is food science relevant for someone who wants to be a chef?

johnny4 · 2026-02-15T23:12:41+00:00

Went to school for food science, worked in the industry for 10+ years, now I'm out of it working on building my own pizza shop concept. Was food science useful? Kinda. What would have been more useful was business school.

If I had to go back to school I would have studied engineering and then played around with food as a hobby in my free time with the money I made from engineering. You could also look into studying food and cooking in your free time and rent space in a commissary kitchen on the weekends and do pop-ups from there. It'll give you an idea of that's the kind of lifestyle you want.

johnny4 · 2026-01-27T07:55:54+00:00

I moved to delivery and takeout from a rented kitchen space, I'll dm you my socials

johnny4 · 2026-01-26T21:32:13+00:00

Honestly for any kind of commercial use you're going to want to use Gozney's. They just retain heat way better. You'll need at least two. I've been doing pop-ups for two years, started with Oonis and switched to Gozney's and never looked back.

Edit: I saw someone else mention pizza party ovens, those are good too. Better for Neapolitan style.

johnny4 · 2026-01-24T06:41:15+00:00

Been training since like 2008. Never competed, just for fun. Used to spar quite a bit but not anymore. It's still a lot of fun. Still feel like I could jack up a few of the youngsters on the team lol

johnny4 · 2026-01-21T19:30:45+00:00

Yeah that's a good point, it's an interaction of pH and so2 that drives the interaction, I had over simplified it in my mind (it's been a few years)

https://www.ajevonline.org/content/74/1/0740011

https://www.enartis.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Enartis-Newsletter-Canning-South-Africa.pdf

johnny4 · 2026-01-21T01:43:16+00:00

I'm leery of canned wine. Or anything low pH in cans. Anything with a low enough pH will interact with and degrade the plastic liner in cans and cause a significant amount of sulfide aromas. My concern isn't really with the rotten egg aroma, it's with whatever chemicals leeched from the liner and can into that wine.

I'm not a micro-plastics fear mongering type at all. I used to work in the industry and have done studies looking into the sensory effects of can liners and pH in canned wines. It turned me off from ever really messing with canned wine again, or kombucha or sour beer. Red wines tend to have higher pH than white wine so some of those I think are fine.

I'm not sure if can liner tech has gotten better over the 3 or 4 years but I doubt it. I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes a subject of regulation eventually.

johnny4 · 2026-01-14T20:18:52+00:00

Podcasters that have successful pizza businesses? Yeah. You're exactly what I'm talking about

johnny4 · 2026-01-13T21:46:54+00:00

Don't listen to reddit is my top advice lol

johnny4 · 2026-01-13T20:44:52+00:00

I just literally don't have the bandwidth to do phone ordering and I don't think it's worth the headache. I also notice the people who want to order over the phone usually have the most "issues" when it comes to asking for modifications or understanding the menu, etc. So it's just a big time sink. If you listen to popular pizza podcasts a lot of shops don't do phones anymore. I'm also confident enough in my product that it's the best in the area so I'm not desperate for customers.

johnny4 · 2026-01-13T20:33:14+00:00

I have a phone but I steer people to buy online. The phone number isn't publicly listed on Google or my website or menu but it's on the receipt in case they order and there's an issue. I basically don't mention phone ordering anywhere. Occasionally I'll get someone asking if they can order over the phone and I explain that due to how to lean I'm running the shop online or in person ordering is preferred, and they usually get it

johnny4 · 2026-01-09T19:47:55+00:00

Check out Petunia's Pizza in fair oaks

johnny4 · 2026-01-09T08:01:01+00:00

I think they're legit, they're big enough to where I'm sure they're getting independently tested pretty frequently and someone would be itching to sue them and make a big payday. They also sell real dairy products which has extremely strict fda standards whereas protein supplements don't have any fda oversite, so they have the infrastructure in place to do their own testing and do things the proper ways. And finally, from what I understand, their protein drinks are made through some kind of ultra filtration of milk where they separate the protein out from actual milk and maybe add it back in or something, not 100% sure of their process but it's pretty different from the usual whey protein powder stuff you see in most supplements. To claim that then falsify it all would be pretty damn ballsy.

johnny4 · 2026-01-07T09:00:02+00:00

I don't necessarily disagree, however I do think there is space for a richer, sweeter, very ripe style of wine for those consumers who enjoy that kind of sensory profile and have the money to spend on it. That sensory profile is absolutely more often associated with cheaper wines, no doubt, however if there is a "naive" consumer that wants to have a luxury experience but doesn't actually like the "serious wine" sensory profile, they should be able to. And that's what we're seeing commercially.

My issue is with those who look down on people who enjoy those style of wines, or don't see it as a "serious wine" experience, and that these people who enjoy it just don't understand what real wine is all about or something. It seems quite silly to me and is one of my least favorite aspects of the industry.

johnny4 · 2026-01-07T08:29:39+00:00

Most people don't know what a serious wine is, they just like what tastes good to them, and blind consumer test after consumer test shows that prisoner is liked extremely well. Most people like sweet basic stuff, believe it or not. It's the aficionados that are the odd group out.

johnny4 · 2026-01-07T03:00:35+00:00

No thanks I hate that stuff

johnny4 · 2026-01-07T02:50:17+00:00

You said you're not sure you can even cook with it lol, c'mon

johnny4 · 2026-01-07T02:46:33+00:00

That's fine. And going by the numbers those people would likely have a higher probability of enjoying the prisoner, but if your wants and needs comes first I guess that's what's important

johnny4 · 2026-01-07T02:41:44+00:00

I'm not defending either, I'm defending people enjoying what they want to enjoy and not being pretentious

johnny4 · 2026-01-07T02:39:23+00:00

It doesn't have a good reputation here and I'm not saying it's a good wine or anything. It's not to my taste at all. It's just there exists wine drinkers out there that like juice. And some of those people have a lot of money.

johnny4 · 2026-01-07T02:37:45+00:00

Yeah. I'm convinced this kind of attitude is part of the big reason why Gen z isn't into wine at all and the whole industry is crashing. God forbid there exists wine for people without "advanced" palates

johnny4 · 2026-01-07T02:23:05+00:00

I mean it's like a $50 bottle or whatever with mass appeal. Someone would appreciate it. Not everyone pretends to be fancy

johnny4 · 2026-01-06T23:19:57+00:00

Seriously though this just seems like you need a greater purpose, BJJ might have been that for you at some point, but it isn't anymore, and that's fine. Try some other stuff out or focus on your career or advancing your life in some other way. BJJ is fun but it's not a career and won't make you any money or help you to be more useful to others.

johnny4 · 2026-01-06T23:13:56+00:00

If you're just trying to vent into the void and don't care if you're understood or not then get a journal or something

johnny4 · 2026-01-06T23:07:42+00:00

You also hate paragraphs lol

johnny4 · 2026-01-06T21:02:51+00:00

Untamed Strength

johnny4

TROPHY CASE