Henry Wainer '72 has been dubbed “ The Willy Wonka of the produce industry" by The Boston Herald for having traveled the world to source the best food products for his 4th generation company, Sid Wainer & Son, which has been in business for over 100 years. Henry helped grow Sid Wainer & Son to employ over 320 people and supply over 23,000 chefs nationwide with the absolute best ingredients, including a 300+ crop experimental greenhouse and farm. In fact, most of the unique food items from the pantry of The Food Network’s hit show ‘Chopped’ are provided by Henry and his company. In this episode, we talk about what it was like attending Nichols in the 1970’s, how he obtained the position ‘Mayor of The Hill’ and some of the famous bands that played on campus. Henry talks about his favorite global travels in search of the world's best ingredients, secrets to creating the world’s best cheese board and the future of the growing ‘foodie movement’. Names you may recognize will come up in our discussion … from Colonel James Conrad and Mike Vendetti to Anthony Bourdain. Henry also talks about the importance of growth in a company and leadership succession in a family-run business. This conversation combines all these ingredients to create a recipe for a very entertaining half-hour show.

(Show note … After this episode was recorded, Sid Wainer & Son was sold to The Chef’s Warehouse. Henry will remain president of the company and the company will retain the Sid Wainer & Co. name.)

Edited by: Nick Anderson

Song by: Joseph McDade

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