Talkhouse & TASTE Launch Eye Level, New Podcast From This Is TASTE Exploring The Business of Grocery & CPG

Co-Hosted by Matt Rodbard & Elly Truesdell, Upcoming Guests Include Bill Shufelt, Alison Roman, Jeni Britton, Jason Buechel, Danny Meyer, Clara Sieg, Gary Hirshberg & More

Debut Episode Out Today, Featuring RXBAR & David Protein's Peter Rahal

LISTEN HERE

NEW YORK, NY – October 29, 2026: Today, Talkhouse Podcast Network partner TASTE launches Eye Level, a brand new podcast from the same minds of long-running audio series This Is TASTE, exploring the most competitive real estate in the country: the grocery store. Distributed by Talkhouse and co-hosted by Matt Rodbard, Editor-in-Chief of James Beard Award-winning publication TASTE, and Elly Truesdell, former Whole Foods buyer and current grocery store expert now running New Fare Partners, each episode of Eye Level pairs industry analysis with lively interviews to make sense of the brands, trends and people shaping how America actually eats. 

Listen to Eye Level on all podcast platforms, and subscribe for new episodes every week: HERE

Behind every product in the grocery store is a founder, a buyer and a bet, and Eye Level will speak to those moving the grocery and CPG business forward. Following today's premiere with Peter Rahal, Co-Founder of both RXBAR and David Protein, upcoming guests include Athletic Brewing Co-Founder Bill Shufelt, bestselling cookbook author and First Bloom retailer Alison Roman, Jeni's Ice Cream and Floura Founder Jeni Britton, Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechel, Union Square Hospitality Group Founder and Chairman Danny Meyer, Loonen Co-Founder Clara Sieg, Stonyfield Yogurt Co-Founder Gary Hirshberg and many more of the people actually building the brands in your cart, all of whom will be asked the only two questions that matter – is this big idea actually good? And can it last? 

"We've intentionally formatted [Eye Level] to give people working in and around grocery something really unique," said Matt Rodbard, in a new interview with Emily Sundberg for Feed Me. "We start with Elly and me riffing from our unique POVs (journalist talking with investor / former buyer). Then a smart and not-always-soft conversation with an industry leader. We are making this show for people who want to know more about the grocery industry. What does it take right now to start a CPG business? What goes into the negotiations to get on the shelf - and what are the financial obligations? What is up with fiber and protein and GLP-1s and their major impact on buying trends? What are the actual grocery buyers thinking right now? The grocery industry is $1 trillion in America alone and touches all of our lives…While Eye Level is a production of TASTE and Penguin Random House, it's living on its own feed and has its own audience and business goals. We're launching a weekly newsletter that Elly and I will write (within the TASTE newsletter ecosystem – apologies to Substack) and we will be active on IG. This is our first new show in eight years and it was time to expand."

"In some ways, the [CPG] industry has never been more saturated," adds Elly Truesdell. "And you should know, it's been saturated for a long time. Starting with an excellent product that's defensible and hard to replicate has been the advice for two decades, and has become even more critical among the rise of Private Label brands, but it always needs to be said - you need to be doing something really different. Beyond product it's nailing every little detail - brand, distribution, acquisition costs, storytelling. And finally, your willingness to work through anything to get attention, create real value for people, every day, 365 days a year, will be what makes your brand and product endure."

About Talkhouse Talkhouse is a Peabody and Webby Award-winning first-person media company, podcast network, and outlet for musicians, actors, filmmakers, and others in their respective fields. Talkhouse's podcast series include A View From A Bridge, How Long Gone, Blank Check, Alison Roman's Solicited Advice, Life of the Record, Craig Finn's That's How I Remember It, This Is Taste, Jokermen, Santigold's Noble Champions, Björk: Sonic Symbolism – which GQ praises as "a road map to the creative life," delivering what The New Yorker calls "a rare chance to listen in as one of the most mysterious and mystical artists working today explains herself" – as well as the new Peabody-winning Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, which critics are raving about and represents Jad Abumrad's triumphant return to audio. Björk's Cornucopia represents Talkhouse's first foray into producing TV/film. Other projects are currently in development and production.   About TASTE TASTE is a James Beard Award–winning online publication and podcast for home cooks, world travelers, and adventurous diners exploring the most interesting and entertaining stories in food culture today. Founded in 2017, TASTE has published stories about the protein era, pistachio's quiet luxury, how Instagram ruined the chocolate chip cookie, and the Korean temple food not seen on Netflix. We've gotten personal, too, writing humorously about cooking in the age of “deadly romaine” and slightly more seriously with the account of a couple's final days of gluten. At TASTE, the glue that binds together everything we do is our curiosity and our quest to understand the foods we eat, how we eat them, and why. If you're a fan of smart and lively conversations about food culture, restaurants, home cooking, new products, and food entrepreneurship, our podcast This Is TASTE is the place to be. We interview the most interesting characters in the world of food, culture, and cookbooks, and we release episodes several times a week. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.