Phil Chang / Kenny Vannucci
500 episodes listed below
Canadian retail talk from the shelf up.
This Commerce Life is a loose, practical conversation about Canadian retail, independent retail, and CPG brands trying to grow. The show moves from behind-the-scenes realities to guest stories, with plenty of buyer talk, margin pressure, distribution headaches, and affectionate industry banter.
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This Commerce Life is a Canadian retail and CPG conversation show with its feet on the store floor. It follows the people behind independent food and beverage businesses, retail, distribution, and the less glamorous systems that decide whether a product survives. The show is informal by design. Episodes can open with sponsor notes, mic apologies, calendar pressure, pita chips, early-morning overload, or a half-finished aside before settling into the guest’s story. That looseness is part of the appeal. It makes the business talk feel like an industry conversation already in progress, where everyone knows retail is difficult but still worth caring about. Recent episodes move through sauce launches, gluten-free Worcestershire, Canadian horseradish, wild rice, craft soda, vegan protein, early-stage investing, and the everyday demands of independent retail. The show is especially strong when it follows a product from idea to shelf. It asks what attracted someone to a category, how orders grew, why distribution is hard, and what buyers or communities actually need. The hosts also give space to stories that sit beside commerce, such as Peter Boyd describing how transportation, not food supply, becomes the obstacle for small food banks across the valley. That range gives the show texture. One conversation may be about purchase orders and category crowding; another may be about asparagus, backhaul routes, dairy costs, and local non-profits. The tone stays warm and blunt. It does not sand down the frustration of retail, but it also avoids treating business as a spreadsheet exercise. The show’s recurring idea is that Canadian brands need better preparation before they meet buyers. Costing, margins, pitch readiness, introductions, and realistic expectations show up again and again. Guests are usually allowed to tell the story in their own order, while the questioning pulls the lessons back toward practical retail knowledge. This Commerce Life suits founders, brokers, buyers, grocers, food entrepreneurs, and industry people who prefer candid shop talk over polished success theater. It is inside-baseball, but generous. The value is in hearing how Canadian food commerce actually works when the microphones catch the side roads too.
Made for: Built for Canadian food and beverage founders, independent retailers, brokers, buyers, and CPG operators who want practical context before the next pitch, order, or store visit.
What sets it apart: The show keeps the small talk, interruptions, and road-story texture that most business podcasts edit out, while still returning to concrete retail mechanics: margins, buyers, turns, distribution, and community supply chains.
A Canadian Podcast, focused on Canadian brands, determined to talk about Canadian success stories. We are retail educators and experts, teaching Canadian businesses how to build, grow, and scale in retail. As industry connectors, Kenny & Phil bring decades of experience as buyers, sales strategists, and marketers into delivering practical, actionable education grounded in real-world application.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Kenny Venucci and Phil Chang make Canadian retail legible through candid conversations about products, distribution, packaging, and growth.
This Commerce Life gets close to the working parts of Canadian retail, where a product's prospects depend on store data, distribution, packaging, transportation, and the questions a buyer might ask.
Horseradish and neon boxes become the business lessons you wish came with every retail pitch.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A niche founder story that becomes a clear case for Canadian-made food.
It starts off sounding like a novelty story, but it settles into something sturdier: a case for why a small Canadian food business can matter. The episode keeps coming back to exports, identity, and what Canada should be known for, and that gives it a clear center of gravity.
Peter Boyd's conversation turns on Canadian retail logistics, food banks, and the transportation work that keeps small communities supplied.
Peter Boyd's conversation keeps its attention on Canadian retail and CPG at ground level, where community food sharing and day-to-day operations matter more than theory.
A practical look at how packaging and shelf presence help a product stand out.
The episode keeps circling the annoyance of having to get answers the hard way, then settles into the appeal of a self-serve platform that can launch tasks on demand. That gives the discussion a clear shape.
A practical look at how community-connected fish reaches customers from northern Saskatchewan.
The piece tracks how fish from a Metis Cree Nation in northern Saskatchewan gets to customers through community partnerships and a small local plant that does CFIA processing, flash freezing, and filleting.
A loose retail conversation that turns slow data and career detours into something worth hearing.
The episode centers on the familiar frustration of wanting answers quickly and getting them much later, then follows Phil Chang through a very human route into business.
Real talk for veterinary practice leaders.
Sales systems for serious electrical contractors.
Salon leadership coaching with profit in view.
This episode introduces the podcast's mission to help Canadian food and beverage brands navigate retail challenges through coaching on costing, buyer interactions, and industry knowledge.
Marc Whitmore, former Deloitte senior partner and current CEO of Dennis's Horseradish, explains how he left a 30-year corporate career around age 50 to become Canada's only remaining producer of 100% Canadian-grown horseradish.
Peter is not easing off.
This episode features Melissa L'Heureux-Hache discussing her journey from Tinder to acquisition and launching North America's first clear vegan protein.
This episode announces that This Commerce Life has expanded beyond podcasting to offer coaching and services for Canadian food and beverage brands seeking retail success.
This episode explores how Startup TNT is enabling regular Canadians to invest in early-stage companies, featuring insights from Jesse Wiebe and discussions on the Canadian retail and CPG industry.
This episode features an interview with Matt Ratuski of Floating Leaf Fine Foods discussing Canada's wild rice legacy and the stories behind small Canadian retail and CPG businesses.
This episode features an interview with Diana of Callister Soda, discussing how she turned a side project into a successful craft beverage brand.
Kenny and Phil discuss how to choose a wholesale partner for expanding retail and food service distribution in Western Canada, highlighting LGDF Wholesale.
Hosts Kenny and Phil introduce their podcast focused on sharing stories and education for small and independent Canadian retail and CPG businesses.
Hosts Kenny and Phil introduce their podcast focused on sharing stories and education for small and independent Canadian retail and CPG businesses.
Kenny and Phil discuss how to choose a wholesale partner for expanding retail and food service distribution in Western Canada, featuring LGDF Wholesale.
Kenny and Phil discuss strategies for expanding retail distribution in Western Canada, highlighting LGDF Wholesale as a partner for food and beverage brands.
The hosts introduce a new video format for their podcast and apologize for a delayed episode with Dr.
Packaging gets a shelf-level look.
The fish goes fast.
Two retail experts discuss the launch of a self-serve data platform that provides quick, real-world retail insights for brands.
Kenny and Phil discuss the launch of Field Agent Marketplace, a self-serve platform for brands to gather real-world retail data quickly.
Kenny and Phil discuss the challenges of getting retail data in the past and introduce Field Agent's new self-serve platform for quick, on-demand market insights.
Retail data used to be painfully slow.
Kenny and Phil discuss the launch of Field Agent Marketplace, a self-serve platform for brands to quickly gather real-world retail data, reflecting on past frustrations with slow data collection.
This episode discusses the challenges of retail execution and introduces Field Agent Canada for in-store verification, then sets up the show's mission to share stories of Canadian retail and CPG.
This episode previews the CHFA Now Toronto 2025 event with guests Aaron Skelton and Lynsey Walker, focusing on Canadian retail and CPG stories.
This episode discusses challenges in retail product placement and introduces Field Agent Canada for in-store verification, then transitions to the show's mission of sharing Canadian retail and CPG success stories.
This episode republishes an interview with Caitlin Vanderhey of Kidstar Nutritions, celebrating her brand's milestone at Shopper's Drug Mart and discussing retail challenges.
This episode discusses retail execution challenges and introduces Field Agent Canada for in-store verification, then sets up the show's mission to share Canadian retail and CPG success stories.
This episode discusses the challenges of retail execution and introduces Field Agent Canada as a solution, then sets up the show's mission to share Canadian retail and CPG stories.
This episode features an interview with Deleo De Leonardis, CEO of Purity IQ, discussing food fraud and authenticity testing in the Canadian retail and CPG industry.
This episode discusses the importance of online product reviews and introduces Field Agent Canada as a solution, while setting up the show's focus on Canadian retail stories.
The hosts discuss the effectiveness of product demos and introduce a buy-and-try sampling service for Canadian retailers.
The hosts discuss the effectiveness of product demos and introduce a buy-and-try sampling service for Canadian retailers.
This episode features an interview with TGA's Tyler Stilborn about the world of card authentication and grading for collectibles.
The hosts discuss the effectiveness of product demos and introduce a buy-and-try sampling service for Canadian retailers.
Kenny and Phil discuss the importance of online reviews for Canadian retail brands and introduce Field Agent as a solution, then set up the show's focus on Canadian retail and CPG stories.
This episode features an interview with Nicole Keats, who shares her journey from being a restaurant owner to becoming a tea entrepreneur, highlighting the challenges and insights of small business in Canada.