Independent Food Product Development Consultant and Expert Witness
About Dr. M.J. Rudolph Consulting, LLC
My Experience
I am Marv Rudolph, the Principal of Dr. M.J.Rudolph Consulting, LLC, an independent consulting service dedicated to:
-Helping large and small companies grow through the introduction of successful new products; and
- Serving as an expert witness in food and beverage cases concerning patent infringement, confidential technical information, ingredient claims and others where an expert opinion is needed to support legal conclusions.
I provide 53 years of food science experience and expertise to break through the technical barriers that prevent you from introducing, improving or cost reducing your food or beverage product.
I hold a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Drexel University and am currently recognized by the Institute of Food Technologists as a Certified Food Scientist. I am also an Emeritus member of the American Chemical Society.
My Approach
My approach includes:
1. A free phone consult to identify the critical needs of your project (after completing a standard, two-way Non Disclosure Agreement); and
2. A free proposal identifying:
a. The objective of the work;
b. The scope of the work;
c. A detailed approach;
d. A schedule including timelines and
milestones;
e. Deliverables, including a detailed report,
and;
f. A cost analysis.
I also offer my expert opinion (Expert Witness) to support a legal conclusion.
That’s how I ensure your success.
Why Use a Consultant?
You have a project that needs attention. You have a specific problem that needs solving. You have tried some differnt things, now you are thinking about going outside your organization and hiring a consultant.
What are some of the reasons you would want to use an “outsider”?
1. You can learn from them. When looking for a consultant, look for someone that has knowlege that you do not have. Or, you may look for a consultant who has more or diverse experience in your field who can bring a different perspective. One of the best compliments I ever received during a consulting engagement was when someone told me, “every time you come here, I learn something new”. Not only is it nice to get a compliment, I also felt I was adding value. As a consultant, I feel that it is not only important to accomplish your task and execute, it is critical to transfer knowledge and build up the team you are supporting.
2. They are less biased. Choose to work with someone that can give an impartial view of the situation. It can be hard to go out and hire someone to give you a clear picture of what your situation is. It is very tempting for a client to hire a consultant to tell them what they want to hear. it is also tempting for a consultant to tell the client what they want to hear. While it should always be done respectfully, the consultant has to give a true representation of what they see. Anything else is wasting the clients money. The consultant has to be truly less biased. Notice, I don’t say un-biased. That would be very difficult to accomplish. People have opinions and biases based on past experiences. If you want less bias, look outside your industry. When I worked for DuPont, I remember saying during the interview, “I don’t have experience in the workplace safety industry”. They said, “we want an outsider to give us an impartial view”. One caution, strike while the iron is hot. In other words, eventually, after a consultant has been with the team a while, they can of course start to form biases.
3. You can get a big picture view. While many consultants are called in to work on a specific problem, because the consultant is usually not down in the weeds, they will observe and learn things across the organization. While there shouldn’t be an open invitation for scope creep, insure that these observations are captured. I find myself on many occasions telling my clients that I have observed something, and although outside the scope of this project, they may want to take a look at it. Of course, I am always on the lookout for the next opportunity but not at the cost of this one.
4. A fresh perspective. As a consultant, we normally have the luxury of only working on a very think slice of the clients world. This means that we don’t have to deal with all the daily dos, crisis of the hour or running the business. Because of this, the consultant should help bring energy and passion around that slice that they are working on and effectively engage others. We must of course keep in mind that the client is running a business, but we must keep the optimimum balance on an ongoing basis.
Ultimately, a fresh, un-biased, big picture learning experience should be a positive thing. If the consultant is worth it, the work will get done and you will learn a lot on the way.
My Services
Timely Food and Beverage Product Development
Timely Food and Beverage Product Development
Timely Food and Beverage Product Development
I develop novel food and beverage products from prototyping through pilot plant production and evaluation. Do you have a great food product idea that needs to be implemented quickly? Is there a technical barrier that needs to be surmounted? I can help!
Product and Process Troubleshooting
Timely Food and Beverage Product Development
Timely Food and Beverage Product Development
Often the "perfect process" on paper refuses to meet product quality/yield expectations. My experience in many food and beverage manufacturing facilities have taught me that all processing variables are relevant; not only the "obvious" ones that define product and process success.
Serving as an Expert Witness
Timely Food and Beverage Product Development
Serving as an Expert Witness
I serve as an expert witness in food and beverage litigation to support a legal opinion.
Medical Cannabis
US Food Regulations
Serving as an Expert Witness
The green rush of 2018 started when medical marijuana was approved in many states, including Massachusetts. I have developed beverage concentrate nano-emulsions with THC as the active ingredient.
US Food Regulations
US Food Regulations
US Food Regulations
I assist new product developers and lawyers in interpreting US food laws as cited in 21 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations); specifically ingredient declarations and nutritional facts panels.
Recommendations
Phyllis LeBlanc, President & CEO at Harbor Sweets, Inc. Greater Boston Area
Kenneth Gordon Entrepreneur | Finance | Specialty Foods | Frozen Desserts | Sales & Marketing , NYC
Krik D. Angacian, Co-Founder & CEO at Protes Protein Snacks Greater New York City Area
Marv is a tireless product developer with a passion for details and doing the job correctly. He will not stop investigating problems until he finds their root cause. We had a significant perishability concern with a new product launch. Marv dove in, determined the relevant issues and demonstrated formula and processing solutions that worked on the production floor. He always responded promptly to my calls and emails, and has a wonderful positive attitude that makes him a pleasure to work with. We are now up and running with the products due to Marv's great efforts.
Krik D. Angacian, Co-Founder & CEO at Protes Protein Snacks Greater New York City Area
Kenneth Gordon Entrepreneur | Finance | Specialty Foods | Frozen Desserts | Sales & Marketing , NYC
Krik D. Angacian, Co-Founder & CEO at Protes Protein Snacks Greater New York City Area
Marv saved my business! I was at the end of my rope with a co packer who had endless problems making my ProTes® protein snack chips. I had thousands of pounds of unusable protein sitting in the warehouse because the chip couldn’t be made reliably- a few production runs worked, but over 10 did not. Orders were piling up unfulfilled. The co packer was ready to bail out of the project when I got in touch with Dr. Rudolph and asked him for help. After some pointed questions, he crafted a proposal structured so that he would do some initial lab testing, and then accompany me to the co packer to try out his results. At the co packer’s manufacturing site, Marv's solution worked almost immediately. The co packer was pleased to keep the business, and I was ecstatic to stay in business! ProTings are now being routinely manufactured, my back orders are gone, and I am expanding the business rapidly.
Marv was easy to work with; he almost always answers calls in person, and if not, returns calls the same day. He was responsive to my financial needs and worked out a payment schedule based on success, which he earned in spades.
I plan to use Dr. M.J. Consulting, LLC for additional new product development work as soon as possible.
Kenneth Gordon Entrepreneur | Finance | Specialty Foods | Frozen Desserts | Sales & Marketing , NYC
Kenneth Gordon Entrepreneur | Finance | Specialty Foods | Frozen Desserts | Sales & Marketing , NYC
Kenneth Gordon Entrepreneur | Finance | Specialty Foods | Frozen Desserts | Sales & Marketing , NYC
There is absolutely no way I would have gotten my frozen dessert business off the ground without Dr. Rudolph’s contribution, guidance and technological assistance along the way. In mid-2013 I had a dream to create a niche product in the handheld frozen dessert market segment, an area in which I knew little about. I hired Dr. Rudolph as an advisor and consultant to help develop our product, from ingredient selection and mix formulation, to sourcing and meeting co-packers, to shelf life and stability testing to nutritional panel and ingredient line creations. There was never a day where my call wasn’t returned, a report never submitted or a trip to meet a supplier cancelled. Dr. Rudolph was with me every step of the way. He is polite, knowledgeable, hardworking and simply a pleasure to work with. I am happy to say that in July 2014 my product has been launched with great fanfare and success. Marv’s contribution was and still is truly invaluable. I continue to work with him to this day.
Larry Rose, Principle Process Engineer at Ocean Spray Cranberries Greater Boston Area
David Peters Co-Founder & CEO FARMWISE LLC Greater Boston Area; Former VP Marketing, MooBella Inc.
Kenneth Gordon Entrepreneur | Finance | Specialty Foods | Frozen Desserts | Sales & Marketing , NYC
I have had the pleasure to work with Marv on a recent high priority project. He is a hard working, diligent and reliable consultant and a quick learner. Marv learned a complex technology quickly, conducted independent research, and contributed strongly. His work ensured that we met the aggressive timeline of a critical research initiative. I highly recommend him as a food science consultant to anyone.
David Peters Co-Founder & CEO FARMWISE LLC Greater Boston Area; Former VP Marketing, MooBella Inc.
David Peters Co-Founder & CEO FARMWISE LLC Greater Boston Area; Former VP Marketing, MooBella Inc.
David Peters Co-Founder & CEO FARMWISE LLC Greater Boston Area; Former VP Marketing, MooBella Inc.
.Marv was instrumental in the formulation, scale-up, and manufacture of the MooBella ice cream mixes and flavors. He eagerly tackled technical problems, thrived under short development timetables, and was scrupulous in the documentation of experimental results for patent applications. Marv was always ready to pitch in whenever required and made important contributions to the business. His experience and professionalism would be valuable to any client.
Skip Rosskam, CEO at WhiteSpace - The Right Place LLC; Former COO of David Michael Inc.
David Peters Co-Founder & CEO FARMWISE LLC Greater Boston Area; Former VP Marketing, MooBella Inc.
David Peters Co-Founder & CEO FARMWISE LLC Greater Boston Area; Former VP Marketing, MooBella Inc.
Marv served on our David Michael advisory board for eight years. During that time, he came up with many ideas to help improve our productivity and increase our visibility among our target customers. His ideas and solutions to difficult problems reflect his knowledge and experience developing products in diverse food product categories as dairy, confections, neutraceuticals, nutrient managed foods, and natural foods. Marv is experienced in the product development process from prototype generation through scale-up and commercialization. He is easy to work with and is always ready to help. I consider our relationship with Marv as great benefit to the DM company
U.S. Patents Awarded to Marv Rudolph
Frozen Desserts, Confectionery and Snack Foods Categories, Including Pop Rocks® Carbonated Candy
U.S. Patent Number Title
11,825, 868 Sweetener Composition
6,010,734 Low calorie fat-containing frozen dessert products having smooth, non-gritty mouthfeel.
5,571,546 Food product and method of making same
5,084,295 Process for making low calorie fat-containing frozen dessert products having smooth, creamy
non-gritty mouthfeel
4,356,198 Method of preparing a binder for tableted gasified candy
4,273,793 Apparatus and process for the preparation of gasified confections by pressurized injection molding
4,271,206 Gasified candy having a predetermined shape
4,263,328 Tableted gasified candy
4,254,149 Carbonated chewing gum
4,150,161 Carbonated chewing gum
Recent Expert Witness Experience
Dalmatia Import Group v Foodmatch Inc. et al
Assignment from McDermott, Will & Emery, LLP representing the
plaintiff Dalmatia Import Group:
My assignment was to evaluate whether Divina fig spread
misappropriated Dalmatia’s trade secrets with a focus on whether
FoodMatch’s Divina fig spread is derived from the Dalmatia recipe
known to the common copacker Lancaster Fine Foods. In this
case, I was deposed by the defendant’s counsel, Richard Bruce Feldman.
Verdict (filed 2/24/2017):
Verdict in favor of Plaintiff on misappropriation of trade secrets as to
Defendants Foodmatch, Lancaster, and Earth Pride; in favor of Plaintiff on
Trademark Infringement as to Defendants Foodmatch, Lancaster, Earth
Pride, and C.O. Nolt: in favor of Plaintiff on conversion as to Defendants
Lancaster and Earth Pride; in favor of Defendant Lancaster as to civil
trespass counterclaim against Plaintiff Maia Magee.
Kraft Foods Group Brands v TC Heartland LLC
Assignment from Dinsmore & Shohl LLP, representing Patent Owner, Kraft
Foods Group Brands.LLC.
My assignment was to provide an opinion as to whether claims 1-29 of
United States Patent No. 8,603,557 are obvious over the references relied
upon by the Patent Trial and Appeals Board.
I was deposed by attorneys for Hughes Hubbard & Reed representing TC
Heartland LLC during the Inter Partes Review (IPR) phase; and testified in
Federal District Court in Delaware.
The case was heard in April 2017 by the US Supreme Court regarding the issue of venue shopping; see https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/16-341.
Case was settled in September 2017.