The labor of cooking is preventing regional food systems from growing. Most regionally grown foods are sold whole and raw, but most food purchased by both consumers and institutions is processed or prepared.
Consumers and institutions can't afford to take on the additional labor of processing and preparing whole and raw foods. Regional growers (including small to midsize and BIPOC owned/operated farms) can’t offer consumers and institutions competitive substitutes for conventional processed options. When these growers can't compete, regional food systems can't scale.
No one has built a systemic solution to this problem until now. Marcellus Foods takes a holistic approach to food system change, designed to catalyze meaningful growth for regional food systems.
How Marcellus Foods came to be
What we do
Build and support regional value chains
Develop and implement culinary training
Guide investment in systems, infrastructure and people
Who we are
Eve Cohen (she/her)
Eve Cohen is a food systems innovator, strategist, and operator whose work bridges agriculture, retail, and design. Over the past fifteen years, she has built, scaled, and led some of the most forward-thinking food ventures in the country — from early-stage startups to Fortune 1.
At Good Eggs, Eve helped pioneer a new kind of online marketplace, connecting more than 250 regional producers directly with consumers and demonstrating that local, sustainable food systems grow and thrive when they are made more convenient and accessible. She shaped product assortment and built merchandising systems that allowed small farms to compete in a digital marketplace without sacrificing transparency, values, or quality.
Eve brings a rare combination of strategic clarity, creative instinct, and operational depth. She works across sectors — agriculture, foodservice, retail, philanthropy, and public systems — to design practical pathways that connect people to better food. Her work is driven by a lifelong passion for beautiful food and the belief that policy, infrastructure, systems design, technology, and hospitality can work together to make it accessible and joyful for every person on earth.
Dana Berge (he/him)
Dana Berge is a chef and operations designer who has spent his career exploring what it takes to move good food efficiently, safely, and beautifully from field to plate. His work lives at the intersection of culinary craft, logistics, and human systems — where precision and care meet scale and sustainability.
Dana’s path began in the fields and barns of small-scale organic farms, where he learned the rhythms and realities of production. That grounding informs everything he builds. After years working in agriculture, he joined the kitchen at Chez Panisse Café, where he cooked for four years under one of the world’s most respected local food programs. There he deepened his understanding of ingredient quality, workflow design, and the culture of excellence that defines truly great kitchens.
Dana’s approach is defined by human-centered design: creating kitchens and facilities where good jobs and good food go hand in hand. He believes the systems that feed us can also teach, heal, and build community, and that every workflow, from a cutting table to a delivery schedule, can express care.
Eve’s great-grandfather, Marcellus Zinsmaster, owned and operated the Zinsmaster Baking Company in Duluth, MN. Marcellus was known for building deep relationships with other bakers and grocers until his life and career were both cut short in 1934.
How Marcellus Foods got its name
Marcellus drove the innovation that pushed Zinsmaster Baking Company to become the first bakery in Minnesota to sell sliced bread, long-hailed as the pinnacle of easy eats. Today, Marcellus Foods promotes the same effortless convenience using simple, honest ingredients.
