Mike Kostyo

Trendologist and Associate Director, Datassential

Mike Kostyo is the resident Trendologist and an Associate Director at Datassential, the food industry's leading market research and trends company. At Datassential, Kostyo oversees the company's seven TrendSpotting magazines, custom client publications, and he leads trend immersion tours and ideation sessions across the country. Kostyo was a recurring guest on Fusion TV's "The AV Club Show"; has been featured on WGN Radio, CBS Radio, and Gimlet Media's "Why We Eat What We Eat" podcast; is regularly featured in newspapers and magazines; speaks at numerous conferences across the country annually; and he was a judge on Food Network's "Eating America." He has a master’s in gastronomy from Boston University, plus certificates in the culinary arts, baking arts, wine, and artisan cheese production. In his spare time he teaches cooking classes and co-founded a monthly food swap in Chicago.