Known to many as The Salami Samurai, Evan Inada has more than earned the title after working each day to share his love of Columbus® Craft Meats with the world. Evan has had a nearly lifelong relationship with Columbus, a century-old company that specializes in artisan deli meats, including the salame that put it on the map. In a way, the company began recruiting Evan when he was a preschooler. That’s when he met his best friend, the son of the longtime head of sales for what was then Columbus Salame. With encouragement from his friend’s dad, Evan joined Columbus shortly after finishing his degree at San Jose State University.
Early in his career, Evan moved to the Columbus sales team in charge of starting new business and launching accounts across the country as the company grew nationwide. That’s where he gained his love for food, as he took advantage of any free time on the road to soak in the culture of all the cities and, more importantly, the local food. During his time in sales, traveling the country solo on the road gave him an appreciation for the salami and deli business to build a genuine passion for his craft. As he traveled the U.S., he realized that there was a beautiful opportunity to highlight the artisan attributes in Columbus salami through charcuterie. After getting married and starting a family, Evan transitioned to marketing so that he could focus on building a fun and exciting story around charcuterie and Columbus Craft Meats.
Thirteen years later, he’s since risen to Charcuterie/Partnerships Director, a position that includes a range of responsibilities, with a focus on creating marketing solutions to support sales in the marketplace, and lead food design and creative for major projects, events and presentations. Evan is the mastermind behind the charcuterie program and sharing how to arrange charcuterie boards—artistically designed platters of prepared meats and all the necessary accompaniments, ranging from cheese to relishes, crackers and bread, to olives and nuts.
Evan has also been an International Deli, Dairy, Bakery Association (IDDBA) Industry Deli Team Member since 2012 and he was one of the inaugural winners of the Champions of Change Rising Stars Award from Winsight Magazine/IDDBA for his work done in the industry highlighting charcuterie through live and media industry outlets. He also served as part of the review board for the IDDBA Charcuterie Certification Test to empower industry professionals with accreditation through the IDDBA as a charcuterie professional. Evan is dedicated to making charcuterie fun for the masses through his media, innovation, and creative work around building the perfect charcuterie bite to highlight every salami experience.
Nicole Brickson is an Account Executive with Mid-South Sales located in South Louisiana. With over 15 years of experience, she specializes in Deli and enjoys utilizing her skills through creating progressive applications, innovations, and educating others. What she loves most about the prepared foods side is that they have the ability to relay exciting advancing trends from around the world and make them easily accessible to the general public. When Nicole is not on the clock, she is still obsessed with all things food related, loves to learn, and lives for adventures with her 4-legged children. If you see her around, be sure to ask about her most recent King Cake record.