Founder

Mike Lee is the founder and CEO of Studio Industries, a Food Design & Innovation agency, specializing in the application of design thinking to food products and experiences.

Mike’s experience in food design & innovation has covered a wide range over the past 10 years. Most recently, Mike led product development initiatives on the Innovation & New Ventures team at Chobani. At Chobani, Mike focused on building out the Greek Yogurt maker’s product platform into new categories and he drove the product design process from research, insights and ideation, to food, flavor and packaging development, and then finally to business planning and production. Mike also led the development of the company’s innovation pipeline process, which impacted both the company’s product development methodology as well as the culture of innovation across all employees.

Mike also founded the Studiofeast underground supperclub, the sister organization to Studio Industries. Studiofeast creates unique dining experiences that use food as a medium to design experiences that range from the artful, to the educational, to the hedonistic. The Studiofeast project acts as a conceptual test lab for Studio Industries and provides a platform with unlimited creative freedom to explore new ideas in food. While Studiofeast and Studio Industries have seemingly different goals, they are both closely connected in the spirit of using food as a creative design tool.

In addition, Mike is also the Innovation Director for AccelFoods, an early stage food startup accelerator that cultivates and invests in new packaged food brands in the $100 - $500k annual revenue range. At AccelFoods, Mike works with brands accepted into the incubator on food and packaging innovation and development.

Prior to Chobani & AccelFoods, Mike was Director of Strategy at Bond Strategy, marketing & innovation firm, and a part of the American Express Interactive Labs team, a digitally focused innovation group for financial services.

Mike is a Detroit native and was trained in Business at the University of Michigan and Graphic Design at the Parsons School of Design. He now lives in Brooklyn, NY.