We work with data, and we know the famous cliche of "off-the-shelf enterprise software." We also know this solution won't work with YOUR data and YOUR business. How can data be treated like a product you can buy off the shelf instead of something you need to build right?
MPP Insights is a custom data solutions company built on 20 years of experience from our founder, Sergei Shestakov. He’s had a PhD. in Artificial Intelligence since 2001 (another story, another day). He believes that good data work requires craftsmanship. It requires someone who takes time to understand your business, your actual workflows, and builds what you need. Not what a software vendor thinks you need.
Recently, we stumbled upon a new way to show what craftsmanship means to us. We partnered with Mar Mar Foods to launch "Data with Flavor," a campaign that started with our US Managing Director, Peter Bilzerian, and his love for a local jar of chili crunch.
The "Data with Flavor" Partnership: Origin and Purpose
Peter has been buying Mar Mar's garlic chili crunch for nearly two years. He eats it with his breakfast almost every day.
For those who aren’t familiar with Mar Mar - essentially they make condiments with a spice. Liza and Michael Matz started Mar Mar in their home kitchen. They brought small batches of their products to local farmers markets in Richmond. They perfected the process of making garlic chili crunch over time. The product caught on quickly, and it's now a known name in Richmond.
In December, Peter came to us with an idea. What if we partnered with Mar Mar?
He saw the connection. We're both Richmond-based companies. We both focus on craftsmanship in industries where many competitors rush and lower the quality to grow faster. We both start with good inputs, follow a clear process, and pay attention to the details. That's how Mar Mar makes its chili crunch, and it's how we approach data engineering.
We created “Data with Flavor,” a set of limited co-branded jars that helped us start real conversations about craftsmanship, whether in chili crunch or data pipelines.
What Craftsmanship Means in Data Engineering
One solution doesn't fit every kind of data or business, that's why craftsmanship matters. Here's what it looks like in our approach to data engineering.
1- Fix the Data First
If your data is messy, we fix it first before building anything on top of it.
Most off-the-shelf solutions skip this step because it's not exciting. But nothing works properly if the data underneath is unreliable. If the inputs are wrong, everything built on top of them will be wrong too.
2- Follow the Right Process
There's a clear order to good data work. After 20 years in data engineering, we've seen what happens when teams skip steps.
Teams jump straight into tools or dashboards before the data is ready. Then they spend months fixing issues that should have been handled at the start.
Our approach is different. Fix the data first, structure it properly, then build reporting or analytics on top of it. That experience taught us that the order matters, and it's what makes systems stable.
3- Build Around Your Business
Off-the-shelf tools expect you to adapt to them. Our data infrastructure services are built around how you actually work.
We look at how your team uses data, what questions matter, and where things break or slow down. From there, we build systems that fit your workflows instead of forcing you into a generic setup.
In practice, this means we map your current environment before making recommendations. Our data pipeline consulting helps us build pipelines that match how you already work. And we make sure your team can maintain what we build without depending on us long term.
Launching "Data with Flavor" at the RVA Data Summit
We sponsored the Richmond Technology Council Data & AI Summit on March 26 at the Science Museum of Virginia, an event focused on strategy, innovation, and real-world use cases in data and AI.
Our founder and CEO, Sergei Shestakov, traveled from overseas to be there, because we believe in showing up for work that matters instead of staying behind emails or delegating everything.
We gave away over 130 jars at our booth and had 92 conversations about enterprise data consulting challenges. People remembered us because we started conversations with spice. We didn't open with basic conformed questions such as "What tools are you using?" or even “How are you?”. We broke that ice so quickly.
How the Approach Works in Practice
We offer a free data health check because it helps to understand what is broken before deciding what to do next.
We spend 30 minutes talking about your real setup and your real challenges. We look at your data pipelines, your integrations, and where reporting breaks down. After that, we share a simple roadmap that shows what to fix first and where the biggest impact is.
The process follows the same idea we have been talking about throughout this article. We start by understanding your business, we look at your actual data instead of assumptions, and we build recommendations around how you work, not around what is easiest for us to deliver.
Why "Data with Flavor" Matters
This campaign isn't just about co-branded jars. It's about proving that craftsmanship exists in data engineering the same way it exists in artisan food. Both require quality inputs, proven processes, and attention to detail
If your data feels like it's holding you back instead of moving you forward, let's talk. Schedule your free data health check and walk away with a clear perspective on what needs to change.
