ADM opens culinary innovation center in New Jersey facility
ADM has expanded the scope of its product development capabilities with the addition of a roughly 4,000 sq ft culinary center within its Cranbury, N.J.–based customer innovation center.
ADM has expanded the scope of its product development capabilities with the addition of a roughly 4,000 sq ft culinary center within its Cranbury, N.J.–based customer innovation center. The kitchen space addition reflects ADM’s growing emphasis on the role culinary plays in the product development process and follows the debut of two similar customer experience centers within the past year—one in Singapore and another in Australia. Two more are planned: one in Shanghai, which will open this summer, and another slated to open in Berlin before the year’s end, says Marie Wright, ADM vice president and chief global flavorist.
Such centers facilitate collaboration among ADM’s food scientists, flavorists, and chefs, and allows them to better serve the needs of customers, she explains. “I think our new culinary center is an extension of our ability to interact with customers,” says Wright. “We know that culinary is the way forward for us. So having the close contact with the flavorists, the food scientists, and the chefs all in one place means that we can be a much stronger, more effective team.” Plant-based protein and savory flavor applications are a major focus at the Cranbury facility along with beverages and confections.
ADM celebrated the opening of the new culinary center with a media tour on May 8, but Wright says a number of customers have already made use of the new kitchen space on product development projects, “and the results have been very, very positive.” ADM originally opened the Cranbury facility in March 2016.