ASIA – The Swiss maker of flavors and fragrances has opened a new culinary and discovery centre in Bangkok, Thailand to drive innovation creating fragrances and flavors for the world’s most desirable brands.
The innovation hub brings together a team of expertise from Firmenich including chefs, flavorists and food technologists, capitalizing on continued consumer demand for healthier and more nutritious food and beverages.
To enrich the region’s culinary heritage, the centre will be ideal in developing innovative culinary solutions with an emphasis on Savory, Sweet Goods and Beverages.
The investment reflects South East Asia’s importance to Firmenich as both a strategic growth region, as well as Savory hub for Firmenich.
The privately-owned flavor and fragrance company has identified South East Asia as having the need for innovative products that delivers freshness; at the same time have longer shelf-life.
“Putting our innovation to work, our chefs are dedicated to creating authentic, great tasting, nutritious products from smart proteins all the way to sugar, salt and fat reduction, in close collaboration with our local and regional customers.”
“Sharing a great taste experience forms a bond between people, across cultures and languages, it gives us stories and moments of happiness with our family and friends” said Ed Alejandrino, Vice President of Flavors, Southeast Asia.
The hub will host the ‘Culinary Anthropology’ technique used in developing savory products through creative ideation.
This launch marks Firmenich’s continuous journey in innovation coupled with advanced flavor technologies to create high-performance solutions that are always keeping pace with the ever-changing demands of the market.
Through the Culinary Anthropology process, customers are taken through a series of exercises designed to spur creative thinking and extract business-relevant ideas from participants, including target consumer concept review.
In a way to better serve the Southeast Asian market, the company opened its new flavor production facility in Indonesia with an initial investment of US$25 million.
According to the company, expansion into the Asian market was prompted by customer demand for increased and faster access to the flavor encapsulation technology, a highly sought-after technique in soft drinks applications.
