Olam Cocoa has marked the opening of its latest Cocoa Innovation Centre (CIC) in Willowbrook, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. The new facility will provide important innovation capabilities to support Olam Cocoa’s North American customers.
The opening of this latest CIC, one of six globally, along with Centres in Brazil, Netherlands, Spain, Singapore and UK, will assist customers in the refinement and reformulation of existing recipes, provide proof of concept opportunities, and aid in the development of new products across such diverse application categories as beverages, cereals, chocolate confectionery, dairy, biscuits and bakery, and ice cream.
Rinus Heemskerk, Global Head of Product Development and Innovation noted that: “The facility will also host regular educational and application-specific seminars as part of a range of services designed to greatly reduce product development cycle timelines and help customers keep pace with changing consumer tastes and market trends.”
Olam Cocoa is also unveiling the new branding look of its portfolio of cocoa product brands, deZaan, Unicao, Macao, and Joanes, as well as announcing the launch of a completely new cocoa product brand for the North American and Asia Pacific markets, Huysman. As a region-specific brand born out of the heritage of deZaan, starting in Q3 2017, Huysman will offer a focused selection of value driven, best-in-class cocoa powders to these markets.
Gerard A Manley, CEO of Olam Cocoa, added: “By investing in modern facilities like Willowbrook we support our customers to satisfy consumer needs, and by being transparent on issues such as sustainability and product provenance, we are also ensuring that we help to stimulate demand which will support cocoa farmers and provide long term viability to the industry.”
Source: Africafeeds.com / Fred Dzakpata
