Chefs weigh in: culinary perspective impacts new product success.

The force of a having a chef on board at a food company is formidable--chefs inspire, create and push ideation to new levels. Chefs have become an integral part of new product development at every level of the food industry.

And while the role of the chef at food companies might vary according

Chefs weighing in across the food industry say they bring innovation and risk taking into product development, bring creativity to the development process and ensure that menu items and new products uphold the taste from which the prototypes are derived. The end result betters the food industry and the food products that are available to consumers, propelling this culinary force to be even more embedded in successful new product development processes.

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Culinary view

In order for new products to meet with success, it is necessary that they demonstrate dramatic difference. One of the ways that chefs benefit food companies is being able to think outside of the food science paradigm and propose new product ideas that offer this difference.

"Chefs are becoming critical to food companies, but it is also critical that the chef functions as part of a 'culture of change' at that food company," says Lucien Vendome, senior executive chef at Kraft Food Ingredients, Memphis, Tenn. "If you have a chef at your food company, [that chef] has to be a part of a whole team that thinks in a culinary way, takes more risks and is more innovative. Rather than duplicating what is out there or emulating what has already been successful, an integrated culinary culture can allow a company to be creative and thrive by taking risks, and doing things better."

Innovation is essential to achieve success in today's competitive marketplace. At food companies, this happens at many levels simultaneously: packaging has demonstrated significant innovation lately, and the convenience trend is driven by innovation. The ability of the chef to translate innovation from the top down--from restaurant menus into new products--has become essential.

"The flow of innovation follows the trickle down theory, from white tablecloth restaurants down the line. The initial innovators begin something, and then this innovation translates and becomes more familiar to the mainstream consumer," says Stephen Kalil, senior manager of culinary innovation at Brinker International/Chili's Grill, Dallas. "It then becomes the responsibility of an expert in culinary execution--a chef in my role--to adapt that innovation in a way that is acceptable to our core customer and make it executable on our level. We bring that initial innovation experience, modified, to the customer who can't afford or isn't interested in the white tablecloth version."

Chefs in foodservice corporations wrangle white tablecloth innovation into mainstream acceptability, while chefs at an ingredient supplier may implement out-of-the box thinking and wildly innovative prototype proposals. But underlying every chef role is the importance of creativity.

"The role of a chef at a food company is to interact with and provide customers with creative ideas and solutions," says Kevan Vetter, executive chef and manager of culinary product development at McCormick Flavors, Hunt Valley, Md. "The chef can provide a different outlook on the qualities and attributes of food that they have gained through their experience in the food business."

Keeping it real

One of the ways that chefs at food companies are proving invaluable today is in answer to the trend in which consumers are seeking "real food"--food with ingredients that are unprocessed and fresh.

"The philosophy at Stockpot is to prepare each recipe in our kitchen just as our customers would in their own kitchen, except we use a much bigger kettle. Because we cook one kettle at a time, and our soups start with a mirepoix and real stocks, it's easier to maintain their integrity as real food," says Pete Coulter, corporate chef at Stockpot Inc., Woodinville, Wash. "Consumers are more educated about food today and they can taste the difference, and they seek products like Stockpot Soups that taste real, fresh and made-from-scratch, because basically, they are."

The buzzword for creating tasteful food is all about ingredients, whether those be "real" or natural or organic. One trend impacting the food world is the increasing demand for organic foods.

"At Bradley Ogden Restaurant, my mission is based in the farm-to-table philosophy, and I aim to work with all organic ingredients," says Bradley Ogden, head chef at namesake Bradley Ogden restaurant in Las Vegas. "This represents the new wave in American cooking, where I interact with 120 various small organic growers, producers and vendors from all over the country in order to create great food and a menu of refined organic cuisine."

Bradley Ogden Restaurant in Las Vegas was awarded the James Beard Best New Restaurant of 2004 last May, which catapulted Ogden to the forefront of the organic movement. Ogden's restaurant manifests the trend seen by a handful of hot new upscale, top-tier restaurants debuting across the nation with a menu of all-organic or mostly organic foods.

"The trend toward organic restaurants has been around for a while, although it is receiving more acclaim lately as people are becoming more educated about organic. But it is based in a very simple belief that to produce great food, it starts with great ingredients," says Ogden. "Ingredients that are organically raised and produced and just-picked can result in unsurpassable taste."

As for how this emphasis upon ingredient integrity translates to the retail food world, an example is the new Asian-inspired soup from Stockpot that uses real kaffir lime leaves as part of the formulation.

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"Our customers prefer we not engineer flavors in our StockPot recipes; so we use real wines, real cheese, real stock and sometimes that means we must go to great lengths to procure hard-to-find ingredients to get a recipe's flavor just right," says Coulter. "Most recently we had to set up a supplier that could provide us with a substantial amount of real kaffir lime leaves because they were an essential ingredient in one of our recipes. We go that extra mile to be authentic, and customers taste the difference brought about by our efforts."

Networking

One of the important aspects of adding value as a chef within the food industry is maintaining a connection to the chefs at restaurants, and keeping that chef-to-chef network alive in order to exchange ideas, foster creativity and track trends.

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"It is, and always has been, a source of inspiration to see what is happening outside of the mainstream. And it is interesting to note that chefs who work for independent operations are as interested and intrigued in what we do as we are in what they do," says Vetter. "Staying connected to what is happening in the independent restaurant is crucial. The interaction with that side of the business keeps you energized and inspired to keep thinking of the next big idea."

Just as important is for chefs who enter the food industry to first get their toques wet in a restaurant environment. The immediate feedback that a restaurant setting provides a chef is invaluable.

For example, a restaurant chef knows by the end of the night whether the new special was embraced by customers or rejected. This is very different from the typical manufacturing environment where a new product is on the shelf for six months or a year before success can be declared or failure determined. Gaining this experience and then translating that to the food industry is essential in order to add value as a chef within the food industry.

"There is a gap between manufacturing chefs and what is happening in the food world. In the manufacturing environment, the big drive is to make a product functional, profitable and quickly, whereas restaurant chefs aren't concentrating on any of that--they are doing something pure," says Vendome. "The problem with operating as a chef in a manufacturing environment without the proper restaurant experience is that you know just enough to be dangerous. Without experience and seasoning in the restaurant world it is easy to look for short cuts, which is detrimental to our industry."

Of course, foods that make sense to the consumer are based in familiarity, which is the theme chefs mention when asked about food trends. While the food landscape may change slightly over time, and menu items come and go, what maintains as a food trend is familiarity--also known as comfort food.

"Customers are interested in the exotic, but they still want it to be familiar. Our latest example is Boneless Shanghai wings--an Asian flavor profile captured by the soy and ginger citrus sauce atop the wings, with a wasabi ranch dipping sauce," says Kalil. "This is the perfect example of taking exotic flavors that the curious consumer wants to try, but in a platform that is more accessible to them."

McCormick's Vetter mentions goat cheese ranch dressing with fries as a menu item that caught his attention, which offers consumers something new--goat cheese--with something familiar, the flavor of ranch. Vendome says one of his most recent and notable dining experiences was French cooking anchored in basic American cuisine.

And that is the value that chefs offer food companies and consumers at large--understanding how to create foods that are loved in a new and different way so that consumers realize excitement and familiarity all together.

"People will always enjoy comfort food, because the newest, hippest influence may dissolve in six months, and people return to what is simple and wholesome and fresh," says Ogden. "The great things in life will never go out of vogue, the simple roasted chicken or steamed lobster. At Bradley Ogden, we don't try to produce trendy food, but simply food that we like to eat, because in the end people want food that nurtures their soul and their lifestyle."

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