From idea to research to innovation
A life where we would always eat the same things? How boring! As seasons change, as our tastes evolve, because we don’t always want to eat the same meals and because diversity is life, we all want to have new food discoveries and innovation in our plates. Specialists create new products at Bonduelle to bring something original and of quality to our meals every day: exclusive ingredients, variety innovation, different textures, flavour to discover or exclusive preparations, discover all that happens before a product reaches your kitchen.
A company culture towards innovation
To make plant-based food at the core of our diets and help everyone eat better, plant-based agribusiness innovation is an important part of Bonduelle’s activity: over 1% of its revenues. Over 100 collaborators - daily actors on this topic - work in 6 development centres, genuine plant-based innovation laboratories for ressources, methods, and the food products they develop. As explained by Sophie L. from the Innovation and Development service dedicated to frozen and canned goods: “there are several types of research and development in agribusiness: the one focused on long-term with new manufacturing processes for instance; and agriculture research which meets the needs of daily life while following up on new ideas to make them concrete”.
Work at the heart of the Bonduelle process
Innovation is to bring life to a product which otherwise would only exist in the mind by following 7 precise steps with many other know-hows: “innovation is a genuine kingpin which requires to work in project management transversally with marketing, sourcing, quality, sales, supply chain, consumer service, industrial operations… everyone is involved!” explains Sophie L.
First, observe: study consumer needs (as much in France as in other countries), assess the evolution of their eating habits, the use of new ingredients and development of new know-hows, get inspired from other industries, follow the news… In other words, get new ideas, identify work pathways proper to plant-based food. Then, sort through them, select them and precisely define the very limits of the product: what should be its organoleptic and nutritional qualities? When should it launch? With which food technologies should it be manufactured?
What follows is product development with a fine tuning of the recipe in kitchen-laboratories and making samples: again, many tasting back-and-forth to improve and evolve the prototypes until a satisfying result - on all levels - is obtained… according to every team. Then, there are the first tests on a wider scale on industrial lines to establish an adapted product method and always guaranteeing it quality and safety. All new products benefit from numerous analyses at every stage (physical, chemical, organoleptic and nutritional) to validate their quality and guarantee their hygiene safety. They are then tasted at an even wider scale to make sure they meet what was initially intended. It is a demanding project management which brings together farming practices, all the steps of manufacturing, nutrition, science, cooking and consulting… Finally comes the launch with the manufacturing of the first productions, field feedback and follow up on the product’s life all year long: “Innovate is a long-winded operation!” highlights Sophie L.
"Bonduelle's plant-based innovation is expressed in several ways," she adds.
While a lot of work has been done in recent years on plant protein sources (soy is not the only one that provides them!), many other approaches are underway: "We tend to think of innovation as only the development of new products, whereas an important part of our work is the renovation of existing products. There are not only disruptive innovations: rethinking a traditional product can also add value to it. For example, the process of frozen spinach with preserved leaves, which gives a completely different texture to frozen spinach... This is also the meaning of our commitment to products from organic farming, or without pesticide residues. "
After all these steps, knowing that the work we do ends up in many homes is a great pride for Sophie: “We take great pride when our product finds its audience and makes people’s life easier. I can say: ‘try it! I made it’.” Innovation is a really concrete job!