Opening the Gateway to Innovation

It also removes potentially unintended variability. In the past, the company would send designated seasoning systems to customers for them to try them in application. However, this removed an element control of how Wixon originally envisioned the seasoning system working within specific applications, opening up the possibility of missing the mark. “We can now test our products in application before it goes out to them, seeing how it’s looking, feeling and tasting in the customer’s process instead of guessing how they’re using it,” says Gottsacker. “It’s a huge variable that we’re able to control when you have it in application.”

Control, after all, is the key to effectively solving the puzzles that invariably arise during R&D.

Douglas J. Peckenpaugh is the editor/associate publisher of CULINOLOGY® magazine and managing editor of Food Product Design magazine. He posts regular reports on all things edible in his blog, Doug’s Domain, as well as on the Culinology Corner, where he hosts regular guest bloggers from the ranks of the Research Chefs Association. He’s a member of the Research Chefs Association and the International Foodservice Editorial Council.