Please find below a list of Case Studies illustrating how FlavorCraft has provided industry-leading product quality and customer service across a wide variety of mandates, including but not limited to cost management, product development and process development. Please click on each header for more detailed information.
Matched flavor profiles of nationally branded ingredients, including but not limited to Worcestershire sauce, barbecue sauce, hot sauce, soy sauce, wing sauce, ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise, into a wide variety of formulated sauces that our customers have approved as indistinguishable from control samples and purchased from FlavorCraft at significantly lower price points than could have reasonably been achieved with the incumbent formulations.
Customer:
Multiple
Product:
Multiple
Channel:
Retail, Foodservice and Industrial
Format:
Hot and Ambient Fill, Shelf Stable
Packaging:
Bottles, Jars and Bulk Packaging
Mfg. Process:
Turnkey contract manufacturing
Product Differentiation:
Many of our customers have relied on nationally branded ingredients or other finished products to achieve the desired flavor profiles of their custom sauces. The problem with this approach, however, is that nationally branded ingredients tend to carry higher price points, making it a challenge to price sauces using these ingredients at acceptable margins. Presented with this opportunity, FlavorCraft has been able to match the flavor profiles of many nationally branded ingredients, including but not limited to Worcestershire sauce, barbecue sauce, hot sauce, soy sauce, wing sauce, ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise, such that our finished sauces using these matched ingredients are indistinguishable from control samples, providing our customers with high quality product matches at significantly lower price points than could have reasonably been achieved with the incumbent formulations.
Reformulated a wide variety of “back of the house” fresh sauce products for restaurant chains into shelf stable replacements (one of which has won national awards) that are indistinguishable from the original fresh from scratch control samples, maintaining flavor profile while improving product consistency and food safety and reducing operating costs across all restaurant locations.
Customer:
Multiple
Product:
Multiple
Channel:
Foodservice, In-Store Retail, Grocery Retail
Format:
Hot Fill, Shelf Stable
Packaging:
Bottles, Jars and Bulk Packaging
Mfg. Process:
Turnkey contract manufacturing
Product Differentiation:
While many restaurant chains have developed excellent, fresh from scratch sauces for their signature dishes, staffing “back of the house” labor to perform this work consistently across all locations can be a challenge. Additionally, and as good as many of these fresh from scratch products are, they often have very short shelf lives, even if refrigerated, leading to high rates of waste in order to avoid product spoilage. Presented with this opportunity, FlavorCraft has been able to match the flavor profiles of a wide variety of these “back of the house” fresh sauce products and reformulate them into shelf stable replacements that are indistinguishable from the original fresh from scratch control samples. Our shelf stable replacements offer improved product consistency and food safety, while reducing restaurant-level operating costs, including preparation labor, refrigeration space and spoilage waste. One of FlavorCraft’s customers has even won prestigious national awards using a product that we produce on their behalf.
Developed original formulation and supported launch of inaugural garlic sauce portion cup program for regional pizza chain while it grew into a global presence. Maintained sole supplier status through this extraordinary growth phase and refined packaging process such that leakers were managed down to 0.000002% out of 340 Million portion cups supplied annually.
Customer:
International Pizza Chain
Product:
Original Garlic Dipping Sauce
Channel:
Foodservice
Format:
Ambient Fill, Shelf Stable
Packaging:
Portion Cups
Mfg. Process:
Turnkey contract manufacturing
Product Differentiation:
A regional pizza chain relied on FlavorCraft’s management expertise to formulate and launch their original garlic sauce portion cup program. Our principals invested the capital and developed the expertise to support the customer every step of the way, including maintaining the sole supplier status as the customer grew from a regional footprint into one of the leading global pizza chains. In support of this extraordinary growth, our principals developed and scaled a proprietary filling, heat seal and packaging manufacturing process that supplied 340 Million portion cups to this customer annually, while managing leakers down to 0.000002% of annual volume.
Developed proprietary filling, sealing and packaging process to reduce residual O2 levels in head space of peanut butter portion cups to 60% below the customer’s own internal production standards in order to prevent the product from oxidizing, thereby improving flavor profile, product quality and shelf life.
Customer:
International Consumer Packaged Food Company
Product:
National Peanut Butter Brand
Channel:
Retail
Format:
Hot Fill, Shelf Stable
Packaging:
Portion Cups
Mfg. Process:
Toll processing with customer-supplied material. Due to potential allergen cross-contamination risks, produced in dedicated section of plant with no co-mingling of raw inputs, dedicated production equipment, dedicated staff, and separate entrance/exit for staff.
Product Differentiation:
A leading consumer packaged foods company wanted to launch their national peanut butter brand in portion cups and relied on FlavorCraft’s management expertise for this important project. Peanut butter will tend to oxidize if O2 levels in the head space between the foil lid and product are too high, leading to crusting in the top layer of the product and flavor profile degradation. Presented with this opportunity, our principals developed a proprietary production process that reduced residual O2 levels in the packaging head space to industry-leading standards that outperformed our customer’s own internal standards by 60%, thereby improving flavor profile, product quality and shelf life. Our customer experienced tremendous success with this product launch and never returned any product due to quality issues.
Developed proprietary packaging process to achieve extremely reliable, high integrity seal in hot filled portion cup operation, resulting in both high product quality and an extended shelf life while virtually eliminating leakers.
Customer:
International Consumer Packaged Food Company
Product:
Salsa and Marinara Dipping Sauces
Channel:
Retail
Format:
Hot Fill, Shelf Stable
Packaging:
Portion Cups
Mfg. Process:
Turnkey contract manufacturing
Product Differentiation:
A leading consumer packaged foods company was in the process of launching a national meal kit program and hired FlavorCraft’s principals to supply red sauce portion cups for this challenging project. To achieve product quality and shelf live expectations, the customer required a hot fill production process. Portion cup packaging presents a significant challenge in a hot fill operation, however, due to the need to achieve consistently high seal integrity during a tightly-toleranced filling and sealing process while steam is venting out of the product due to the high fill temperature. Presented with this opportunity, our principals developed a proprietary filling and sealing process to achieve all of our goals for the finished product: high standards for product quality, flavor profile, shelf life and seal integrity. After running this product for many years, customer complaints for overall product quality and/or leakers were extremely minimal.
With 30+ years in business and 2,000+ unique formulations, we’ve developed industry-leading sauces and dressings products for some of the world’s most recognizable food brands and restaurant chains. We look forward to the opportunity to help elevate your brand and menu offerings!
