A bakery company with shops throughout Cornwall recognised a growing customer demand for gluten-free products.

For some time the company had attempted to develop a gluten-free pastry which could be used to make their traditional Cornish pasty and other products but had been unable to develop a pastry which was resilient enough to be handled and crimped efectively.

The company owner contacted the Food Innovation Service and commissioned a project to develop a gluten-free pastry formulation which was successfully accomplished. Since this project was completed the Food Innovation Service has carried out additional projects expanding the gluten-free range products for the bakery company.
 

An organic milk processor who has a trading relationship with a national cofee house chain recognised an opportunity to expand their product range and build a stronger relationship with their customer by developing some innovative products.

Although the business had ambition they lacked the in-house product development resource and contacted the Food Innovation Service. By outsourcing the project to the Food Innovation Service, the company was able to beneft from the expert product development experience within the Food Innovation Service team with a minimum impact on their own resources.

The Food Innovation Service was asked to develop a ready to serve drinking chocolate, with a potential sales volume of 6 million litres per year. The target was to provide a product that can be manufactured on existing plant that gave enhanced favour and texture for the consumer versus the current product whilst also enabling the chain to sell a consistent product from each outlet. This development was carried out and product manufactured by the Food Innovation Service is being used for in store taste tests.Printed on 100% recycled paper.

A Dorset business processing a range of premium quality snack nuts was directed to the Food Innovation Service by the South West Manufacturing Advisory Service.

The business had identifed new sales opportunities but needed to upscale their manufacturing process to enable them to exploit them. The Food Innovation Service was asked to conduct a review of the existing process and make recommendations on how to create a process fow capable of higher output without the need of increasing shifts or personnel levels.

The Food Innovation Service carried out the review and put forward a range of recommendations, providing specifcations and cost estimates, to transfer the current manual process to a more automated one with additional capacity. The Food Innovation Service will support the project going forward through the implementation phase.