Services
My expertise covers every facet of food processing, from cost savings, to process improvement
Cost Savings
Formula Cost Savings: Reducing formula cost is an annual goal for everyone. I can help reduce cost, often within label.
Other cost savings: Costs savings is not limited to the formula. Optimizing a formula and ingredients to your plant’s processing capabilities is an often over looked area for cost savings.
Ingredient Sourcing
Sourcing new ingredients: With 24 plus years in the industry I have a large network of ingredient suppliers. I can source or connect you to sources for common and less common ingredient for dressings and sauces.
Sourcing Alternate Ingredients: It’s always good to have a back up supply of key ingredients. Whether it’s to shore up supply or find a cheaper supplier, I can help you source back up/alternative suppliers for many of your key ingredients.
Clean Label Ingredients: “Clean label” continues to grow. Finding “clean label” ingredients that are effective and have an acceptable “cost in use” can be challenging. I can help.
Labeling
Labeling recommendations: While label sign off rests with your company’s regulatory team, there are a lot of gray areas in labeling. I can offer guidance on how to label ingredients to get a more consumer friendly and marketable ingredient statement.
Product Development
Reverse engineering (product matching): My wheelhouse. I can do for you or teach it to your team. I have 24 years’ experience in matching branded products for private label opportunities
New Product (whiteboard) development: I am not a chef, but I can help convert your culinary recipes to commercial formulas that will run efficiently in your operation.
Functional ingredient expertise: I have a broad background with functional ingredients including emulsifiers, gums, and starches. I also have many contacts in my network I can go to when I don’t know. (I am still learning too.)
Formula safety/stability review: While final sign off for product safety and stability has to come from your Quality Team, I can give guidance for both safety and stability of your formulas based on their chemistry.
Process Improvement
Process Design: While I do not offer engineering services I have seen a lot of process designs; some done very well, some complete train wrecks. I can offer recommendations and work with your engineers (internal or external) on processing equipment and systems, process flow, etc. to help optimize efficiency and reduce scrap.
Process Improvement: Time is money. If your plant’s lines are down waiting for product to fill profit suffers. I’ve spent many hours over my career working with plants to improve processing throughput.
New business opportunities: At some point everyone is asked to produce a product on processing equipment not designed for the product. Think out of the box. While sometimes it’s not possible I have a lot of experience and many successes marrying products to less than optimal processing equipment.
Troubleshooting: Things go wrong. Causes can range from undocumented changes in process steps, to equipment degradation or even an out of spec ingredient. I’ve seen all of these over my career and may be able to get you on track to a solution quickly.