Doehler (the global producer of natural ingredients, ingredient systems and integrated solutions for the food and beverage industry) has announced its new office and lab hub in North Brunswick, NJ. The recently inaugurated facility is a state-of-the-art center for taste with a focus on flavor and taste modulation innovation. 

Doehler hosted its ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 26. With a team of experienced flavorists, food scientists, and taste specialists on hand, this new facility will allow Doehler to leverage its 185 years of global experience in the ingredients industry and well-established thought leadership in the German and European natural flavors market to the US with an agile and visionary approach, focusing on their customer’s needs.

The flavor food and beverage market is estimated to experience a CAGR of 4.64%, reaching USD 20.12 billion by 2028 and this growth is mainly driven by natural flavors, according to Fortune Business Insights. With the current inflationary environment, US customers are increasingly seeking convenience and agility in the innovation processes. To facilitate these needs, Doehler's North Brunswick hub will offer more than 12,000 square feet of laboratory space including a flavor analytics laboratory equipped with both volatile and non-volatile capabilities, as well as a functional extraction laboratory.

Deborah Kennison, R&D vice president at Doehler in North America, says, “We are thrilled to share that Doehler's North Brunswick hub is featuring in-house sensory screening capabilities with expert panels. This, combined with the expertise of our global sensory team allows us to provide our customers with lab to industrial-scale solutions spanning the entire spectrum from flavor, functional ingredients and foodstuff to finished products with advantaged economics." 

The site will also act as an east coast hub for Doehler Ventures, which supports early-stage start-ups, currently located in Los Angeles, CA. In addition, it will scale up the global strategic partnership of Doehler and Ixora Scientific, a San Diego, CA-based start-up that focuses on the research and development of innovative taste modulators based on botanicals. This hub is joining Doehler's other US locations: Pine Brook (NJ), Cartersville (GA), and Chicago (IL). 

“Our investment in the North Brunswick hub reflects our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of the US food and beverage industry. We feel that Doehler is well positioned to help our customers stay ahead of the curve in a rapidly changing market,” states Paul Graham, cluster Americas CEO at Doehler.

North Brunswick was chosen as the ideal location for this new hub, thanks to its status as a global center of innovation and technology. It is home to 13 of the world's leading technology companies and boasts 3,280 research and development establishments. Additionally, North Brunswick is in close proximity to world-renowned universities such as Rutgers University, Princeton University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology; and has the highest concentration of scientists and engineers in the region, with over 225,000 professionals in the field.

As part of the new hub, Doehler has imminent plans to utilize ultramodern sampling technology, where customers can enjoy faster, more agile, and higher-quality sampling. This will provide Doehler’s customers with a significant competitive advantage. In addition to the new North Brunswick hub, Doehler also plans to expand its Cartersville plant. The expansion will include an automated flavor production facility and bring additional capacity, customer-facing meeting spaces, and administrative offices.

The new state-of-the-art North Brunswick hub marks Doehler's commitment to meeting the evolving needs of the US food and beverage industry, bringing their North American customers the same agile and visionary flavor and taste modulation solutions implemented at their European headquarters.