French's flavor ingredients

Prepared Foods, Feb, 2004

Springfield, MO -- Home meal replacements, ready-to-eat meals, restaurant take out, heat & eat entrees, speed-scratch, ready-to-cook proteins--when it comes to food, convenience is a top priority.

Consumers want made-from-scratch flavor with ready-to-eat convenience. Restaurant operators want trendy, gourmet flavors in controlled, ready-to-finish portions. To fulfill this need, food processors are striving to produce value-added, center-of-the-plate and whole meal products with the freshness, flavor and quality demanded by food-savvy consumers and diners.

Kelly Corcoran, executive chef and culinary marketing manager of French's Flavor Ingredients, is happy to be in the middle of this convenience whirlwind. She recognizes that the consumer's four-o'clock-what's-for-dinner dilemma is the manufacturer's opportunity.

With experience in foodservice, consumer product development and the ingredients business, Chef Corcoran appreciates the highly competitive environment in which new products battle for the consumer food dollar. "Manufacturers and processors can realize a marketing advantage by utilizing the French's Flavor Ingredients brands--French's[R] Mustard, Cattlemen's[R] Barbecue Sauce and Frank's[R] RedHot[R] Cayenne Pepper Sauce. These brands are essentially pre-approved by American consumers," she explains.

But what if a manufacturer wants an exclusive flavor? No problem for Chef Corcoran. Her culinary education at the New York Restaurant School and La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine in Paris, coupled with her experience in fine dining and quick-serve restaurants, has prepared her for this challenge. "I like to think of French's Flavor Ingredients as plus-one products. We can make recommendations for adding flavors such as citrus, spices and herbs to our products to create proprietary and on-trend flavors," says Ms. Corcoran.

To stay on-trend, Chef Corcoran reviews trade journals, consumer publications, chain and cutting-edge restaurant menus, on-line information and new cookbooks. With a comprehensive understanding of regional preferences, ethnic flavors, new manufacturing techniques and cooking methods, Kelly Corcoran and the culinary experts at French's Flavor Ingredients can keep signature products on-trend without being too far ahead of the pack.

In addition to flavor profile customization, the products offered by French's Flavor Ingredients can be adapted to work in multiple applications to maintain the bold flavor preferred by consumers. "We can develop customized flavors designed for a particular process to ensure the final product is proprietary, fits the application and meets the consumer's expectations," says Ms. Corcoran.

Capitalize on the ever-expanding world of value-added, convenience products with custom formulations based on the market-tested, consumer-approved flavors of French's Flavor Ingredients.

Contact Info:

French's Flavor Ingredients

A Division of Reckitt Benckiser Inc.

4343 E. Mustard Way

Springfield, MO 65803

Phone: 800-4-FRENCH

www.Frenchsingredients.com

http://www.Frenchsingredients.com