It’s a long way from organic rice to tortilla chips, chocolate-blanketed snacks, and frozen rice & quinoa bowls. But, since its founding in 1937, Lundberg Family Farms, Richvale, Calif., has stayed ahead of purchaser trends in preference to honestly responding to them. “Innovation is in our DNA,” notes Tim Schultz, Lundberg’s VP of studies & development. The company, he says, became the first within the U.S. To bring natural brown rice to market, and in the late 1960s started foraying into packaged organic rice merchandise.
In the couple of years, Lundberg Family Farms has best multiplied the tempo of its R&D projects. For instance, the firm delivered rice-primarily based chips in 2003. “This was a real departure for us, but something that truly resonated with consumers,” Schultz factors out. In 2013, Lundberg’s dedication to rolling out new products reached a fever pitch. During the 12 months, the organization created a dedicated crew for new product improvement, currently 10 people. “Since then, we’ve introduced over a hundred and forty new merchandise to the marketplace,” 57 of them within the beyond 12 months alone, Schultz says.
Team LundbergAmong the most recent of these product traces are Organic Bold Bites Tortilla Chips, with flavors stimulated via meals vehicles; Organic Thin Stackers Chocolate-Covered Puffed Grain Snacks, made with Fair Trade–certified chocolate; and frozen Organic Grainspirations Rice & Quinoa Bowls. In addition to being organic, almost all of the organization’s products are gluten-free. “We manifest to be very blessed to be focused on organic,” Schultz says. “We didn’t pass after it chasing a purchaser fashion; it turned into something that turned into greater deep-seated rooted for us.” The same is true for the high-boom gluten-loose market segment, as “rice has continually been gluten-loose,” he observes.
Lundberg’s interest in historic grains, especially excessive protein types, together with quinoa, continues to develop. “We started out developing quinoa approximately six years in the past out here in California,” Schultz says. “We had heard that it turned into viable, and we went out and investigated.” The business enterprise labored with farmers to discern the best places to develop quinoa along the Canadian and Mexican borders. Another grain on the corporation’s radar, nutrient-wealthy sorghum, has produced a buzz in the marketplace; Lundberg currently produces Organic Thin Stackers Puffed Grain Cakes manufactured from sorghum and brown rice. “Historically, it’s been a low-price crop. But sorghum has gotten several recognitions and sparked excitement these days as a historic grain,” Schultz explains. “It has a sweet taste; in the vintage days, people made sorghum syrup.”
Standing out in a dynamic market.
Lundberg Family Farms needs to innovate to stand out in a market that has to grow to be even more competitive. So the corporation gleans product thoughts from a mess of assets further to the use of traditional market research studies. “We draw ideas from our customers,” Schultz shares. “We pay loads of attention to eating place tendencies. And our over 350 employees deliver back ideas and tips from their travels.” Lundberg R&D professionals, he adds, also are participants of the Research Chefs Assn., which is “often at the reducing-edge of flavor tendencies.”
But even the most on-trend and innovative product ideas should be sensible to produce. So to facilitate the product development manner, the employer opened a pilot plant in 2015. This is kind of a 10-minute pressure from the main production facility in Richvale. Using a small-scale device that approximates the big equipment in Lundberg’s essential plant, the R&D group can without difficulty test new formulations and processes without disrupting regular operations.
