That’s exactly what Bellisio Foods has done - and visitors can see it demonstrated at the company’s Fusion Culinary Center in suburban Minneapolis.
The Fusion Culinary Center processes more than 200 items including foodservice sauces and fillings. The operation also processes sauced entrees, side dishes and, now, multiserve bagged products.
Fusion cuisine? One source defines it as “the deliberate combination of elements from two or more spatially or temporally distinct cuisines.” What if you took this concept and applied it to the larger process of product development?
That’s exactly what Bellisio Foods has done - and visitors can see it demonstrated at the company’s Fusion Culinary Center in suburban Minneapolis.
First things first, however. It was in 2002 that Bellisio Foods acquired the Lakeville, Minn., operation, formerly known as Arden International Kitchens. Between late 2006 and early 2007, Bellisio Foods renovated production areas and added new facilities for culinary product development, customer presentations and consumer insights research.
It also renamed the 94,334-square-foot facility the “Fusion Culinary Center” and hired several experienced chefs (each with food processing backgrounds).
Sound like lots of elements coming together? Actually, Bellisio Foods was just getting started. The new team still needed to stir the pot to change the larger research and development process.
Says Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joel Conner, “They had meetings with representatives from all departments to break down the traditional [new product] process flow to look at where there are redundancies or gaps in their work.
“Since then,” he continues, “we’ve rebuilt our approach and retrained ourselves so that all the [departmental] players become involved in new projects earlier in the process.”
It’s important to note, meanwhile, that Bellisio Foods’ previous R&D process wasn’t too shabby. In fact, the Fusion team helped the company earn 2007 “Vendor of the Year” honors for a national restaurant chain.
The award acknowledges Lakeville chefs and food scientists who joined their restaurant counterparts and formulated a versatile and unique “Guinness Stout Glaze.” After four months of development and subsequent restaurant trials, the chain debuted its “Guinness Grill” menu in 2006. In the back of the house, kitchen staff easily can reheat and apply the Guinness glaze (which arrives frozen, in bags) to various items. It appears on appetizers such as Boneless Chicken Wings and Popcorn Shrimp and entrees including “Oh, Baby” Back Ribs, Top Sirloin, Grilled Chicken and Grilled Shrimp.
It wasn’t long, though, before Bellisio Foods’ new team would put its own product development process into play. Last year found the multi-functional group collaborating on one of the company’s biggest projects to date: a 22-item line of multi-serve bagged entrees, side dishes, breads and desserts.
“We’ve just launched the Joy of Cooking brand. It’s a major endeavor for the company and R&D supported that effort,” says Jeff Tuttle, vice president and general manager for Bellisio Foods Creative Growth Group and the Joy of Cooking brand. “Whereas our history has primarily been in snacks and single-serve entrees (in trays), we developed a full range of family-size products in bags. Not only was this a first for Bellisio Foods - but it promises to be a first for the retail category as well - where consumers are able to customize so many different types of dishes.”
Meanwhile, company officials continue to look ahead.
“We need to make sure we’re in front of rising costs and find ways to offset those so we’re meeting the expectations of our customers and consumers,” says Tuttle. “As important, we need to continue to be a product innovation leader by consitently developing strong, relevant concepts for our retail and foodservice businesses.”
More on the floor
Speaking of innovation, the Fusion Culinary Center is better prepared to both support Bellisio Foods’ pilot new product efforts and serve the company’s larger business portfolio. As mentioned, this 29-year-old operation previously concentrated on cheese-based specialty sauces, fillings and side dishes for foodservice operators.“We have some exceptional updates to this facility that create an environment for innovation,” notes Conner. “Besides adding a new R&D facility here, the company has invested in new filling and packaging equipment. We now produce as many as 200 different entrees, sauces, fillings, appetizers and side dishes and can package those items for any type of customer application.”
To Conner’s point,Refrigerated & Frozen Foodssaw a renovated section of the Lakeville plant just beginning to fill and package multi-serve entrees for Bellisio Foods’ Joy of Cooking line.
“We’re proud of our high customer satisfaction levels,” Conner notes. “I think it speaks to our work ethic and our employees’ long tenure here that we also can expand this facility and work on other projects, such as the new Joy of Cooking line.”
He concludes, “We made a deliberate decision when selecting the Fusion name. It’s a word that pulls together our aspirations for innovation, exceptional execution and seamless partnerships. Fusion plays a central role in pulling our various plants and departments together so that we can achieve our vision of being the ‘beautiful foods company’ for customers and consumers alike.”
AT A GLANCE
Plant: Fusion Culinary CenterLocation: Lakeville, Minn.
Products:Approximately 200 entrees, specialty sauces, fillings, appetizers, side dishes
Production lines: 7 (4 stationary / 3 flex)
Building size: 94,344 square feet
Production size: 77,182 square feet
Employees:87
Shifts: 2 production, 1 sanitation
