Walmart opened the doors to its new 12,000-square-foot Culinary & Innovation Center, located at the retailer’s Bentonville, Ark., headquarters. The center is designed to help the company work with major suppliers to develop new food ideas.

The center features:

• 10 kitchens, including a studio-style chef’s kitchen and replicas of the bakery and deli kitchens found in most of the Walmart stores.
• A variety of stoves, ovens and microwaves, so chefs can cook the same way customers cook at home.
• Adult beverage testing lab and consumables testing lab.
• Double-sided sensory testing lab that can accommodate 12 individual customer taste tests at a time.
• Meeting space, laundry and dishwashing areas.

Wal-Mart is currently testing frozen stuffed donut bites and vacuum-packed Paleo meals, available in stores in October.