Dive Brief:
- Cargill has spent $5.5 million to double the size of its research facility in Plymouth, MN.
- The so-called Food Innovation Center is now 40,000 square feet, contains research labs and a commercial kitchen, and will specialize in ingredients research.
- The center's facilities are available for food scientists and researchers from Cargill customers.
Dive Insight:
Cargill operates research and development centers across the globe. The major ones outside Minnesota are in Belgium, Brazil, and China. It's an interesting model: Help your customers develop and launch new products faster, and reap financial rewards later on when sales rise.
In the Minnesota facility, Cargill is offering ingredients expertise in a number of industry segments -- including the much-troubled cereal business. Those folks could do with some help.