Dive Brief:
- Schwan Food Co. announced a seven-member Chef’s Collective, comprised of chefs external to the company, to track trends in ingredients, cooking styles, and global fare to influence the next generation of frozen foods.
- The collective allows Schwan’s to dig deeper into food trends and lifestyle changes in order to develop foods with quality ingredients with the aim of changing perceptions in regard to frozen foods.
- The chefs come from diverse backgrounds, ranging from working in restaurants and food trucks to developing cookbooks.
Dive Insight:
The Chef’s Collective has met twice in Minnesota, touring Schwan’s R&D facilities and 14 restaurants in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro. The chefs learned about the foods made and sold by the company’s subsidiaries in an effort to develop ideas for dishes that respond to trends, are healthy, and maintain convenience for families.
The Chef’s Collective will collaborate with Schwan’s culinary team based in Minnesota. The formation of the Collective is the next step in Schwan’s promise to respond to a wide-range of consumer preferences for products with qualities such as certified gluten-free, certified organic, no sugar added, and low sodium.
The company is also committed to using simple ingredients in its foods. Last October, the company announced it would remove four ingredient groups from its foods. The company planned to eliminate the use of partially hydrogenated oils and artificial dyes by the end of last year. This year, the company plans to remove high-fructose corn syrup from its products, and by the end of 2017, it plans to remove artificial flavors from its foods.