In 2022, Univar Solutions announced the opening of the Foodology by Univar Solutions North America Food Solution Center at The Hatchery Chicago to foster emerging food and beverage innovation. 

The Chicago-based food and beverage Solution Center serves as an innovation hub for food ingredient excellence, giving customers a place to taste, test, and perfect products and concepts and a venue to showcase our extensive menu of supplier ingredients. 

Keep reading to learn more about what sets this dedicated culinary product development space apart.

1. The first distributor to join this entrepreneurial community

We're proud to be the first food ingredient distributor to partner with The Hatchery Chicago. And while other partners include large suppliers and manufacturers, we are thrilled to work alongside these renowned food-industry figures as we collectively support entrepreneurial food startups and growing food trends.

Serving as one state-of-the-art kitchen, the Food Solution Center brings together a unique combination of culinary chefs, food scientists, and application development specialists to assist brands of all sizes. From growing startups sourcing new materials and methods to more prominent players expanding product lines and production capabilities, our vast supplier network and ingredient and specialty services make Univar Solutions an ideal partner across applications and categories.

2. Proud to call the Windy City home

When did consumers shift to more healthy beverages? Now, more than ever before, consumers are being given more information about the health components of the food that they purchase. Many global markets in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa are adopting mostly voluntary, color-coded, and user-friendly front-of-pack labeling, such as Nutri-Score.

Promotions on food and drinks high in fat, sugar, and salt (HFSS) in medium to large UK retailers will be restricted from October 2022. These measures serve to assist consumers in making better health choices.

Driven by COVID-related health concerns, and facilitated by front-of-pack information, the Mindful Nutritionist is seeking out self-care beverage products that they know are both better for them (low sugar, natural, allergen-free) and also deliver a noticeable boost in terms of improved mood, better sleep quality, more energy and focus, and better skin and hair.

Teas and infusions, with a focus on the mental health side of self-care, are in the ascendency as their clean label credentials offer guilt-free pleasure. Bold flavors are in the spotlight due to the large swathes of people who have suffered a loss of taste and smell due to COVID.

The formulation sweet spot for self-care beverages relies on having an ingredient partner that can identify the optimal combination of natural flavors, sweetening systems, functional health ingredients, and texturizers to deliver the self-care agenda. Recent sugar reduction innovation has produced sweetening systems that use more refined stevia extracts and sugar alcohols, as well as the highly label-friendly cereal and dried fruit extracts. Then there are the soluble dual-purpose prebiotic fibers, such as fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) (c30-65% sweetness vs sugar) that are derived from various products such as chicory, and the slightly sweet galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) derived from lactose in cow's milk.

For fat reduction strategies in beverages, formulators can cut calories while maintaining mouthfeel by turning to ingredients such as maltodextrins from corn, potato, and tapioca starches.

3. A place to collaborate on next-generation food and beverage solutions

Instead of a stand-alone lab or dedicated test kitchen, we partnered with the country's largest food and beverage incubator to build our North American Food Solution Center. From major food brands and global suppliers to renowned chefs and restauranteurs and rows of startup brands taking part, we're ready to collaborate with customers at our Food Innovation Center at The Hatchery. We'll have access to an impressive community of entrepreneurs and innovators, all working to solve food challenges and grow together – essentially a think tank of people and minds on the leading edge of innovation and next-generation food and sustainability solutions.

4. A partnership to share DEI and sustainability values

Our purpose is to help keep communities healthy, fed, clean, and safe. That mission aligns with The Hatchery's commitment to employing local chefs, artisans, and gig workers, decreasing urban food deserts, advancing minority-owned concerns, and other ways to meet local needs through food innovation for underserved communities. Giving back to local communities is core to our purpose that we can make a more significant difference for more people by working with partners who think big and aim high.

5. An incubator helping to solve technical challenges and develop new food experiences

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