Cargill opens House of Chocolate, home to inspiration, co-creation & innovation with customers
As customers’ need for inspiration, innovation and speed-to-market take precedence in today’s dynamic chocolate market, Cargill’s House of Chocolate provides them with a collaborative, end-to-end customer experience. This 6200 square meter complex, which is built alongside the company’s existing chocolate production plant, includes a state-of-the-art chocolate experience center, a unique pilot plant with sensory expertise, and creative workspace for the company’s European R&D team of chocolate engineers.
Inge Demeyere, Managing Director for Cargill Chocolate Europe, said, «We wanted to create a place where customers can explore the entire world of chocolate under one roof, enabling them to taste, feel, smell and see chocolate in every form. At the House of Chocolate, customers can collaborate with our experts and leverage our resources to create products inspired by the latest trends. It is a place designed to bring ideas to life and quickly move them to the market.»
That idea-to-execution concept begins in the facility’s chocolate experience center, where inspiration and innovation go hand in hand. Here, customers can explore market trends around health, sustainability, and sensory experiences, and brainstorm new product concepts. Collaboration is central to the House of Chocolate experience, as it serves as the European R&D hub for Cargill’s chocolate, coating and filling activities and its 40 chocolate engineers. It’s also home to a unique pilot plant, giving brands the opportunity to rapidly prototype new products in small batches for greater efficiency and speed to market.
Belgium has been a focal point of Cargill’s global chocolate business for many years due to its unique position in the chocolate world globally and the strong reputation of Belgian chocolate. Cargill’s Cocoa & Chocolate business has operated in the country since 2002, and has extensively invested to meet customer demands for vegan, extra white, and sugar-reduced chocolate. It has also strengthened its presence in the gourmet space by acquiring businesses such as Leman Decorations and Smet.
This is Cargill’s latest in a series of steps to deliver a world-class customer experience. With 10 applications centers around the world, now including House of Chocolate, Cargill can closely follow the latest trends and bring innovative global solutions for our customers for years to come. Cargill’s House of Chocolate will be the perfect home for unsurpassed chocolate experiences where inspiration, co-creation and innovation meet to transform ideas into an exciting reality.
About Cargill Cargill’s 155,000 employees across 70 countries work relentlessly to achieve our purpose of nourishing the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. Every day, we connect farmers with markets, customers with ingredients, and people and animals with the food they need to thrive. We combine 156 years of experience with new technologies and insights to serve as a trusted partner for food, agriculture, financial and industrial customers in more than 125 countries. Side-by-side, we are building a stronger, sustainable future for agriculture. For more information, visit Cargill.com and our News Center. About Cargill’s global cocoa and chocolate business
Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate provides high quality cocoa and chocolate more sustainably throughout the world and brings our customers peace of mind, integrity and excitement. With balanced efforts on security of supply, sustainability projects and sensory expertise, we create a wide range of outstanding standardized and custom-made products and services. In addition, we provide our customers with extensive market knowledge. We grow a robust, fair and transparent supply chain, from bean to bar, eager to continuously shape industry standards. To ensure a more sustainable supply of quality cocoa beans, Cargill established our own sourcing and trading operations at origin in Brazil, Ecuador, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia. Our Cargill Cocoa Promise underlines our commitment to enable farmers and their communities achieve better incomes and living standards. Our team of 4,400 passionate cocoa and chocolate experts work across 57 locations and are part of Cargill’s 155,000 colleagues around the world. For more information, visit cargillcocoachocolate.com.
