The new facility is operational as of this month, and will now offer flavour creation for savoury, snacks, beverages and sweet goods. In addition to Givaudan Dubai’s existing sweet and beverage flavour application services, the firm will also now offer flavour application for savoury and snacks.
Developing market focus
The expansion is part of the firm’s five-year plan to increase sales in developing markets around the world. It explicitly increased its focus on developing markets in 2010, with the aim to increase its sales in these markets by 25% by 2015.
“Being there in the Middle East, with our full menu of capabilities, gives our customers much faster access to our solutions and tools and services in Dubai – and that makes all the difference to us. It makes a lot of sense to put this investment in Dubai, to be close to our customers, to have fast access for them to our solutions,” said Henning Hartnacke, president for Europe, Africa and Middle East Flavours at Givaudan, speaking to FoodNavigator.
“That’s something that excites me personally – when I go and speak with my team in the Middle East, it’s something that excites them, to be close to their customers, to be able to serve them in the market. It creates an amazing buzz for us,” he added.
Givaudan’s new facilities are based in Concorde Tower in Dubai Media City, and include a full technical facility, along with commercial operations. The firm did not disclose the number of staff now based in Dubai, except to say it was three times the size of the pre-expansion staff.
World-wide, the company has around 1,300 staff based in developing markets. Hartnacke said the new investment in Givaudan’s Dubai facilities was evidence of the importance of the region to its global expansion strategy, and its desire to offer increased levels of service to its regional customers.
“From a technical point of view, we are offering application capabilities for savoury and snacks, which we have not had before, and that we are offering for all of the four segments in which we operate – that is savoury, snacks, sweet goods, and beverages – creation capabilities. That means we will have flavourists in these offices who are there to work with our customers in the Middle East, create flavours that are relevant to the consumers in the Middle East, in a direct and speedy contact with our customers,” he said.
‘Dynamic region’
In terms of how the Middle East is distinctive in terms of demand for flavours, Hartnacke said the region’s cuisine sees a lot of influences from cultures around the world. He added that regional consumers are increasingly looking for different taste experiences.
“The interest in food is driven first of all by the interest in taste experiences, in great-tasting products, but also by other things like health and wellness considerations, or really enjoying a moment with the family, and being able to enjoy a great meal around that occasion – that is really reflective of the culture. It’s a very diverse culture – it’s interesting from a taste point of view,” said Hartnacke.
“Middle East has been a dynamic region, with countries gaining in importance as consumers’ incomes rise, and their interest in food products rises. Urbanisation drives differentiated consumption patterns, and we see that in different markets in the Middle East... We are there in all these markets, with our customers, serving out of our centre in Dubai,” he added.