Symrise: Chefs United Network Increasing Rapidly

14 Jul 2014 --- The number of chefs in the Symrise culinary network Chefs United has grown to more than 26,000 over the past few months. The chefs provide information with regards to local taste preferences, typical preparation methods and dishes as well as the latest trends and tastes around the world.

Chef United has helped in the development of various new flavour concepts, such as chefs in the LATAM region in a project about Boteco food in Brazil. “The goal was the creation of new flavor concepts for snack food, inspired by the most favorite Brazilian bar food,” explained a spokesperson for Symrise. “We asked inspiring Chefs around Brazil to identify the most typical bar food dishes.

“The selected dishes were cooked together with a celebrity Brazilian Chef. Our flavorists researched the subject, visited bars, and interviewed professionals and were able to transfer this knowledge and input into flavors. We presented the dishes cooked by the Chef and continued with our flavor creations. They had very authentic profiles which closely resembled the real dishes. The customer was very impressed by the approach. Chefs United was thoroughly well evaluated by the customer. Two products coming from this project have now been launched in the Brazilian market.” 

Symrise now exchanges information with more than 5,000 chefs in all the major regions, according to the company. The scope of culinary insights has thus more than doubled and become more detailed. 

Since 2012, Chefs United has served as a reliable, differentiating and unique culinary tool that provides meaningful and authentic insights into local cuisine and cooking practices across all continents. In the past two years, Symrise has used this knowledge for various projects together with its customers to jointly benefit from the understanding of the local markets. 

The benefit for chefs is invaluable, according to the company spokesperson. “The network of Chefs United gives them the platform to share their expertise, local cooking practices and inspire with their recipes. In fact Chefs United builds a platform for them to present themselves, to learn from other chefs and to enhance their own reputation. We have created a section on the website especially for them, where we share access to culinary professionals, projects and successes including the ones they have participated in.”

Symrise has completed more than 15 global projects in that time. Executive Chef Gianfranco Chiarini is the founder and owner of the network for Chefs United. Chiarini, who is an Italian Michelin-starred chef, thoroughly supported topics like street food, seaweed, onion, bar food, African spices, and others with his expertise.

There are savory flavour trends that the company feels will hold strong potential for growth, according to the spokesperson. “Street food is experiencing a new revolution and is becoming more and more popular, especially in USA, with focus on Asian and Mexican food,” he said. “Thanks to the expertise of Chefs United, we are able to support and inspire this trend with unique ingredients and inspiring cooking methods, appealing to consumers who want access to authentic global cuisines. With the insights provided by the chefs in Asia we have developed street food-inspired flavors and seasonings for instant meals and snack food.”

The company also noted that North Africa with focus on Maghreb is an upcoming trend cuisine in Europe and as well in the US. “The Maghreb kitchen is known for the use of many spices and very complex spice mixtures. Especially the composition of these spices and their use in the different dishes make the North African cuisine so special and unique. Chefs United has supported us in understanding the key ingredients and composition of these complex spice mixtures. Chefs from this region provide key recipes where these compositions find their application. Thanks to the support of Chefs United, we were able to translate these culinary insights into authentic flavor solutions, which are ‘Ras El Hanout’, ‘Baharat’ and ‘Harissa’”.

“The depth of knowledge from Chefs United enables us to assist our customers at an early stage in their product development and over the long term,” explained Gabriel Wachter, Marketing Director EAME Category Culinary at Symrise. “With this unique culinary compass, we develop flavors together with our customers that perfectly suit the tastes of the consumers. This makes Chefs United a network with a promising outlook for us. It is growing continuously and we are already working on exciting new projects.”