Taste Flavourings

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Taste Flavourings's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Taste Flavourings is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett, MP

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles, MP

www.tasteflavourings.com

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

40 | TASTE FLAVOURINGS

Aalbert Remijn, managing

director

The flavour industry is a relatively unknown supplier to the

global food and beverage industry. Aalbert Remijn, Taste

Flavourings’ managing director, describes it as one that

has been difficult to enter, but ultimately rewarding. In 2012,

he founded the company; their initial years were tough, but in

the last 18 months they have doubled their staff, and turnover

has nearly doubled each year since 2015. Their flavourings,

both natural and non-natural, are powerful and of high quality,

often only used at a fraction of a percentage, and are utilised

in a variety of products worldwide, from confectionery and ice

cream to sports nutrition, baked goods and savouryproducts.

At Taste, we are passionate about flavour. Located in Cambridge’s Science Park

area, we research and develop flavourings for a broad range of food applications in

our laboratories and kitchens. We manufacture our flavourings in a purpose-built

factory and serve customers across the globe.

The best way to illustrate flavourings is to use an example: a strawberry tastes

like a strawberry thanks to its chemistry. As the fruit ripens, its chemical make-

up changes, and therefore so does its taste. Our industry has been able to

mimic this chemistry and, in doing so, create different flavour profiles in a

simplified, consistent and cost-effective way. The possibilities are infinite. From

mainstream flavourings such as strawberry, chocolate, vanilla and butter to

more unusual profiles such as sundried tomato, roast beef, condensed milk and

gooseberry, we can produce a broad variety of flavours to best serve the food and

beverageindustry.

FACTS ABOUT

TASTE FLAVOURINGS

»Managing director:

AalbertRemijn

»Established in 2012

»Based in Cambridge

»Services: Flavour development

and manufacture

»No. of employees: 15

»Turnover has nearly doubled

each year since 2015

»www.tasteflavourings.com

Taste Flavourings

41TASTE FLAVOURINGS |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

The value of experience

Prior to establishing Taste Flavourings,

I had worked elsewhere in the

industry. From my previous experience

and network, I managed to convince

a group of highly experienced

individuals to join me at an early

stage. Even though this was only

a few years ago, I believe this is an

excellent standpoint from which we

can train, mentor and develop the

next generation of industry experts at

the company.

It is so important that the people who

work with us care: from that point

forward, everything else just falls

into place. We are a small, tight-knit

unit of 15 people, and we have no

unnecessary management layers who

confuse or saturate the process. Our

team is comprised of people who think

for themselves, work hard and remain

self-motivated; but above all else, we

all work collaboratively. There are a lot

of people involved in every stage of

our complex process, but as a result of

the environment and way in which we

work, we remain flexible and precise;

there is no unnecessary noise in the

machine. This set-up allows us to

have a dynamic, proactive approach,

which enables us to build and maintain

trusted and lasting relationships with

our customers.

Thanks to recent success, we have

been able to continue investing in the

company. To manage growth and

control the business, we invested in an

all-encompassing IT system and have

recently refurbished and upgraded our

factory; this has enabled us to increase

capacity while continuing to offer

products of the highest quality.

Cultivating our presence

Our market is mature, and, as such,

we have plenty of competition. It is

not just enough to sell a product of

the highest quality – there is always

a larger company somewhere with

a greater base of clients. We have

grown on our contacts through our

own networks. While in the future we

aspire to establish a dedicated sales

team and larger marketing campaigns,

we presently have one smaller-scale

office in South Africa which handles

British exports. Its existence, however,

is very much testament to our strong

relationships in the industry.

The majority of the countries we

export to are outside of the EU,

Our flavourings are used

all around the world

At Taste, we

are passionate

about flavour

“

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

42 | TASTE FLAVOURINGS

including South Africa, India, China,

Turkey, Malaysia and the Middle East.

With the ongoing consolidation of

the industry, a significant proportion

of flavourings used in the UK are

manufactured by multinational

companies on the European mainland.

This has also resulted in the diminished

presence of other smaller, independent

manufacturers operating in the UK,

bringing good opportunities for us to

do business with UK companies that

want to have a personal service and

buy locally.

Industry and legislative

challenges

As we are starting to focus more on

dealing with clients in the EU, we do

recognise Brexit is a potential threat.

Tariffs on our products will make

us less competitive, but this is not

insurmountable. Our greatest worry

is the transit of goods across borders

becoming unnecessarily cumbersome;

a lorry being stuck in Dover for a week

will halt important processes for us as

well as our customers.

The EU’s regulations regarding our

industry are extensive. They are

generally accepted in most countries

across the world, and, as such, we will

continue operating by them.

Keep moving forward

Our journey over the past six years has

been an eventful and intriguing one.

While we are starting to see Taste

Flavourings grow steadily upwards,

we want to concentrate on enjoying

what we do. We offer products of

the highest quality with great service

along every step of the way – there’s

no reason why our client base should

not further expand. In ten years’ time,

this business could be anywhere – we

just want to keep investing in the

company and pushing as hard as we

can to enjoy and achieve in all that

wedo.

We offer

products of

the highest

quality with

great service

along every

step of the

way

“

www.tasteflavourings.com

The Parliamentary Review Publication, in which this article originally appeared, contained the following foreword from The Rt Hon Theresa May MP.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By The Rt Hon Theresa May MP

This foreword from the then Prime Minister appeared in the 2018/19 Parliamentary Review.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review. For Her Majesty’s Government, our task in the year ahead is clear: to achieve the best Brexit deal for Britain and to carry on our work to build a more prosperous and united country – one that truly works for everyone.

The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain. We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that. It means Government stepping up to secure the foundations of our productivity: providing an education system that delivers the skills our economy needs, improving school standards and transforming technical education; delivering infrastructure for growth; ensuring people have the homes they need in the places they want to live. It is all about taking action for the long-term that will pay dividends in the future.

But it also goes beyond that. Government, the private sector and academia working together as strategic partners achieve far more than we could separately. That is why we have set an ambitious goal of lifting UK public and private research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. It is why we are developing four Grand Challenges, the big drivers of social and economic change in the world today: harnessing artificial intelligence and the data revolution; leading in changes to the future of mobility; meeting the challenges of our ageing society; and driving ahead the revolution in clean growth. By focusing our efforts on making the most of these areas of enormous potential, we can develop new exports, grow new industries and create more good jobs in every part of our country.

Years of hard work and sacrifice from the British people have got our deficit down by over three quarters. We are building on this success by taking a balanced approach to public spending. We are continuing to deal with our debts, so that our economy can remain strong and we can protect people’s jobs, and at the same time we are investing in vital public services, like our NHS. We have set out plans to increase NHS funding annually by an average by 3.4 percent in real terms: that is £394 million a week more. In return, the NHS will produce a ten-year plan, led by doctors and nurses, to eliminate waste and improve patient care.

I believe that Britain can look to the future with confidence. We are leaving the EU and setting a new course for prosperity as a global trading nation. We have a Modern Industrial Strategy that is strengthening the foundations of our economy and helping us to seize the opportunities of the future. We are investing in the public services we all rely on and helping them to grow and improve. Building on our country’s great strengths – our world-class universities and researchers, our excellent services sector, our cutting edge manufacturers, our vibrant creative industries, our dedicated public servants – we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility. The government I lead is doing all it can to make that brighter future a reality for everyone in our country.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Prime Minister