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Doehler, a global producer, marketer and provider of natural ingredients and ingredients systems for the food, beverage and nutrition industries, officially opened the doors of its state-of-the-art taste innovation hub at the New Jersey Bioscience Center.

Located in North Brunswick, the facility offers more than 12,000 square feet of laboratory space, including a flavor analytics laboratory equipped with both volatile and non-volatile capabilities as well as a functional extraction laboratory.

Following an April 26 ribbon-cutting ceremony, Paul Graham, president and chief executive officer of the Americas at Doehler, said the company’s investment “reflects our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of the U.S. food and beverage industry.”

“We feel that Doehler is well positioned to help our customers stay ahead of the curve in a rapidly changing market,” he said.

Projected to be a $20 billion market by 2028, the bulk of that growth is expected to be driven by natural flavors, according to Fortune Business Insights. However, the current inflationary environment has increasingly led companies to seek convenience and agility in the innovation processes, which, Doehler says, are needs that its new facility can address.

Deborah Kennison, R&D vice president at Doehler in North America, said, “We are thrilled to share that Doehler’s North Brunswick hub is featuring in-house sensory screening capabilities with expert panels. This, combined with the expertise of our global sensory team allows us to provide our customers with lab to industrial-scale solutions spanning the entire spectrum from flavor, functional ingredients and foodstuff to finished products with advantaged economics.”

At the new facility, Doehler plans to utilize ultramodern sampling technology, where customers can enjoy faster, more agile and higher-quality tasting, which will provide a significant competitive advantage.

The location will also serve as an East Coast hub for Doehler Ventures, a Los Angeles-based investment firm that supports early-stage startups, and to scale up Doehler’s new strategic partnership with Ixora Scientific, a San Diego startup that focuses on the research and development of innovative taste modulators based on botanicals.

Doehler’s U.S. division, which is based in Cartersville, Ga., works with North American customers to deliver technology-based solutions for beverages, dairy, plant-based dairy, confectionary and bakery products.

Its product portfolio ranges from flavors and emulsions, natural colors, health ingredients, compounds, fruit preparations, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage bases, dairy bases, malt and cereal bases, and sweetening systems to fruit and vegetable juices, purees, concentrates and blends.

Headquartered in Germany, Doehler has 45 production sites, 75 offices and application centers and sales representation in over 160 countries. It also has a workforce of 10,000, including 1,000 employees dedicated to research and development and technology.

The North Brunswick location joins Doehler’s other U.S. facilities in Pine Brook; Cartersville, Ga.; and Chicago, Ill.

The company also plans to expand its Cartersville plant to include an automated flavor production facility and bring additional capacity, customer-facing meeting spaces and administrative offices.