Get our best content directly in your inbox
Sign up

Connecting with customers: Kalsec share the secret of their success

Kalsec Logo
5 min read
AUTHOR: Ana Delgado contributor: Kalsec Europe
Share:

Generating high quality leads with potential customers while finding a platform to showcase your innovations in the best possible way is a challenge for every company. At Food Matters Live in June 2021, Kalsec, a featured Ingredient Innovator, managed to do both. They connected with a new community in productive meetings and hosted their own Ingredient Discovery Spotlight session to demonstrate the solutions they’ve got on offer to help support NPD.

We spoke to Chloe Watson, Kalsec’s Senior Marketing Associate, to discover the keys to their success at Food Matters Live, and to find out the impact it’s had on their business.

Why did you participate in Food Matters Live?

“Kalsec has been attending Food Matters for a good number of years and we’ve always found it to be a really positive experience. The last 18 months have naturally been a new learning journey for everyone, and I think we’re still learning how to engage with digital events. We really enjoy how Food Matters Live is able to connect people across the industry, despite this year’s challenges. The event has a very overarching view of the current happenings within the industry and the type of industry engagement and discussion is something we at Kalsec find really positive. We enjoyed some good discussions with new leads and new prospects so it was beneficial from a commercial side too.”

What were the main key takeaways from your session?

“At Food Matters Live Kalsec spoke about our rosemary products and their sustainability. We know there are current consumer expectations and industry challenges when it comes to clean label ingredients and food waste reduction. Food quickly goes out of date and so we need to use particular ingredients to help food last longer through the complex supply chains of the food industry. However, many of these additives used to make foods last longer aren’t offering consumers a clean label. So, we looked at this conundrum of how do we achieve this as an industry –  to meet consumer expectations and reduce food waste, we have found a solution through rosemary. We also explained how we grow a lot of rosemary ourselves in the US, through our own farms, which provides our customers with a trusted and reliable supply of products. We discussed how we produce antioxidants that help to reduce and delay food spoilage in fresh food and have a clean label that is consumer-friendly. Our products are both responsibly sourced, and trusted by consumers, as we manage supply chains so we have control over how these products are made.”

Can you tell us about the meetings you held?

“Our team scheduled a range of meetings with NPD and technical attendees and we had some leads provided after the show which we have been following up on. We also found that, after the March event, we had quite a few leads coming through a while after the event so it might still be too early to tell from the June event. From the March event, when we followed up on those requests, we had a few people interested which is encouraging.”

How important were these meetings for Kalsec? 

“For the meetings that took place, we had interesting discussions to introduce Kalsec, learn more about the attendee’s company & challenges, and how Kalsec can add value to innovation and NPD. We also met with our existing contacts and continued to build that relationship with them. For Kalsec, these meetings were also really important to build our brand awareness in Europe.”

What did you think of the Ingredients Discovery sessions?

It’s a really nice idea to create a session where ingredient innovators and suppliers are placed in front of the people that we’re trying to engage with and the people that have problems that we can solve.. It makes you think more clearly about what message you’re conveying,  so it was helpful for us and I hope helpful for the audience too. I enjoyed hearing what other people in the industry and doing as well, whether quite a niche product or larger companies with bigger portfolios. We really enjoyed it, especially thinking about what we communicate and hopefully, we provided an interesting and thought-provoking message that will open some doors.

Don’t forget to join our Ingredient Insights issue next week as we unveil insight into Kalsec’s 10-month journey as a Certified B Corporation.

About Kalsec

Kalsec is the leading global producer of natural taste and sensory solutions, colours, food protection and hop extracts that help food and beverage companies make their products look better, taste better and last longer. The company adds value to their customers’ brands by providing innovative solutions while respecting the people and planet in which they interact.

View Kalsec’s Ingredient Discovery session at Food Matters Live here, along with our other partners and Ingredient Innovators.

Would you like an Ingredient Discovery session of your own? If you are an Ingredient Innovator, contact David, our Head of Client Relations to discuss whether your company could be a fit for Food Matters Live here.

Share: