Our Innovation & Development team keeps a close eye on the market and on consumers, working hard every day to help the Organic sector progress, while respecting the original values of the company.
A pioneering spirit driving innovation
The main goals of our Innovation & Development department are to anticipate consumers’ needs in terms of demands for nutritional values, use, flavour and packaging, and to build upon Ekibio’s range of food brands. The pioneering spirit that reigns in this department invents, experiments and creates products for a more responsible world, full of flavour.
“Our role is to bring our creativity to our brands” (Claudine Demay, Head of the Innovation & Development department).
A lot of hard work is behind all these innovations: sourcing raw materials, meeting producers, meeting nutrition specialists, studying current trends, studying public health issues, etc. The goal is to come up with innovations in organic food products that can best meet the needs of tomorrow’s consumers. “Our goal is to provide solutions for consumers who are looking to make lifestyle changes and to participate in changing tomorrow’s world”.
Our teams works alongside other departments in the company (Purchasing, sales, marketing...) to build together new product innovations, to test new recipes or packaging. “Innovation is more complex today. We mustn’t take our eye off the ball, we must continue to work with our network, to demand the best possible quality, be creative with recipes and stay connected to the people, to our producers”. C.D.
Our key figures
5
Ekibio’s Innovation & Development department is focused on 5 pillars to develop organic products: plant-based, dietary diversity, practicality, nutrition and finally creativity.
60
This is the number of innovations every year across the food brands owned by Ekibio.
50%
By the end of 2021, half of Priméal’s product range will be sold in recyclable packaging.
From the product to the packaging
Every year, the department comes up with around 60 new innovations, that can range from a new raw material, a new product, the development of an already existing range, to the packaging. “Every year is different. In 2020, the brand Pleniday joined the group and brought some new challenges. We also worked on our ‘buy per kilo’ offer”.
Some of the latest innovations include plant-based sunflower proteins from Priméal, with a range of different flavours, precooked and ready in 5 min, or the hemp product range, a plant that has great nutritional potential and is from a farming partnership that Ekibio established.
Another side to innovation is the packaging. Ekibio has always been devoted to offering packaging that can be as recyclable as possible. “We are currently working on recyclable film for our Priméal packs of cereals and seeds. By the end of 2021, the range will use 50% recyclable packaging”.
The main trends in the organic foods sector at the moment are concerned with practicality, plant-based foods, the origin of ingredients and the packaging. The team at Ekibio’s Innovation & Development department is working to anticipate consumer demands, provide solutions and therefore help the organic world move forward.
Ekibio, THE EXPERTISE OF A FRENCH MANUFACTURER
Ekibio uses modern industrial tools to design and manufacture organic and innovative products, according to specific procedures and at their own production units.
5
60
50%
