LESTREM, FRANCE — Roquette has opened a customer experience center in Singapore. The facility aims to advance the company’s leadership as a strategic partner to customers for more Asian food innovations while being “a testament to Roquette’s rich 90-year history of excellence and strong commitment towards serving its customers,” Roquette noted.

According to the company, the customer experience center comprises a culinary studio and a sensory hub. The multi-purpose studio allows artists to use Roquette ingredients to demonstrate various Asian cooking methods and styles that appeal to regional customers’ ongoing needs. Meanwhile, the hub lets panelists evaluate many Asian dishes made with Roquette ingredients to support the development of new solutions for Asian taste buds, particularly in terms of taste, functionality, aroma and visual appearance.

Roquette said the facility will enable the company to develop more sustainable Asian foods since eating healthier and using sustainable ingredients has become more common in Asia after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Roquette’s decision to establish its new customer experience center here will leverage Singapore’s status as a food innovation hub to serve the diverse cultures across Asia,” said Damian Chan, executive vice president of the Singapore economic development board. “This dedicated space will support partners, including Singapore companies, in the growth of their novel food technologies including alternative protein, by enabling the co-creation and advancement of products that are tailored to the preferences of consumers in this region. We look forward to seeing more nutritious and sustainable food solutions that will augment our growing local agrifood ecosystem.”

A 2021 study from research firms PwC, Rabobank and Temasek said Asia is now the largest food consumer in the world. Another additional $4.4 trillion in spending is expected to be dedicated to the country by 2030, with customer choices driving 55% of this increase.