Four ways to appeal to modern consumers
By working with us, you benefit from our expertise and fresh thinking. Make the most of our unique ingredients portfolio and discover new ways to create appealing products. Bakery boosters or chocolate confectionery ingredients, toppings for desserts or aromatic spice blends for ready meals—the choice is yours.
Global commitment to innovate, ideate and co-create
Discover traceable, nutritious & delicious category formulations
It’s easy to make something taste amazing. It’s much harder to fill it with nutritional benefits too. And what about making sure it’s ethically sourced and right for the planet?
With a common thread through consumption and category trends, our ingredients enable a myriad of opportunities to create naturally good food & beverage products for your consumers. Our fresh ideas fit well with applications for bakery, beverages, confectionery, desserts - just to name a few attractive consumption categories. Also, offering many opportunities for those plant-based options that have become so popular.
Bakery
Your next cookie filling, cake topping, pie crust, biscuit crumb or bread mix starts with our playground of ingredients. Let’s get busy combining tastes, textures and colors that not only delight consumers, but also the people and planet around them. Give sweet treats a natural twist by combining our cocoa powder and nut pastes to create indulgent center-filled cookies with a premium texture.
Beverages
From cold brewed spiced coffee to golden milk made with dairy powder or nuts to suit modern consumer preferences. Even the most basic ingredient can make a real difference. With us, you can customize and co-create from plant to palate to find taste, texture and nutritional profiles that make your hot, cold, or plant-based beverages unique.
Chocolate & Confectionery
The world loves cocoa, in chocolate, confectionery, ice cream, bars and desserts. The need to make these better for our bodies and planet has never been greater. We’re bringing lots of fresh thinking to the table – like reducing sugar and sodium in recipes with clever cocoa creations and vegan, organic and traceable solutions. How about creating delicious vegan ‘milk’ chocolate bars with our gluten-free and grain-free cashew flour?
Dairy & Desserts
Emerging flavor trends in milks, yogurts and ice-creams are a real opportunity to create healthy, tasty, formulations that consumers can indulge in. Why not try new twists on familiar pairings, such as chocolate doughnut and coffee flavored ice cream? In cocoa alone, our R&D specialists can help tackle challenges in both dairy and plant-based desserts: from a unique methodology to pair cocoa powders with pea, nut, or oat bases to address taste, to reducing bitterness of FMP formats with our Fresco Cacao.
Savory & Culinary
It’s great when you can respond to trends. It’s even better when you spark them yourself. Together, we can create sauces, nut-based cheeses, and spice blends that fulfil existing desires or even feed new ones. How about putting a new spin on traditional dishes with trend-led ingredients like our choco mole sauce inspired by the Oaxaca region of Mexico? Using authentic spices and premium cocoa, this sauce is rich in antioxidants with a deep color and enticing aroma that will delight the senses.
Snacking
Join our search for the next trail mix, cereal, or snack bar hit. Together, we can find new ingredient combinations that fulfil consumer desire for taste, texture, nutrition, and traceability. One idea? Take consumers on a journey through the world’s most vibrant cuisines with seasoned nut recipes drawing on our Blends of the Americas spice range, including Blanched Almonds with Spicy Citrus Coast and Candied Cashews with Warm Sedona Sunset.
Read ofi news
See you at Summer Fancy Food?
We are excited to be represented by our deZaan team, one of our legacy cocoa brands, at the 2023 Summer Fancy Food Show on June 25-27, 2023 at the Javits Center in NYC. deZaan offers a range of cocoa powders designed for chefs and artisans and made with the finest cocoa ingredients available. The range showcases the full spectrum of what cocoa powder can deliver with its complex range of flavor profiles, colors and technical properties. Explore the endless possibilities of cocoa.
The colorful ingredients taking over our plates in 2023
The trend for bold colors and flavors in food and beverages is rising this year. With consumers increasingly exposed to an array of global food trends, including a wide range of exotic flavors and colors, many are becoming more experimental. At the same time, confectionery products, treats, and snacks are often a moment of fun and relaxation in consumers’ daily lives, so they can be a great opportunity for experimenting with new and exciting shades.
Employee Spotlight: Sydney Valla, eCommerce Operations Manager, North America
Sydney Valla was an undergrad at Fresno State when she first discovered ofi (olam food ingredients) at a career fair. They were passing out tomato-shaped stress balls and recruiting new grads for a management trainee program. She signed-up for an interview and the rest is her-story.
What motivates you when you wake up and come into work?
My team! There are six of us who are 100% dedicated to the Spices eCommerce business and we have a combined 35+ years’ experience at ofi. Together, we work to be a solution provider for new and existing customers, put in place processes to help the business grow and overcome any challenges that are thrown our way.
Anything you’d like to add to help others succeed?
Being in numerous different positions throughout my career (supply chain, product line, sales) has made me a more well-rounded employee and allowed me to view problems from many different angles to find better solutions. I’m glad that I joined a company that offered career growth and expansion. Being a sponge during the early stages of my career allowed me to soak up lots of different information.
What has been your favorite moment at ofi so far?
When I was a product line manager, there was a large fast-food chain that featured one of our ingredients in a delicious and highly promoted LTO. It was so cool to go through the drive thru, pick up lunch, and know that one of the products that I helped to sell was in an item that was being sold across the country.
Our company purpose is ‘be the change for good food and a healthy future.’ In what way do you live our purpose through your work?
Through the eCommerce offerings, we can connect with new customers and segments that have previously been difficult to reach. This allows us to work with new customers to make educated purchasing decisions about where their product comes from, our sustainability offerings, and more. Outside of work, I sit on the Board of Directors for the Central California Food Bank which feeds over 300,000 community members in the Central Valley.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Are you interested in developing new products?
By working with ofi, you benefit from our wide choice of food ingredients combined with our product development expertise. Get in touch today.
