As part of its innovation strategy, Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate products, has opened a new center of excellence at its factory in Dijon, France. The new center of excellence will focus on research into compounds and fillings, as well as the development of new product applications. The center of excellence in Dijon complements Barry Callebaut’s existing global center of excellence located in Wieze, Belgium (specialized in chocolate and chocolate applications) and in Louviers, France (focusing on cocoa and semi-finished products).

Barry Callebaut’s expanded research and development in compounds follows an increase in customer demand for more flexible recipes in compounds and fillings. While tasting chocolate alike, compound coatings offer greater flexibility when it comes to temperature, fat composition and production flow. Compound coatings generally have a slightly higher melting point than chocolate, which can help keep products stable, especially in warmer climates. At the same time, compounds can also be used very well for low-temperature applications, such as ice-cream coatings. Ice-cream coatings need to be crisp when frozen but soft at room temperature, congealing faster and melting pleasantly in the mouth.

Processed on a new production line, applying Barry Callebaut’s high standards, these compounds and fillings have a great chocolaty taste, texture and color, but without the need for temperature-critical tempering or pre-crystallization.

“Overcoming the constraints of climate, storage and other technical limitations of chocolate, Barry Callebaut’s compound coating technology opens the door to a whole host of new applications, offering value-added solutions for a broad range of customers in the food and beverage industry,” says Hans Vriens, Barry Callebaut’s chief innovation officer. “We see a great market potential for compound coatings and fillings in the fast-growing Mediterranean region. Dijon is ideally located to give us easy access to customers in this region.”