PENNSAUKEN, N.J. — Puratos has opened an innovation center in Chicago where customers may improve a current product range, develop new recipes or benchmark products compared to their competition.
The facility will welcome professionals from any size operation, including individual artisans and entrepreneurs, industrial manufacturers, and retail operations. Bakers will have access to the Puratos sourdough library, a collection of natural ferments that represent sourdough flavors from around the world.
Puratos invested $1.5 million in the 6,700-square-foot facility. It is in a renovated building that was used in the World’s Fair, called the World’s Columbian Exposition, in 1893.
Puratos now operates 88 innovation centers globally. The Chicago facility is the sixth one in the United States. The innovation laboratories feature equipment such as MIWE ovens, Rondo sheeters, spiral mixers and Koma retarders. The patisserie section includes a Koma blast freezer and chocolate tempering machines.
While Puratos is based in Brussels, Puratos Corp. USA is based in Pennsauken.
