6 February 2006 - Chew on this the next time you pop a piece of gum in your mouth: it takes up to 70 ingredients to make a great tasting piece of chewing gum which means an enormous amount of technology, research and development goes into each one of the 65 billion pieces of gum Cadbury Schweppes Americas Confectionery produces each year.
In its continuous quest to innovate and drive growth, Cadbury Schweppes Americas Confectionery, part of Cadbury Schweppes - the world's largest confectionery company- opened its new Science & Technology Center (S&T) in Hanover, New Jersey today. The Center, a $40 million investment, will create new products for the Cadbury Schweppes global gum business and its Americas Confectionery region.
The Center is home to the worldwide Center of Excellence within Cadbury Schweppes for gum and Halls® and will house facilities for creating and testing new gum and candy creations, packaging laboratories and a dedicated facility for tasting and evaluating new flavors. Leading Cadbury Schweppes confectionery, cough and gum brands include Trident®, Dentyne®, Certs® Bubblicious® and Halls®.
Cadbury Schweppes CEO Todd Stitzer officially opened the Center and said, "Cadbury Schweppes is passionate about creating brands people love and we do this through continuous innovation. This state-of-the-art facility brings our Americas region expertise under one roof and it will deliver more of the great new products that people expect from us."
The new S&T facility will be responsible for:
· Creating new technologies for gum and candy development
· Formulating flavors consumers love
· Improving processes to make gum and candy more efficiently
· Developing innovative and fun packaging
Cadbury Schweppes has a long track record of breakthrough innovations across the confectionery category. One of the company's newest products, Trident Splash, is now hitting store shelves across the U.S.
Trident Splash is bursting with the innovation that is the hallmark of the company's Science & Technology team. Trident Splash is the first U.S. sugar free gum with a crunchy, candy-coated shell surrounding a liquid center. It comes in Strawberry Lime and Peppermint Vanilla flavors.
The 148,000-square-foot facility is home to approximately 150 colleagues and is completely networked to the other key global Cadbury Schweppes Science and Technology centers in the U.K. and the company's Beverages center in Connecticut. The S&T facility also sits minutes away from the Parsippany, N.J. regional headquarters of Americas Confectionery and the Cadbury Adams U.S. Confectionery business.
Gum's Growing Appeal
A recent survey by U.S. business unit Cadbury Adams found that chewing gum has become a daily ritual for most Americans and the Center is poised to deliver great new flavors, formats and packaging to gum chewers everywhere. The overall global gum category is growing at approximately seven percent per year. More and more consumers are chewing gum for specific benefits. From freshening breath, to avoiding eating and snacking, to cleaning teeth, there are a host of reasons why people chew gum.
The survey revealed that the bulk of American gum chewers said they chew gum at least two to three times a week, with the afternoon being the preferred gum-chewing time of the day. Ninety-six percent of respondents chew gum to freshen their breath or make their mouths feel fresh. More than two-thirds (68 percent) of respondents say they chew gum to avoid snacking.
"Increasingly, consumers are choosing gum as a snack alternative so they are becoming more demanding in terms of gum flavors, formats and benefits," said Barbara Raphael, senior vice president for Confectionery Science & Technology in the Cadbury Schweppes Americas region. "This Center promotes the creative collaboration, communication and teamwork to produce gums and candies that generations of consumers can enjoy now and in the future."
Making Great Gum
Creating new gum flavors and innovations is complex.
Cadbury Schweppes Americas Confectionery "Gumologist" Jessie Kiefer explains, "Formulating gum requires the right balance of flavor, texture and sweeteners that can then be mass produced. Ingredient selection combined with complex taste sensations must come together in one efficient process. We've come a long way since the Greeks chewed on resin from the bark of the mastic tree to sweeten their breath."
It begins with a gum base, the foundation on which the entire gum formula is built. Next is creating a flavor profile using a technique called top noting that adds specific flavors to the base flavor for a unique taste. Finally, sweeteners and texture modifiers come together in the gum to make it last long and taste great.