Ireland’s largest exporter of Irish dairy products, Ornua, has officially opened a 5,000-square-foot Innovation Centre in Chicago Illinois, the newest development by its subsidiary, CoreFX Ingredients.

Ornua initially announced the acquisition of CoreFX Ingredients in November 2016. The new innovation center at CoreFX will complement Ornua’s existing innovation network in Ireland, the UK, Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia and the US.

CoreFX has more than quadrupled its number of employees since June 2016, from 12 to 50. In addition to the Innovation Centre in Lincoln Square, CoreFX also has a manufacturing facility in Orangeville, Illinois where a 10,000-square-foot warehouse expansion also is underway.

CoreFX Ingredients specializes in the manufacture of custom dry dairy, cheese and lipid ingredient solutions which serve industrial food manufacturers and foodservice markets in the US and across the globe. Core to the business is the ability to design ingredients specific to customer requirements, and the Innovation Centre will house a research and development lab and a state-of-the-art test kitchen to fulfill these needs.

Speaking at the opening, Kevin Lane, CEO, Ornua, said: “The opening of the Innovation Centre at CoreFX marks a key milestone in its exciting growth journey and greatly improves its capability and ability to create innovative ingredients solutions that meet customer needs. Innovation is core to Ornua’s growth plans and this center further strengthens Ornua’s global innovation network, which now covers Ireland, the UK, Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia and the US.”

Ornua’s CEO of Ingredients Europe, Bernard Condon recently . He said: “The US has been a very good region for us, the demographics in the US on one end of the spectrum, you have the foodies, very interested in quality of food and on ingredient side, there is a huge demographic in the US, who are interested in home consumption, and with both our cheese and powder business, we have technical solutions for our manufacturers.”

“The US is an area is where we see ourselves having a relevant footprint and scalable model,” he adds.

“Innovation moving forward will primarily be focused on areas where we see the greatest potential, certainly cheese innovation is definitely a focus, whether it will be for the ready meals sector in the US or for Europe.”

“Outside of our broader business, we do believe that we have a sustainable platform, and we really want to focus on getting the dairy sustainability scheme assured. We want to ensure that our customers understand the characteristics of the raw material in Ireland and that an area which we are willing to invest in as well,” he concludes.