Tailor-made aromas

When and how did the METAROM story begin?

« Metarom has 10 subsidiaries around the world. Most of Metarom France’s activity is located in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. We work with SMEs, ETIs and intercontinental groups in more than 80 countries. Exclusively for the food industry” explains Céline Hocquet, director of Metarom France. “We support our customers by translating their expectations for their future products into flavours. We offer them tailor-made aromatic solutions to which we have to integrate parameters such as the nutriscore, the origin of raw materials – points on which consumers are increasingly demanding -, eating habits and the regulations of the targeted markets…”.

Between the initial application and the production of the aroma, two years of work are required. “Our samples go back and forth a lot so the customer can adjust his request, to create together the universe of qualifiers that will allow us to define the organoleptic response.” Like the “noses” of perfumery, Metarom’s flavourists develop unique aromas. “The aroma is the signature of a product. We cannot offer the same one to several customers. »

20 billion food servings

Every year Metarom designs more than 1,500 new products “which can be found in sectors such as biscuits, pastries, bakery products, dairy products, candies, chocolate products, drinks or sports nutrition. We have a strong presence in the sweet sector.” Thanks to caramel which represents 20% of the company’s activity. “We work with aromatic caramel as well as speciality caramels, such as filling.” Here too, the products are constantly evolving to meet customer demands and consumer expectations.” We have just developed a caramel that is stable during cooking, which is available in a variety of flavours at the customer’s request.” Metarom produces 3,000 tons of caramel per year. “Our flavoring solutions and caramels flavour more than 20 billion food portions worldwide every year.”

Metarom has just been awarded the “Vitrines Industrie du Futur” label for the hyper-personalisation of customer relations and “tailor-made” solutions. “This is a great recognition of our expertise” concludes Céline Hocquet.”