Learnings from Pastry Connection: "Development of New Products, tips for taking into account", with Andrea López and Francisco Broccolo

“Development of new products and the importance of consuming local”, two of the messages that the big exponents of the Pastry Connection conference from May 7 emphasized.

Andrea López, Executive Chef for República del Cacao and the chef Francisco Broccolo shared with us during that afternoon their great messages of community, origin, experience, and tips for the development of new products.

Both chefs agreed in the fact that although right now we are living difficult times, it is too an opportunity for various regions to go deep into and create a bigger identity of their gastronomy, through the consumption of local products. Andrea mentions that it is time to “give value to the producer and to the raw ingredients, make our desserts part of a story to tell.” She also says that, “we have to take into account the people that are behind the raw ingredients, since thanks to their effort and dedication it is possible for us to have a high-quality product.” On the same context, Francisco mentions that, “working with local products supports the economy of little farmers and producers, and It also gives an added value to your creations.”

On this modern time of gastronomy, it is a pleasure to listen to two young chefs with so much experience, say that in the development of their new products, consuming local it’s always present. As they both emphasized, it is important that we all look at the whole value chain and work hand in hand with artisans and producers, in order to grow together.

Chef Andrea also mentioned that for the creation of new products, she always finds inspiration on her values, the values that our brand, República del Cacao, represents and in the Origin. What is more, chef Francisco explained that it is necessary to have coherence in the proposal that is developed, coherence in the proposed concept and in the daily practice.

The two amazing chefs that during the conference demonstrated to have the gift of formation, shared four key points on the development of new products: putting in point phase, development, maturity and decadence. They both agreed that for each part of these phases evaluation it’s key, in order to make the right decisions.

Finally, Chef Andrea motivated everybody who was viewing the conference to create new needs in the clients, innovate with combinations of flavors and textures, and in this way educate the consumer.

The final question is, are we ready as consumers to let chefs surprise us with new creations that have a history and a mix of unbelievable flavors?

María Belén Vallejo, Marketing Manager B2B in República del Cacao