McCormick Uses AI to Test Spices

Been impressed with what McCormick has done in emerging tech spaces.

McCormick using AI to test recipes

McCormick has been using artificial intelligence to develop recipes that tap into its 40 years of data, said CEO Lawrence Kurzius. Algorithms choose ingredients based on a flavor profile, sort through 14,000 raw materials and eventually determine a profit margin, he explained. ... 

Hot Stuff: Lawrence Kurzius Spices Up McCormick's Business
 By Chloe Sorvino Forbes Staff

This story appears in the September 30, 2019 issue of Forbes Magazine.  

A hive of food scientists in white lab coats and protective goggles buzz quietly around McCormick & Co. CEO Lawrence Kurzius, filling test tubes and testing the contents with their noses. A garden of herbs grows on the wall behind them, accenting the room with fresh sprouts of mustard seed, amber peas, Brazilian parsley and other spices. The 6-foot-3 Alabama native is in his element, his slow southern drawl slipping through as assistants rattle off the lab’s features: a rotary evaporator that extracts flavor without heat; a centrifuge powerful enough to turn thick, pulpy condiments into totally clear and totally tasty liquids; a bank of eight induction burners.  .... " 

McCormick and IBM Work on New Spice Blends

We also worked on blending for tastes, new and old.  Using AI and expert systems methods.  With multiple consumer preference, manufacturing and supply chain goals. Notably for years in the coffee industry, but also later in other food areas.   We even used classification methods to private blend coffee that would appeal best to consumers based on interaction in the store.  Later linking to sensory methods.  To create blend novelty based on blending options.    See more about this at the Label tag: Coffee below.   Look  forward to seeing this effort.

IBM and McCormick blend new seasonings with AI   By Kyle Wiggers in Venturebeat

On some future visit to your neighborhood supermarket, at least a few of the groceries you pick up for that night’s dinner party or the next day’s lunch will have been designed with artificial intelligence (AI) — or so thinks IBM. The Armonk, New York company today announced that it’s teaming up with McCormick & Company — the century-old purveyor of spices, seasoning, mixes, and condiments for industrial and home kitchens alike — to create new flavors and foods with machine learning.

The collaboration — which IBM says was four years in the making — will see McCormick & Company tap IBM’s Research AI for Product Composition tech for AI-derived insights, which IBM claims has already enabled the food company’s Consumer and Flavor Solutions divisions to discover new herb, extract, marinade, and stock flavor combinations up to 3 times faster. The recipe-predicting AI, drawing on McCormick’s proprietary “hundreds of millions” of data points across sensory science and flavor palettes, will fuel the launch of its forthcoming product family — One — which it expects will launch in mid-2019.  ... " 

See also in Fortune.

Examining Seasoning Research

Was for some time involved deeply in the manufacturing of CPG food.   Blending commonly used foods from agricultural commodities.   Also have been a cook for a long time.   So attuned to the use and usage trends in ingredients and spices.  Just recently noted the existence of a  Chinese 'Tainjin Seasoning Research Institute',  which makes a tomato paste sold at the local ethnic market.

China probes 'fake seasoning producing hub' near Tianjin
and more in the China seasoning realm. ... "

Supply Chain at McCormick

On supply chain and planning at McCormick.   Not an uncommon approach.  More in the article:

In Consumergoods: 
" ... Fast-forward to today, and ensuring McCormick’s products are available when and where consumers expect them has made for a much more complex supply chain. That is why about 12 years ago, McCormick embarked on an initiative to develop close, collaborative relationships with a number of its retailers and national food wholesaler customers. This initiative evolved into its customer collaboration platform, which has allowed McCormick to develop formal vendor managed inventory (VMI) relationships today.  ... "

Hot Sauce and Taste

In the past I worked in the food category of CPG, and learned a little about taste trends and how they influence purchases.  Also a devoted amateur chef.  The considerable change in the acceptance of  spiciness in US tastes is remarkable.  More on that.    See also work by McCormick, in the tag below.

API Innovation from McCormick

More innovation from the spice giant.   " ... the company introduced FlavorPrint, a service that allows customers to create a personal profile and enter information on a Website and receive relevant ideas and recipes through McCormick's Website, as well as mobile apps offered by grocery store chains. The company turned to API management and analytics firm Apogee to extend data and touch points to business partners and other outside sources.  ... "

More on Flavorprint in this blog.

This kind of knowledge and loyalty play can work well in their business, especially in an area where people need direct advice, as McCormick extends their business to more complex solutions.

Big Data and McCormick

Have had a few friends who worked projects with McCormick, and am impressed with their approaches to the use of new and innovated technology,  Here more, on their use of Big Data.

First CPG Brand Using In-Store Beacon from InMarket

After I mentioned iBeacon, I was sent a link to an example of a CPG in store use,  appears to be the first major CPG brand doing this beyond test.   InMarket's Mobile to Mortar Beacon.   Again, consider the potential data from such work. The article linked to contains some useful details:

" ... McCormick & Co.'s Zatarain's has launched an in-application campaign that uses beacon technology to send shoppers grocery list reminders and loyalty points while they are at retail stores, making it the first CPG company to use the technology to interact with shoppers, the company says. The app uses inMarket's Mobile to Mortar beacon platform, which is available in 150 supermarkets in Seattle, San Francisco and Cleveland ... " 

Also see further Technology perspective.

McCormick Flavorprint

In Consumer Goods Technology:

Exclusive Video: Learn How McCormick Leveraged Marketing/IT Collaboration to Develop FlavorPrint
As marketers look to leverage digital innovation to reach consumers, collaboration often plays a role as partners work together to achieve success. In this video from the 2013 Consumer Goods Business & Technology Leadership Conference, CIO Jerry Wolfe and Digital Marketing Manager Colleen McClellan of McCormick discuss one such collaborative initiative – FlavorPrint, a new technology that helps consumers discover flavorful foods they'll love based on their flavor profile .... " 

During the session, Wolfe and McLellan explore how multiple internal cross functional teams at McCormick, from marketing to IT to sensory scientists, joined forces on the FlavorPrint project. Additionally, they discuss how McCormick worked with its external agency and retail partners to deliver this unprecedented service. ... " 

This has similarities to work we did to determine and model taste preference profiles for coffee blends.

Previously in this blog about delivering Flavorprint.

View Video in Consumer Goods Technology.

Also see McCormick's Flavorprint Site.

5th Screen and McCormick

I had mentioned a company we worked with in our innovation centers: 5th Screen.  Had reason to look at some of the work they have done with McCormick spices in the innovation and retail spaces. Check out a description of their work here.   Includes a video.  Of particular interest to me the interaction of flavor and innovation.

" ... FlavorPrint is designed to provide a profile for a person’s tastes giving them a fun personality to walk away with.  This evokes the emotion “Self-Creation”. This is an emotion that reveals itself through creating, enhancing and expressing one’s identity by stimulating self-reflection, status, bragging rights and values.

Looking at the personas of 12 different “Flavor Personality” types, this interactive engagement leads the viewer down a path of engaging choices from food pictures.

The user will select their favorite food dishes and the FlavorPrint Analyzer will determine their personal FlavorPrint based on their choices.  Ultimately users are given a personality flavor name. This is represented by an ICON with slogan.  Some users give answers that provide insight to secondary likes. They are given a second FlavorPrint when appropriate.... " 

Social Spices at McCormick

Cooking is a strong side interest of mine.  I see in MediaPost they describe how the McCormick spice company is trying some new social plays on Facebook. It is in the most mundane product lines that social can strongly  spice up the engagement.

Innovation Center for Spices

I like the idea of innovation research centers.  Here, in an unrelated space: McCormick Science Institute explores the health benefit of spices.   Not about retail, but about a specific set of benefits.  A way of tailoring innovation ideas.