Roha to open new $5m natural color facility in St. Louis, MO

22-Sep-2016 - Last updated on 23-Sep-2016 at 14:50 GMT

Photo: Daniel Schwen/Wikimedia Commons

Slated for completion next month, the new 16,000 square-foot facility dedicated to natural colors will bring the global color ingredient company closer to US manufacturers.

“The US market is one of the largest and most dynamic markets for food and beverage colors in the world. As a truly global company, this is why we have set up our Global Center of Expertise (GCE) here,” Roha’s VP of applications Byron Madkins told FoodNavigator-USA.

Out of its Mumbai headquarters, Roha is ramping up its global relationships with regional markets this year by establishing and updating its outposts around the world. It recently opened an office in Germany, and already has 12 other manufacturing centers spread across the US, UK, Spain, South Africa, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Egypt, Brazil, Australia and Mexico.

St. Louis, Roha’s historical US headquarters

Roha has had a presence in St. Louis, which Madkins said has offered the company many advantages. “[It’s] in the heart of the Midwest and its food and beverage industry,” he said.

He added that St. Louis has a “central location on a national scale, [top-level] universities with some of the best food science and chemistry programs in the US, without mentioning a very good quality of life.”

The facility won’t just be a place for natural color research and production, Madkins said. “Collaboration with our clients is part of our DNA at Roha Colors Group. We welcome very regularly our partners and clients in our facility.

“Just last week we had a group of almost 20 people from the industry visiting our pilot plant and laboratories! We provided them a two-days color education course and worked on the opportunity for them to work on joint projects with us.”

Focusing solely on colors

Madkins argued that the company stands out in the ingredient space because it focuses solely on colors, revving up naturally-derived colors as manufacturers strive to meet consumer clean label expectations.

He added that the new Global Center of Expertise for Natural Colors is part of its strategy to excel in the field, as it has invested in dedicated teams for extraction, formulation, and application.

“Natural colors in general require high level of technical knowledge. Being focused on colors and investing heavily in research and innovation in this field, we are able to offer a much higher level of expertise than if we were a generalist ingredient provider,” he said.

“This gives us also a significant cost competitiveness in color production, by effect of scale and focus/specialization.”