by Casey Murphy, CID
An Industry Poised for Growth
Most people don’t know how prolific and critical the Flavor and Fragrance industry is to our consumer market. Yet, the scents and tastes created for food, beverage, detergent, cosmetics, and other personal and household products evoke emotion and invite connection, and demand is growing. Fortune Business Insights predicts that the Flavor and Fragrance industry will increase by 10 Billion US Dollars over the next ten years, and that’s a conservative estimate. Unfortunately, this means that existing space and infrastructure is unlikely to be capable of supporting all of this development. Poor workflow, low or too dense occupancy, and aging materials can all disturb the delicate tasks being performed at a site. When a workplace makes it more challenging for work to get done, the expertise of a firm that’s experienced in designing spaces especially tailored to the unique industry is needed.
A Workplace Strategy Designed to Work
The right Interiors firm for a Flavor and Fragrance company will understand the special relationship between creation, testing, production, and marketing. Good space planning will consider the workflow between these branches, which often work as a seamless team rather than separate departments. The adjacencies and space allocation for these groups will determine the efficacy of their collaborative relationship.
Scenario: If the brand marketing team is working closely with a flavorist on a new cocoa product, it might be more prudent to seat that brand strategist closest to the creators of the flavor as opposed to a separate marketing space on the other side of the building.
Perfumers and Flavorists should not have to stress over floor plans. Instead, they should discuss their workflow challenges with the workplace strategist at their interiors firm, who will work out the puzzle pieces.
Understanding the critical roles in a Flavor and Fragrance company is key to planning workspaces for the industry. Hierarchy and rank associated with a traditional corporate structure do not apply here. Instead, it is crucial for Perfumers and Flavorists to have individualized space to perform their work – both for practicality and safety.
Scenario: On a daily basis, a perfumer cannot sit in an open office, scenting bergamot three feet from another perfumer, creating a vanilla aroma.
Furthermore, preserving the safety of Perfumers and Flavorists in a post-pandemic world is critical when the viral outbreak has targeted our sense of taste and smell. Implementing proper workplace COVID protocols that allow work to continue seamlessly will prevent potentially disastrous consequences.
Workplace Design That Inspires Creation
Flavorists and Perfumers have the challenging yet rewarding work of blending technical know-how with experience and intuition. This work is as much art as it is science. Similarly, the space in which they work should be functional and stimulating. By incorporating branding, natural light, and using raw materials as inspiration, the workplace will reflect the aura of the work being performed. Like the current trend in multisensory products, the interior design of space for Flavor and Fragrance should engage multiple senses. In the case of space, it should be site and touch but never intrude on the olfactory. This means always specifying zero VOC products, including coatings and adhesives, as well as being conscientious of the type of biophilic elements incorporated.
Scenario: Testing booths are as critical to the Perfumer as they are to the client base. A place to smell a candle may be a simple concept, but it has very specific requirements to allow work to be performed properly, creating a desire for the products. Questions a Perfumer should never have to ask themselves are:
- Has the design team precisely sized each booth to match in volume?
- Is the HVAC system sufficient to recirculate air after testing is over?
- Will porous materials in this space collect scents from previous tests?
Love Where You Work
We understand how frustrating it is to work in an environment that isn’t keeping up or providing the correct tools for an industry. We’ve earned our reputation, in part, on designing inspiring spaces that work for some of the best-known companies in Flavor and Fragrance, and we want to put that expertise and experience to work. HF Planners is comprised of a talented group of professionals, including:
- Workplace Strategists to take command of planning and programming
- Certified Interior Designers that have the technical expertise in life safety
- Project Managers with practical experience in Flavor and Fragrance facility maintenance.
Whether a space is 60 or 60,000 square feet, we have a broad range of capabilities that make it easy for everyone to love where they work. Our team gets familiar with the space, develops and proposes customized solutions, and finally delivers and implements the plan to achieve the vision. So schedule a time to talk today – it’s the first step to creating a space designed to work for everyone.