From the 11th Century to the 21st Century the Puratos Innovation centre at Fringford mill gets a makeover.
“Creativity is a core part of our business as we strive to be ‘reliable partners in innovation’ that is why we continue to invest in research and development to ensure that we offer the right products for our customers and consumers” says Dan Oakley Managing Director of Puratos UK.
In April 1984 Peter Ward the then MD of Puratos purchased Fringford Mill, in the beautiful Oxford countryside in order to create a new innovation centre, A centre that would be the hub for new product development and an ideal location for customers to visit and interact with the Puratos team.
Dating back to the 11th century Fringford mill was a working mill which was actually featured in the Doomsday book, The original mill still exists today and is the perfect backdrop to the newly renovated Puratos Innovation Centre.
Complete with modern Patisserie, Bakery and Chocolate stations it also has meeting room facilities and is designed to used by the Puratos team and customers to create innovative products to take to market and the perfect meeting place
The renovation has been carried out by local companies & was completed in April allowing us to ensure it was fully operational for the official unveiling on Wednesday 17th June.
The traditional ribbon cutting was undertaken by the Master of The Worshipful Company of Bakers, David Powell. It was fitting that David honoured us by agreeing to cut the ribbon as he previously worked for Puratos & was present for the initial opening of the centre in 1984. The assembled audience consisted of press (both industry & local), industry body representatives & customers from bakeries, patisseris & chocolatiers, many of whom were familiar with the old Fringford & were keen to see its makeover.
The day included a tour around the newly renovated Puratos innovation centre, complete with interactive sessions with Puratos's excellent technical team including expert Patissier Pawel Figura from Puratos Poland and renowned chocolatier Stef Aerts from Belgium.
Customers sampled innovative products from Puratos such as Real Belgium chocolates made with Crystofil filling (pre-crystallised filling made with over 50% Real Belgium Chocolate) and rolls made from O-tentic durum (durum wheat based bread component for producing bread full of character and creativity).
Customers were also invited on board Puratos's sensobus - a modified double decker London bus, complete with 6 tasting booths to take part in the bus's penultimate tasting session to experience how research is done in the UK. The Sensobus has now gone into retirement to be replaced in July by a brand new tasting lorry.