150 years of innovation, starting with a pioneering act in Vanilla that lives on today

150 years ago, two chemists Wilhelm Haarmann and Ferdinand Reimer founded a universe, when producing synthetic vanillin for the first time. The 10th April 1874 marks the momentous date when they laid the foundation for an entire food & beverage industry, when the expensive and sweet taste of vanilla became accessible and affordable to everybody.

Until this pioneering act in April 1874, vanilla was only affordable for the wealthy. Their breakthrough development marks a point in history that opened the way for a new chapter in the food & fragrance industry and ensured the joy of vanilla taste to the wider population.

The popularity of vanilla evolved and so did Symrise. Innovation lives on in Symrise’s DNA!

Pioneering in Sustainability, Transparency & Trust

2006 marks another big milestone in pioneering, when Symrise became the first flavor and fragrance company with facilities in Madagascar, where 80% of global vanilla is produced. With this, the emerging trend of sustainability, social responsibility and transparency was reflected. Today, a dedicated team of 230 Symrise employees are on the ground, 365 days of the year. The team partner with 7,000 farmers which enables the highest quality of vanilla, a fully transparency value chain and more than 30,000 people benefit from this development program.

“Sustainability is at the heart of all that Symrise do to protect the fragile eco-system of Natural Vanilla. For more than 10 years, our team has been working with partners to positively impact the communities and the environment in Madagascar: reducing our footprint, improving farmers livelihood and preparing the future of Vanilla. This allows Symrise to better master the entire supply chain and bring security of supply, as well as price competitiveness, to our customers”.

Laurent Deniau, Global Director Vanilla & Botanicals

Innovation in Decoding & Consumer Understanding

Symrise continuously decodes the deepest secrets of Vanilla – and consumer preferences, as trends and tastes evolve.

Symrise has conducted different consumer insights studies around vanilla taste profiles and leverages in-depth consumer and product understanding. This enables to foster innovation around a traditional taste and ensures new spotlights on this consumer favorite.

As vanilla comes with a versatile taste profile it’s important to speak the same flavor-language when it comes to the creation process of a final market product. It is crucial to understand each other when talking about the different facets of the vanilla taste. Therefore, Symrise developed Symscript™, a vocabulary to translate and describe the single tonalities and make it understandable for everybody.

Symrise can help to develop the right taste for different generations like Millennials or Gen Z. Additionally, cultural differences have been detected, based on Symrise’s proprietary tool Flavor for Feeling™, which provides insights about emotional profiles of vanilla taste in various regions, and product applications like sweets, beverages, and plant-based alternatives.

“The deep understanding on the benefits consumers associate with vanilla enables us to design the right taste profiles to different consumer targets and to our customers brand needs. We can design the vanilla profile whether you are looking for more indulgence in your product or prefer to have a familiar vanilla for the whole family.”

Katja Tiitinen, Director Sensory & Consumer Insights EAME

Inspiration from within the wider product portfolio

Bringing together pioneering in synthetization and natural, sustainable sourcing ensures a wide product portfolio, covering every need in relation to vanilla taste, flavor labelling, price, and claims.

A portfolio of multiple flavor solutions provides endless creativity and opportunities whenever it comes to new product development. It enables the evolution of this popular and traditional taste to the next level.

Symrise’s expertise and portfolio offers solutions for every taste – local or global.

Time for the next Big Bang on the Shelves!

In summary: Symrise is your partner within the vanilla-universe. From the beginning until today, Symrise is continuously evolving, growing, and innovating. It’s time to shape the future together.

“Our approach is pulling together consumer, brand and market understanding to ensure valuable insights and creating relevant concept ideas and inspiring taste solutions. Having this big picture and in-depth understanding about trends and preferences enable us to provide innovate ideas with wow-factor to our clients.”

Lion Hake, Junior Marketing Manager Sweet Goods EAME

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