Calbee employees hand out Calbee products to the ceremony attendees. Some of the potato chip flavors include Honey Butter, Korean BBQ and Umami Salt. Photo by Frank Lopez

An innovative snack company has opened a new research and development (R&D) facility in the Central Valley with a goal to introduce new flavors to American consumers and abroad.

Japanese snack food maker Calbee held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of its R&D facility in Madera on Jan. 24. The company’s U.S. division, Calbee North America, is based in Fairfield.

The plant employs about 200 people in the snack production facility and its offices.

Attendees for the ribbon cutting included Calbee executives, team members, representatives of elected officials and members of the Madera Chamber of Commerce.

Calbee, Japan’s largest snack company, was founded in 1949 and expanded into the U.S. in 1970.

The company’s shrimp flavored chips became very popular in the 1960s, and today the company produces a variety of products, including several flavors of potato chips, crackers, corn chips, tortilla chips and more.

The new facility will support the expansion of its crispy fruit snacks Harvest Snaps line as a “better for you brand” in the salty snack category.

The R&D center is 7,828 square feet, with about 5,000 square feet dedicated for research and development space.

The facility features a state-of-the-art kitchen and accommodates up to 15 researchers testing products that can be certified organic, gluten free, non-GMO and kosher.

“This is the start of something big for us,” said Calbee America President Tim Bateman. “We wanted a united vision into building out a state-of-the-art R&D facility and really take snack innovation to the next level. To do that we need to make sure we have the right people and community support.”

He said the company’s goal is to develop snack innovation for North America for the next 20-30 years, and that starts at the Madera facility.

Paul Dash, senior vice president of manufacturing, said he’s looking forward to engaging with the community, including the Madera City Council and fire department.

“I really enjoy deepening the roots with the community and the local community college,” Dash said. “We can work on internships, training improvement programs for our employees — lots of good things to come.”

Dash said there are aggressive growth plans for the next five years that would make most big companies “very jealous.”

Takuro “Kris” Tasumi, director of R&D at Calbee America, said he and the team are excited to bring new flavors to U.S. consumers and expand their ability to innovate at the new hub.

“People’s preferences are getting more diverse, with people looking for something healthy, or new, or unique, so that’s an opportunity for us,” Tasumi said.

They have imported technology from Japan that will be utilized to create healthy snacks with new flavors and textures. The technology also allows them to control the thickness of snacks and to make different shapes.

One of the base flavors that will be used is umami, which is very popular in Asian countries and becoming more popular in the states.

He said Japanese and other Asian flavors are becoming more popular in the West, but some tweaks are needed to make them more palatable to western consumers.

Attendees were able to tour the new R&D facility, sample Calbee products and flavor their own snacks at a “build-your-own snack” station.

Bateman said the Madera plant creates the ability to make more national branded Calbee products

About $5 million was invested into the R&D center, he said.

Along with being in a region that grows so much food, Bateman said the Central Valley also benefits from a strong labor force.

“Being in the Central Valley allows better access to some of the corn and other ingredients we buy for our products, but being next to the freeway in the middle of the country really helps us as well,” Bateman said.