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Testimonials
“I wanted to let you know that I had a great experience with the proctor yesterday. Mellonie is very professional and accommodating. She is also responsible for helping entrepreneurs start their packaged food and beverage business. After our conversation it is my understanding that she is very knowledgeable and understands what we go through as an upcoming businessman or woman in the food industry.
In addition, she helps with accessibility for the courses at Rutgers. Mellonie noticed that the Servsafe website had a link that I could not see on my laptop due to the contrast settings. She made a note and said she will address it with the platform engineers… She won me over with her overall service.” –Aries Cespedes
“I can’t say enough how much the Food Innovation Center at Rutgers University helped my co-founder and I – both scared and lost and clueless of where to begin – find our way in the confusing-but-exciting beverage industry. We had no prior knowledge of the industry, and began our journey as Rowan University students seeking to create our own “internship” in our effort to avoid being trivial coffee runners at a stagnant and unexciting corporate workplace.
The tools and insight provided at the FIC have been invaluable, starting with the Food Business Basics seminar that we attended in the fall of 2017. The instructors helped us to navigate the manufacturing process and FDA regulations as we honed in on the overall business direction and strategy. Needless to say, a year and a half after that first crash course, we launched our company, Topos Teas, in five Whole Foods locations and are continuing to refine our marketing and business model as we expand into many more.
We continue to reach out to the FIC for support, where their expert staff are more than willing to offer a helping hand and guidance. We couldn’t have gotten Topos into Whole Foods without their support, and I hope that others will reach out to the FIC and find it as beneficial as we did!
Cheers to the whole Rutgers FIC team!”
Mike Lombardo
Co-Founder
Topos Teas
“I am so proud of our TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) here at Terra Chips that we received 100% Compliance with this audit, Zero Non-Conformance items.
What makes this special that it was an unannounced audit!
Every year we got better, we had first year Level 3 five minor, last year we had only two and this year we had none (zero). This is our sixth year with SQF before they were Level 2.
I wanted to share my happy moment with you.
You (Donna Schaffner) played important role in laying foundation at Terra Chips in our HACCP program and of course in Emergency preparedness and Food Security. Thanks!”
Urmikant Sheth
Quality Control Manager
The Hain Celestial Group, Inc.
“Thank you to Rutgers for the test. We learned so much about our product that will be useful for planning; and hope to conduct more testing with you in the near future!”
Roberto Cruz
Director of Marketing
Dr. Schar USA, Inc.
“The Food Innovation Center’s expertise in food science and production methods was critical to our business taking the next step towards the commercialization of our product. The production methods developed with the FIC have helped us create a more consistent ketchup that is produced at much higher yields–something we could not have done without them.” Patrick Leger, co-owner of First Field.
Patrick Leger
Co-founder
First Field
“As my first venture into the world of food product development I needed a lot of hand-holding. The team at the FIC has been there every step of the way. I look forward to the next steps with them.”
Bob Ferretti
Founder
Caldo Hot Sauce