Sargento's three new innovations, Sargento Natural American Cheese, Sargento Seasoned Shredded Cheese, and Sargento Shareables.
Sargento
Innovation only creates value when it can be produced at scale, consistently, and cost-effectively. Product development teams may dream up the concepts, but those concepts never leave the lab without manufacturing know-how. Likewise, operations can only realize their full potential when they’re aligned with consumer needs and market direction. The interplay between these two functions is central to the long-term success of companies across the food industry.
Sargento Foods offers an example of how the balance is struck. Rod Hogan, Senior Vice President of Innovation, has spent nearly three decades with the company, helping to bring some of its most ambitious projects to life. “Innovation is core to what we do,” he says. “It goes back to our founder, Leonard A. Gentine, who was an innovator at his core. Sargento changed the way American consumers shop for, buy, and consume natural cheese. That spirit continues to drive our business today.”
Hogan describes innovation at Sargento as a meeting point between consumer expectations, retailer needs, and the company’s own business goals. Any new product must deliver across all three. That is why his team works in lockstep with manufacturing from the earliest stages of development. “It’s not just Rod sitting in an office and picking cool ideas,” he says. “We’ve got structured processes, rigorous approaches, and strong collaboration across R&D, business, and operations. We follow the process consistently, guided by our strategic plan.”
The launch of Sargento Natural American cheese slices illustrates the depth of this collaboration. The idea was simple: Create a natural cheese that delivers the melt, flavor, aroma, and texture that consumers are familiar with. In other words, a natural cheese that could melt and taste like processed cheese. But turning that vision into reality required a decade of persistence. “That is the longest project I’ve ever worked on in my professional career,” Hogan says. “We had project teams working for years, and at times we couldn’t get over the technological hurdles. We even stopped and told our R&D team, ‘You go develop the science, and when you have it, we’ll come back.’ Ultimately, it required rethinking many aspects of how natural cheese is made.”
The interplay between product development and operations is central to the long-term success of F&B companies like Sargento.Aaron - stock.adobe.comThis patience paid off, but only because manufacturing teams were fully engaged in the process, troubleshooting at every step and designing production methods that could scale. Hogan describes it as a “labor of love,” underscoring the point that in food production, innovation is never just about flavor or marketing: It’s about whether the plant can consistently make a safe, high-quality product that lives up to the consumer promise.
The theme of integrated development and manufacturing surfaces across the industry. ProFood World has chronicled how manufacturers are rethinking their physical spaces to encourage collaboration. Custom Flavors, a developer of flavor solutions, is building a new facility in North Carolina that not only doubles production capacity but also includes a research and development flavor lab, a pilot lab, and quality control space under one roof. By placing product development and manufacturing in close proximity, the company aims to ensure that ideas can move more quickly from concept to commercialization, with fewer surprises along the way.
Puratos has taken a similar approach with its pilot bakery plant in New Jersey, developed with AMF Bakery Systems. The facility enables customers and Puratos’ own technical teams to co-create, test, and scale bakery products without leaving the site. The integration of innovation and equipment in one environment makes the development process more efficient and reduces the risks that often appear when a product transitions from bench to factory floor. As Puratos’ leadership explains, the goal is to allow bakers to “go from concept to commercialization in one visit.”
Beyond physical space, collaboration depends on culture and process. Hogan repeatedly emphasizes that Sargento thrives on cross-functional teamwork. “If we are anything, we are collaborative,” he says. The same emphasis appears in industry best practices. Breaking down silos requires a shared mission and values, transparent shop-floor systems that keep everyone aligned, and leadership that rewards joint problem-solving. When employees understand that innovation success depends equally on product design and production excellence, they are more likely to engage constructively across roles.
What becomes clear is that innovation is never the work of a single team. For Sargento, flavor remains king, but production realities define how far and how fast ideas can travel. “It’s about finding the middle ground,” Hogan says. “Flavor has to be there, but it has to be able to be produced at scale and create value for our retail partners, our consumers, and our business.”
For food processing professionals, the lesson is straightforward but demanding. Build innovation strategies that are not only consumer-driven but also manufacturing-ready. Invest in facilities and tools that physically and digitally bring teams together. Nurture a culture that values collaboration as much as creativity.
The result is a faster, smoother path from concept to commercialization, and products that truly resonate in the marketplace while delivering on operational performance. As the food industry continues to evolve, companies that integrate product development and manufacturing most effectively will be best positioned to meet consumer demands, satisfy retail partners, and sustain long-term growth.
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