The company said that Rens de Haan will be based at Cargill’s Wormer offices near Amsterdam, and joins the industrial chocolate supplier from Netherlands-based healthcare provider H&B.

According to Rens, customers should be part of every phase of an innovation or conceptual project, so that the end product works for the customer, and ultimately the consumer.

“A key part of my role is to develop further the structures and processes required for this, so we have an even clearer framework for product development, working together with our customers.”

He added that Cargill’s ‘T-model’ for innovation is full of resources to help customers generate a steady flow of new ideas, from product concepts and improved recipes to breakthrough innovations and that Cargill’s new cold dispersible cocoa powder product was a result of this kind of approach.