Heidi Wright wanted to be an animal veterinarian, yet she found her way into a rewarding career in food innovation and development. After spending the first 21 years of her career with DeKalb Swine Breeders (including time spent running a genetic innovation station in Minnesota), Heidi met George Suter and other members of the Suter family during local athletic events. It was through that friendly relationship that George convinced Heidi to join The Suter Company (at $20 million per year, a much smaller operation than she was used to) as its VP of Sales and Marketing.
One of Heidi's responsibilities with her new employer was overseeing food innovation and development. When she joined Suter, they were making custom food products (including unique kinds of chicken salad) for different retailers. Even Wal-Mart and Sam's Club had different versions of products!
Under her leadership, Heidi said the company "dug into little tiny details" within food innovation and development, including their sensory evaluation efforts. Such efforts have greatly contributed to Suter's exponential growth over the past two decades, and included Rotary Club members and Sycamore High School teachers and parents as sensory evaluation test subjects (among others) over the years. Heidi explained that lots of taste testers are necessary to ensure statistical validity. Lucky us!
Heidi then walked club members through a sensory evaluation. She first explained about flavor (volatile - aroma, non-volatile - taste, and other attributes such as texture, viscosity, and mouth feel). She then invited each Rotarian (and guest) to "taste" each of the two small strips of paper they had received upon arriving to the meeting. She asked those who tasted a difference to raise their hands...about 15 hands were raised. She said that individuals who could taste a difference were considered "super-tasters"! About 25% of the human population is considered "super-tasters", while 25% are considered "non-tasters" (and the remaining 50% are normal tasters).
After tasting the paper strips, everyone was invited to taste the two samples of chicken salad they had each received. They were then asked to complete a form indicating their sample preference in six different categories: Visual (Most Appealing Appearance), Aroma (Chickeny, Fresh, Bright), Texture/Mouthfeel, Flavor, Most Preferred, and Likely to Buy. Finally, she collected the completed sensory evaluation forms to return to The Suter Company.
Lots of companies make and sell chicken salad, but Suter doesn't consider them to be competitors. They don't focus on the details like Suter does. And many of them use high-fructose corn syrup, which Suter refuses to use. Another fun fact: All Suter's salads use vinegar. In addition to having some impact on taste, the vinegar prevents listeria and E. coli!