A taste for the job

By ANGELA McCARTHY

Imagine being paid to spend the day savouring the flavours and textures of ice creams. Such is the life of Marion Tasker at this time of year. But she's not a summer ice cream glutton - far from it.

She's a food chemist/technologist who manages the research and development unit of Tip Top Ice Cream Company, the multi-coloured Mt Wellington building so familiar to Auckland motorway users.

Sampling is a regular task for Tip Top employees over this period. Amazingly, Tasker can't name a favourite ice cream, never gets tired of tastings - she did 20 the day before the interview - and has a slight build!

"You don't get sick of the tastes, nor overdo it," she laughs. "We are tasting, like a wine taster. You don't hear of wine tasters getting drunk, do you?"

Summer is the most creative period of the year for Tasker and her team of 12, who spend hours at laboratory benches experimenting and sampling each other's efforts to find the latest and greatest in frozen confectionery for next summer.

They could be trying new flavours and colours for water ice or ice cream, working on textures, cutting product into shapes or testing potential jellies and sauces.

"It can take weeks or months to get something right, depending on requirements. For example, the raspberry sauce on the new Memphis Meltdown took ages," says Tasker.

It is a complex process of combining ingredients to create a treat that is not only delicious, but will hold together when duplicated, remain consistent when mass-produced and be commercially viable.

Most research and development staff hold degrees in food technology, food science or food chemistry. Tasker has a masters in food chemistry from Germany.

Yet while applied science knowledge is essential, so are dollops of creativity, innovation and a passion for ice cream, says Tasker.

Team work is another essential skill because the unit doesn't work in isolation.

"We are just one part of a product team. No one person has the knowledge to make an ice cream from start to finish."

In fact, everyone in the company is encouraged to come up with new ice cream concepts.

Idea forms continually circulate. The "innovation challenge" held mid-year is open to all Tip Top staff, from gatekeepers to accountants.

The challenge is great fun and brings out wildly creative ideas, says marketing director Gabrielle Alder.

"Usually, we end up with lots of little ideas that combine to lead onto something bigger. However, someone in last year's innovation challenge came up with a concept we're now developing for next summer."

New product development begins in the marketing department where the staff regularly analyse the frozen confectionery market for new opportunities.

"For example, momma's gooey raspberry Memphis Meltdown is a result of Tip Top wanting to regain and grow the market share for Memphis Meltdown," says Alder.

Once a new opportunity is pinpointed, a project team including finance, engineering, production, marketing and research and development people get together to brainstorm ideas.

The product manager of the division then draws up a research brief - and the food technologists head into their labs to turn ideas into reality.

"The brief outlines the characteristics required for the product, such as a Memphis Meltdown needing to have gooey sauce, a chocolate coating, premium ice cream and a paddle stick," says Alder.

Product names are another important part of the process, says Alder. The marketing department runs brainstorming and word association sessions, using outsiders as well as Tip Top staff in their quest for a name that sums up the personality of the product.

Personality? Yes, ice cream evidently has personality.

Alder describes Memphis Meltdown as a masculine, edgy personality, with a hard exterior but soft interior. Joy Bars are softer, straightforward, classical, sweet. Really!

Alder has been with Tip Top for three years, and became marketing director about a year ago.

"I love the creativity and innovation," she says. "It's a fun product to work with because, unlike some products, it brings fun and a small indulgence into people's lives."