BURGERS SEASONINGS

Burger & Meatball Seasonings

Food Safari

Our way of tracking down the next big flavour

Throughout the year, our team takes part in Food Safaris — organised flavour-hunting trips designed to uncover the trends shaping tomorrow’s products.

We explore restaurants, street food, retail launches, and emerging concepts, tasting and recording everything from classic profiles to the unexpected. Each stop offers insight into new flavour combinations, innovative ingredient use, and consumer-driven claims that could influence your next product.

What We Look For

• Flavour innovation — creative combinations and bold taste profiles
• Ingredient opportunities — hidden heroes with functionality or health appeal
• Market signals — cues from menus, retail shelves, and global cuisines
• Practical inspiration — ideas that can translate into production-ready solutions

Why It Matters

• First-hand insight — the best way to track food trends is to experience them directly
• Customer focus — understanding what consumers will be looking for next
• Actionable outcomes — bringing back ideas that can be developed into bespoke blends and seasonings for your products

From Safari to Solution

Every Food Safari ends back in our development kitchen, where insights are transformed into tailored seasonings and mixes. This ensures that what we discover out in the market becomes a practical advantage for our customers. Sharing the Benefits

Seats on a Food Safari are limited, but every customer benefits from the insights. The flavours we taste, the trends we track, and the notes we gather all inform the work we do — helping you stay one step ahead in flavour innovation.

Freshen Up

Freshen Re-Sp Burgers That top note not quite singing anymore? We’ll give it a remix — maybe even throw in a little drum solo while we’re at it.

Freshening up is about reinvigorating a product’s flavour profile when it’s starting to feel a bit tired, flat, or out of step with current taste trends. It’s still your classic track — just with a sharper hook or brighter chorus.

Whether it’s:
• Lifting the top note with a more aromatic citrus oil
• Adding complexity by switching from plain cumin to toasted
• Replacing a flat paprika with one that has better colour and heat
• Dialling up freshness with herb oleoresins over dried powders

—we’re here to re-spice with purpose.

This isn’t about cutting costs — it’s about reviving character and keeping your product performing at its best. Think of it as flavour maintenance for your range. A fresh coat of paint for the palate.

Brief Us

Cost Reduction

Cost Re-Spicing is the process of modifying a recipe or formulation by replacing higher-cost spices, herbs, or raw materials with more economical alternatives, while maintaining the intended flavour profile as closely as possible.

At its core, it’s a cost optimisation technique that allows manufacturers to navigate volatile ingredient markets, manage inflationary pressures, or meet tighter margin targets—without sacrificing product quality in a way that would be noticeable to the customer.

Examples of Re-Spicing in Action

• Replacing ground black pepper with black pepper oleoresin: same pungency and aroma at a fraction of the cost, and in more concentrated form.
• Swapping fresh garlic for dehydrated garlic powder or even garlic flavouring compound.
• Using dried herbs in place of fresh when the flavour impact is negligible in cooked applications.
• Switching from whole spices to extracts, essential oils, or compound blends that are standardised and lower in unit cost.

What It’s Not

Re-spicing is not about radically altering the recipe or cutting corners on quality. It’s about smart substitution—making precise, targeted changes that:
• Reduce ingredient spend
• Avoid triggering new labelling or allergen issues
• Stay true to the product’s original sensory character


Brief Us

No gaps. Just winners

Why not strengthen your lineup by recreating the success of proven market winners?

With our in-depth market insight and flavour benchmarking, we’ll assess your current offering, identify gaps in your range, and help you fill them—quickly, strategically, and cost-effectively.

Don’t let your competitors own the shelf. Let’s make your range complete.

Why COPY With Foodmaker? We’re not just blend geeks. We’re partner material. Here’s what you can expect:

• One friendly expert to guide the journey
• Proper collaboration (we listen, ask questions, and bring biscuits)
• Clear, simple updates — no nonsense, no surprises
• Testing that matters — if it doesn’t taste great and perform well, we’re not done yet

Brief Us

Flavour Crossover

From the snack aisle to Burger Buns, spotted a flavour making waves in crisps, sauces, or ready meals? Why not bring it to the grill?

At Foodmaker, we’re experts in flavour translation — taking a trending taste from one category and reimagining it for burgers. We capture its signature profile, then adapt it for your cooking process, format, and compliance needs.

Whether it’s a bold street-food spice blend, a nostalgic throwback, or a global taste sensation, we’ll help you put it where your customers least expect it… and love it most.

Brief Us

Commercial Benchmark

Ever wondered what your seasoning is really worth?

Our Commercial Benchmarking service analyses your current blend’s cost profile and provides a clear, reliable price-per-kilo estimate.

Use this insight however you like — negotiate smarter, plan better, or even spot savings. And who knows — you might just find Foodmaker is the right partner to supply it too. The Clever Stuff Behind the Curtain

We won’t spill all our secrets, but here’s a peek behind the blend. We use smart software that reads flavour declarations and helps us build a working profile from the label up. That means we can spot:

• Key ingredients
• Rough amounts
• The secret to what makes it tick

Then we get hands-on with proper lab work:

• Sieving (to see what’s what)
• Titration testing (to balance the brains)
• Specific gravity (because weighty things matter)

Altogether, it gives us a pretty sharp picture of your blend’s inner workings.
Where Science Meets Gut Feeling (and Taste Buds)
We’ve got tech. But it’s the humans who make it magic.
Our development team brings 60+ years of seasoning experience to the table. They know when a flavour needs a tweak, when it needs a twist, and when it just needs leaving alone. They:

• Analyse the data
• Spot what’s missing
• Make clever suggestions
• Deliver a COPY that tastes spot-on — or even better

Contact

Backup Supplier

In food production, continuity is everything. One disruption — whether from supply delays or demand spikes — can put your operation at risk. That’s why having a reliable second source for your seasonings and spices isn’t just smart, it’s essential.

As part of Scobie & Junor, a group with over 100 years of food industry heritage, Foodmaker offers you fully qualified, BRC AA–accredited backup supply solutions that are ready when you need them most. Whether it’s a raw material shortage, transport delay or a sudden surge in demand, we make sure your lines keep moving — and your product stays consistent.

With the strength of our group behind us, we help you stay one step ahead. No disruption. No drama. Just dependable supply, built in from the start.

Stay prepared. Stay productive. Peace of mind — backed up.

Contact

Low Fat

When you’re creating ultra-lean burgers one of the first things to suffer is mouthfeel. That rich, juicy texture your customers expect? It starts to fade.

That’s why Foodmaker has developed smart seasoning blends that work with our Fat Replacer system. These blends work by rebuilding succulence, delivering that warm, rounded bite that’s often lost when fat levels are reduced.

We’ve applied techniques successfully across burgers and grills — combining functional ingredients directly into the burger to support moisture retention, enhance flavour carry, and boost the overall eating experience.

Why it works:
• Brings back the succulent mouthfeel in low-fat burgers
• Enhances moisture and juiciness without greasiness
• Keeps your spec lean, compliant, and craveable
• Seamlessly integrates into your process

Whether you’re developing a healthier burger for retail, schools, or clean-label ranges, we’ll help you cut the fat — without cutting corners on taste or texture.

Let us show you how lean can still mean delicious.

Stop the Fade

Inconsistent colour in cooked or chilled burgers? You’re not alone. Colour loss is one of the most common – and frustrating – issues in burger production, especially in leaner, cleaner-label or high-volume formats. At Foodmaker, we understand the science behind it, and we’ve developed smart seasoning solutions to help keep your burgers looking as good as they taste.

We build seasoning systems that go beyond flavour. Our blends are formulated to:
• Protect colour through cook, chill and freeze/thaw cycles
• Maintain a natural red or pink interior, even in leaner blends
• Balance moisture and pH to reduce oxidation
• Include clean-label, approved natural colour enhancers like beetroot, tomato, and paprika
• Support consistency across fresh, chilled, and frozen burger formats

Whether you’re working with beef, pork, poultry or blended protein formats, our technical team can recommend a seasoning solution that fits your process and your label.

Gluten Free

Looking to reduce allergens in your burger lines without compromising on flavour, texture, or performance? We’ve got you covered.

At Foodmaker, we offer a range of gluten-free seasonings and rusk designed specifically for meat burger manufacturing. Whether you’re developing a new free-from range or adapting an existing product to meet retailer or dietary requirements, our gluten-free solutions are fully production-ready.

Our gluten-free ingredients are formulated to:
• Work seamlessly on the line — no special handling or process changes required
• Deliver consistent bite and moisture retention in fresh, chilled, or frozen formats
• Reduce allergen risks while still packing in bold, craveable flavour
• Support clean-label claims and wider market appeal

With decades of seasoning and raw material expertise we help you stay ahead of the curve — meeting modern dietary demands whether it’s for retail, schools or foodservice our gluten-free systems let you serve the same great burger experience, just without the gluten.

Low Salt

Today’s buyers want more than taste — they want cleaner labels, health-conscious claims, and compliance with national salt reduction targets. With FSA guidelines tightening, you need to get ahead of the curve — especially if you supply into retail, education, healthcare, or foodservice brands operating under nutritional scrutiny.

But simply taking salt out of your burger seasoning can flatten flavour, affect texture, and even impact cook performance.

That’s where Foodmaker comes in.

Our Solution: Flavour-First Reformulation

We offer a bespoke service to reduce salt in your burger lines while preserving the eating experience your customers love.

Our in-house development team works with you to:

• Assess your current seasoning and salt level
• Build a reduced-sodium version that meets the target without losing flavour
• Use natural flavour enhancers, umami boosters, and clever layering to bring richness and depth back in
• Implement functional ingredients to maintain texture, yield, and visual appeal
• Align your spec with traffic light labelling and retailer nutrition targets

Let's create something your customers love — and your spec can defend.

Safari