Godshall's Quality Meats, Franconia, Pa., opened the doors to its new 7,500-square-foot research and development center.

"Everything in this building is our leap into the future of feeding folks around the world," says Ron Godshall, chief operating officer. "Godshall's success can be attributed to a lot of things, but none more than our determination to stay ahead of the curve on that intersection of healthier options and sensational taste, we just don't do bland. This entire building is an assertion of our growth objectives. From the lab to the test kitchen, it's all about what's next, and our commitment to lead it, not with chemical laden-factory food, but the most modern methods of using natural assets to preserve that just smoked or hand-rubbed flavor."

The facility boasts a state-of-the-art lab for quality assurance and flavor advances as well as fully functional smokehouse, slicing, grinding and packaging areas, a sprawling test kitchen and a customer care center.

"This facility is equipped with everything to make directly scalable new products. It’s where we innovate incremental changes; things that improve quality, taste and shelf life of existing products. Equally important but maybe more exciting is the numerous transformational innovations—new products and flavors that respond to trends in consumer demand. Our goal is to be a leader in the process meat industry precisely by focusing on minimal processing and 'clean label,' a simpler ingredient deck that's all natural," adds Reshani Senevirathne, lead food scientist.