Ideal Space For Food And Beverage Innovation

Our 10,000-square-foot culinary innovation center located in Denver, Colorado, will knock your socks off with its amenities that are unparalleled in this region. Along with our passion, creativity, and expertise in on-trend food and drinks, our facility allows us to better serve clients on every level—from recipe and product development to focus group facilitation. We get you bigger ideas with better feedback, faster than ever before.

Why Did We Create The FDR Research & Innovation Center?

Well, our team of chefs wanted a first-class innovation center in one of the top consumer testing markets in the nation—Colorado. Test kitchens are extremely important to food ideation, restaurant concept development, and food and beverage testing.

In our experience, most outlets come up short. If the kitchen is good, the focus group facilities are lacking, or vice-versa. Ask us about the time we had to do the cooking in a parking lot because the kitchen was a bit short of what you’d find in a hotel room!

Clean, Spacious, And Technologically Advanced

fdr research and innovation centerThe dining area has two large loading dock entrances and the commercial test kitchen has a modular set-up in order to efficiently change out equipment to match any restaurant’s kitchen. Also, the kitchen is just feet away from our focus group rooms. We can prepare menu offerings like they’d be cooked in a restaurant kitchen and serve them hot to paid research participants. And if a change needs to be made to the recipe, we do it right then and there. You’ll get real-time customer feedback thanks to our unique 3C Development Process.

The focus group testing area is designed with a viewing room so you can experience first-hand the reactions of focus group members to the food and beverages being sampled. We digitally record the sessions while you watch the sessions on 60” HDTVs in our conference room or community tables in the test kitchen. We also are equipped to digitally stream the focus group sessions to any desktop, tablet, or smartphone.

In addition to the concept development and testing we do at the FDR Research & Innovation Center, we also rent the space to professional chefs and culinary organizations for outside events. Learn more about our test kitchen rental and event space here.

test kitchen set up

FDR Research & Innovation Center Facility Specs

Everything In One Convenient Location

  • 10,000 square feet total
  • Comfortably accommodates up to 100 people at a time
  • Focus group room (14 ' x 16 ' - 10 seats) with viewing room
  • Boardroom with glass walls
  • In-depth interview (IDI) room with comfortable furniture, tv, and coffee maker
  • Digital streaming throughout so you can watch/hear all focus group sessions on 60" televisions or on any desktop, tablet, or smartphone
  • Convenient parking lot
  • Two large loading dock entrances
  • Sensory and CLT testing space is equipped with booths that are electronically linked to collect and tabulate feedback on the spot
  • Located 30 minutes from Denver International Airport, 5 minutes from Interstate 25, and 2 hours from Vail, Colorado

Full-Service Commercial Kitchen And Consumer Kitchen

The FDR commercial kitchen is designed just like a restaurant kitchen, which is ideal for food ideation. The modular set-up allows us to efficiently change out equipment to match your restaurant’s kitchen. Around the corner from our commercial kitchen is a consumer kitchen ideal for testing appliances and other products. Some of the features of our test kitchens include:

  • Walk-in 2-part cooler (8’ x 6’) and freezer (8’ x 14’)
  • 12 feet of refrigerated prep/sandwich cooler - 3-4 feet coolers, holds 12, 1/6 pans, cambros
  • 4’ x 8’ dry storage
  • Commercial dishwasher/pot sinks
  • Countertop food warmers
  • 3' salamander broiler
  • High-speed Ovens, Turbochef and Ovention
  • Fryers (50lb open and 50lb pressure cook)
  • Cheese melter
  • Microwaves
  • 8-top gas burner
  • Montague double stack, TurboFans, and Eletrolux convection ovens
  • Grill and flat-top with refrigeration
  • Impingement ovens
  • Ample prep area(s)
  • 4-8' stainless steel prep tables
  • 400lb ice machine
  • Multiple racks and sheet pans
  • 2, 54” True Refrigerators, mobile
  • 5' Baker Display
  • Misc items such as chinaware, snow cone maker, ice cream soft serve machine, 4 slice toasters, meat grinder, waffle maker, several beverage dispensers, plus much more!

Fully-Equipped Test Bar With Seating

  • Glass washer
  • Keg cooler
  • Back bar
  • Ice maker
  • 8 seat bar
  • 2 sinks

Photography Studio For Styled Food And Beverage Shots

  • Fully-adjustable lighting
  • Selection of surfaces, plating, and props
  • Easy proximity to the kitchen

Ideal For More Than Food And Drink Innovation

It's true that the FDR Research & Innovation Center is an ideal space for food and beverage testing and ideation. However, our testing facility is set up to accommodate testing in any industry including other CPG companies interested in central location testing and focus groups. Contact us to learn more.