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VKA Australia
An application-kitchen still life of three clean clear-glass dessert cups on a chilled stainless tray, each holding a single tight scoop of a different gelato flavour, vanilla, mango and davidson plum, with hand-printed code cards 1 to 3 at each base.

Iterated at Southport, Queensland

Textures.

Send us the bite you are chasing. The VKA® Australia team iterates creamy, crunchy and chewy mouthfeel at the Southport bench, with the application kitchen and the pilot line on the same site, for food and beverage makers across Australia and New Zealand.

Read in one Australian business day, by a real flavourist at the Southport bench. No contract to start.

About this portfolio

Texture is half of how a product tastes.

The pull of a gelato off the spoon. The first crack of a crisp coating. The chew that holds in a gummy after the flavour has come and gone. Texture is what tells the eater whether the product feels right in the mouth, and a flavour brief that ignores it ships at half strength.

Most briefs we read at the Southport bench arrive with a flavour target and a vague note on bite. We iterate the bite the same way we iterate the flavour, on the application bench at one site, with the flavourist who tasted the last batch tasting the next one.

VKA Australia developed and made the textures in this portfolio at Southport over 23 years. Bring us your product, your process and the bite you are chasing, and we will work the recipe across the bench until it lands.

What we iterate

Three textures, one bench.

A tall clear glass cup of layered thick yoghurt with a band of glossy soft-orange mango puree, a small silver dessert spoon lifting a soft scoop above the rim to show the creamy pull, a fresh-cut mango on a board alongside, on the VKA Australia application bench.
01

Creamy and smooth

Body and pull for dairy, plant-based desserts, sauces, soups and beverages. We iterate creaminess on the application bench at full and reduced fat, so the spec sheet you send is the one that holds in the cup.

A thick freshly cut cross-section slice of rustic sourdough standing on a warm hardwood board, the open airy crumb and cracked top crust both in close frame, the cut half-loaf behind, on the VKA Australia application bench.
02

Crunchy and crisp

Bite for snacks, bakery, coatings and inclusions. We trial the crunch in real product on the bench, then run an accelerated shelf-life check at Southport so the bite that ships is the bite the brief asked for.

A single translucent finger-lime gummy lifted on a small wooden pick from a white porcelain dish of pale-green and pale-pink gummies, a fine sugar dusting on the rim, on the VKA Australia application bench.
03

Gelatinous and chewy

Chew and pull for confectionery, gummies, jellies and functional formats. We iterate from soft mochi-style yield to firm, springy gels at the application bench, then taste-check the chew under the conditions your line will run.

A flavourist's hand on the VKA Australia application bench finishing a small ceramic dessert plate of panna cotta topped with a thin glossy passion-fruit and finger-lime gel, a small offset spatula just lifting away from the plate.

Mouthfeel in the application kitchen

We iterate the bite on the same bench.

In a crowded category, taste alone is not enough. The thing eaters remember is how the product felt in the mouth, and that is the half of the brief most flavour houses leave to the customer.

At Southport, the flavour bench, the application kitchen and the pilot line sit at one site. The flavourist who tunes the recipe is the one who tastes it in your actual format, and the bite that ships out of our door is the bite we tasted at the bench.

Send us your brief

Bring us the bite.
We will iterate it at Southport.

Tell us the format, the bite you are chasing, and what your line can run. The VKA Australia team at Southport will read the brief inside one business day and come back with a fit read.

Read in one Australian business day, by a real flavourist at the Southport bench. No contract to start.