Blending strategy with creativity isn’t hard to do. You just need to know how. Just ask Angie McKenzie. A food and beverage consultant with nearly 20 years of new product design and innovation experience, Angie is a keen observer with an insatiable curiosity. From nature to design to human behavior, she finds inspiration everywhere. But what sets her apart is her ability to distill from this plethora of influences only those ideas with the greatest potential, and then turn them into viable solutions. With the launch of Plum, she’s helping clients in the food and beverage industry do just that.
From insatiable curiosity...
Perpetually fascinated by human behavior, Angie earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Possessing both left and right brain tendencies, it was only natural that she followed it up with the study of culinary arts at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco.
To creative success...
In addition to working with start-ups, chain restaurants and ingredient suppliers, Angie spent 13 years with the Product Development team at Starbucks Coffee Company. An influential player during one of the company’s most successful times, she championed a unique product design approach and conceptualized the vast majority of the company’s handcrafted beverages, including top sellers such as the Caramel Frappuccino, Cinnamon Dolce Latte, Gingerbread Latte and Pumpkin Spice Latte. Her accomplishments also included the creation of new beverage platforms for tea and chocolate as well as the first signature Starbucks food items. She even appeared on the Today Show, the Food Network’s “Unwrapped,” and in The New York Times and BusinessWeek as a company spokesperson.
To delicious innovation...
Recognizing the role of strategic creative process in maintaining a competitive edge, Seattle-based Plum helps businesses create winning food and beverage concepts and bring them to life. From franchise and start-up restaurants to retail and wholesale food manufacturers, Plum leverages the best of a client’s organization to achieve extraordinary, measurable results. Learn more.
