As of July 1, 2025, CuliNEX has been acquired by JPG Resources, a leading food and beverage consulting firm assisting companies with their product innovation and commercialization needs. CuliNEX will continue its focus on clean label development, as it has over the past 20 years, as an independent subsidiary of JPG Resources.
The CuliNEX team remains in Seattle, WA, serving and supporting its clients from its 20,000 square foot Innovation Center. The benefit of the merger is that CuliNEX can now tap into the much larger JPG team for additional expertise and physical locations to work from, which include Battle Creek, MI, San Francisco, CA, and Brooklyn, NY. “We have a truly great group of folks in each of these cities that we can now collaborate with and leverage on behalf of our clients,” said Mark Crowell, Founder of CuliNEX.
CuliNEX Clean Label Expertise
CuliNEX services has always been defined by its clean label and plant-based or plant-forward expertise. “What hasn't changed fundamentally in 20 years at CuliNEX is the singular focus on clean label development, along with a lot of expertise in plant-based products.” said Crowell. “That's what’s unique about CuliNEX, and also what makes us unique within the JPG family of companies.”
Culinology Makes CuliNEX Unique
In addition to Clean Label expertise, the CuliNEX approach to PD further differentiates the organization. The CuliNEX team practices Culinology, the blending of the disciplines of food science and culinary arts. Culinology, as it’s practiced at CuliNEX, employs scientific rigor in developing new food products while using a foundation of culinary techniques to maximize customer enjoyment of the products it creates. In addition, said Crowell, “we prioritize the use of clean label ingredients and nutrition in alignment with consumer preferences.
“Culinology is the ideal convergence of product development skills necessary to bring well designed food products to market in an optimal fashion,” said Crowell who instituted this process at CuliNEX 20 years ago. As a trained chef with experience directing PD teams at Marriott, Olive Garden and Starbucks before founding CuliNEX, Crowell found through trial and error that traditional PD teams were either missing critical skills or too siloed from one another. “Culinology allows us to take a flavor-first approach to food product development, while ensuring all of the science and regulatory work is attended to during our development process. No one else has that,” said Crowell.
Innovation is Our Calling Card
Another important differentiator for CuliNEX is the company’s radical creativity. “Our team is extremely creative, and we have a very robust white space discovery process that uncovers hidden opportunity areas for our clients that others miss. There is just something about the way our Culinologists blend food science and culinary arts that allows them to be extremely creative yet develop ideas that are readily commercializable. Innovation without a product launch is of very limited use,” said Crowell.
Innovative solutions will certainly be necessary to find opportunities for the challenges ahead. “I can confidently say that the future of food will continue to change rapidly because of scientific advances,” said Crowell. As an example, Crowell mentioned the expanding field of fermentation science. Researchers in food fermentation science all around the world are pioneering innovative techniques for harnessing beneficial microbes to improve food safety, enhance flavors, and develop sustainable, health-promoting foods. “Amazing things are happening in that area,” he said. “CuliNEX has the team, the strategy, and a well-established working process to be at the forefront of all kinds of food product innovation.”
