The Food and Beverage Industries' flavor needs are currently supported by a large number of flavor, aroma, and extract manufacturers. A quick survey of any industry supplier information resource would lead one to the conclusion that there is no need or reason for another supplier to enter this field. Although an in-depth evaluation of the flavor industry and the products currently available from the extract and aroma manufacturers clearly demonstrates that there are significant opportunities for suppliers of these ingredients. In fact, the extract/essence industry is positioned to allow for a focused company to enter and over some reasonable time period become recognized as the premium extract/essence/concentrate supplier. The main reason for this is the outstanding flavor quality of the flavor ingredients produced by Sensus.

The opportunity exists for Sensus because of several reasons including: 1) fixed central location of current extraction equipment, resulting in the inability to collect the “fresh” flavor volatiles that are lost within the first several hours of harvesting, 2) higher cost resulting from moving large quantities of biomas to a main site and the added cost resulting from disposal of the waste biomas, 3) Sensus' integrated flavor capture approach is the most advanced method for the collection of the flavor volatiles from the materials under consideration.

Extract, and aroma suppliers, and a select few flavor companies, have traditionally located their extraction equipment in a central location. While there are advantages to this approach for a large corporation, they come at the expense of flavor quality. Locating the equipment in a central location forces the extract manufacturer to bring all the products to this location resulting in delayed time before processing can begin. Post harvest physiological changes, some of which occur at a very high rate, cause a decrease in the flavor quality of these horticultural and botanical extracts. This results in a less than optimum extract/essence being commercialized.

The second reason for the opportunity is the increased cost of the raw material when extraction/distillation is performed at a central facility. These increased costs come from several points. Shipping costs can significantly increase the cost of the finished extract/essence since these materials are highly concentrated and the shipping cost is based on the input material. Cost for disposal can be high if the municipal water service is used or in shipping the waste biomas out to a landfill. Higher costs for raw materials is incurred when a central location is used because only the highest quality raw material can be shipped since the horticultural products will be stored for a prolonged period of time. A significant amount of raw materials are dumped or left in the field because there are minor defects that will manifest themselves over time and degrade the entire lot. Sensus is able to process these materials since extraction of the horticultural materials will be implemented immediately upon harvesting. This approach affords Sensus a huge price advantage compared to the other extract/essence manufacturers.

These associated costs add up to have a great effect on the cost of goods sold for the extracts/essences. The shipping of the horticultural products into the central facility, the removal of the extracted biomas out of the facility, and the inability to utilize lower grade horticultural product are all disadvantages for the current extract/essence manufacturers and advantages to Sensus.

The last reason for Sensus having this opportunity is because they will utilize the most advanced extraction/distillation equipment in the industry in their processing. This equipment is the most efficient method for removing flavor volatiles from their biomas and has the additional advantage that the equipment can process huge quantities of input materials continuously. Their approach and equipment utilized in manufacturing allows for the rapid extraction of the desirable flavor constituents from the biomas followed by quick removal from this spent material. This efficiency maximizes the flavor quality of the extract while eliminating any offnotes that develop in the spent biomas due to continued heating.