March 5/Alexandria, Va./Press Release -- Cuisine Solutions announced the opening of a new $30 million, state-of-the-art plant in Sterling, Va. The 56,500 square-foot facility, located 2.5 miles from Dulles International Airport, will expand the company’s capacity to produce customized, gourmet menu items for fast-casual and restaurant chains, hotels, airlines, retailers and consumers using the “sous-vide” cooking method pioneered by the company.

“Demand continues to grow from today’s consumers for the high-quality, fine-dining experience they look for in memorable meals – wherever they chose to eat,” said Felipe Hasselmann, president of Cuisine Solutions. “This new, highly automated facility greatly improves our ability to work with our customers, partners and retailers to deliver the natural flavors, best-in-class ingredients and consistent quality they have come to expect from Cuisine Solutions.”

From fast casual national eateries to room service meals at high-end hotels, Cuisine Solutions delivers unique menu applications that can be readily and consistently prepared from a wide variety of diverse serving venues. All dishes are prepared from the highest quality sources of animal proteins, vegetables and spices, including grass-fed, free-range, all-natural beef and lamb, sustainably harvested wild salmon, all-natural, antibiotic-free turkey, and organic pimento peppers, among many others.

Cuisine Solutions pioneered the “sous-vide” cooking technique and is filling the growing demand for high quality food prepared and delivered with minimal time and energy.  French for “under-vacuum,” sous-vide is the only cooking method that maintains the natural integrity of food sources by:

• Sealing in moisture -- making sous-vide foods more flavorful, fork-tender and juicy.
• Enhancing the natural flavors -- cooking foods slowly at low temperatures eliminates the need for flavor enhancers, preservatives or beta-blockers to ensure product safety.
• Providing consistent quality -- perfecting computerized monitoring and precise science in a cooking technique provides professional-grade results for every dish prepared.

This is Cuisine Solutions’ fourth production facility, and will add up to 80 jobs when the plant is fully operational. Much of the equipment in the plant was custom-designed by Cuisine Solutions, drawing upon the unique experience and expertise of its team of world class chefs and culinary scientists.  The company’s other production facilities are located in Alexandria, Va., Louviers and Le Petre, France.

Dr. Bruno Gousseault, pioneer of sous-vide and Cuisine Solutions’ chief scientist, leads a team of internationally known chefs who serve as “lifetime partners” in the creation and production of Cuisine Solutions foods and services. The team, which includes more than a dozen Michelin-Star professional chefs, conducts ongoing research on microbiology, texture, packaging, temperature and ingredients for new and existing products.