NutraWomen Wednesday: Michelle Frame, Candy Scientist at Victus ARS

19-Jan-2022 - Last updated on 19-Jan-2022 at 18:50 GMT

Michelle Frame may just have the sweetest job in the industry. She is president and founder of Victus Ars, but she prefers the title “Candy Scientist.”

Victus Ars is a food product development lab that helps companies make candy, baked goods, and chewable delivery systems.

The Chicago-based lab has an ensemble of confectionery scientists–all of which just so happen to be women.

“Women, simply for the sake of having women–not as key to me. But women because they are experts at what we do, which is food, I can't imagine who else I would want in that space,” said Frame. “We know that over 80% of household purchases are defined by women and a study by FONA shows that 93 or 94% of food purchases are controlled by women. So why wouldn't you want women to be developing your food?”

Another thing Victus Ars brings to the table is the ability to facilitate in-lab focus groups when clients often ask for feedback on product.

“So we're speaking from a perspective that isn't just, ‘hey, we're scientists, we've done this multiple times,’ we're speaking as women who are major purchases for a household, who talk to other major purchasers for their households, right? So what we're providing our clientele with this level of expertise that you just can't get if you're not a bunch of women and in decision-making roles and in research roles. We provide the best of the best–and that just happens to be women in these roles.”