Thimus + Anima = great news.

It was a cold and foggy night in Budapest. The two policemen guarding the gates of the Royal Palace were slightly surprised to see the small group of rather noisy people approach the main courtyard. Awesome architecture, lit in a golden glow, surrounded the entire scene and made it feel like a surreal theatrical set.

Across the Danube, in the distance, the Parliament Palace floated in its own magical aura. We were in the heart of a very multi-cultural, diverse and energetic Europe. A crossroads of sort, for centuries: a place for unexpected cultural encounters and food adventures. Approaching midnight, we walked across the empty yards and tried to make this day last a little longer.

Indeed, this had been a landmark day for Thimus. A few hours before, in an elegant and very classy space, a few steps down from street level, the Arany Kaviar Restaurant had been the set of a small, still obscure revolution. Thimus had finally solidified a significant new partnership with a man, his great vision and ultimately a whole group of experienced entrepreneurs and professionals in the food service industry.

Enter Jose Guerrero, a young talent from Colombia, a Master in Gastronomic Sciences who after graduating at the Basque Culinary Institute worked in some of the most recognizable and innovative restaurants across the globe. A talented mind with a penchant for innovation, hard work and new goals. Jose has been working on the creation of a unique research facility, a test kitchen, a magical place for experimentation and ideation: Anima.

Set in the heart of Budapest and its up-and-coming food scene, Anima is poised to be a churning engine in some of the most interesting innovations in fine dining and food research. That is why Thimus has decided to partner with Jose and his greater group of talents, to add a new layer of knowledge and depth to our future projects concerning food innovation.

How can we constantly improve our way of looking at neurophysiological data in food experiences if not by gaining a finer understanding of how such experiences are built, detail by detail, one tiny piece at a time? Can we help our Customers and Partners ideating and fine-tuning better food products by sprint testing solutions, ingredients, food design solutions in a dynamic, highly technological setting?

Anima is being equipped with all sorts of tech wonders (also known as Jose’s “toys”), which will allow to push products and ingredients to their limit. However, the real innovation doesn’t lie in the costly machinery, but rather in the ability that Thimus and Anima now have to create a very unique offering: compact and effective co-creation sprints. These on-site experiences will enable players in the F&B space to create, test and iterate new recipes, food experiences or use cases, mixing the ancient culinary arts with cutting edge new approaches, all resting on the solid foundation of effective neurophysiological testing data, with its clear outputs on human preference and acceptance.

At Thimus, we quite naturally believe in innovation. Through time, we have learnt that its path is made of good partnerships. Finding people who are on our same wavelength is never easy, but when it happens it is a great wonder! So we are very excited about 2022 and how the Thimus_Anima alliance will leave its mark in the food innovation scene, one project at a time.