The Where I Work series explores San Antonio’s evolving workplaces. It takes readers behind the scenes to learn from the people who work at companies large and small, nonprofits, family-owned enterprises, and in other nontraditional workplaces. Get in touch to share your story.
The summer leading into my third year of undergraduate studies in chemistry, I had the opportunity to do research in a work-study summer program. I could choose between the animal science and food science departments at my university and, having no desire to work with animals, decided on food science.
After spending the summer processing sweet potatoes into flour and making bread with them, I was hooked. It combined two of my passions and allowed me to explore both my creativity and analytical thinking. After earning my bachelor’s degree in chemistry I went on to pursue a master’s degree in food science from Tuskegee University in Alabama.
I began my career in quality management by working throughout the supply chain of food manufacturing — from ingredient manufacturing to frozen meals and finished beverages. After four years, I was able to transition into a research and development role as a product developer for a major beverage company in Atlanta, then moved to a company that manufactured a variety of food service products for commercial customers before I was recruited to San Antonio to work for Twang Partners.
Twang is a manufacturer of flavored salt, sugar and spice blends. Based in San Antonio, the family business was born out of an idea Roger Treviño had while on a business trip to Mexico City. He started by distributing packets of citrus salts, marketed as beer salt, to local convenience stores in 1986. Since then, the company has grown to five brands including beer salts, margarita salts and michelada mix.
I consider my position as a senior food scientist at Twang a dream job, but many people are completely unaware that my line of work exists. Although they use and consume the fruits of food scientists’ labor daily, most people don’t stop to think about the fact that someone who is highly trained came up with their favorite food, snacks, or beverages — in my case, flavored salts — and worked to ensure they’re delicious and safe.
My days can vary depending on what is going on. I may be working with production on a new Twang product or problem-solving any potential issues with the flavor profiles of current products. I meet with people across the Twang team — from marketing and procurement, to production and leadership — as well as customers and suppliers to ensure alignment and keep projects as well as product lines moving forward and at the highest quality. I also prepare tastings for the internal team as well as customers and visitors.
A typical workday starts with checking my calendar and emails at my desk. Next, I review the status of my projects and determine my priorities in the lab for the day. Once I have done any formula creation needed on the computer, I move down to my workbench in the lab, where I will prepare and scale up those formulas to assess for flavor, color, aroma, and needed manufacturing methods.
Then the fun begins. The taste-testing is where I get to taste the formula in application. I record my notes and share the samples that work with the broader team to ensure we are aligned on the vision and the quality of our product.
Being a family-owned and operated business means that there is a lot of care put in at every level to achieve the end product, which I am responsible for and happen to take great pride in. It means more when your work is furthering a family legacy.
The most rewarding part of my job is seeing consumers enjoy a product I developed and helped commercialize. Twang products are authentic and bring a lot of joy to those who use them, especially around San Antonio. Bringing my thoughts and ideas to life and having others appreciate my work is so fulfilling.
The most challenging part of my job is translating my thoughts and ideas into a tangible and edible product that is safe and meets the Twang customer’s requests — and we get a lot of them. People who love salts have a lot to say about what they want. It often takes some time and multiple iterations to meet the customer’s and my own high standards.
I’m currently working on some limited-time offerings for our Twang branded line that I can’t wait for consumers to try when they are released within the next year or so.
I hope that in the future, my work will allow me to continue to create flavors and food products that came from the heart, keeping a legacy alive like we do here at Twang. I hope to help other family-owned businesses with my own consulting firm someday, focusing on helping small businesses bring their food products to the masses.
