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Not every wholesale food distributor has a test kitchen where they can experiment with their products, but we’re glad we do—and not just because we get to sample the results. The Marx Foods Test Kitchen isn’t particularly large and certainly not fancy. It resembles an average home kitchen more than a restaurant kitchen, but it gets the job done.

Test kitchen days in the office begin with a meeting around the large kitchen table. The chef, our CEO, and our entire marketing team review the plan and the goals. After that, it’s controlled chaos. We may be testing as many as five or six different products, pivoting from steaks to burgers to ribs to octopus or shrimp. Each item may involve two or three recipes, many of which you’ll find on the Marx Food blog. Creating a dozen different dishes is not uncommon.

While the chef preps and cooks, our staff writer takes notes and asks questions. Two photographers jockey for the best angles, shooting photos and videos that will illustrate our sales flyers, catalogs, websites, and social media. As a specialty meat importer and wholesale meat distributor, we make sure that each item gets photographed in its original packaging, then in the raw, so our customers can see the quality and expert butchering. Action shots capture cooking and plating. Each finished dish will be carried off for its glamor shot under the appropriate lighting. Finally, the staff gets a taste, then everyone pitches in on clean-up.