Flavor Systems is led by Chris Pappademas, a lifelong food lover with over 20 years of professional fine dining and technical culinary experience, whose passion for taste began at an early age. From childhood—and still today—Chris has been endlessly curious about how things work. With flavors, it has never been just about the taste itself, but also the mechanics behind it—always asking, How does this work? and Why does it taste this way? That relentless curiosity has shaped both his culinary journey and his professional career.

For many years, Chris built his expertise in fine dining, where precision, creativity, and a deep respect for ingredients defined his craft. He developed a refined palate and an ability to think about flavor as more than the sum of its parts—skills that would later become invaluable in the formulation world.

When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered much of the restaurant industry, Chris saw an opportunity to redirect his skills. He pivoted into formulation within the cannabis industry, immersing himself in the technical preparation and large-scale production of product development. This phase of his career provided a strong foundation in scientific formulation, process scaling, and regulatory considerations—a technical backbone that continues to guide his work today.

From there, Chris expanded his expertise into the gummy industry at large, blending his fine dining creativity with rigorous formulation science. Over the course of his career, he has formulated hundreds of gummies, along with a wide range of confections and savory items for various brands, giving him a uniquely versatile perspective on how flavor systems perform across categories. He recognized the immense potential of gummies in particular as a format for delivering not just flavor, but also function, wellness, and, of course, simple delight.

At Flavor Systems, Chris combines the world’s finest botanicals, flavors and whole plant compounds into robust, natural, and scalable flavor systems. His approach is both creative and highly technical, designed to help food and beverage brands launch products that stand out in crowded markets. And unlike traditional development processes that can take months, Chris and his team deliver prototype samples in just 2–4 weeks—giving clients speed without sacrificing quality.

Driven by an insatiable intrigue for how things work, Chris continues to bridge culinary artistry with technical expertise. The result is a flavor partner who doesn’t just create recipes, but designs complete systems that are memorable, innovative, and built for growth.