PURCHASE, NY. — PepsiCo Foods has named the members of its first culinary advisory board. The company said the carefully curated board is made up of six individuals who provide comprehensive food perspectives and represent chefs, technical food experts, culinary trend drivers, business owners and entrepreneurs.

The new members include Eric Adjepong, a professional chef, television host and author best known for blending Western African flavors into his dishes; Ellen Bennett, the founder and chief brand officer of culinary apparel brand Hedley & Bennett and host of the cooking series “Kitchen Glow Up”; Ali Bouzari, a culinary scientist who is also the co-founder and chief science officer of Pilot R&D, which “combines his culinary creativity and scientific expertise to develop new products and techniques”; Tiffany Derry, a television personality, co-founder of the hospitality company T2D Concepts and owner of several well-known Dallas restaurants such as Roots Chicken Shak, Roots Southern Table and Radici Wood Fired Grill; Andrew “Kappy” Kaplan, a professionally trained chef who is a host on the Beyond the Plate podcast and is an executive vice president of culinary operations at Rachael Ray; and Tyler Malek, the co-founder and chief creative officer of Salt & Straw, who is best known for creating 2,000 unique flavors.

“This dynamic culinary advisory board has already been hard at work over the past few months behind-the-scenes advising on brand strategy, enriching our culinary culture, and creating meaningful new ways to connect to people through food,” said Carolyn Braff, culinary vice president of PepsiCo Foods North America. “We are thrilled to partner with such talented culinary experts who have immersed themselves in our iconic portfolio of brands and have an unparalleled pulse on food culture today.” 

PepsiCo said the board will complement the longstanding expertise of the company’s culinary teams, which include 10 full-time chefs and more than 150 globally trained certified culinary scientists that specialize in culinary arts, cooking technologies, baking and pastry, food science and nutrition among other areas.