Chau Time

Chau Time is a food industry consulting and advisory firm offering a broad range of technical and strategic services to companies operating across the consumer packaged goods (CPG) and food and beverage sectors. The name is a play on the phrase 'chow time,' reflecting the firm's enthusiastic engagement with the food industry, and its logo — a mushroom clock with a bite taken out of it — symbolizes both the visible deliverables of its work and the complex underlying systems that drive the food business. The company provides flexible, tailored consulting engagements that begin with a thorough consultation and evolve based on client needs, schedules, and strategic goals. Chau Time has been featured in industry media and has worked with notable clients including Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. Its team brings deep expertise across research and development, regulatory compliance, food safety, commercialization, financial modeling, and contract manufacturing. On the R&D side, the firm supports ideation, new product development, process development, reformulation, reverse engineering, and technology transfer — enabling food brands to bring innovative products to market efficiently. In sourcing, Chau Time evaluates both primary and secondary suppliers of raw materials, ingredients, packaging, and equipment, covering domestic and international supply chains into the United States. Regulatory compliance support spans US FDA nutrition and supplement labeling, as well as review and recommendations for US, EU/UK, Middle East, Asia, Canada, Latin America, and Caribbean markets. The firm also supports compliance with organic, non-GMO, American Heart Health, Halal, and California Proposition 65 requirements. Food safety design services include the creation of HACCP plans, process authority letters, and GRAS dossiers, along with preparation for audits and certifications under USDA, FSVP, SQF, PFR, FDA, and California Department of Public Health standards. Financial modeling capabilities cover cost of goods sold (COGS) analysis, margin improvement, cash flow evaluation, and sales and operations planning (S&OP). Commercialization services include on-site support at co-manufacturer or owned production facilities for scale-up, quality assurance and control, sensory shelf life testing, and factory acceptance testing (FATs). The firm also conducts contract manufacturing searches, facilitating introductions, performing on-site due diligence, and negotiating contracts. Additionally, Chau Time assists clients in filing for SBIR and USDA grants and developing strategic partnerships at the state, federal, and international levels. For investors, the firm provides technical due diligence services supporting mergers and acquisitions for family offices, venture capital firms, private equity firms, and venture studios. Its client work with Ghirardelli Chocolate Company included reformulation of CPG items such as chocolate chip cookie mix and brownie mix, new product development of items like blueberry filling squares and chocolate covered pretzels, sensory evaluation of chocolate liquors and squares, and co-manufacturing due diligence for panning operations.