Top 10 tips for effective retail product developmentBy Winnie Chiu
August 6, 2015

Taking a recipe from concept to commercialization can be a long, ambiguous and expensive process, especially for small- and medium-sized businesses. That’s why the Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts at George Brown College, Toronto, established its Food Innovation & Research Studio (FIRSt). Building on the college’s record of applied research and innovation, industry engagement and culinary excellence, FIRSt offers services in product and recipe commercialization, nutritional labeling and consumer sensory evaluation, led by expert staff and chef faculty.

Before becoming Director of FIRSt, I gained valuable insights into successful product development while working for a world-renowned food company. This experience now helps me guide our clients through their journey of creating food products.

The term “Research and Development,” or R&D for short, may sound overly scientific and intimidating to some people. At FIRSt, we explain it as “a combination of culinary and scientific knowledge acquisition with the application of the knowledge for performance of business goals.”

Engaging a third party to assist in product development from an existing recipe is highly beneficial because it provides objectivity. While the original creator may be able to perfect it, biased feedback can very often skew the development objective for the target end-users.

Here are our top 10 tips to guide effective product development:

1. Ask the consumer

While this sounds like a no-brainer, far too often clients who insist they understand consumers’ preferences, without sound data, find out otherwise. Consumers’ attitudes towards using products may vary in different environments. As an example, FIRSt helped an established, privately owned restaurant transform a popular menu item into a retail concept for market segment expansion. We conducted a direct consumer survey with restaurant-goers before developing prototypes. The result was contrary to the owners’ expectation but provided good insights to redirect their focus to a different target consumer group.

2. Documentation for change

To produce a consistent quality product, clear documentation is vital. At FIRSt, we train our student researchers to keep accurate records of all recipes. The popular saying of “it’s all in my head” does not cut it, especially when dealing with multiple changes during development. 3. Food science is not a bad thing The science of food is fundamental to cutting-edge product development. Chefs can create such tasty foods because they know which ingredients complement one another and how to cook them to produce optimal flavours and textures. Food scientists can create safe, shelf-stable, consumer-relevant and cost-effective products because they understand the processes and ingredients necessary to scale up chef-inspired recipes. Interactions of ingredients and manufacturing processes lie within the realm of food science. 4. Careful ingredient selection and specification While the “soup du jour” is a sought-after menu item at restaurants, ingredient substitution for a retail product is more complicated. The psychology of the retail consumer is to expect no variation in product quality. Substitution can upset the balance of product attributes but the challenge is inevitable due to availability and pricing challenges, so changes must be tested against the original profile. For example, a simple strawberry flavour can feature floral, candy, ripe and cooked notes. Creating a quality specification would greatly help consistency and standardization, whether you’re using lentils from Saskatchewan, frozen rhubarb from Ontario, basmati rice from India or olive oil from Italy. 5. Be patient While a dish at the restaurant is served within three to five minutes of being cooked, this is never the case for a retail product. The prototype must be evaluated after being aged for a period of time, under the same conditions that it will face before reaching consumers. 6. Everything is not for everyone Effective product innovation acknowledges how consumers perceive the brand, the product offerings and the value proposition. Making claims on “kosher, halal, low sodium, no preservatives, low fat, gluten free, no MSG, vegan and extended shelf-life with minimal thermal process” all on one cooking sauce would add a negative and confusing connotation to the product. 7. Need to embrace multicultural influence This is an essential part of the Canadian consumer landscape. The diversity of people from over 200 countries provides unique opportunities for us to learn about new ingredients and new ways to use traditional ingredients. FIRSt recently helped a quick-serve restaurant refine an Asian-style menu item that is quickly becoming mainstream fare. By engaging George Brown College’s diverse international and multicultural population of staff and students, the industry partner gained pertinent consumer insights. 8. Regulatory compliance It is important to safeguard your consumer as well as your brand. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has a comprehensive website that covers subjects ranging from food safety to food labeling. Some of these regulations are not cut and dry. Facilities such as FIRSt have the expertise to help decipher compliance. 9. Process development Like à la carte versus banquet cooking, conversion efficiency to large batch can pose significant challenges. The key is to understand how ingredients and processes are affected in an exponential way. There is much more to scaling recipes than just multiplication. The proportion, order of addition, size of equipment and manufacturing capability will all affect process times and the quality of the finished product. 10. Who should make your products Having your own manufacturing facility is a luxury. In most cases, a co-manufacturer is commissioned to run production trials and smaller test batches. Production line time is precious, and process parameters should be discussed and agreed upon to ensure cost effectiveness. Consumer food choices are often tied to emotional experiences. Robust R&D activities will have a positive impact on consumers’ experiences of your product and help gain brand loyalty in the longer term. See also: About the author: Winnie Chiu, M.Sc., is the Director of the Food Innovation and Research Studio (FIRSt) at George Brown College, Toronto. The applied research facility is the first Technology Access Centre in Ontario, funded by the Government of Canada to enable industry easier access to the college’s talented faculty, creative students and highly experienced food science technical expertise. Contact her at [email protected]. For more on FIRSt, visit www.georgebrown.ca/first.

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