From Concept to Market: Inside Food Product Development
Arundhathy Shabu
kHub Post Date: August 14, 2024
Read Time: 6 Minutes
Every year, over 15,000 new food products hit the market. The product development process in the food industry is critical for determining the success of these products. The food product development strategy is an elaborate procedure aimed at introducing new food products that captivate target consumers, address existing gaps, meet quality and safety standards, generate profit, and ensure sustainability. Essentially, the goal is to produce a product that consumers or food service organizations will purchase.
Reference: https://www.foodresearchlab.com/what-we-do/new-product-development-service/
A food product reaches the market through a blend of consumer expectations, market research, technological input, and thorough research into the product's characteristics to ensure its quality and safety. Equally important to the development process is maintaining compliance with food safety and quality standards post-development to ensure the product remains safe and consistently high quality.
Key Steps in Food Product Development
The product development process integrates two main knowledge bases: consumer needs and modern scientific discoveries and technological advancements. The stages involved in food product development cater to these aspects, following a structured process with four main stages, which may include sub-divisions in some models.
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Product Strategy
The initial step in product development and product strategy involves planning and approaches to create a successful product that meets target market needs. This stage includes determining the product's purpose, identifying the target audience, defining features and benefits, and creating a roadmap for development, launch, and marketing. The product strategy guides the entire development process by providing a clear direction and decision-making framework focused on customer requirements.
- Ideation: Generate innovative product ideas through brainstorming, market research, or identifying market gaps.
- Defining the Project: Conduct initial research on product ideas, consumers, technology, and the market to define the project.
- Concept Development: Summarize the product's target market, positioning, features, and benefits. This stage often involves collaboration between consumers, product designers, marketers, food technologists, and engineers.
- Product Design Specifications: Develop specifications that prioritize consumer-relevant metrics like safety and food regulations, including metrics related to production or distribution.
- Feasibility Study: Create an operational plan based on product concept and design specifications to understand the product's feasibility.
- Process, Distribution, and Marketing Identification: Determine manufacturing steps, effective distribution methods, and marketing strategies by understanding the target market and related demographics.
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Product Design & Development
Food product development is process-intensive, requiring concurrent engineering to integrate process development and product design, eliminating time and cost constraints. Key attributes in this stage include:
Co-development Approach by Suppliers & Manufacturers
Modern product development often involves collaborating with suppliers or co-manufacturers to develop solutions, reducing development time.
Quantitative Techniques in Product and Processing
Experimental designs and statistical analysis are increasingly used in food design and process development, requiring advanced knowledge from designers and developers.
Aesthetics & Quality Values
Sensory science plays a vital role in designing acceptable food products, considering appearance, color, shape, and packaging influenced by the artistic environment.
Ergonomics
Addressing the relationship between physical products and users, especially in packaging, to enhance user comfort and efficiency.
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Product Marketing
Product commercialization involves scaling up production and marketing, finalizing product design, adjusting production processes, determining pricing and packaging, and developing a marketing strategy.
- Commercialization Setup: Agree on the product's aim, resources, and consumer relationship, devising a roadmap for market success.
- Marketing, Production, and Distribution Design: Optimize marketing systems by integrating design into product qualities, production, and distribution.
- Testing: Conduct thorough testing on product qualities, consumer perception, marketing value, company benefits, and environmental impact.
- Integration: Consolidate insights from design and testing to determine product feasibility and launch strategy.
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Product Launch
The product launch is a critical and often expensive phase where planning, research, and development come to fruition. Important parts of the launch include strategy, activities, and demand outcomes, such as setting a launch date, deciding on packaging and labeling, and developing marketing strategies to create awareness and interest among the target audience. Conducting taste tests and gathering feedback are crucial for refining the product. A well-executed launch can establish a loyal customer base and ensure long-term success.
Food Specification Management: A Core Notion in Food Product Development
Developing food product specifications is substantial to ensure that the final product meets desired quality and safety standards. These specifications outline the physical, chemical, nutritional, and microbiological characteristics of the food product, including its composition and sensory properties like flavor and texture. They also cover packaging and labeling requirements, such as the type of packaging material, size, shape, ingredient lists, nutritional information, and any health claims.
Typically, specifications are developed in collaboration with a team of regulatory scientists, product developers, and other experts. This collaboration ensures that the product complies with relevant food safety regulations, such as the Codex Alimentarius, and adheres to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). Moreover, product specifications should be created with the target market in mind to ensure the product meets customer preferences and expectations. A well-defined set of product specifications is crucial for effectively developing a new food product that satisfies customer expectations and regulatory requirements.
Managing product specifications allows food manufacturers to track changes in ingredient availability, supplier sources, or manufacturing processes and make necessary updates to the specifications in a timely manner. This management helps prevent errors or omissions in labeling or ingredient declarations, which is particularly important given the increasing significance of food allergen management and labeling requirements. Effective specification management can also identify opportunities for product improvements or innovations.
Resorting to Modern Solutions for Elevating Food Product Development Efficiency
“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” — Winston Churchill
Leveraging modern tools to augment food product development is such a change required to usher in successful food product development operations. Tech-assisted solutions, such as cloud-based specification management systems, offer comprehensive platforms for creating, managing, and maintaining product specifications. By digitizing specifications, food developers can streamline their workflows, reduce errors, and ensure that their products meet the latest regulatory and customer requirements.
An example of such a tool is Smart Food Safe’s Smart Specification, which demonstrates how a digital specification management solution can simplify the product development process. This tool provides a centralized location for storing, tracking, and handling all specification-related information, including nutritional details, allergen declarations, and critical ingredient data. By keeping specifications precise, accessible, and up-to-date, these tools save time, minimize errors, and elevate the overall quality and compliance standards of food products.
Embracing these modern tools is not just an option but a necessity for food manufacturers aiming to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving market. As technology continues to advance, the adoption of innovative solutions will be key to creating safe, and high-quality food products that meet the ever-changing demands of consumers and regulators.
About the Author
Arundhathy Shabu is a food technologist and content specialist at Smart Food Safe and specializes in the niche of researching and deciphering information spheres on food safety, quality assurance, supply chain management, technology innovations, digital applications, and other related topics. They are engaged in creating and managing compelling and reader-friendly content to communicate complex concepts in a clear and accessible manner.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/arundhathyshabu/