Are you hoping to innovate your way to the next big food and beverage trend? Then this guide on generating food product ideas that appeal to consumer appetites, is a must-read. 

Developing new exciting ways to connect with consumers can be a challenge. You need to either come up with an idea that disrupts habitual purchasing patterns or uses them to your advantage. 

As humans, we psychologically crave novelty. So, new products - provided they’re properly marketed and match (if not exceed) the quality of their market competitors - will often pique consumer interest. They also begin with idea generation. It may seem like an obvious statement, but before we discuss ideation and idea screening, it is worth defining it.  

Defining idea generation in NPD for the food industry 

Idea generation in new product development (NPD) is a process in which food industry professionals use market knowledge and scientific research as the basis for new creative ideas.   

They then screen the ideas to determine which ones are most likely to make their mark. It only takes one good idea to significantly impact market share and profitability. As a result, no article on idea generation is complete without examining the principles you’ll implement when screening new ideas.  

Idea screening in new product development 

This process begins with the evaluation of the idea itself before engaging in a more detailed analysis. To make this possible, the idea should be framed, so that its potential can be assessed. A clear product description is the first part of this. The idea statement that describes a concept should include some of the thinking that went into it.   

Firstly, indicate the context in which the product may be used and define the target market. You can then ascertain how the product could be positioned in your current range and how it compares to your competitors. If the concept looks promising, the following factors are then investigated more closely before moving on to the next steps (you can explore these in more detail in our guide to NPD in the food and beverage industry):  

  • The size of the target market 
  • Compatibility with brand image 
  • Position to competing products 
  • Potential distributors 
  • Production cost and pricing 
  • Promotional strategies and their feasibility 
  • Processing practicalities such as equipment and ingredient availability 
  • Technical skills required in processing raw materials 
  • Legal requirements for food safety, quality and compliance 
  • Product development and investment costs 
  • Risk analysis including the cost of failure 
  • Investment costs including product development and launch costs 

What are the best idea generation techniques for new product development? 

Brainstorming 

Because brainstorming encourages a free flow of thoughts and ideas, it’s commonly considered to be the most popular idea generation technique. Everyone has different tastes and preferences when it comes to food, so they should be given free rein to articulate any thoughts or ideas that they think would appeal to today’s consumers. During the session, evaluation and critique are off the table to ensure the focus remains purely on capturing ideas.  

Focus groups 

 
Focus groups are a form of qualitative research, consisting of group interviews structured to represent people with a wide range of characteristics. You might use focus groups to identify new product ideas, or you can use them to uncover broad indications of what your market wants. Alternatively, you can bounce the results of a brainstorming session off a focus group, providing early indications of consumer reactions to new ideas while still in the ideation phase of NPD.  

Mindmapping 

Mindmapping focuses thoughts on a central concept expressed as a single word or phrase. You can use it in brainstorming or to focus ideas on a board concept. You can do it on your own or you can involve others, encouraging them to contribute their thoughts and associations. These might not be ideas on their own, but additions to the mindmap will contribute to idea formulation.  

SCAMPER 

The advantage of SCAMPER is that it directs attention to what you already have. The acronym stands for: 

  • Substitute: Look for ways that a flavour or ingredient could be substituted to open a product up to a brand-new market. What immediately springs to mind is the growth in vegan and plant-based alternatives - a market that is set to double by 2030.
  • Combine: Unite two ideas to make a new one - with classic examples including peanut butter and chocolate and sweet and salty flavours such as maple bacon - which is expanding in its appeal having originally been popular mostly in Canada. 
  • Adapt: Improve an existing product or change the process for improvement. For instance, consumers who prefer a low-fat diet may see products that are baked not fried as an enhancement.
  • Modify: Consider reducing or increasing the size or presence of certain ingredients. Brands such as Warburton are expanding their range to include protein-rich versions of their products to meet surging demand for protein food products and supplements.
  • Put to another use: Look for ways to repurpose products. A great example of this is how baking brands appeal to time-poor consumers by moving from general-purpose products such as flour to pre-mixed ingredients for baking muffins and cakes. 
  • Eliminate: Simplifying products could result in new product lines. For example, you could consider eliminating extra sweeteners so that other ingredient flavour profiles have a greater impact.
  • Reverse: Alter the order of processes to come up with something new. This could include ideas like providing spice sachets with products, so that consumers can control flavour instead of adding flavourings during processing.  

BRIDGeS 

BRIDGeS stands for benefits, risks, issues, domain knowledge, goals and solutions. It begins with describing the problem your idea intends to solve from the subject’s perspective. This subject could be an organisation or a segment of the market. Participants then use BRIDGeS to build out the subject by adding relevant and applicable information.  

After deciding which descriptors should be prioritised, it’s time to look for product ideas that match the subject’s primary goal, evaluating them based on the benefits, risks, and issues that match them. This approach has the benefit of including a basic form of preliminary new product idea screening as part of the ideation process.  

Storyboarding 

Visually represent research findings on a storyboard and look for ways to link them to possible conclusions. For example, market research may indicate a specific set of consumer needs. Your ideas contribute to a match that brings the story to a satisfactory conclusion.  

Reverse thinking 

Stuck in conventional mindsets? Question everything you’ve previously taken for granted as a way to encourage novel ideas. A theoretical scenario illustrating this could be a company that produces meat products questioning their paradigm, leading them to branch out into meat substitutes for vegetarians and vegans. Their reverse thinking would have transformed the question: “How can we develop a new meat-based product?” into “How can we develop a product with no meat content whatsoever?” 

Navigating NPD With Foods Connected 

New ideas bring fresh opportunities, and once they’ve been screened and approved, complex NPD workflows are triggered. We recommend implementing a stage-gate process, and our software makes it easy for you to stay in control. You’ll also want to track recipe development and formulate specifications for everything from raw materials to retail packs.  

You can drive your NPD process with Foods Connected’s food product development software. It’s just one of the ways in which our technology helps food businesses stay ahead of the curve.

Request a demo today to find out more about our award-winning suite of software solutions for the food and beverage industry. 

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