Ebook New Food Product Development

New Food
Product
Development
From Concept
to Marketplace
THIRD EDITION



New Food
Product
Development
From Concept
to Marketplace
THIRD EDITION

Gordon W. Fuller

Boca Raton London New York

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This edition is dedicated to my wife,
Joan, for her patience and encouragement.



Contents

Preface......................................................................................................................xv
Acknowledgments.............................................................................................. xvii
Author.................................................................................................................... xix
1. What Is New Food Product Development?................................................ 1
1.1 Introduction............................................................................................1
1.2 Defining and Characterizing New Food Products........................... 2
1.2.1 New Products............................................................................ 2
1.2.1.1 Line Extensions.......................................................... 3
1.2.1.2 Repositioned Products.............................................. 6
1.2.1.3 New Form of Existing Products.............................. 7
1.2.1.4 Reformulation of Existing Products....................... 7
1.2.1.5 New Packaging of Existing Products..................... 8
1.2.1.6 Innovative Products................................................ 10
1.2.1.7 Creative Products.................................................... 11
1.2.1.8 Genetically Modified Products............................. 11
1.2.2 Customers and Consumers................................................... 12
1.2.3 Added Value............................................................................ 13
1.2.4 Markets and Marketplaces.................................................... 14
1.3 Marketing Characteristics of New Products.................................... 15
1.3.1 Product Life Cycles................................................................. 18
1.3.2 Profit Picture............................................................................ 19
1.4 Why Undertake New Food Product Development?....................... 20
1.4.1 The “Why” of “Why Undertake New Product
Development?”........................................................................ 25
1.4.1.1 Corporate Avenues for Growth and Profitability.....25
1.4.1.2 Opportunities in the Marketplace for New
Product Development............................................. 27
1.4.1.3 Technological Advances Driving New
Product Development............................................. 29
1.4.1.4 Government’s Hand in Influencing New

Product Development............................................. 30
2. The New Product Development Team: Company Organization
and Its Influence on New Product Development.................................... 35
2.1 Structure of Organizations................................................................. 35
2.1.1 Types of Organizations.......................................................... 35
2.1.1.1 Committee Politics.................................................. 36
2.1.1.2 Hierarchical Politics................................................ 37
2.1.1.3 Court Politics............................................................ 38
vii


viii

Contents

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.5
2.6

Organizing for Product Development.............................................. 38
2.2.1 Organizing for “the What”: The Physical Plant................. 40
2.2.2 Organizing for Whom: The Human Side............................ 41
2.2.3 Organization and Management............................................42
2.2.4 Creativity: Thinking Differently..........................................43
Research for Creativity: What Is It?................................................... 45

2.3.1 Characterizing Research........................................................ 45
2.3.2 Organizing for Creative Research........................................ 47
2.3.2.1 The “Unhabitual” as a Tool in Creativity............ 48
2.3.2.2 Cross-Functionality in Product Development...... 49
2.3.2.3 Fluidity as an Organizational Tool
in Creativity............................................................. 50
Constraints to Innovation................................................................... 51
2.4.1 The Corporate Entity.............................................................. 52
2.4.1.1 Risk Capital.............................................................. 52
2.4.1.2 Company Ego........................................................... 52
2.4.2 Communication.......................................................................54
2.4.2.1 Multiplant Communication...................................54
2.4.2.2 Technology: Its Management and Transfer......... 56
2.4.2.3 Personnel Issues...................................................... 56
The New Product Development Team.............................................. 58
Phases in New Product Development.............................................. 60

3. What Are the Sources for New Product Ideas?........................................ 67
3.1 Getting Ideas......................................................................................... 67
3.1.1 General Guidelines for Ideas................................................. 68
3.1.2 Sources of Product Ideas........................................................ 69
3.1.2.1 The Many Marketplaces......................................... 70
3.1.3 Getting to Know Them: General Techniques..................... 72
3.1.3.1 Census and Economic Data................................... 72
3.1.3.2 The Fallacy of Privacy............................................77
3.1.3.3 Data Mining............................................................. 78
3.1.3.4 The Internet: Social Networking, Blogging,
Tweeting, and All That Buzz.................................80
3.1.3.5 Just Looking and Being There............................... 82
3.1.3.6 Using Acquired Knowledge to Source Ideas......90

3.1.3.7 Using Retailer/Distributor/Manufacturer
Interfaces for Ideas................................................ 102
3.1.3.8 Other Environments as Sources of Ideas........... 104
3.1.3.9 Internal Sources of Ideas for Development....... 111
3.2 Criteria for Screening Ideas.............................................................. 116
3.2.1 Environment in which Criteria Are Applied.................... 117
3.2.1.1 Conflict between Marketing and Research
and Development.................................................. 118
3.2.1.2 Conflict between Production and Marketing........119


ix

Contents

3.2.2

Applying the Criteria........................................................... 120
3.2.2.1 Reality of New Product Development Ideas........121
3.2.2.2 Caution about Copy-Cat Products...................... 122

4. Strategy and the Strategists....................................................................... 125
4.1 Strategy................................................................................................ 125
4.1.1 Defining the Company......................................................... 126
4.2 The Strategists.................................................................................... 127
4.2.1 An Involved Senior Management....................................... 128
4.2.2 Shaping the Company’s Objectives.................................... 131
4.2.2.1 Company Objectives That Shape Product
Development.......................................................... 132
4.2.2.2 Sanctioned Espionage or Competitive

Intelligence?........................................................... 133
4.2.2.3 Benchmarking....................................................... 138
4.3 Finance Department: The Cautionary Hand in Development.... 138
4.3.1 Finance’s Not So Passive Role in Development................ 138
4.3.2 Financial Realities of Product Development..................... 140
4.3.2.1 Slotting Fees........................................................... 141
4.3.2.2 Financial Criteria................................................... 142
4.3.3 Financial Tools....................................................................... 144
4.3.3.1 Comparing Costs with Anticipated
Revenues........................................................... 144
4.3.3.2 Probability Index................................................... 146
4.3.3.3 Other Tools............................................................. 147
4.4 Strategy: Marketing’s Perspective................................................... 147
4.4.1 Marketing’s Functions.......................................................... 148
4.4.2 Market Research................................................................... 149
4.4.3 Time: A Critical Element in Marketing Planning
and Development.................................................................. 151
4.4.4 Nature of Market Information............................................ 153
4.4.5 Qualitative and Quantitative Market Research
Information............................................................................ 155
4.4.5.1 Focus Groups......................................................... 156
4.4.5.2 Beyond Focus Groups: Neuromarketing—
Invading the Consumer’s Inner Space............... 157
4.4.6 Marketing’s War Room........................................................ 160
4.4.7 Marketing and Sales Departments..................................... 162
4.4.8 Marketability and Marketing Skills................................... 163
4.4.9 Summary................................................................................ 163
5. The Tacticians: Their Influence in Product Development.................. 165
5.1 Science and Technology in Action................................................... 165
5.1.1 Research and Development: Meeting the Challenges..... 166

x

Contents

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

5.1.1.1 Recipe Development and Recipe Scale-Up:
Meeting the Challenge......................................... 166
5.1.2 Spoilage and Public Health Concerns................................ 169
5.1.2.1 Food Spoilage Concerns....................................... 169
5.1.2.2 Microbial Spoilage................................................ 174
5.1.2.3 Naturalness: Minimal Processing....................... 176
5.1.3 Maintaining Safety and Product Integrity........................ 177
5.1.3.1 General Methods and Constraints to Their Use.....177
5.1.4 Summary and a Caution...................................................... 200
Role of Engineering in the Development Process......................... 201
5.2.1 Engineers............................................................................... 201
5.2.1.1 Process Design....................................................... 202
5.2.1.2 Scale-Up.................................................................. 202
5.2.1.3 In-Process Specifications...................................... 204
Manufacturing Plant: A Stumbling Block or an Asset
in Development?................................................................................. 205

5.3.1 The Plant................................................................................ 205
5.3.1.1 Concerns: Space, Facilities, Labor,
and Disruptions..................................................... 205
5.3.1.2 Co-Packers and Partnerships............................... 206
5.3.2 Roles of the Purchasing and Warehousing
Departments.......................................................................... 207
5.3.2.1 Purchasing Department’s Activities.................. 207
5.3.2.2 Activities in Warehousing
and Distribution.. ........................................... 209
5.3.3 IT Department’s Contribution............................................ 210
5.3.3.1 Information Management and Retrieval........... 211
5.3.3.2 Number Crunching.............................................. 211
5.3.3.3 Graphics.................................................................. 213
Commercial Feasibility..................................................................... 214
5.4.1 The Loop: The Interconnectivity of Questions
with Indefinite Answers...................................................... 214
5.4.1.1 The Art of Guesstimating.................................... 216
Summary............................................................................................. 218

6. The Legal Department: Protecting the Company—Its Name,
Goodwill, and Image.................................................................................. 221
6.1 Introduction........................................................................................ 221
6.2The Law and Product Development...............................................222
6.2.1 Nongovernmental Organizations...................................... 223
6.2.2Advocacy Groups..................................................................225
6.2.3 Geopolitical Groups.............................................................. 226
6.2.4Expert Panels......................................................................... 226
6.2.5Industrial Sector.................................................................... 227
6.2.6Summary................................................................................ 228

Contents

xi

6.3Food Regulation and the Development Process............................ 228
6.3.1Legislation, Regulations, and Safety: A Dilemma........... 228
6.3.2Role of Lawyers..................................................................... 231
6.3.3Legislating Quality and Safety........................................... 232
6.4Environmental Standards................................................................. 233
6.5Summary.............................................................................................234
7. Quality Control: Protecting the Consumer, the Product,
and the Company......................................................................................... 237
7.1Introduction........................................................................................ 237
7.2The Ever-Present Watchdog............................................................. 237
7.2.1Sensory Analysis in Product Development...................... 238
7.2.1.1Sensory Techniques.............................................. 238
7.2.1.2Objective Sensory Testing.................................... 240
7.2.1.3Subjective or Preference Testing......................... 241
7.2.1.4Panelists.................................................................. 242
7.2.1.5Other Considerations in Sensory Analysis....... 244
7.2.1.6To Test Blind or Not?............................................. 244
7.2.1.7Can All Tasters Discriminate?............................. 246
7.2.1.8Using Children...................................................... 247
7.2.2Using Electronics: The Perfect Nose?................................. 247
7.2.3Shelf Life Testing................................................................... 248
7.2.3.1Selecting Criteria to Assess Shelf Life................ 248
7.2.3.2Selecting Conditions for the Test........................ 250
7.2.3.3Types of Tests......................................................... 252
7.2.3.4Guidelines to Determining Shelf Life................ 255

7.2.3.5Advances in Shelf Life Determination............... 258
7.3Designing for Product Integrity...................................................... 262
7.3.1Safety Concerns.................................................................... 264
7.3.2Concerns in Designing for Food Safety............................ 264
7.3.3New Concepts of Safety....................................................... 265
7.3.4 Costs of Quality and Safety Design................................... 267
7.3.5Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point Programs.......... 270
7.3.6Standards Necessary for Safety.......................................... 270
7.3.7International Standards....................................................... 271
7.4Summary............................................................................................. 272
8. Going to Market: Success or Failure?...................................................... 275
8.1 Final Screening................................................................................... 275
8.1.1 Test Market: What It Is......................................................... 275
8.1.1.1 Examples................................................................. 276
8.1.2 Test Market: Its Goals........................................................... 277
8.1.2.1 Some Cautions....................................................... 279
8.1.2.2 Costs: A Deterrent................................................. 279


xii

Contents

8.1.3

8.1.4
8.1.5
8.1.6

Considerations for a Successful Traditional Test Market...... 280

8.1.3.1 Where to Introduce............................................... 280
8.1.3.2 When to Introduce................................................ 282
8.1.3.3 Length of the Test Market Period....................... 283
8.1.3.4 Disruptive and Unexpected Elements
in Test Markets....................................................... 283
8.1.3.5 How to Introduce..................................................284
8.1.3.6 What Product to Market....................................... 285
Evaluating the Results.......................................................... 285
8.1.4.1 The Market: Misinterpreted
and Misunderstood............................................... 286
Judgment Day: The Evaluation........................................... 291
Failures in the Marketplace................................................. 292
8.1.6.1 Causes of Failure................................................... 295

9. Why Farm Out New Product Development?......................................... 301
9.1 Introduction........................................................................................ 301
9.1.1 A Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose.................................................... 302
9.1.1.1 Outsourcing........................................................... 302
9.1.1.2 Outsourcing, Consulting, Partnering,
and Joint Venturing...............................................304
9.1.1.3 A Classification of Consultants........................... 307
9.2 Going Outside for Product Development....................................... 311
9.2.1 The Need................................................................................ 312
9.2.2 Finding and Selecting the Appropriate Consultant........ 313
9.2.3 Some Caveats in Selecting and Working
with Consultants................................................................... 316
9.2.3.1 Exposure................................................................. 316
9.2.3.2 Loss of a Collective Learning Opportunity...... 317
9.2.3.3 Employee Growth................................................. 318
9.2.3.4 Dissension.............................................................. 318

9.2.3.5 Other Obligations: Problems in Academe......... 318
9.2.4 Advantages and Disadvantages......................................... 319
9.2.4.1 Utilization of Resources....................................... 319
9.2.4.2 The Need to Monitor............................................ 321
9.2.4.3 Does the Client Understand
Consultantspeak? Communication.................... 321
9.3 Summary............................................................................................. 323
10. New Food Product Development in the Food Service Industry........ 325
10.1Understanding the Food Service Industry..................................... 325
10.1.1 Food Service Marketplaces.................................................. 325
10.1.2 Customers and Consumers in the Food Service
Industry.................................................................................. 328


Contents

xiii

10.2Characteristics of the Food Service Market................................... 329
10.2.1Clientele.................................................................................. 330
10.2.2Food Preparation and Storage Facilities............................ 331
10.2.2.1Equipment.............................................................. 331
10.2.2.2Storage Facilities.................................................... 332
10.2.2.3Labor....................................................................... 333
10.2.3 Price, Quality, Consistency, Safety, and Sometimes
Nutrition................................................................................. 335
10.2.3.1Standards................................................................ 339
10.2.3.2 Health Care Sector of the Institutional
Market.................................................................. 341
10.2.3.3Military Sector of the Institutional Market.......342

10.3Developing Products for the Food Service Sector.........................343
10.3.1Physical Facilities of the Customer.....................................343
10.3.2Energy Requirements...........................................................345
10.3.3Labor.......................................................................................346
10.3.4Waste Handling.................................................................... 347
10.3.5Customers and Consumers................................................. 347
10.3.5.1Consumer and Nutrition: An Oxymoron............ 348
10.4Quality in the Food Service Market................................................ 349
10.4.1Safety...................................................................................... 349
10.5Development of Products for the Food Service Market............... 350
10.6Criteria for Evaluating a Test Market.............................................. 352
11. Product Development in the Food Additive and Food
Ingredient Industries.................................................................................. 355
11.1Additive and Ingredient Market Environment............................. 355
11.1.1 Characteristics of the Food Ingredient Industry.............. 356
11.1.1.1 Chain of Customers and Consumers:
A Welter of Identities and Needs........................ 356
11.1.1.2 Similarities and Dissimilarities to the Food
Service Industry.................................................... 357
11.1.1.3The Ever-Present Government............................ 358
11.1.1.4 Proliferation of New Ingredients........................ 359
11.1.2 Focusing on the Customer Who Is Also
the Consumer..................................................................... 360
11.1.2.1Customer Research............................................... 361
11.1.2.2 “Consumer” Research: “Yes” and “No”
Possibilities............................................................. 362
11.1.3Development Process...........................................................364
11.1.3.1 Development Process and Food Legislation..... 365
11.1.3.2What Are the Criteria for Screening?................. 365
11.1.4 Looking to the Future for Developments in Food

Ingredients............................................................................. 368


xiv

Contents

11.1.5Meeting the Challenge: New Ingredients......................... 370
11.1.5.1 Marketing’s Impact on the Direction
of Research and Development............................. 370
11.2Ingredients and the New Nutrition................................................ 380
11.2.1Opportunities Provided by the New Nutrition............... 381
11.2.1.1Biologically Active Nonnutrients........................ 381
11.2.1.2 Other Ingredients: Some with and Some
without Nutritive Properties............................... 388
11.2.2Challenges for the New Nutrition...................................... 392
11.2.2.1Problems Presented by Enriched Foods............ 392
11.2.3A Cautionary Summary...................................................... 393
12. Dancing but Uncertain of the Music....................................................... 397
12.1 Introduction........................................................................................ 397
12.2 Looking Forward and Backward..................................................... 398
12.2.1 The Changed and Changing Scene.................................... 398
12.2.1.1 The Past................................................................... 398
12.2.1.2 Recent Times and the Present............................. 399
12.2.1.3 The Future..............................................................400
12.2.2 Being Sure of the Concept...................................................404
12.2.2.1 Value of the Earlier Literature............................. 406
12.2.2.2 What Customers and Consumers Want
or What Purveyors Want?....................................408
12.3 What Food Science and Technology Have Wrought.................... 409

12.3.1 Impact of Food Science and Technology........................... 409
12.3.1.1 How Food Savvy Are People?............................. 409
12.3.1.2 Impact of Technology........................................... 412
12.3.1.3 Trends as Social History....................................... 418
12.3.2 Factors Shaping Future Product and Process
Development.......................................................................... 429
12.3.2.1 Influences: Known and Unknown...................... 429
12.4 What I Have Learned So Far about Product Development.......... 438
12.4.1 My Mentors............................................................................ 438
12.4.1.1 New Food Products of the Future...................... 438
References............................................................................................................443
Index...................................................................................................................... 473


Preface
After I left Imasco Foods Ltd., Montreal, Quebec, Canada, I taught courses
on new food product development and agricultural economics at McGill
University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as an outside lecturer. I also taught
a course on communication at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada, as a guest lecturer. This book has its origins in notes developed for
these courses.
The book took form after I began my consulting firm and the lecture notes
became embellished with experiences at Imasco Foods and its several
companies as well as experiences gained as a consultant working with companies whose products failed somewhere in the process. I was called in to
correct errors but first had to find where errors might have been made. In the
course of these adventures, I met many of my ex-students at trade shows and
food fairs who encouraged me to put everything together in a book—thus,
this book.
In this edition, contents have been reorganized and much new material
added, especially on marketing and electronic communication and their

combined effect on market research. Where possible, I tried to use peerreviewed marketing journals, but seldom do companies announce their
activities in these publications; thus, resorting to business, marketing, and
trade newspapers was necessary for references. Any material used had to
make a substantial intellectual or technical contribution to an understanding of new food product development or illustrate a novel and innovative
approach to the new product development process. The material had to
describe the “real-world” environment of product development, and hence,
more resort to business newspapers was necessary.
I studiously avoided “worked fictional examples” of new product development, as some reviewers suggested I include—this is a style of presentation developed by many business schools. True examples are more blatant in
illustrating the elements contributing to the success or failure of a particular
product situation. Real life is ever so much more educational. I have kept
the confidences of my clients in the experiences I relate, but, as stated in an
earlier edition, if my clients do see themselves, they should be ashamed. The
anecdotes, mostly errors in the development process, illustrate particular
misadventures in new product work.
The age of some of my references has been criticized, but where nothing new
has been added to that provided by the older literature, I see no reason to use
later works simply because they bear a later date. Besides, the older literature is
often written more clearly so that principles are easily grasped. For those who
may disagree, I suggest they read some older marketing literature and the later
literature. There is a further defense of my literature choices in Chapter 12.
xv



Acknowledgments
I am deeply indebted to my wife, Joan, for reading the text and making
many helpful suggestions; to my son, Grahame, senior technical writer for
Autodesk Canada Co., Montreal, Quebec, Canada, for preparing many of
the figures, for many interesting and stimulating discussions regarding the
text, and also for correcting and emending my notes on computers, communication technology, and the Internet; and to my son-in-law, Dr. David

Gabriel, professor in the Department of Physical Education and Kinesiology
at Brock University, St.  Catharines, Ontario, Canada, for his suggestions
for, and assistance with, figures. I am especially grateful to Christine
Coombes, U.S. Public Relations Coordinator of Mintel International, for the
data on new product introductions. Chapters  10 and 11 benefited largely
from helpful discussions with Timothy Beltran—who, at the time of our
discussions, was executive chef of the J. P. Morgan-Chase dining room on
Wall Street, New York City, and has now formed his own catering company, Culantro Caterers, in New Jersey, and with Henry B. Heath, MBE,
BPharm (London), MFC, FRPharmS., FIFST (United Kingdom), and retired
president of Bush Boake Allen Corporation, Dorval, Quebec. To both of
these gentlemen, my heartfelt thanks. Much is owed to James W. Baldwin
for many interesting discussions on marketing and with whom I worked
on the communications course at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada, and travelled extensively in Europe looking for new product ideas
for Imasco Foods; to Dr. Charles Beck, a good friend and colleague with
whom I exchanged many ideas; to Dr. Sylvan Eisenberg of MicroTracers,
Inc., San Francisco, California, for his thoughtful advice; and to the library
staff at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, especially Judy
Wanner and Michael Ridley, chief information officer and chief librarian,
respectively. To all, my sincere thanks.

xvii



Author
Dr. Gordon W. Fuller has a wide variety of training and experience that
he has used successfully in his consulting practice for over 30 years. He
received his BA and MA in food chemistry from the University of Toronto,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1954 and 1956, respectively. He also received

his PhD in food technology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst,
Massachusetts, in 1962.
His work experience includes stints as a research chemist with the Food
and Drug Directorate in Ottawa, Canada, and as a research food technologist working on chocolate products for the Nestlé Co. in Fulton, New York.
He conducted research on tomato flavors and products at the H. J. Heinz
Fellowship at the Mellon Institute for Industrial Research, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania for two years.
Dr. Fuller served as associate professor in the Department of Poultry
Science at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, where, in
addition to teaching and research responsibilities into added value meat and
egg products, he carried out extension work for food processors in southern Ontario. He also held a fellowship at the Food Research Association,
Leatherhead, England, where he worked on water binding and reducing
water losses in meat products.
Prior to forming his own consulting company, Dr. Fuller was, for eight
years, vice president of technical services, Imasco Foods Ltd., Montreal,
Quebec, Canada, where he was responsible for corporate research and product development programs at the company’s subsidiaries in both Canada
and the United States. His consulting practice has taken him to the United
States, South America, Europe, and China. He has lectured on the topics of
agricultural economics and food technology in North and South America,
England, Germany, the Netherlands, and China. As an outside lecturer, he
presented courses at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and
was a guest lecturer at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada,
for many years.
Dr. Fuller is presently semiretired and works mainly with his old clients. He keeps himself occupied growing different varieties of hot peppers
and developing new formulations of hot sauces. He now lives in Guelph,
Ontario.

xix

1
What Is New Food Product Development?
…The production of a new food commodity might seem to be a trivial
matter unworthy of serious consideration; this is not necessarily so. The
technological expertise upon which any one item depends may require
the full depth of scientific understanding.
Magnus Pyke (1971)

1.1╇ Introduction
To be profitable and to survive, food companies seek new products. These,
if successful, give new life to a company, replacing products no longer selling well. Old bell-ringer products cannot be relied on year after year to be
profitable. New product development or finding new uses for old products is
essential for continued growth of a company. New products are one of a few
ways a company can follow for increased profitability.
Developing new products requires talented personnel, extensive research,
suitable physical facilities, and money. Such human and physical resources
are expensive. Nevertheless there is no promise that any new products
developed through these resources will be successful enough to justify their
expense. The obviousness of the need for new product is apparent to any
novice food technologist. For the novice food technologist entering new
product research and development, what is difficult to appreciate is that
there is a finite amount of money available within any company and an infinite number of demands to use that money. Management must see that its
money is allocated to those areas in the company where the money is used
to best advantage.
The marketing department wants to expand markets into new geographical territories with its bell-ringer products. It reasons that there would be perhaps some language or other label changes and no developmental expenses,
and the company would be moving products with a proven customer appeal
and sales record and hence the risk would be small. The finance department sees opportunities in various investment instruments that would
contribute to the profitability of the company without the associated risks
and costs of new product development or expansion into new market areas.

1


2

New Food Product Development: From Concept to Marketplace

The manufacturing department would put forward its argument that with
newer, faster equipment, it could lower the cost of established products,
reduce energy costs, and be a better corporate citizen with a smaller carbon
footprint, and more profitability for the company would result.
There are other areas of critical activity in the company that will have their
own promises of how they could use the money available to best advantage:
each will argue their case with senior management as to why they and they
alone would succeed. And the shareholders or partners in the company also
have their ideas how best to use the money.
This is the world of new product development, one where there is competition for money from within and uncertainty regarding the success of any
new product that is introduced into the marketplaces.

1.2╇ Defining and Characterizing New Food Products
The new product development process introduces many new terms, and
these terms must be defined and understood for complete understanding
of the process.
1.2.1  New Products
A new food product is one that has not been presented before in any marketplace anywhere. This is a rare occurrence.
A food product may be new to a company that has not sold it before
but is not necessarily new to a marketplace: other companies elsewhere
might have sold it or a product conceptually similar to it before. Some
characteristics of a food product providing newness for a company are
tabulated in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1
Characteristics of a New Food Product as Introduced by a Specific
Food Company
Product has never before been manufactured by that company.
Product has never before been distributed by that company.
An old established product manufactured by a company is introduced into a geographically
new area by that company.
An old established product manufactured by a company is introduced in either a new
package or a new size or a new form.
An old established product manufactured by a company is introduced into a new market
niche, i.e., positioned as one with a new function.


What Is New Food Product Development?

3

Defining a new product to encompass all the characteristics listed is difficult. Two simple definitions of a new product are as follows:


1.A product not previously manufactured by a company and introduced by that company into its marketplace or into a new marketplace, or



2.The presentation or rebranding by a company of an established
product in a new form, a new package or under a new label into a
market not previously explored by that company.

No-name or store brand products, even those as famous as President’s

Choice®, are hard to pigeonhole by a definition. No-name or store brand
products are purchased from a food manufacturer by a retailer or by a company that then either leaves a No-name label on them (rare but not unheard
of) or puts its own branded label on it and sells it to a retailer. This company
may be no more than an office with a telephone. A label owner visits manufacturers and purchases product to the grade or standard he or she wants
(often very high standards—cf. President’s Choice or S & W Fine Foods™):
he or she has not developed, manufactured, or market-researched the product. In effect, these products piggyback on the research and development
work of the original food manufacturer.
Tables 1.2 and 1.3 tabulate new food products, describe some general characteristics of each type, and provide some examples.
1.2.1.1  Line Extensions
A line extension is a variant of an established line of food products, i.e., one
more of the same. Line extensions represent a logical extension of similarly
positioned products.
Some care must be given to what are and are not line extensions, for example:
• Adding a canned three-bean salad product to a line of canned bean
products involves a change in processing and quality control technology. Developers have gone from a high pH, low acid product to
an acidified product. This is no longer a line extension; a different
market niche is targeted. The product now has added value and is a
new menu item.
• A potato chip manufacturer extends its product line to the manufacture of corn chips or corn puffs or roasted peanuts or popcorn.
These are not simple line extensions. The new products have in common only the snack food element. These are distributed through the
same channels and displayed in the same section of a retail store,
but purchasing philosophies, storage facilities, and manufacturing
technologies have changed extensively for the manufacturer.


4

New Food Product Development: From Concept to Marketplace

Table 1.2

General Characteristics of Classes of New Food Products
Types of New Product
Line extensions

Repositioned existing
product

New form or size of
existing product

Reformulation of
existing product

Repackaging of
existing product

Innovative products

Creative products

General Characteristics
Little time or research required for development.
No major manufacturing changes in processing lines or major
equipment purchases.
Relatively little change in marketing strategy.
No new purchasing skills (commodity trading) or raw material sources.
No new storage or handling techniques for either the raw ingredients
or the final product. This means that regular distribution systems
can be used.
Research and development time is minimal.

Manufacturing is comparatively unaffected.
Marketing must develop new strategies and promotional materials
to interpret and penetrate the newly created marketing niche.
Sales tactics require reevaluation to reach and make sales within the
new marketplaces.
Highly variable impact on research and development.
Highly variable impact on physical plant and manufacturing
capabilities. Major equipment purchases may be required if
manufacturing to be done in-house.
Marketing and sales resources will require extensive reprogramming.
Moderate research and development required consistent with
reformulation goal.
Generally little impact on physical facilities.
Generally little impact on marketing and sales resources unless
reformulation leads to repositioning of product.
The novelty of the repackaging will dictate the amount and degree of
research and development required.
Slight impact on physical facilities. New packaging equipment will
be required.
Little impact on marketing, sales, and distribution resources.
Amount of research and development dependent on the nature of
the innovation.
Highly variable impact on manufacturing capabilities.
Possible heavy impact on marketing and sales resources.
Generally heavy need for extensive research and development,
therefore a costly venture.
Extensive development time may be required.
May require entirely new plant and equipment. Degree of creativity
may require development de novo of unique equipment.
Basically will require total revision of marketing and sales forces.

Creation of a new company or brand may be required.
Risk of failure high.