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Developing a food concept: unleashing the art of food concept development

Posted on: August 3, 2023
Reading time: 6-8 minutes

1-2-Taste’s Jasper Schouten speaks with ingredients suppliers about market trends, product innovation, best practices, supplier challenges, and more.

In this blog we’re venturing into the captivating world of food concept development, where innovation and trends converge to create new food product development. Our panel of five distinguished food ingredient experts will guide us through the process, equipping us with invaluable tips and tricks to craft successful food concepts.

Key Takeaways:

Embracing the Latest Trends: Jasper Schouten, CEO of 1-2-Taste, emphasizes the importance of staying updated with the latest trends in food concept development. Keeping a pulse on evolving consumer preferences helps create unique and relevant concepts.
Collaboration for Success: The lineup of guests, including Jos Vast from Bakery Academy, Floris Combes from neonwhale, Peter Roepers from PREfresco Beverage Lab, Lisanne van der Kooi from Food Scientist for Hire, and Monique van de Vijver from Solidaridad, underscores the significance of collaboration and diverse perspectives in crafting innovative food concepts.
Balance of Taste and Nutrition: Food concepts must strike a harmonious balance between indulgence and health. Incorporating nutritious and sustainable ingredients is key to meeting the demands of conscious consumers.
Storytelling through Food: Creating compelling narratives around food concepts adds depth and emotional appeal, connecting consumers to the product on a deeper level.
Experimentation and Iteration: Don’t be afraid to experiment with bold flavours, textures, and presentations. Iteration is vital in refining ideas and bringing out the best in a food concept.

Embark in this blog with our expert panel, and let their insights inspire you to take your food concept development to new heights. Unleash your creativity, blend innovation with tradition, and leave a lasting impression on the ever-evolving world of food concept development.

Jos Vast – Bakery Academy

What trends should you explore when developing your new products? On the one hand, you can look into functional innovations, such as increasing the shelf life of your products, or maintaining the same shelf life with fewer ingredients or e-numbers. Or you can focus on new types of products: Jos Vast sees a bakery trend for crackers, which attract customers as a tasty, lower-calory snack than sweet biscuits. Decide first what you want to do, then search out ingredients that you can use to do it.

Floris Combes – neonwhale

Dairy companies can lean into the ability to deliver ‘affordable nutrition’. And along with plant-based dairy alternatives using innovative technologies such as microbial fermentation, Floris Combes sees interesting possibilities in products that combine dairy and dairy alternatives. These could offer the taste and sensory experience of a ‘real’ dairy product, but deliver improved sustainability, for example.

Peter Roepers – PREfresco Beverage Lab

There is a lot to consider when developing your concept. Peter Roepers contrasts creating a new beverage with making a new pizza. You can add onions on your pizza, and it remains a pizza. But with beverages, everything you add to the recipe will have an impact on all the other ingredients. So what’s going to happen if you add, for example, an acid to a functional ingredient? It can be very useful to get expert advice on translating your idea into a workable recipe and saleable product.

Lisanne van der Kooi – Food Scientist for Hire

Trends create both opportunities and challenges for producers: you have to rapidly adapt and expand your portfolio. As well as new flavours and low-alcohol options, different formats also offer interesting potential: cocktails in a can or powders and syrups consumers can add to their own alcohol at home, are just a few.

Monique van de Vijver – Solidaridad

The food industry must adopt sustainable practices due to population growth and resource scarcity. Solidaridad, an NGO promoting sustainable development in agriculture, has helped shape this trend. While progress has been made towards sustainability, there’s a need for businesses to prioritize sustainability over profit. Solidaridad encourages investments in sustainable practices benefiting everyone in the supply chain, and certification alone is insufficient for achieving sustainability in the development of food concepts.

1-2-Taste can help you overcome your supply challenges:

a wide portfolio of ingredients • transparent, competitive pricing • an interface that makes it easy to find suppliers and order • minimal order quantities • technical product development support.

Soundbites

From the podcasts

Don’t add an ingredient just because someone says you should.

Jos Vast

Bakery Academy

When mapping out your ideas, start with the end in mind.

Floris Combes

neonwhale

We’ve moved away from the past when a beverage should simply taste nice. Today, it should have something natural and healthy in it.

Peter Roepers

PREfresco Beverage Lab

Innovation doesn’t stop: people are looking for new things, different products. And this will continue in the future, which is very good for us.

Lisanne van der Kooi

Food Scientist for Hire

Sustainability is the backbone of the food industry’s future success.

Monique van de Vijver

Solidaridad Network

1-2-Taste Talks Food Ingredients Podcast Series