Advocating Food Design

Developing and launching new products involves technology, science and manufacturing (the ’hard side’) on the one hand, and food design and marketing (the ‘soft side’) on the other. As a product developer, I’m often positioned somewhere between the two, and I notice that the soft side is often dismissed as ‘the creatives’ or ‘those people who like messing about in the kitchen’ – unfairly, I believe. The two sides are inextricably linked and both are equally important to the success of new product.

The kitchen is where the foundations are laid for any new product in development. That’s where nature (the ingredients), science (the chemical reaction between the ingredients) and culture (flavours, preferences and traditions) are fused together into a product that we can taste, smell, see and feel. If the foundations are weak, there is little chance of the outcome being a success.

A good and tasty product rarely sells itself. The ultimate users (the target group) must be determined at a very early stage of development. What are their needs and motivations? And are the ingredients, the taste and the design of the product aligned with those needs and motivations? Without that alignment, the product will remain difficult to market and sell, no matter how innovative it is – which means you will struggle to reap the rewards.

The step that follows the kitchen phase is just as important; designing and making a product is completely different from manufacturing it on an industrial scale. This is where the ‘hard side’ comes into play. The products must meet different criteria: stability and longer shelf life. This often requires other ingredients that are more suited to industrial usage. And all at a price which the end users will be happy to pay for the product.

The soft side and the hard side: you cannot regard one as being superior to the other. The only way to arrive at a successful product is to recognise and respect each and every aspect of product development. And not only that: without effective interaction and collaboration between technology and design, between hard and soft, you have only a very small chance of seeing a new product through to a successful conclusion.

Dennis Favier is professional Food Designer and Creative Director at Innovation company TOP BV, the company translates technological innovations to interesting use.