In 2020 and 2021, new product development suffered amid pandemics, R&D teams working from home, ingredient shortages and SKU rationalization from major retailers. The Bluegrass Ingredients team is thrilled to confirm that new product development roared back in 2022, signaling a (somewhat) return to normalcy for R&D teams across the world.
Why it Matters: New product development is the lifeblood of the food industry, driving consumer excitement and sales growth. Without robust new product launches, sales in the food industry would plateau.
Our team of product development experts analyzed, debated and tasted quite a few new products and developed this list of three product launches that made a big impact on the market and with our internal teams. These products filled a void on grocery store shelves or elevated an existing category to greater heights.
Convenience food is king again as society gets back on the move, and this dehydrated mac and cheese from Right On Trek offers a true culinary experience in a convenient format. The key to this product’s success is the powdered dairy blend of cheddar cheese, whey, buttermilk and whole milk powders that creates an “uber-gooey and luxuriant cheese sauce,” according to Backpacker, which named it the best dehydrated macaroni and cheese.
On-the-Road Again: This product is so convenient it’s meant to eat on the trail! It’s even easier to eat at home.
Flavor Extreme: We can’t stop thinking of this cheese sauce. It’s perfect, and perfectly derived from all powdered ingredients. Kudos to Right on Trek’s product development team for nailing this cheese sauce.
How do you innovate in the potato chip category beyond flavor? The market leader in the category, Lay’s, found the secret by combining a format change with a bold flavor combination. For the format change, the potato-chip maker went multi-dimensional, breaking the mold of a flat-surfaced potato chip. They amplified this unique eating experience with a bold three cheese seasoning blend of cheddar, parmesan and gouda.
America loves Cheese: We can’t get enough of it (see above product) and Lay’s combination of three popular cheese varieties into a potato chip seasoning works to satiate consumer demand for more flavor.
Amplified Experience: By changing the format of the potato chip, Lay’s gives consumers what they want: something new to talk about.
Although plant-based meat alternatives are struggling to maintain market share, plant-based confections are showing staying power by serving an underserved market. Global confection leader, Lindt, put on a product development master class with this plant-based take on their famous chocolate bars that uses oat milk powder to replicate the creamy indulgence of dairy in a milk chocolate bar.
Plant-Based Comfort Foods: Although most innovation has been focused in the meat alternative space, this launch shows there are plant-based opportunities in every food category, especially comfort foods that have been poorly served in the past.
Oat My Goodness!: Consumers can’t get enough oat-based ingredients in their foods, beverages and even at Starbucks.
Congratulations to Right on Trek, Lay’s and Lindt USA for combining food science formulation expertise with a deep understanding of consumer trends. If you’re looking to make a new product impact in 2023, our Agile Ingredient Innovation® model was designed to rapidly help food and beverage brands launch new products that consumers crave.
What's Next: 2023 is lining up to be another huge year in new product development, and we’ll have a blog later this month detailing the trends destined to drive sales growth across categories of the food industry
Spoiler alert: redefining value, affordable nutrition, generational product development, rapid product development.
