How Long Does It Take To Develop And Launch A New Food Product Into The Market?
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Now unfortunately there isn’t a straight forward textbook answer to give on how long does it actually take. Some products can take 3-4 years depending on how many heads need to approve it, how complex the product is, whether there are any legal challenges delaying it from being sold in our UK market – e.g. novel foods (That’s another blog post entirely on what is a novel food!). Deciding on the right product or concept to focus on can also take years to perfect and hone in on your product propositioning.
However, a lot of the products I work on as an independent food consultant need to be launched asap! For start ups and SME’s (small and medium-sized enterprises) there just isn’t time to wait around for years to get a new food product out there for risk that somebody might snap up that idea and beat you to it!
So how quickly can I launch a new food product into the market? is the question you really want to be asking… Well you’ll be pleased to hear that you can potentially launch a product in as little as six months, and here’s how to do it:
This is a question I get asked a lot so I thought I would share some top tips to understand the time scales for New Product Development (NPD) concept to launch. One of the most important places to start before delving deep into recipe formulation is to understand the key process steps and time frames needed to launch a product.
Step 1: Nail your proposition.
Timescale: 1 month
Step 2: Develop your recipes.
Timescale: 2-3 months
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What: Do your research extensively. Identify your USP (unique selling point), look at what the competitor products are doing in the same category or other categories that could cross over with your category. Research ingredients, nutritional information, price point, shelf life, taste profiles. Understand your target consumer who they are and what interests them. this will help you identify and figure out how to sell and who to sell your new product to. Understand how big the market is to figure out the size of the prize, and how big the opportunity could be.
What: At this point you will have a good grasp on what your concept is going to be and you can write a product brief detailing everything about your product, how you want your product to look, feel and taste. Now is the time to test and create in the kitchen. Starting with paper recipes, calculating nutritional information and recipe costs as you go. When a recipe is in development, the time scales for signing it off and getting it to where you want it to be can depend on a few things.
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You need to understand who needs to sign it off and make sure they’re available at certain times to taste and review the new product.
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Getting hold of the right ingredients can take some time so make sure you plan ahead and start getting hold of certain hard to get ingredients ahead of your scheduled bench top trials (aka kitchen trials). E.g. an organic, vegan, sugar free, vegan marshmallow may take you some time to source.
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Some products can be challenging to crack, or may require the right machinery to make the product. This can delay things as you may need to run more trials to get the product right or source the right equipment in order to do so.
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Getting the desired shelf life for your product can take time. This can potentially delay your timescale for launch as you will need to wait for the duration of your shelf life to check that your product meets micro (i.e. doesn’t have any nasty bacteria growing on it) and organoleptic standards (i.e tastes, looks, and smells good).
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Step 3: Delivery and Launch
Timescale: 3-6 months
You should have already done your research to find a suitable manufacturing partner or decided to build your own premises for scaling up your production. Now is the time to scale up your recipes and put them to the test with larger volumes. This can mean adapting your process, using different equipment and possibly using different ingredients. Matching your kitchen approved recipes can take time to perfect, you may also be subject to a queue for the time available on the line if you are working with manufacturing partner. My advice would be to plan this time in, understanding how long the production will last and allowing for at least 3 trials with time in between for signing off. Also book this time in with the right stake holders for reviewing the recipes after each production trials.
I hope you find this guide useful, if so please share on with anybody who may also find it helpful.
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For further help with planning and mapping out your innovation, or help creating and launching your winning recipes then do get in touch for a free no obligation chat.