This document outlines the key steps involved in food product development: idea generation, screening, feasibility analysis, test marketing, and commercialization. It describes each step in detail, from gathering new product ideas from various sources, to screening concepts, assessing feasibility by considering regulations, technology and finances, test marketing products on a small scale, and finally commercializing successful products on a larger scale with a focus on promotion, quality maintenance and cost control. The overall process aims to develop new products that meet market needs and can be successfully introduced and sustained in the marketplace.

1. FOOD PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
Lecture Notes for 4th Year Students of Nutrition and Food
Science, EAU – Garowe.
[Prepared by; HabiibWahab;Lect. Nutrition & Food Science]
habibwahab8@gmail.com @habibwahab3

2. INTRODUCTION
• Food product development refers to the process of
developing a new product to meet a consumer, market need
and or trend.
• This involves a number of steps that are completed before
the product is introduced to the market.
• A new product development maybe done to develop a new
item or improve a product.
• To be able to compete with market trends, new product
development is essential to any business.

3. DEFINITION OF TERMS
• 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.
• Repositioned Products; A company can be surprised to find
through their consumer intercepts and letters that
consumers use their product in ways that the company has
never anticipated. A new market niche has been created that
gives new life to an existing product.

4. • New Packaging of Existing Products; This product sector reflects
an interesting mix of simple to complex technology and change of
form. At its simplest, it is the packaging of bulk produce into smaller
packages that are more convenient for consumers
• Customers and Consumers; Customer and consumer describe two
different entities. A customer is one who buys in a marketplace. The
customer is attracted by point of sales material, promotions, or
tastings in the marketplace or at food trade exhibitions. Customers
make choices (i.e., purchases) according to their consumers’ likes
and dislikes, allergies, disposable or budgeted income.
• Therefore, a customer is a gatekeeper.

5. EXAMPLES OF GATEKEEPERS
• A family member who decides what is purchased for the
household.
• The purchasing agent of a company.
• Chefs who plan menus and decide what raw produce,
ingredients, or semi finished goods are purchased for the
diners in a restaurant.
• Pet owners who determine what pet foods are purchased for
their Animals.

6. • Added Value; Added Value refers to any processing technique that
effects a physical or chemical change in a food or any activity that
adds value to a product. Added value is a characteristic many new
products are purported to have. Added value describes a change
in a product that makes that product more desirable.
• Markets and Marketplaces; A market refers to a need discovered
or found in the marketplace as a potential to sell a produce to a
customer. That is, one can say that there is a market for organically
grown vegetables or for locally grown crops. This means that there
are customers in the many different marketplaces who
preferentially purchase organically grown products or low calorie
foods. Products are sold in marketplaces not in markets.

7. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLES
• Every product has a life cycle.The horizontal axis is a measure of time.
The vertical axis is an index of a product’s acceptance measured as either
volume of cases sold or sales dollars. Five distinct phases of the life cycle
can be discerned:

8. THE DIFFERENT PHASES OF A PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
1. The introductory period is heavily supported by promotions, in-store
demonstrations, advertising, and slotting fees to gain introduction. Sales volume
is initially low as customers and consumers are educated about the product.
2. A strong growth period follows when first-time customers begin repeat buying
and more new consumers are attracted. There is positive acceleration of sales
growth. Growth continues as new markets open, but continued promotion and
expansion at the introductory pace are costly.
3. A decline in sales begins. Growth accelerates negatively.
4. Next comes a no-growth period. Sales are constant, a sign of a stagnating
market.
5. The decline accelerates. Newly introduced competitive products adversely
affect sales; customers and consumers become uninterested to the old product.
Promotions cannot profitably maintain sales.

9. REASONS FOR DEVELOPING A NEW PRODUCT
• All products have life cycles. As they lose profitability, they must be replaced.
• New products provide opportunities for aggressive growth of a business.
• Demand for new foods by the public, e.g, organic foods, functional foods.
• Traditional marketplaces change, and new ones are created. eg, e-commerce has
emerged and is maturing; the challenge to enter the new marketplace requires
new products more suited to respond to the changes the new marketplaces and
the new customers in them require.
• New technologies have brought new ingredients and new processes to allow food
products that once were considered impossible to produce.
• Advances in the health sciences provide opportunities for new food products
suited to the management of healthy lifestyles by consumers.
• Governments establish and change food legislation, establish health programs,
adjust agricultural policies.

10. THE STEPS IN THE FOOD PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
There are basically five steps in the process of developing a
new product and these are;
• Idea generation
• Screening
• Feasibility
• Test marketing
• Commercialization

12. IDEATION GENERATION
New product ideas can be found in the following places;
• Marketplace; Market research to identify the customer and
consumer needs; results of customer profiling (i.e type of customer
who will interact with your product), Retail data of buying habits of
customers e.t.c.
• Within the company; Sales force’s interaction with retail buyers,
with individual customers in stores and from observations of
competitive products and their placement within stores,
• The environment outside the Marketplace: National and
international trade exhibitions

13. SCREENING
• This refers to testing of product concepts to decide whether
or not to invest time and money into a venture, or to abandon
the efforts completely.
• Project ideas should be matching with company goals.
• Consumer testing is essential when screening products as
this helps companies to meet consumer needs, desires, and
willingness to purchase.
• In this process, project managers ask various questions to
help narrow down on the so many ideas generated.

14. QUESTIONS FOR SCREENING CONCEPTS
• Who will use the product?
• How will it be used?
• What preparation is necessary for the consumer?
• How will the consumer benefit from it?
• Does it have any other uses?
• Who is the competition? How is the product different?
• Where will the product be available?
• How will people find out about the product?
• What will the price be?

15. FEASIBILITY
• Feasibility considerations for a business include regulations, technology, and finances.
• Regulations; at the start of a project, firms must be cognizant of the state and/ or
federal agencies that regulate a product.
• Technology; in order to launch a new food product, the necessary equipment,
facilities, and processes needed to manufacture a product must be established.
• Formulation; varying ingredients, processing parameters etc.
• Ingredients; their availability to be purchased year-round or seasonally
• Processing; what equipment do you already have? Use existing equipment to
cut on expense
• Facilities; the facility that is available for processing should be considered.
• Finances; before a food product is created for sale, an understanding of all production
and marketing costs is required.The two types of costs to consider include fixed costs
(equipment, building, property taxes) and variable costs (electricity, hired labor, fuel).

16. TEST MARKETING
• Should the screening and feasibility tests indicate a product’s potential for
launch, the next step is the development of the product and test marketing.
• Purchasing equipment at this stage is not advisable. The main cost should
be packaging and labeling material, promotion, and ingredients.
• Smaller batches of new food products can be manufactured in a pilot plant
for test marketing.
• Consumer tests at this stage are sometimes conducted as in-home use
tests.
• Consumers assess the likes and dislikes of the product prior to the
company launching a larger marketing scheme.
• Market testing is most effective when planned well in advance with the
help of an expert in the field.

17. COMMERCIALIZATION
• Should the market test prove successful, the product will be ready to commercialize.
• The main concern at this step is to find a location to set up processing facility.
• A firm must address issues that include building, equipment, utilities, and personnel.
• Product promotion should be an integral part of commercialization.
• Common methods of marketing new products; savings coupons,TV, Internet, Radio.
• Product maintenance should be included in commercialization. It should concentrate on
quality and profit improvement.
• Quality factors can be maintained by following up on the product as it is handled in
processing, distribution, and display.
• Cutting costs rather than raising the price of the product can achieve profit
improvement without deterring potential consumers.
• Its possible to save on labor costs, and find alternate suppliers of ingredients at low
cost.