Today, 50% of our team is built around product development, with in-house food technologists and a huge network of 3rd party manufacturers, labs, vendors, & suppliers that can deliver all kinds of food categories.
Let us explain what goes behind the scenes in making a great product from our experience of developing F&B products for more than 50 categories in the last 4 years for our clients.
- Product Brief: This is the HOLY GRAIL document and the beginning point of any food product development project. Our team prepares an exhaustive document detailing everything about the product:
✅ Category & variants
✅ Technology & process involved
✅ Type of packaging
✅ Shelf life expectation
✅ Sensory expectation
✅ Functionality
✅ Clean labels
✅ Costing & MRP expectations
✅ Logistic & and supply chain requirement
✅ Claims to be made on packaging
✅ Competition benchmarking and landscaping
2. Benchtop Trials: Based on the brief, the 1st round of products are made in-house which is called benchtop trials. At this stage, a check is done for:
✅ Aligning technology and manufacturing process
✅ Recipe & formulations
✅ In-house tasting & testing The client is given samples for approval and the feedback is documented.
3. Manufacturing: We then understand the right kind of machinery and food technology required to meet all the product brief parameters when the product will be manufactured at scale. The client can either set up their own manufacturing or look at 3rd party manufacturing (3 PM) For 3 PM, We check for:
✅ Assets owned
✅ Track records
✅ Scaling capabilities
✅ Quality checks
✅ ISO / HACCP and other relevant certifications & licenses
✅ Minimum order quantity involved
✅ We also sign off on the conversion costs per unit following tight contracts, agreements, and NDAs to safeguard the recipes, formulation, & processes.
4. Sourcing: We find the right sources for raw materials & packaging materials for the final product. Regulatory and quality checking is involved to onboard reliable vendors for smooth manufacturing in the long run. We create a backup of vendors to avoid dependability on one vendor.
5. Regulatory: Before the product launch, we check if the product is supported by all licenses and within the guidelines of FSSAI. Our team also sometimes works with FSSAI agents to get this executed for the safeguarding of our clients.
6. Costing: Here, we set a guideline not just for the final MRP & positioning vis a vis the competition but also for margin calculations and unit economics. A lot of negotiations with all the 3rd parties are involved to get the best COGS for the clients.
7. Sampling & Tasting: The final versions are given out to the potential consumers and rigorous feedback is taken to avoid any biases. We have our community of 500 + Tasting Officers to carry out this process across India. Learn more about our Tasting Officer community here- https://d2pconsultancy.com/tasting-officer-community/