Simply Delicious Product Development Ideas

While we’re far from inventing everything ever invented in the food industry, if you’re not paying attention—or just lacking in imagination—you’re not likely to come up with anything new. And even if you come up with something new, a number of scenarios can keep it from catching fire. One of these is making things too complex.

Back in “the day,” we held a focus group for a group of unique cookie prototypes. At the end of the session, one of the panelists turned to the moderator and somewhat plaintively said, “I don’t know why you’re showing us all this fancy stuff. All we really want is a good chocolate-chip cookie.” Heads nodded around the table in agreement. Pack-leader dynamics may have paid a role in the consensus, but the sentiment has always stuck with me.

So, when I saw some of the ideas in a latter-day cookie experiment (which incidentally is a great read about product-development dynamics), such as “Chinese star anise plus fennel plus Pastis plus dark chocolate” and a “role for zucchini or wasabi peas,” I wondered what that earlier panel would think. Yes, we all have broadened our culinary horizons, and certain “exotic” flavors have caught on, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore more simple options. Imagination is good, but sometimes it needs a liberal seasoning of practicality.

Take, for example, two recent McCormick black-pepper introductions (I have no vested interest in this product or company. I haven’t even tried it. But I love the concept.):

• Smokehouse Ground Black Pepper: “Black pepper is infused with an applewood smoke flavor to create alluring aromas and a wood-smoked taste.”
• Worcestershire Ground Black Pepper Blend: “The enticing flavor of Worcestershire sauce is artfully combined with black pepper to create this irresistible seasoning.”

 A tweak upscale per the description, but a simple, elegant idea that sounds like it would appeal to the chocolate-chip-cookie crowd. But that's just me thinking; time will tell.

  —Lynn A. Kuntz