Do you have a quick minute for a story about Marta and her food and beverage business? It’s short and not-so-sweet, but it might help your food and beverage business experience be a little sweeter.
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Marta has a new iced tea made with local, organic berries and tea. It’s been selling out at farmers’ markets, and it’s easy to see why: undeniably refreshing, vibrant flavour, gorgeous colours and design, clean packaging. Marta has worked endless hours to perfect her product. She can’t wait to get her iced tea on retail shelves, watch the profits roll in, and introduce her brand to the world.
She went to a food and bev event and made an incredible connection with a local independent grocery store buyer. They want to onboard her product into their stores, and soon after the event, her first order goes out (is there anything more exciting than that first retail order?!).
It’s been a few weeks since her product hit the shelves, but Marta has been so busy managing all of the new facets of her business that she hasn’t been able to make it into the store to see her iced tea on the shelf. Finally, she manages a break and heads to the store, beaming with excitement.
She rounds the corner to the beverage fridge and stops in horror. The beautiful, bright colour the iced teas had at bottling completely faded and a muddy cloud has settled at the bottom, making the iced teas look very unappetizing.
Marta quickly shakes all of the bottles to stir up the cloud and bring the colour back. She visits the store daily to shake the bottles until the first order is sold out and off the shelf. She can’t put the product back on the shelf without the issue being solved, and she risks losing the listing.
Her head spins with questions of what went wrong: Maybe the beverage is more sensitive to light and temperature changes than she thought? Was something wrong with the last batch of berries or tea? Is her natural preservative not as effective as she thought?
Marta thought back to another connection she made that night at the food and bev event. She met a product development specialist who was sharing with her the value of experienced and qualified product development, and how it can save a business owner a lot of money, time, frustration, and costly mistakes.
The cost seemed too expensive for Marta at the time, but now it was clear: the most expensive cost was the decision to not work with a product development specialist.
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Marta and her iced tea are fictitious, but unfortunately stories like hers are all too true and common.
Now let’s be real for a moment. We know that costs add up in business and it’s a lot to pay for a specialist to analyze your product, but we also know it’s not only worth it, it’s essential to the success of a food and beverage business at any stage.
Good to Grow has a team of food scientists and product developers on board to support food and beverage businesses with product development, saving businesses money, time, and frustrating mistakes.
Want to know more so you don’t end up in the same situation as Marta? Book a free 15 minute consultation today!
Learn more about our product development services.
Read Five Good and Beverage Product Development Did You Knows