Is Passion Enough to Make a New Product Succeed?    

Industry statistics show that passion is needed. However, the passion that you need as a food entrepreneur is the practical passion that consists of product positioning, great marketing, and shelf strategy. Such passion will help a product succeed in the consumer food arena. 

Most of the food entrepreneurs out there are passionate about their businesses and just like many new entrepreneurs, they have a large degree of “I don’t know what I don’t know”. As a new food entrepreneur, you may think that the only thing that matters in the food industry is a great tasting product. This may sound reasonable considering the fact that people love great tasting food.

In this industry, a great tasting product is like a car having brakes. When buying a car, you are sure that it has brakes and you don’t choose to buy a car because it has brakes. 

Similarly, a consumer expects the food product he or she buys, and consumes tastes great. Technically, you can say that great taste is a selling feature. However, it is something that consumers expect when they buy food products.

Those new to Consumer Packaged Goods or CPG, in short, do not know that this business is distribution channel intensive with many gatekeepers along the way. Gatekeepers in this business include merchandisers, buyers, brokers, and distributors. In addition, the food business is quite complex and this slows down new food entrepreneurs or stops them in their tracks.

Your Food Product Ideas Will Start in Your Kitchen

You can turn your passion for food into a business. Apart from the fact that people love eating, it is easy to prototype food; you can make food in your kitchen without spending a lot of money. Besides, you can make your friends happy by cooking for them delicious meals. Foodpreneur clients, Lycoberry, Wine Duets, and World Empanadas were started in the kitchen and recognize that food can be a good business. 

Who Are Your Competitors?

As a new food entrepreneur, it is good to attend the Fancy Food Show to know the ins and outs of the food industry. The show, run by the National Association to the Specialty Trade NASFT takes place twice a year and showcases a wide range of domestic and imported specialty foods. If you attend the show, you will, over a three-day period, know about the products in distribution and new products that are not yet on the shelves.

So, attending will help you determine whether or not your food idea is unique or among other food items in the market and will help you a lot with your market research. If you see too much competition, consider going back to the drawing board. This should tell you to look for a new idea but does not tell you to quit. According to a recent report IRI annual New Product Pace Setter released, less than 20 percent of new products often exceed an annual sale of 7.5 million dollars within 1 and a half years of being introduced into the market. 

It is a good idea to follow every article. This is because doing so will help you understand that the food business is not only about great tasting food. These articles present one or more principles to help you learn about the food industry hence helping you start a successful food business. If you have successfully made your journey from the kitchen to the shelf to the plate and you would like to share your experiences, drop me a line. Perhaps you will be featured in an article.