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If you're a food and drink brand and your product isn't performing the way it should, maybe the sales have slowed down or the review keep mentioning that the taste is not that great. I have created something to help you. It's called the Flavor Blueprint. It's a free guide that based on the process I use with my clients to fix their underperforming products.
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If you're tired of guessing and you want clarity before another batch, download your free flavor blueprint. If you want to create food or drink product that actually tastes amazing, get the repeat purchases and see your sales go up.
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You need a flavor strategy. I'm Manon Galizzi, food scientist and flavor expert. And in this podcast I share what I've learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch. Choose the right flavor direction or fix the flavors that are not working. You know that moment during a food or drink tasting when someone gets frustrated and starts saying I don't have a good palate, that I don't like it or it doesn't taste like a strawberry.
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This happened to me last week with a client team member and he just sparking something that I need to share with you today in this episode. Because if your team is struggling to describe flavors during product development, you're not alone. And most importantly, there is a simple method to fix it.
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Today, I'm walking you through exactly what to do when tasting feels impossible. So last week I had a tasting session with one of my clients and one of their team members really struggling to describe strawberry flavor. So like I said, she started to look at us, get frustrated and I don't like this sample.
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It doesn't taste like a strawberry. I don't have a good palate anyway. I don't know how you do it guys. So I really felt her frustration. And why this matter to your business? Well, when your team can't describe or articulate exactly what they are tasting, product development start to become very difficult.
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You can't brief suppliers, you can't make clear decisions, and you're wasting time and money going in circles. The real issue, and it's not what you think is not about having a good palate or a bad palate. Here is what actually happening.
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Your brain is trying to match what you're tasting to your personal memory of a strawberry. If we take strawberry as an example, your brain is trying to match what you're tasting to your personal memory of what you think a strawberry tastes like. So when you can't find an exact match, the only thing that your brain is saying to you is, nope, this is not a strawberry.
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But here's the thing. This is just a perception of what you think or your brain think strawberry is. And this perception is unique to you. What shape flavor perception is shaped by culture and the bringing exposure to different food, genetic.
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Yes, our palette is definitely designed with genetics and biased memory. So everyone has a different perception of what a strawberry tastes like, a fresh strawberry, depending on the species, depending on the ripeness, or are we talking about a strawberry milkshake, a strawberry jam or strawberry sweets?
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And one of my clients actually told me once I thought I knew what a strawberry tasted like. I was wrong. So how do you improve your tasting skills and actually describe what you're tasting? There are three non negotiable rules. Rule number one, remove personal preferences.
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Whether you like it or not, it doesn't matter. You may not be the target consumers. So your job during product development and tasting is not to judge if it's good or bad, if you like it or not. It's actually to describe what you're actually tasting.
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And this is the exact approach and method I use with my clients when they come for me for, creating a new product, fixing a product that is not performing anymore, or choosing the right flavors for their product. I train the teams to separate the personal taste from an objective taste because that is how you make better product decision and faster.
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Rule number two, establish your flavor North Star. Don't develop towards what you think strawberry tastes like. Establish which strawberry flavor profile fit your product and that become your North Star. And this is a little exercise I want you to do.
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After you listen to this episode, we're gonna keep on using strawberry as an example, I want you to create a tasting with your team and buy as much strawberry product as you can find. It has to include fresh strawberries, strawberry yogurt, strawberry milkshake, strawberry jam, strawberry biscuits, strawberry sweets.
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And also if you can buy different brands for each category. So for example, if you can find some different strawberry varieties, if you can find something that is quite cheap, something that is quite artisan, try to have as much product as you can find.
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Then during your tasting, you're gonna taste each one mindfully. I always say to my clients, close your eyes and just say what it comes. I know sometimes we may just say, yeah, it tastes like strawberry or it tastes like a strawberry yogurt, but try to go deeper.
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And this is the moment where after trying all of these different flavor profile on what a strawberry can be like, this is the moment you ask Yourself. Which flavor profile fits my product and my brand and my target consumers? And this is gonna be your North Star.
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You're not using your biased memory of a strawberry. You always come back to this flavor profile and this product in particular. Rule number. Describe, but don't judge. When you taste the samples of your product with different flavors, focus on describing each note and each characteristic.
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So try to think, is it milky? Is it creamy? Is it confectionary? Is it jammy? Does it have floral notes? Is it a little bit sulfurous? Is it fresh? Is it cooked? Try to go back to the flavor profile. You tried during the exercise and it's just a matter of practicing.
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Practice, practice, practice. The more you practice describing what actually is there instead of judging or trying to match with your brain, the easier it becomes. So here's what I want you to do after this. I want you to do the strawberry exercise or whatever flavor.
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If you want to do vanilla, if you want to do chicken, if you want to do chocolate, bring your team together. And if you're hosting this exercise with your team, I always recommend to try some of the product before because this exercise is as good as your product you're gonna put in front of people.
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So if, for example, some of the products don't taste like a strawberry jam, they don't taste like a strawberry sweet, then your exercise is going to be pointless. So if you are the one who are gonna buy all of the strawberry products, just taste some of them before just to be sure that the flavors are strong enough to be recognized.
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Then you bring your team together, you create a word document or a spreadsheet, or if you're using slides, for example, and I want you to focus on the aroma. Then when you taste the product, I want you to focus on the basic taste.
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So sweet, umami, bitter, etc. Etc. Then the flavor characteristic, like we said, is it milky? Is it jammy? Is it confectionary? I want you to focus on the aftertaste. Is it long lasting? Is it short? Is it completely clean? What flavours, what basic taste do you have in the aftertaste?
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And think about the overall balance, think about the complexity. How does the flavor feel? Does it feel flat? Does it feel complex? Does it feel balanced or unbalanced? So during the tasting practice, describing as much as possible, rather than focus on the strawberry as a whole, try to describe only the characteristic you are feeling and try to think about any associations.
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If you use your memory, use it this way. It reminds me when my grandma was doing a jam, it reminds me when my dad cut the grass in the garden when I was a kid. If you use memory, use it for each characteristic and not picturing the whole strawberry in your head and avoid any cost.
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I like it or I don't like it, then at the end, this is where you lock in your North Star. You agree on which flavor profile you are aiming for and you have the benchmark product to support your product development. So this is the foundation of a sensory led product development approach and this is the method I use with my clients.
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It's how you get your team aligned. You can brief suppliers accurately and make confident decisions that actually move your product forward. So if you're feeling stuck in your product development, if you're struggling during your tasting, whether you're launching something new or you're trying to choose the right flavor direction, or you're fixing a product that is not performing, this method works.
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As always, I hope this episode was helpful. Tomorrow I will be wrapping up my 30 day podcast challenge. So thank you so much for all of your support. Thank you for all of your messages and your question. I'm really, really grateful for your support.
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So if you enjoyed this 30 day podcast challenge, don't forget to give me a, five star reviews on whatever platform you're listening to this podcast. So to thank you, I'm going to do a special Q and A to answer all of your questions. So if you have any last burning question, pop it in a comment or DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn.
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I can't wait to hear from you and I will see you tomorrow for the last episode of the 30 Day Podcast Challenge. Bye.
