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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 products that actually taste amazing, get the repeat purchases and see your sales go up.
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You need the 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. Welcome back and this is the last day of my 30 day podcast challenge and today's episode is a little bit different.
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I, am actually answering your questions. I've been getting so many messages from listeners asking about product development, about my services, about flavors, of course, or what is coming up in terms of flavors in the world. So I thought let's just sit down and tackle the questions you've been asking.
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So grab a coffee and let's dive in. First question, what are the packages you mentioned in your podcast? Great question. So through the podcast I mentioned my three main service packages and that is true. I realized I never really explained everything in just one place. So here we go.
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I work with established food and drink brands that already have at least one product on the market. But they need experts either to create a new product and increase their portfolio, choose the right food flavors, or fix a product that is not performing on the market.
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And most of the time it's because of flavors, of course. So I don't work with early stage startups or individuals who want to create their food or drink business anymore. So the first package is Create.
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This is for ambition food and drink brands who are launching their new product. So it's a full done for you project development from concept all the way through shelf. So it includes formulation, custom flavor language training, guided tasting, supplier sourcing, co manufacturer matching, industrialization trials.
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This typically takes 12 to 18 months. Then we have the choose package. So this is for food and drink brands who are launching their new product, but they are unsure which flavor direction will work for their base and resonate with their target consumers.
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So this one requires me to do some formulation first to have an idea of the flavor pairing. So an idea myself of which type of flavor will work with your base, especially if you are struggling with the functional product. So maybe it tastes very fishy because maybe you use marine collagen, vegan omega 3 or maybe you are using a lot of plants and roots and seeds and the flavours and the taste are very unpleasant.
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Maybe they are very earthy and very bitter for example. So I will need to work a little bit before to understand the best flavor pairing to mask this unpleasant note. Then we will have the trial, train your team into a sensory language and we nail the flavor that makes your product sense stand out and that take six to 10 months.
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And the last package is fix. This is for food and drink brands that have been on the market for quite a while and they see their sales are declining. So this is mainly when the flavors are not working anymore or the flavors need to be improved, updated for their target consumers.
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So we diagnose what is wrong, we rebuild the flavor profile and then we get back on track. And that again can take steps six to nine months. And all of the three packages include my custom flavor language training. So it can be on a specific flavor.
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So for example we would do vanilla lexicon. So I will train you on the main characteristics of a vanilla. So for example the extracted the creamy, the fruity, the woody or it can be more a category of food. So for example I've created the bespoke plant based flavor lexicon for one of my customers.
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Then in the package you have all of the meeting support that you need because I never just want to hand you some samples and then disappear. I stay here, I tweak on the day with you so we can go much faster.
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I guide you through the entire process using my food science background and my flavour house training so you can take the best decision possible. And here's something new, Quite exciting in 2020, I'm creating a more affordable service option especially for food and drink brands.
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So I want to hear from you, what do you need? What would help you the most? Send me feedback because I'm designing these based on what actually you're struggling with. Question number two, what is the number one mistake food and drink brands make about their product?
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It's quite difficult because there are quite few mistakes that I see very regularly on all of my clients I work with. But I'm gonna say developing product based on personal preferences instead of a clear flavor strategy.
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So you heard me saying in quite a few episodes. And this is something I See, all the time is when a founder or a product development team member, tastes the samples and make decision based on I like it or I don't like it.
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And here is the problem. You may not be your target consumers, your team members may not be the target consumer. So I gave you an example yesterday of, a team member that said during a tasting I was doing with one of my clients that she didn't think the samples was tasted like a strawberry.
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It doesn't taste like a strawberry. I don't like it. So I had to do a little training with her, to explain her how the brain works and the fact that she likes it or not, it doesn't matter. There are so many much more analytical way of looking at a sample and deciding which way to go forward.
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Are the flavors balanced? Is the flavor complex? Do you get enough of the flavor? Is there any unpleasant taste or flavors that are masking the flavours? Does the flavor profile match my product and my target consumers?
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These are much more interesting questions and make it much more analytical and less personal. So what I recommend food and drink brands should do instead is first define your target consumers clearly. Who they are, what is their flavor expectations, what sort of flavor would they like, where do they eat, what is their favorite takeaway?
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Then establish your flavor North Star or your flavor blueprint. This is where you define exactly the flavor profile that you want to go forward with your product development using benchmark product. So, for example, you have identified that a creamy strawberry, like a strawberry yogurt or strawberry milkshake, is the flavor profile that, you're targeting for your product development.
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Instead of just saying, yeah, we're gonna go for strawberries, then remove anything personal, remove the I like it, I don't like it from your tasting vocabulary. You can do these kind of exercises where, you know, you have this buzzing, bing.
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So every time that someone say, I don't like it, you can just buzz, be like, no, you're not allowed. Instead, ask that person, what description, what characteristic can they taste? Does it remind them to something else?
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When you take a decision moving forward with your product, ask yourself, does this match our flavor strategy? Does this serve or target consumers? This is why I train the teams in objective tasting language and how to articulate what we taste with precision in all of my packages.
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Because when you can describe what actually is the product? Milky, jammy, floral and confectionery, you can make a strategic decision instead of emotional ones. Your job isn't to love the product. I know it sounds weird, but your job is to make sure your target consumer will.
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What are the flavor trends for 2026? That's a great question. I love looking into trends. So I've been tracking what is emerging for 2026 and there are some cleaned up patterns shaping food and drink product development. Let's have a look at the five big trends for 2026.
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1. Fermented and umami flavors. We are seeing umami move from beyond savory into sweet applications. I actually saw one of Tesco's Christmas launch, and it's a white chocolate and miso popcorn.
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Very excited to try that. So think like that. Miso caramel fermented fruit flavor. Consumers are craving for complexity and depth and not just sweetness. The second one is nostalgic comfort with a twist.
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Childhood flavors are having a moment but it has to be elevated. Think cereal milk, birthday cake, retro sweets but make them better with cleaner ingredients. Unexpected combination. It's nostalgia but the twist is to make it premium.
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The third one is floral and botanical complexities. Elderflower, hibiscus, rose and yuzu are going mainstream. We are moving beyond a single floral note into a layer of botanical profiles.
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For example, think about elderflower with green tea or rose with raspberry and black pepper. The fourth one is regional and culturally specific flavours. Global flavors are becoming more specific. So it's not just Asian inspired anymore but it has to be precise regional profiles like UBE from the Philippines tahini or West African spices like grains of paradise.
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And the fifth one is functional flavor masking. You can see more and more on the market and I'm sure it's going to keep on growing in 2026. Functional food and drinks. It means adaptogen nootropics, high in protein. The but most of these products come from challenges such as bitterness or off notes, unpleasant taste.
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And maybe originally when all of these functional products came out having something that was very functional and very good for health, even if it didn't taste very good, was okay. You're drinking because of the functionality you know, is good for you despite the taste.
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But nowadays there are so many functional products with similar ingredients and similar benefits that people also want it to taste good. They want to enjoy it on top of the health benefits. So it's a proper war of flavors.
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Who has the best taste, who has the best flavor. So this is going to become a real challenge in 2026 is to be able for food and drink brands to, to mask all of these off notes and create good functional products.
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So before you go and Chase all of these trends. Ask yourself, does this trend align with my brand? Does it serve my target consumers? These trends are only valuable if they fit your strategy. Question number four.
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How can I choose the flavor for my next product launch? And this is such an important question because choosing the wrong flavor can cost you months and thousands of pounds. So here's my step by step process and this is exactly what I do with my client with my choose package. STEP 1.
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Understand your product base. What are you working with? Is it neutral? Is it bitter? Is it fishy? Is it nutty? Is it earthy? Your base will dictate what flavor work. A strawberry flavor that works in dairy won't work the same way in the oat milk or pea protein, for example.
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Step two, Understand your target consumers. Do you want a product for Gen Z? For boomers? Kid friendly? Your target consumers will determine your flavor profile. If you want a premium product, you may go for sophisticated raspberry and rose and other botanicals.
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But obviously, if you want a kid friendly product, you may need something a little bit more bright and confectionery. Step three, Run a flavor workshop. This is where you bring actual reference products. If you're considering raspberry, for example, you have to buy fresh strawberries, strawberry jam, strawberry milkshakes, strawberry sweets, strawberry biscuits.
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And then again, you wonder which flavor profile would fit your brand and your base. And this is going to be your North Star. And the last step is testing with your target consumers. No guesses. You get few samples with different flavors in front of your real target consumers as early as possible, even if it's just an informal tasting.
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If you are at an event, for example. But start building the feedback. Make them choose which one they prefer. And here's the thing, you don't have to do it alone. This is literally what I do. I guide the food entering brands I work with through the entire process so they don't waste time or money on flavors that don't work.
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So if you are feeling stuck or overwhelmed, this is what my choose package is designed for. We shortlist options of flavors, we run structured trials, we have a flavour lexicon training and we lock in the flavors that will actually perform.
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There you have it, your questions answered. I hope this gives you clarity on how I work, what mistakes to avoid, what is trending and how to make smarter flavor decisions. So if you have more questions, keep them coming. I love hearing from you and these Q and A episodes are perfect way to tackle the things that you're actually dealing with in your businesses.
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If you're finding value in this podcast, please leave a review on whatever platform you are listening on. It genuinely helps other food and drinks brands find the show. And remember, if you want feedback on this new affordable services I'm building for, reach out, drop a comment or DM me on Instagram or on LinkedIn.
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I want to create something that actually serves you. That's the end of my 30 day podcast challenge. I will see you next week for a normal schedule on my episode. See you then. Bye.
