If you find yourself unable to get your food brand off the recipe stage in the kitchen and onto something more shelf-stable and scalable, then this difficulty is the first indicator that you need external support. Launching a food and beverage product development involves a lot more than having an amazing recipe and flavor profile. It calls for formulation knowledge, manufacturing experience, and regulation expertise that early-stage startups usually lack.
Too many entrepreneurs wait too long before seeking help from the outside, thinking they will be able to solve their issues through trial-and-error. Here are 7 signs that it's time to get professional help.
Your Product Works in the Kitchen but Does Not Work in Production
A recipe that is tested and tastes well in the kitchen environment or small test batches can turn out to be quite different on commercial equipment. Ingredients will have different textures, will not come together properly, and will have a shorter shelf life than expected. This is one of the most common and expensive lessons for brands.
Formulations that are developed without taking into account how they will be manufactured on a large scale will definitely cause problems. Products that are successful in small tests but fail on commercial equipment show that you need an expert on your team.
Having Problems with Shelf Life or Stability in Your Formulation
If the texture, taste, or nutritional value of your product starts to deteriorate sooner than you had anticipated, then this problem lies in the formulation, and not in the packaging. Shelf stability problems often lead to the early removal of products from store shelves.
Shelf stability problems are particularly prevalent in certain categories such as protein bars and ready-to-drink beverages because of complex interactions between protein stability, moisture transfer, and flavor masking. Solving these problems takes formulation know-how and treating every formulation choice as a deliberate decision.
You’re Venturing Into New Categories
Sometimes when a growing brand wishes to grow a product line to encompass more categories, technical difficulties arise that most in-house teams have never faced before. Such scenarios include:
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Shifting from solid nutrition products to RTD beverages.
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Venturing into a category that poses different manufacturing and packaging considerations.
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Encountering new regulatory or labeling standards.
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Ensuring your product meets a certain quality standard in the new category.
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Having difficulty finding co-manufacturers for the new product category.
These technical risks each come with their own difficulties, which could delay your product launch by several months if handled improperly.
Compliance and Quality Standards Seem Overwhelming
Food safety guidelines, labeling laws, and quality control systems aren’t add-ons; they’re the basis of a sellable product. Companies that take compliance as an afterthought find out the hard way when someone else identifies a problem.
Designing for quality and compliance from the get-go ensures that there are no costly fixes down the line when you're uncertain about how to proceed with compliance; that itself is a good reason to get professional help.
Do You Lack a Clear Path From Concept to Commercialization?
Just having an innovative idea is merely the beginning. Lots of brands find themselves in a holding pattern from concept to launch since they don’t have a defined pathway from concept through formulation, sourcing, manufacturing, and marketing.
By having a roadmap, everything you decide will always be consistent and in line with your strategic direction. Without one, your team will simply react, which can lead to a disorganized process at a crucial time in the development of a brand.
Your Team Requires Manufacturing & Supply Chain Knowledge
An otherwise well-planned product can still be doomed to failure due to a lack of operational preparedness, including the following:
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Struggle to find or evaluate potential co-manufacturers
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Inconsistency in batch-to-batch quality control
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Supply chain disruptions that hinder access to raw materials
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Lack of procedures for expanding manufacturing capacity
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Inability to analyze cost structure when volumes increase
This is precisely the area where strategic development consulting really comes into play.
Looking to Scale Without Compromising on Quality and Consistency
Scaling brings variability that doesn’t occur in small-batch manufacturing. Variability can come from equipment differences, variations in sourcing ingredients in bulk, and even tolerances during manufacturing, which can affect the quality of the product being manufactured.
Successful scaling involves viewing formulation and operations as related fields, not disparate issues. The integration of both from the very beginning allows the product to be produced in larger volumes without compromising the factors that made the product successful.
Transforming Warning Signs into a Better Product Launch
These warning signs, recognized in advance, give your brand a second chance to avoid ruining the product launch. The development of food and beverages is both technical, operational, and strategic, and very few internal teams have the expertise in all of these aspects.
And that’s where external food & beverage consulting services make a difference, uniting all of the three areas into one package. GVDNEXT assists founders, growing brands, and investors in launching protein bars, ready-to-drink beverages, and functional snacks, from concept all the way to commercial-scale manufacturing. And if your brand is experiencing any of these warning signs, reaching out to us might be beneficial for your launch.
FAQs:
How will I be able to recognize whether a formulation issue will need a consultant or just more internal testing?
If problems with separation, reduced shelf life, or altered textures continue after many internal efforts at reformulation, then this problem usually stems from something related to ingredient interactions and the conditions of the manufacturing process and requires formulation expertise to solve.
Is there a difference between a co-manufacturer and a product development consultant?
While a co-manufacturer is someone who manufactures the product based on an established formula, the consultant helps in the designing and testing of the formula.
How far into growth should a food company seek outside product development help?
Ideally, a food company should seek external assistance prior to establishing the final formula, because many issues related to shelf life, legality, and manufacturability depend on the initial formula itself. Those who seek outside help after having production goes wrong face increased costs.
Does one need a different consultant for protein bars and RTD beverages?
Both have common issues like stability and processing of the formulation, but RTD beverages have extra concerns such as stability of protein in liquid form and masking of the flavor. Therefore, find a team with expertise in both types of products.
What would be expected from an initial consultation with a food development consultant?
The process of consultation is meant to understand the existing formulation of the product, production requirements, and the time frame, and identify specific risks and develop a plan of action.