You won't believe the challenges in developing artisan products
Check out part 2 of the interview with industry experts.
Read Part 1 here.
QSR Media: What are the common challenges in developing artisan products?
Mimmo Lubrano—Director of Sandhurst Fine Foods Australia: Cost control, replication, constistency and value for money are all limitations.
There is also the taste profile to consider – we know that Asian consumers don’t like ‘salty’ concepts and prefer Sweet, Europeans are the opposite – they need to develop a benchmark product and decide on a market segment to attack.
Frozen Yogurt for example is aimed at more Female/Asian consumers – in my opinion. The “Gourmet Burger” guys are targeting older males who have matured to more artisan tastes.
Steve Hansen—King of Strategy at Think DONE Management Consultancy: There are always challenges in any endeavour, and in developing hand made products, equipment and skill is required. Training of people and hiring those with the right skills would be the biggest challenge.
Product from coffee shops across the country varies dramatically, and my guess is that is not because of the quality of the product, but because of the skill and the training of the person making the coffee. Also sourcing those skilled staff and arranging training for new people must be a challenge.
Nigel Patient—Managing Director and Brand Strategist at Head Mark: Ensuring quality of each product remains the same, especially across a network.
The cost of artisan products can sometimes be considerably more and operationally more challenging, it might mean a brand has to start making more product on site which comes with its own range of issues including things like skills of the owner, extra labour, extra equipment and rental space etc.
The other component I guess is, being truly genuine and transparent, if you go down this path you have to see if it fits with your overall brand and then assess your product offering to see where and how this fits in.
