Mini Bagels

Background

New York Bakery Co has been the leading UK bagel brand for many years. As part of its ongoing innovation programme, an opportunity was spotted in the market (using earlier Howdo research) for an additional format; miniature or ‘mini’ bagels.

Howdo was challenged with conducting research to:

·         Test the appeal of the overarching concept and the flavours/ SKUs therein

·         Test the performance of both the recipe AND the format

·         Understand propensity to purchase and a potential pricing mechanism

Design / Implementation

Methodologically an In-Home Usage Test (IHUT) was conducted. This comprised an initial concept stage followed by a placement of products with respondents who gave positive (‘top two box’) ratings to the concepts. In theory, this sounds pretty straightforward. However there were significant research challenges to be overcome, primary among these the need to ensure products were despatched within 24 hours of receipt from the client to ensure they reached respondents’ homes in the best possible condition. Add to this the need to mitigate against non-delivery, and our task became more onerous, as we needed to ‘over-sample’ by a higher-than-usual factor. There was no quick fix solution; simply put, hard graft, good preparation and stout shoes were needed to get 400 + packages despatched on time with the correct combination of products.

Lessons

As ever, client confidentiality is paramount. However several key flavour and format learnings were delivered and we are delighted to see the product on our shelves.