Baking&Snack - November 2012 - 69

INNOVATION

Q &A

David Busken
Every baking and snack food company constantly hunts for the next big thing. With the process of innovation being what it is, often several companies will be developing similar products at the same time, and the edge generally goes to whichever one hits the market first. The problem comes with speeding up R&D to grab that pole position without compromising on product quality.

David Busken is manager of R&D for Oak State Products, Inc., a co-manufacturer of cookies and bars based in Wenona, IL. He grew up working in his family’s full-line, multiple-unit retail bakery. After graduating from the American Institute of Baking and Dunwoody Industrial Institute, he worked in dry blending product development with International Multifoods and then for Bunge in the areas of bakery fats and oils development, technical service and bakery/food service mix development. In all, he has more than 30 years of bakery development experience, which he leverages for this exclusive Q&A for Baking & Snack readers.

Front of the Pack
Lucy Sutton: What’s the No. 1 roadblock to innovation in cookies and crackers?
David Busken: Most often, it is the customer deciding what they want and what is good enough. Taking the lead and making the decision. Often, the product is made, and the decision as to whether it is good enough leads to delays for one reason or another. If the decision on if it is good enough is made and upheld, a product can be test-marketed and launched very quickly, relatively speaking. by their imagination. If they let their imagination go and follow where it takes them, they might find the next big thing. That is the biggest hurdle: How much risk are they willing to take to be a “me too” but with a twist? If they aren’t willing to take that risk, then they are indeed stuck in the “me too” category. It’s not a good place to be, usually.

A strong R&D process can help a company stay ahead of the competition.
the product to use as sales samples and to see if there are any issues with the formula running over several batches. In the meantime, the customer is checking the keeping quality. If there is an issue for some reason, then we need to go back and adjust the formula accordingly. Hopefully, it takes just small changes that won’t affect the label or nutritional information. From there, we go to startup production, which by this point is hopefully working out the bugs in packaging. The formula should be running pretty consistently. All the while, we are collecting finished product data and coming closer to establishing final specs for the product.

After R&D is complete, what steps are needed to take the product into production and onto grocery shelves?
After we get a lab sample that is acceptable or close to acceptable to the powers that be, we take it to the line for a test to get the process and physical parameters nailed down and tentative specs worked up. Ideally, you want to package some of this product in the same kind of film the product will go to market in, so you can start a shelf life study. From this test, a final formula, or nearfinal formula, is established. Assuming the oven sample is acceptable to the customer, packaging can start being designed. Packaging is usually the longest-lead-time item to acquire to make marketable product. Later on, we will make a longer run of

In what ways does innovation reflect current trends in the industry?
It depends on the company and its niche of the market. You can have some going for the healthy market, while others are targeting the super-indulgent. We see a balanced number of both projects and some in between.

How long does a new cookie typically take to develop from inception to roll-out?
It depends on how defined the target is and how closely you need to come to meeting the target. We can usually get 80 to 90% of the way to the target fairly quickly — in days, typically. This is where experience is invaluable. It is that last 10 to 15% that can be hard to get to. Sometimes that last 10 to 15% can be less well-defined and can be subjective as

How can companies avoid the “me too” factor when developing new products?
It never ceases to amaze me how many different angles there can be when approaching a product. Customers are limited only

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Baking&Snack - November 2012

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