Companies Changing Flavours, Do They Get It Perfect The First Time?

smpantsonfire on 30/04/2016 - 11:21

This is not so much about Arnotts more than public opinion.

Do some companies get the flavour perfect the first time?

Take Peanut Butter and Nutella for example. Did they get the taste right he first time, or was it because there was nothing to compare it too at the time?

If they decided to change their recipes, do you think there would be an uproar like right now with the new Shapes flavour?

I'm an extremely logic thinker. I wouldn't complain about flavour changes, doing things differently, because I couldn't 100% say that if the recipes were flipped back to front, that I would not 'like' the new(old) flavour.

As everyone know, it's quite hard to implement a new way of doing something that has been done a certain way for a long time. You will have everyone thinking the new way is silly, when in reality, if you thought about the processes, it makes sense.

Is this Arnotts flavour change an example of this type of mentality? Do you think if Shapes started with the new flavour, and changed it to the old flavour, people would be having the same reaction?

Sorry if it reads funny, I was always terrible at English.

Food & Grocery

Comments

  • holdenmg on 30/04/2016 - 11:25
    +5

    If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

    See also:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke

  • RockyRaccoon on 30/04/2016 - 12:26
    +1

    Vegemite - people dont get it right first they just acquire the taste…

  • Diji1 on 30/04/2016 - 13:34
    +2

    People's tastes are intimately tied into previous memories and experiences in ways that are not "logical" at all.

    For example even though New Coke tasted better in blind testing than Coke and Pepsi it did not taste better when people knew they were drinking New Coke. And if people were drinking what they thought to be regular Coke they reported it tasting better than New Coke.

    It's important to note that this isn't a nebulous thing: people are actually tasting different things when consuming the identical product and having a different context, some of which is provided by marketing. There is no way to avoid this to become a "logical" taster as it's unconscious and automatic (and irrational also).

  • PrimalNuke on 30/04/2016 - 13:42
    +5

    I've always thought part of the reason companies change household brands is to boost sales. I think Freakonomics did an episode on this once, but it goes like this:

    1. Company changes established flavous, boasting "New and improved taste!". Jump in sales as people are curious to try the new flavour.
    2. Customers are used to old flavour and want that back OR the new flavour is just shittier and they still want it back. Jump in sales as people panic buy the old stock left on shelves.
    3. Company now changes the flavour back, boasting "original recipe you know and love!" Jump in sales as customers are happy to have old flavour back.
  • outlander on 30/04/2016 - 14:24
    +3

    Theres a thing companies do called market research. Regular people get paid to give their opinion on things.
    I've done it a few times, most memorable was testing doritos chips. They would give you a bowl of chips, and ask you to rate it in terms of color, texture, crunchiness and most importantly taste. I believe at the time what they wanted to see if they could change the ingrediants of the chip to something cheaper to make, and add extra seasoning to cover it up, because I've noticed that I get sick of eating them a lot quicker now. Essentially though, the data gathered in that room and similar rooms around the country was used to decide what doritos would taste like from that point forward.

    When you start looking for it, you'll see the whole food industry is in a constant state of flux. You can often tell something has changed when they decide to change the packaging. Every couple of years they reassess the situation, looking to sell more, for higher prices, and use less, cheaper ingredients.

    The central point of your question is based upon the premise there is a single, 'perfect' formula for food. There's not. People have different tastes, and it varies. Some people, believe it or not, don't like nutella or peanut butter.

    Heres something that might be relevant to you. Its about a guy, looking to find the perfect form of a pasta source.
    https://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauc…

    • smpantsonfire on 30/04/2016 - 17:10
      +1

      I just find it funny wwhen people abosulutely rage about a change, yes fair enough it might be THAT bad, but come on!

      Take for example the Batman Superman movie. I went in to watch a good movie, and I enjoyed it because I went in positively about it. Even though I read many negative reviews on it.

      I didn't compare it to any thing, or let anyone elses opinion affect my decision on whether it was a good movie.

      I just feel that peoples reactions and decisions are corrupted by other peoples opinions and feedback. Sheep effect.

      • RockyRaccoon on 30/04/2016 - 17:17
        +1

        True, but the "sheep" dont always have enough money to try these things out for themselves, that's why the rely on others opinions, like the ones we have in this thread 😀

        Now the wolves 🐆, they get the money💰from the sheep 🐏so they don't have to care 😀

      • outlander on 01/05/2016 - 12:03

        The media likes to blow things out of proportion. There may be a few old women muttering 'things have really gone downhill since my day' under their breathe, or middle aged slow moving bogans shouting 'wtf is this? bullshit!' to noone in particular, as they spray bread crumbs and their jowls swing back and forth, but these people have always been there, saying the same thing day after day. Its only this time, someone decided to listen to them.

        Trust me, nobodies blowing their brains out over a change of shapes ingredients.

        The reason the media plays such stories, is so that people will see something they recognise, say 'thats a lot of guff about nothing' and feel superior for their own levelheadedness.

      • [Deactivated] on 02/05/2016 - 13:37

        you probably liked the new star wars movie too

  • iridiumstem on 30/04/2016 - 17:17

    I think a counterexample of that would be with Mother.

    In my opinion, taste is a subjective matter and when we eat something we are used to, we have some expectations on what we'd get back (i.e. we like that flavour). When companies change the taste of something, they are risking upsetting people who liked the old recipe, especially if it is something old.

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