Why Most Food Products Fail Before Launch — AI, Validation & 30 Years of Food R&D (Ep. 7)

David Foerstner, founder of Food Forward, joins The Ingredient Marketing Podcast to talk about what it actually takes to develop a food product that succeeds in today's market.

With 30+ years in food product development — including early-career experience at Nestlé — David shares how his team helps mid-size and larger food companies (and ambitious startups) move from concept to commercialization without wasting time or money.

In this conversation, Jake and David cover:

• Why feasibility studies are becoming the #1 service food brands are buying
• How AI is reshaping market research, formulation, and reporting (and what it can't replace)
• The validation steps founders should take BEFORE spending big on development
• Why trade shows are losing impact — and where B2B food buyers actually are now
• The growth playbook that took Food Forward from referrals to LinkedIn thought leadership
• The mistake David still sees founders make over and over

Whether you're a food entrepreneur with a recipe idea, a manufacturer launching a line extension, or a marketing leader trying to reach decision-makers in the food industry, this episode is packed with practical takeaways.

🔗 Connect with David Foerstner / Food Forward: gofoodforward.com

 🔗 Connect with Jake Oliver / Blueprint Digital: blueprintdigital.com

If you would like to chat with us about your marketing needs, grab some time on our calendar: https://blueprintdigital.com/contact/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Ingredient Marketing Podcast, the show for food and beverage ingredient suppliers and manufacturers focused on driving awareness, interest, and demand. Each episode, our host, Jake Oliver, talks with ingredient brands and industry experts about what's actually working in B2B ingredient marketing today. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Hello everyone. Today I'm joined by David Forstner, founder of Food Forward. David and his team help food businesses make smarter decisions around product strategy and commercialization using experience and research-driven insight to reduce risk and speed up execution. Dave, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you. Nice to see you again. Nice to see you as well. So for someone meeting Food Forward for the first time, what do you do and who do you help the most?

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Well, at our core, we're product developers. I've been in food product development and adjacent stuff for over 30 years. So everything we do is geared towards developing the right products at the right time and being technically sound in that. So we can start from concepts and market signals to make sure that we're developing the right product for the market and then make prototypes to get approved. And then we'll scale them up and get them manufactured. So, you know, we start wherever the client is in their process, but we are capable of doing everything from concept to commercialization. And we help, you know, mid-size and larger food companies mostly. I've got some clients that are bigger than that, and all the way down to startups, which are fun. And so yeah, that's that's a natural what we do. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

So I know it'll depend at uh you know what stage of the life cycle the client is in, but what would you say are the top two outcomes that a client is looking for that they're really looking to buy when they come to work with you?

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Well, usually it's a it's a product, a new product. They may be uh they may be a chef that has a recipe that they can't scale up or need help scaling up. It could be a food pro uh a food manufacturer that needs to develop new products or line extensions and they don't have the internal expertise to do that. And so we can help them do that and maybe get to the next level so that they can get bigger and better customers. And most recently, it seems that people want to do feasibility studies, which hasn't come up so much in the past, but I think people are getting smarter, and part of what we've decided is our goal is to help people develop the right products, which you said. So a lot of the work I'm doing now is feasibility studies. So we can talk about a concept, I can develop a theoretical formula and process and costing and all that stuff. So as if we're doing a product, we can flesh that out before we even start doing anything on the bench.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

So it's funny that you bring up the feasibility studies. I had a conversation recently with a guest who was talking about leveraging AI tools to be able to present ideas really for ideation and presenting ideas to big retailers. Do you see your company leveraging AI to support those studies in the future?

SPEAKER_02 3:05

We're doing that now. It's a tremendous help in doing things that we just wouldn't really have time to do in the past. And while there's a lot of information out there, you have to know what to do with it. So I think that our strength is that we can put the pieces together. We know the path all the way from beginning to end, and we know what parts fit where and what is necessary at certain times. But we're using, you know, AI for market research and and signals like uh like that, that it's real time, and we're using formulation and food science tools as well, and then for building reports, we're doing that too. So it's it's enabled us to do things that would have taken us weeks and months to do in the past. Now we can do in days. Right, very cool.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

I'm gonna ask you a little bit about what makes you guys unique. When we spoke about this in our first conversation, I think you talked about um your experience first and foremost, but also your technology and your your market research, I think, and um being able to bring a lot of research and knowledge to brands before they spend a ton of money on development. So can you just expand on those points? What what would you say really makes you stand out from other consultants?

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Well, I think my experience for is first because I've got an experience, you know, especially with Nestle early on and other things that very rarely do people have in my industry. I'm also a chef, so one of our strengths is making things taste really good, and that's always been a strong point. The technical knowledge that we have, but we've developed tremendous amount of products, and so we know how to make them in pretty much any circumstance. And all of that put together with these AI tools is super powerful for for somebody like you know, for us. We have the experience, we can put that stuff together, we know what matters. And you know, some of the stuff I get from AI, it's like, well, somebody else could have searched that up and found it, but they wouldn't really know what to do with it. So I think that's where we are really super strong, and especially in this new phase with all the AI and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Yeah. Very cool. Um want to talk a little bit about your growth to this point. So when I look at your website, I really get um you guys did a great job with the story you're telling, how you're explaining your services. It feels like a very mature brand experience when I'm your on your website. So so great job there. What has helped you grow to this point? Has it been word of mouth, trade shows? Um, have you done any investment in any marketing to get to this point?

SPEAKER_02 5:23

All of the above, and up until I want to say it changed after COVID, but in the last three or four years has changed tremendously. All my business used to be by referrals, and it still is. I still good portion of it is. But new business is all run from the internet. LinkedIn and outreach and things like that. I think trade show impact has diminished because it seems to me like decision makers and the people you used to want to go see at those trade shows aren't there anymore. Seems like junior level people that just have to ask the qu ask somebody, uh I'll ask somebody. That's frustrating. So outreach and more outreach and trying to be a thought leader and trying to leverage my experience so and tell my story, which is a whole new job in itself. So absolutely that's been challenging.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Have you invested any any marketing efforts, maybe advertising or something that you really look back on and feel it didn't it didn't pay off and you wouldn't make that investment again?

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Not advertising yet. I had a LinkedIn outreach company. They did cold leads and emails and LinkedIn, you know, outreach with telling my story. And it was great the first year. I think I was with them over maybe three years. I got some really great clients, and then it just tailed off to almost nothing in the last year. And I think that I heard that LinkedIn changed their algorithm, and I imagine people are getting tired of cold, you know. I know I am. And I know getting smarter at doing doing that as well, right? So it's it's become more competitive. Exactly. So, you know, with the AI thing, I find that I mean this is gonna sound nasty, but anybody, anybody that has some experience in food science and can build a website can be in a consultant, and there are great ones out there. And then, you know, I get reports like, oh, we talked to this guy and he said this. It's like, oh geez, okay, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

And that's challenging, right? To help your credibility come across, right? I think it makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

I think that's the challenging part, yeah, is to stick out in in the sea of noise that you know everybody's in the same boat.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Right. So looking forward, what do you I mean we talked a lot about AI. What do you see as the next few years for you guys, major growth challenges that you're facing, whether it's marketing related or or operational or otherwise?

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Well, I've done the growth part. Now it's, you know, operationally and stuff like that. So we have the tools and the people and all that stuff. I think going forward, it's getting the right clients. Ones that are good to work with. You know, clients sometimes are fantastic, sometimes they're challenging, but it's usually okay. I think for me, it's just keeping my foot on the gas with the outreach because it's I think within a month, if you're not out there doing things, it's you're lost. Right. And I find that I'm trying to do more thought leadership and very thoughtful hosts on LinkedIn that can add value. So it's just keeping it up and you know, we're getting bigger clients, and so it's kind of off and on with that. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Keeping the engine going. Yeah. Um, to shift back to give our listeners a couple quick takeaways. If a founder listening has an idea for a new product, what are the t top two to three things they should validate before spending big money?

SPEAKER_02 8:27

How they're gonna deliver it and stand out in the system. I mean, it's I tell people that product development is the easy part. Then you gotta go sell it, right? And I think people are taking more time up front now than they did before. So hopefully that's a good sign for those people. But I think, you know, the validation part, it's easier to do now than ever. Make sure that you you've got it, you can differentiate yourself well and build the product the way it should be built. That answer your question?

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Yeah. Is there maybe a mistake that you see all the time or a simple habit that you notice in in really effective teams in this space, or maybe a metric that you wish more teams were were watching. Any of those resonating with you?

SPEAKER_02 9:06

I still think that people make new product decisions based on their gut and based on what people around them are saying, and they don't go outside of that before they start spending money. And I think that's unnecessary now. I mean, it's always going to be a risk to do a new product, but you can have a lot more information now than you could even a couple years ago. Right. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Well, thank you so much, Dave. This was great chatting with you. Is there anything else that you would want to share with our listeners? And uh otherwise, can you just let them know where they could find you and learn learn more about food forward?

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Yeah, I think, well, for me, the food it's becoming very exciting with with some of the tools we have and some of the growth that that I've seen, and that people are getting smarter in the food industry, and I think that that's that's really exciting for me. You know, we'd love to work with those people and teach them the ropes and show them how they can create successful products. They can get a hold of me. Our website is gofoodforward.com, and that's it.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

I don't know what else to say. Awesome. Thanks again, Dave. Hope everybody enjoyed listening, and take care.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

That's it for today's episode of the Ingredient Marketing Podcast. If you enjoyed the conversation, be sure to subscribe for more insights on marketing, food, and beverage ingredients. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.