A RESEARCH PROGRAM FOR EVALUATING CONCEPTS FOR NEW MUSHROOM PRODUCTS

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A RESEARCH PROGRAM FOR EVALUATING CONCEPTS FOR
NEW MUSHROOM PRODUCTS

• Dr. John L. Stanton
• Saint Josephs University
• WWW.johnlstanton.com
• and
• Dr. Louis Tucci
• The College of New Jersey

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Purpose

• The purpose of this research was to identify the
  obstacles to greater consumer use of fresh
  mushrooms and to quantitatively measure the
  relative potential of product concepts.

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Background

• According to NPD (NPD Annual Eating Trends, 2002)
  the number of annual vegetable Eatings per
  capita has been on a continual decline over the
  past 15 years going from over 300 to under 250
• Some of the largest sales gains in the
  supermarket have occurred in the produce section.
  According to A.C. Nielsen ( A.C. Nielsen
  Strategic Planner 2002) the produce section has
  shown an increase in dollar sales of 15 in 2002
  over the previous year which was the second
  largest category increase in the store.
• New convenience foods are growing in importance
  or even dominating the category. For example,
  bagged salads have increased by 12, Refrigerated
  entrées by 21, breakfast bars by 28, shelf
  stable entrées by 50, refrigerated meal starters
  over 300. (A.C. Nielsen, 2002)

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Secondary research

• The NPD 2000 Mushroom use study
• Understanding the Dynamics of Produce Markets
  ERS, 2000
  
• Fresh Mushroom Consumer Attitude and Usage Study
  Wave I 1999 Rose Research
  
• Fresh Mushroom Consumer Attitude and Usage Study
  Wave II 2000 Rose Research
  
• Fresh Mushroom 2000 Telephone Survey Robert
  Hartmann
  
• Factors Affecting US Mushroom Consumption ERS
  2003
  
• Mushroom Usage focus group 2000

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Methodology

• Part One was to examine previous research
  conducted by the Government, syndicated data
  providers and mushroom industry sponsored
  research designed to identify the salient
  attributes in mushroom purchase and use.
• Part Two was to create concepts, which would
  attempt to overcome the various purchase
  obstacles and generate greater sales and use.
  
• Part three was to measure the attractiveness of
  each concept using interval quality scales.

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Clear obstacles were visible from the previous
research

• Derived demand
• mushrooms are almost always eaten with other food
  or used an ingredient with other foods.
  

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• Convenience
• The key factor influencing consumers reluctance
  to use more fresh mushrooms is the lack of
  convenience.
  
• They require a lot of work to prepare for a meal
  
  
• Products such as carrots and salads are selling
  in a more prepared ready to eat state.

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• Lack of Information
• There is a dramatic lack of information about
  mushrooms.
  
• Not only in terms of recognizing the varieties
  but how to prepare them properly, to the
  nutritional value.
  
• There is still a level of concern for safety not
  only over variety but also the material that it
  is grown in.
  

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• Not Top of Mind
• if a person is planning to have steak for a meal
  it is less likely that they forget the steak but
  more likely they overlook buying the mushrooms to
  sauté for the steak

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Concept creation

• The concepts were created by a research team that
  included a professional chef and food marketer as
  well as by members of the mushroom growers
  community.
• Concepts were then discussed by 24 consumers in a
  qualitative session to verify the extent to which
  the concepts communicated the (respective)
  benefit.
• Each concept is related to (a) specific obstacles
  to using fresh mushrooms

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Steak Cut Seasoned Fresh Mushrooms

• Fresh mushrooms are custom cut and seasoned to be
  cooked and

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Fresh Ready to Eat Salad Cut Mushrooms

• Fresh and washed Ready to Eat Salad Cut
  Mushrooms have been hand selected and custom cut
  to perfectly match all the bagged salads

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Fresh Mushrooms with a Disposable cleaning brush

• Each package of fresh mushrooms includes a
  specially designed brush to make preparing your
  fresh mushrooms a snap

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Mushroom Side Dishes in Seconds

• Now you can have the great flavor and taste of
  restaurant quality mushroom side dishes in
  seconds.

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Marinated Fresh Portabella Mushrooms Ready to
Grill

• The latest craze of grilled Portabella mushrooms
  is now made tastier and easier with the marinated
  Portabellas in three different flavors.

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Portable Fresh Mushrooms with dip

• Take these delicious mushrooms to work or play
  and enjoy with other veggies and a fresh prepared
  dip in three flavors

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Fresh Mushrooms with a Special Storage Bag

• Included in each box of fresh mushrooms is a
  specially designed bag to keep mushrooms fresh
  for an extra week in your refrigerator

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Mushroom Flavor in a Tube

• Now you can get the wonderful flavor of mushrooms
  in your sauces and gravies by simply squeezing it
  into the pan.

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Ornamental Fresh Mushrooms for Salads and More

• Cook like a professional chef. For special
  occasions where you want a beautiful classic rose
  cut mushroom for a salad, vegetable plate, or any
  meal that you want to make memorable.

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Perfect Pairs Fresh Mushrooms Matched to
Traditional Meals

• Fresh mushrooms have been cut and flavored to
  accompany four traditional meals. Just decide
  what you are having for dinner and buy the
  Perfect Pair

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Clean and Washed in Heinz's Fit Fruit and
Vegetable Wash

• No one wants to worry if their fruits and
  vegetables are ready to eat or cook with.

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Grilled mushroom Caesar salad kit

• Try a new twist to an old salad. Have a grilled
  Portabella Caesar salad.

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Fresh Mushroom Soup Kit

• Everything to make a fresh mushroom soup from
  scratch

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Pizza Cut Mushrooms

• These mushrooms are cut and flavored with herbs
  and garlic to be a perfect complement to fresh or
  frozen pizza

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Portobello burgers

• These "Ports" have been selected and seasoned to
  be perfect as a burger.

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Classic Spinach Salad kit

• The Classic Spinach Salad kit is a mix of baby
  spinach and thick cut white mushrooms

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Fabulous fajitas kits

• These fresh sliced mushrooms have been selected
  and seasoned to be perfect as a fajita.

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Heat and Eat Deep Fried Mushrooms

• You can enjoy the crisp essence of real deep
  fried mushrooms at home!

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The respondents then ranked the concepts based on
the (criterion) of (likelihood of purchase if
available in the neighborhood grocery store).
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Scaling

• The ranked data was converted to simulated paired
  comparisons and Thurstone Case V scale values
  were calculated (Torgerson, 1967).
  
• These methods were described by USDA documents.
  This method provided interval scaled data (which
  enables) the interpretation of the differences
  between scale values.

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• Fresh Mushroom Soup Kit.....0.00
• Steak Cut Seasoned Fresh Mushrooms..0.13
• Grilled Mushroom Caesar Salad Kit.2.01
• Mushroom Side Dishes 3.22
• Portobello burgers5.17
• Perfect Pairs ...5.18
• Mushrooms with a Storage Bag5.77
• Portable Fresh Mushrooms with dip6.73
• Fajitas kits ..6.81
• Heat and Eat Deep Fried .7.89
• Classic Spinach Salad kit ..8.96
• Pizza Cut Mushrooms ...10.40
• Clean and Washed .10.43
• Salad Cut Mushrooms.12.30
• Ornamental. .16.3
• Marinated Portabella Ready to Grill....24.5
• Disposable cleaning brush. 29.93
• Mushroom Flavor in a Tube..40.07

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Results

• Seems that clean and fresh are low valued but the
  concept included a branded wash.
  
• This may be indicative of the potential success
  of the concepts when we know the sliced and clean
  are doing so well. Today about 50 of mushrooms
  sold are sliced!

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Next step

• Create mock-up and do quantitative studies.
• Two choices in-store studies with actual sales or
  simulated store purchases.

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Summary

• There has been very little product innovation in
  the fresh mushroom industry relative to new
  products or new merchandising.
  
• Most innovation has been on the production side
  of the business and while important if we cant
  sell them it doesn't make any difference how much
  it cost to grow them.

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References research

• A.C. Nielsen, Schamburg IL, Strategic Planner
  200
  
• Nunnally JC, Bernstein IH (1994) Psychometric
  Theory. McGraw-Hill
  
• Brown, T, Daniel T Scaling of Ratings Concepts
  and Methods, USDA, Research Paper RM-293
  
• Day , JC National Population Projections, U.S.
  Census Bureau, Population Division and Housing
  and Household Economic Statistics ivision
  
• FMI, Wisconsin Grocers association Presentation,
  2003.
  
• IRI, Unpublished reports to clients, 2002
• Herrmann, Robert, Fresh Mushrooms 2000, A Report
  of a National Telephone Survey on Mushroom Usage,
  unpublished report, 2000.
  
• NPD Annual Eating Trends Survey, 2002Patterson,
  Paul., Unpublished research, Arizona State
  University. 2003