Subreddit: r/Startups
User: u/BankNoteBounty
Original Post:
Would a R&D team be necessary?
I have a physical product idea but this product does not exist anywhere. It is a simple food product but it is a lot more difficult to manufacture than I would've thought. In fact, I wouldn't even know how to go about manufacturing this in the first place to achieve the intended result. I have been using this product like this for over a year and I know many other people have been too so I know it works and could be a good product.
I did make a very simple version but it runs into a lot of problems that I cannot solve without redesigning the whole product. I have a list of potential solutions and design ideas that I believe solve everything and can fix these issues but I have no way to prove and see if they do which they very well may not even fix it. Which is why I am looking to either talk to a R&D team or a product designer about this.
My question is, is it worth getting an R&D team to try to create the product or should I simply just get a product designer to design the product and send it to the manufacturer?
The issue I am having is I cannot find anyone that specializes in what I am doing specifically which is why I am considering getting a R&D team. I haven't dug too deeply for a designer so I believe there are a few people who can design what I am asking but I would want to know what would be the best course of action here?
My Response:
Hi there, I’m a food scientist who consults for small and medium-sized business in the food industry.
So of course it’s hard to provide very specific advice without knowing the full scope of your product. There’s certainly a clear difference between a high-protein beverage versus an instant soup, and everything else in between. So the devil is in the details.
I would never hire an R&D team this early before validating the market for the food product.
At most, I would recommend working with a single food product developer who at least understands categorically what you want to achieve. And it may be that you cannot easily or successfully scale this product at the production level, or at least not in a cost-effective manner. A lot of factors would be involved - shelf-life stability, food safety, flavor stability, texture retention, separation mechanics, need for pasteurization, oxidation, etc.
But even for a small team of food scientists and product developers, you’re looking at easily $30,000 at the low ends. Things can climb up to $100,000 if there is scope creep.
A lot can potentially go wrong.
Whenever a client says that the product is simple, that’s a red flag for me because that means they don’t understand the intricacies of the food industry. What you can make at home has zero bearing on what can be produced at scale. And no R&D team will ever be willing to work on anything that has an inherent danger to the consumer. So my concern would be there there is an inherent pathogen risk, or at least a microbiological risk, that would result in a failed product on the market shelf.
And no major retailer will hold the liability of having a potentially high risk product on the shelves.
You’re more than welcome to reach out to me and I can give an initial feedback on whether or not the product is commercially feasible. And by all means, it doesn’t mean you can’t make it. You’re just going to have to throw a lot of money at it; I’ve seen companies burn through $3 million in a war chest just to get something novel onto the marketplace.
The food industry is not cheap.
That said, I prototype food products all the time and have done some whacky designs. Some are truly simpler than others. And I’m grateful that I can put together these with enough foresight that a client is able to scale it up at a co-manufacturer. So it all depends, really.
Are you working on a new food or beverage product? Interested in working with me and my team to get started?
Click on the button below to get in touch and set up a meeting today!