Innovation and Product Development

Product development is the key in maintaining and developing a brand. Rieber & Søn will be "The Local Taste Champion", with a deep understanding of how products can be developed and renewed in order to meet consumer preferences for the needs of our customers.

Product development is the key in maintaining and developing a brand. Rieber & Søn will be "The Local Taste Champion", with a deep understanding of how products can be developed and renewed in order to meet consumer preferences for the needs of our customers.

A business philosophy seeking to be "The Local Taste Champion", with products specially tailored for each market, distinguishes us from our international competitors who often have identical products in many countries. It is a strategy which creates strong product association among the consumers, while bringing a good turnover and earnings for our customers.

National and international trends
Even between neighbouring countries there is a considerable difference in consumer taste preferences. One example that illustrates this: Tomato soup is the favourite soup in Norway and the largest variant in Toro’s range of soups. In Sweden, tomato soup is a marginal product, while asparagus soup is the favourite. The taste preference of the same variant also varies from country to country. We are careful to note these kinds of differences. When Vitana was planning to increase its market share in Slovakia in 2003, the sub-brand Tatranskà was developed with recipes adapted to Slovak taste preferences. The launch was a success.

Where international dishes are involved, it is important to be among the "first movers" in the market. To be a first mover both enables to set taste and standard for the category, making it more difficult for competitors to enter the market.

We also add a national touch to other dishes. The original Indian Tandoori Chicken and Greek Moussaka are adjusted according to the Norwegian taste preferences. And when "Norwegian" casseroles were to be launched in the Czech Republic under the Vitana name, the taste was adapted to Czech taste preferences. Conversely, Czech goulash soup was adapted to the Norwegian taste before being launched in Norway.

Taste Lab
In order to find the right taste, Rieber & Søn works systematically, using tasting panels in the different countries. Toro started this practice early, and it is now implemented in other business units. Product development is an important factor in driving categories and to maintain/increase sales and create top-line growth. Product development also plays a key role in the process of steering the product mix towards high margin products.

We have an ongoing process which measures the organic growth in business units, product groups and markets. The share of sales recorded by new products is also measured.