Why Waiting for Perfection Could Be Holding Your Food Product Back

In today's fast-paced F&B landscape, waiting to develop the perfect product might cost you time, money, and consumer attention. Why not instead launch a Minimum Lovable Product (MLP) that lets you test, improve and generate revenue early on? In a market where speed wins, an MLP gives you the momentum while others are still perfecting.

---

Launching Minimum Lovable Product can be the key to food innovation

Traditional food innovation is often slow* because brands focus on perfecting the product before launch. This process takes time and involves costly consumer studies, endless development cycles, custom packaging, and large-scale production, all based on assumptions.

"While this mindset emphasizes the importance of a strong launch, it doesn’t mean the product must be perfect from the start. In fact, striving for perfection can delay innovation," continues Marcin. Instead, launching a Minimum Lovable Product (MLP) strikes the right balance—delivering a solid first impression while leaving room for refinement.

The risk of waiting? By the time the product is market-ready, trends may have shifted, or it may fail to connect with consumers.

At Agilery, we’ve developed an agile approach to avoid this. Instead of waiting for perfection, we help brands launch MLPs, allowing for real-time consumer feedback, faster iterations, and reduced risk. This process not only speeds up time to market but also ensures you're staying ahead of trends. Imagine launching a prototype that resonates with consumers and starts generating revenue—all while you continue to refine it.

*An average food or beverage product takes around 2 years to get to the market. Source:“To Launch or Not to Launch” An Empirical Estimate of New Food Product Success Rate, Sep 2019

Benefits of launching a Minimum Lovable Product (MLP)

• Cost Efficiency: Lower production costs and quicker iterations before scaling up.
• Speed to Market: Get your product out there faster to stay ahead of trends.
• Real-Time Consumer Validation: Test directly with your audience to get genuine feedback and make data-driven decisions.
• Reduced Risk of Failure: Not going for large-scale production means you can pivot or improve without massive financial loss.
• Faster Revenue Generation: Successful MLP generates income while you perfect the product.

So what’s a Minimum Lovable Product?

A Minimum Lovable Product (MLP) in food innovation, following the lean approach, is the simplest version of a product that is fully ready to be sold and marketed. It meets basic consumer expectations and delivers enough value to compete in the market, while still being produced in small batches. Unlike a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which focuses on basic functionality and testing, an MLP is polished enough to generate revenue but doesn’t include all the refined features of a final, perfected product.

Defining the Key Terms

• Mockup: A visual or physical representation of the product to showcase packaging design or branding without having the actual product inside. It helps communicate the concept to e.g investors or marketing teams, without needing to finalize the recipe or production process.
• Prototype: A finished product example from the lab, designed to experience its flavor, texture sensory experience and overall feasibility. It's intended for initial evaluation, testing, and iteration. When approved the NPD stage is over and a pilot production can be set up.
• Minimum Viable Product (MVP): in the food industry refers to a product that focuses on its core functionality, especially when the concept is highly innovative with no comparable alternatives on the market. It is produced in small batches using existing equipment, avoiding the costs of custom machinery or packaging. This approach allows you to quickly test the concept with consumers, gather feedback, and make adjustments, all while minimizing risk and expenses.
• Minimum Marketable Product (MMP): When you want to quickly join an existing trending product category you can quickly launch an MMP, a version of MVP that has already estimated shelf life, claims (health, nutrition) and quality testing, but saves time on extensive branding and customisation.
• Minimum Lovable Product (MLP): If you want to penetrate an already established food or beverage category it's recommended to launch an MLP —  a product that not only meets basic consumer expectations but also delivers a "wow" factor that resonates with your target audience. This is usually achieved with custom packaging and branding. 

Here's an overview to save and download.

Here’s an example how launching MMP or MLP works

Let’s say you're entering the competitive market of functional drinks, specifically targeting yoga women over 40 with your cognitive health drink. Instead of waiting to create the "perfect" product, you would decide between MMP or MLP, depending on the saturation of available alternatives for this target group in your market. The product must meet certain customer expectations for cognitive functionality and ideally provide a certain differentiator (or wow effect) to appeal to your niche.

Our NPD team would help you in creating a prototype which would be approved after a series of tasting sessions. The final prototype we would either take straingt to the co-manufacturer and help you turned it into an MMP or you would opt to add extra zaz; a.k.a custom branding differentiators together with a marketing team, and only then seek for the right co-man or co-packer. 

MMP and MLP would be produced in small batches — up to 5,000 units using standard machinery. This allows you to test your drink in real time with consumers and gather valuable feedback without investing in custom equipment or large-scale production.

Frequently asked questions

• Won’t launching a less-than-perfect product damage my brand’s reputation?
  Not if it’s communicated as a trial or limited release. Consumers are often excited to be part of early-stage testing and appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback, which can enhance your brand's credibility as customer-centric and innovative.
• How quickly can I launch an MMP/MLP compared to a fully finished product?
  Launching a MMP with Agilery typically takes around 6 months, though timelines may vary depending on the specifics of your project. Key factors include decisions on your end and securing contracts with new partners. Launching a Minimum Lovable Product (MLP) can take longer as it involves external marketing partners, adding more complexity and decision-making. To avoid losing momentum, we recommend streamlining the marketing phase to capitalize on the time savings generated by our NPD team.
• What type of feedback can I expect from launching an MMP/MLP?
  You’ll receive valuable insights into consumer sensory preferences, packaging, and price points, which can guide your decisions before a full product rollout.
• What happens if the MMP/MLP fails in the market?
  If the the product doesn’t meet consumer expectations, you can make informed changes based on feedback or decide to pivot altogether, avoiding the significant losses associated with a full-scale product failure.