So Why Does It Taste So Bad?

Vox had an interesting article this week on the people who try to indentify food trends and instruct companies on how to capitalize on them. Lamenting the fact that food trends can come and go before companies can marshall the resources to bring a product to market, the big companies are at a distinct disadvantage:

But for companies like Pepsico or Denny’s, the innovation cycle takes years.

Ideas are brainstormed, prototyped, kitchen tested, debated within dozens of boardrooms, tested in select markets, subjected to refinements and focus groups, prepared for a launch, advertised to the public, and slowly rolled out store by store, state by state, and country by country. The time line from the initial idea for a food to a consumer’s first bite can be months in the quickest-moving companies and years for the largest ones, with the whole process costing many millions of dollars.

So why does their food taste like crap? All that money and effort resulting in Denny’s latest bland and boring offering. Maybe food design by committee is not such a good idea.