Tastykake SensablesFor generation,

Tastykake Sensables
For generation, Tastykakes have been one of the most popular snack foods in and around the Philadelphia area. the local Tasty baking Co., Founded about 90 years ago, turns out about five million snack cakes, pies, cookies, and doughnuts each day. sales, however, had been stagnant in recent years. The top sales year was 2001, when tasty Baking hit $166 million in sales, netting $6 million profit. About this time, new CEO Charles Pizzi announced to shareholders that in 2994, an innovative line extension would be launched. While this would not be the only company action designed to boost performance, the new line would certainly be an important step.
In the snack business, the previous decade had seen a major trend toward healthier products. Nabisco Snack Well’s low-fat cakes and cookies were a prominent example from the early 1990s. Even Tastykake had some low-fat products was emerging, due to the popularity of the low-carbohydrate Atkins Diet. By 2003, dozens of food companies has launched about 600 low-carb products onto the store shelves, and the healthy, low-crab product trend showed no signs of abating. It seemed logical to all concerned that Tasty Baking’s new line would be a low-carb version ofTastyakes. As noted by chief marketing officer Vince Melchiorre,”It was a wave, and we wanted to ride it.” Ifsuccessful, the low-carb Tastykake could be the first of several new lines, targeted at a variety of health concerns.
Karen Schutz had about 20 years of marketing experience at Campbell Soup before becoming a marketing manager at Tasykake. In January 2004, she was given the task of making the low-carb Tastykake areality. The deadline was short: The product was to be out by fall. From her Campbell days, Schutz was aware of the challenge. A new consumer packaged good of this type might require a year to 18 months for product formulation, assessing shelf life, market testing, and advertising planning. As an added constraint, the new line would have to be produced using existing equipment and personnel.
By mid-January, John Sawicki,Tasty Baking’s manager of research, obtained the first trial batches of low-carb cookies and douhnuts from an ingredient supplier, and arranged for a private tasting by Tasty Baking managers, including Schutz, at company headquarters. Schutz and her colleagues liked the teste (she feared her doughnut would taste like “hamster food”), and agreed that this supplier’s mixer were a good starting point. At this time a code name was selected for the still-secret low-crab project: Greta (for “Greta Carbo”)
Sawicki and his team began development of a low-carb chocolate cookie bar on January 27, 2004. A sugar alcohol called maltition would be the sugar substitute, and some flour in the mix would be replaced by modified cornstarch. Meanwhile, Melchiorre asked Schutz if it would be possible to make Greta sugar-free. He explained, “ I needed to address the issue of people who had grown up on Tastykakes who can’t eat it any more. It was good for business, and good for them.”Schutz Knew this would be difficult, as sugar is in milk, berries, and other ingredients. She e-mailed Sawicki to see if this were feasible. Sawicki’s response: “Possibly. It probably depends on the product. Should we be targeting this?”
Things were soon going to get exciting for Schutz and Sawicki. In February, senior management rescheduled Greta’s launch to late June-three months earlier than expected! But early research results were promising from a low-carb viewpoint. Early batches of low-carb chocolate cookie bars contained only seven net carbs (the statistic used by low-crab dieters), comparable to Atkins low-carb cookies. Sawicki brought these, as well as chocolate cookies and blueberry muffins, to a taste test attended by Schutz and her co-workers. They liked the taste, but other details like product shape and toppings still had to be decided on. Schutz reminded the team that “people eat with their eyes,” emphasizing that the products had to look good.
She also noted that the low-carb cookies, muffins, and doughnuts were planned for preview at the upcoming March 10 board meeting. Considering that the doughnut mix wasn’t ready, the blueberries sank in the muffins, and the cookie bars needed icing, this would be difficult. Sawicki pulled it all together for the meeting, even arranging the snacks on serving trays, and the board thanked Schutz and the Greta team for having come so far so fast.
Later thet day, Schutz was speaking to a supplier who happened to mention that he could not eat products with maltitol, because it gave him side effects in the lower intestine. As it turned out, some people are more sensitive to maltitol. She spoke to Melchiorre the next morning. He needed no convincing that maltitol levels had to be decreased: He had the same discomfort. In addition, two days after the board meeting, the FDA announced they were going to monitor the usage of terms like “carb free” or “reduced carb” on product labeling; violating companies would face sanctions.
Schutz and Sawicki thought fast to solve these problems. A new cookie with polydextrose and glycerin (a sugar alcohol with fewer side effects than maltitol) was in preparation. Portion sizes were also reduced. To avoid the FDA low-carb regulatory web, Schitz decided to position Greta as a sugar-free product, with low-carb being a secondary attribute, the product was also about to get a name: “Sensables” evoked diet moderation and could potentially be reused on other snacks with different health benefits.
By MAY 12, Sensables were introduced to Tasty Baking’s district sales managers. The team was unable to work out problems with the blueberry muffins (too much sugar in the blueberries), and replaced them with orange and chocolate-chip finger cakes. The rest of the lineup was plaon and chocolate doughnuts, and the chocolate and chocolate-chip cookie bars. Schutz and her team had tried the reformulated line out, with no intestinal side effects. In her presentation, Schutz stressed the Sensables message: no sugar, low-carb, and portion control, and announced that product would hit the shelves on July 15. At the end of her presentation, something happened that is rare for a district sales manager meeting: She received a standing ovation. Jim Roche, a Pennsylvania district sales manager, said, “this is a winner.”
After Sensables were introduced to the sales force, consumer taste testing was undertaken. According to Schutz, a few of the products were modestly “Tweaked” the chocolate-chip finger cakes and cookie bars received more chips, and more orange flavor was added to orange finger cakes. The chocolate doughnut was dropped, as customers didn’t like its taste or its appearance. The consumer testing delayed the launch by a few weeks. Once the final adjustments were made to the product line, Sensables were launched in and around Philadelphia on August 10, 2004. The launch received coverage in Philadelphia area newspaper and on news radio.
Question: How does the Sensables process compare with the new products process in this chapter? Would you question anything Tastykake did? Do you think the Sensables line will succeed? Why or why not?