Flavor Panels (aka Dinner Parties)

How do food companies make decisions on product formulas or recipes? They rely on food panels or groups of trained flavor panelists to tell them what they like. In many ways Supper Clubs are like food panels. The menu developer and the cook are looking to their dinner party guests to tell them what they liked. And, what was a bad idea.

A few weeks ago I developed a menu for our local supper club based on Tapas. This last weekend there were 3 dinner parties in our neighborhood where 27 people were flavor panelists telling us what they liked and what they did not. Supper Clubbers by nature are nice. It is pretty hard to get real, critical feedback directly. You might hear though the grapevine that somebody didn’t like something. But it is rare.

The one theme of feedback that I hear is that my menus are too hard and too complicated.  GUILTY! I developed the original menu with 12 items and had the goal to get it down to 6. We had a trial run dinner party and my flavor panel (aka dinner party guests) argued long and loud to keep it at 10. This translated into a 13 page menu/recipe packet. There is no question that the sheer volume of recipes was daunting. The good news is that with 8 to 10 people at the dinner party there was plenty of opportunity to delegate and share the workload.

The story that is often told in this blog space is that I am a trained flavor panelist. The truth is that I have been trained 3 times. One of the reasons for going through training three times, is that I am not very good. A truly discerning palette is rare and a gift. For example, I worked in the chocolate business and we had a senior Sales Manager named Bill who thought he was the expert on chocolate. Well after training and testing it turned out that Bill couldn’t hold a candle to his secretary Sharon. Poor Bill never recovered.

Another reality is the old marketing line we used to use for our Flavors of Cooking line of products at Kraft Food Ingredients: “Nothing influences that flavor food more than how it is cooked”.It is so true. Our friend that hosted the dinner party that we attended, explained to me why she is intimated by hosting a party where the author of the menu is a guest. She reminded me of the time where 3 groups of dinner parties were merged into one house. So 3 different cooks prepared each item. Most of the dishes looked completely different. My friend was worried that the dishes at her party would not look anything like what the author had intended. The good news was twofold:

  1. Everything I saw looked exactly as it was supposed to.
  2. It doesn’t really matter if it looks like what the author intended as long as it tastes pretty good.

Did your flavor panel like it? That’s all that matters!

 

Tapas Menu

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The Intimidation Factor

Invite Paul and he will do the cooking. The word in our Supper Club is that having Paul at a dinner party can be intimidating. People must think one of two things:

1. I know what I am doing
2. I am a jerk

It must be number two, because I certainly don’t know what I am doing. Trust me, I am winging it.

It reminds me of when I worked at a Maxwell House Coffee plant in California. We had a tour of General Foods upper management. One Marketing Manager, asked the crusty old plant manager, how many coffee beans were in the huge cooling bin after the roaster? Without missing a beat, he says 3,300,030 to 3,300,040. She wrote his comment down as gospel. I must have given old Bert a quizzical look because he turns to me and whispers: “Say it with confidence kid, and they will believe anything”.

My buddy Joe Chaudoin figured out the “Invite Paul and he will cook” strategy years ago. He heard the Supper Club wives being intimidated having to host a party for the author of the menu. Like I really know what I am doing? Truth is that I am trying to figure out things like all the rest.

(Note: Speaking of intimidation..this picture is from when Joe and I played golf at Bethpage Black Course, site of the U.S. Open. They use the sign to scare off golfers of lesser ability. Joe and I were too stupid to heed the warning)

I will usually do a little research. The wealth of information on YouTube and Google is amazing. A little practice goes a long way. If there is something I haven’t made before, I have been known to make a trial run. Actually, Joe has been a guinea pig for me more than a few times. What some won’t do for a free meal?

A favorite story of mine that says a lot about Joe, it involved a chicken dinner. Joe was once asked to pass a piece of white meat chicken. Joe responded: “What do you mean white meat?” Joe was clueless. In his book, chicken is chicken. With all this said, he is one of the most appreciative guests I have ever had. And yes, the bar is not that high.

The moral of this Supper Club story is never be afraid to ask for help. Past that, research and practice goes a long way in realizing success.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

Featured Image

Note this picture is of my popular Romaine Wedge Salad. It is a great salad , but it isn’t all that easy to make for the weak of heart. Yes it can be intimidating, as it takes about 10 different steps. Don’t be intimidated…give it a try!