Beta Concept

After finishing all the 5 domain before which is market study, consumer study, ideation, feasibility study and consumer acceptance than we have to came out with one concept which will be our beta concept and we have to produce this concept later during semester. After several discussion and analysis done from the entire domain before, from the five alpha concepts that had been proposed, pour over Noodle had been chosen as the beta concept. The reason for choosing pour over noodle as the beta concept was because of the highly preferences from the respondents that we interviewed, like this concept and flavour which is important for acceptance of instant noodle product in the market. In addition, the success rate for this concept also was among the highest of all the others five concepts in feasibility study thus make this concept able to be produce in the next semester. We had learned a lot during this food product development final year project which we learned to communicate with the respondents and my team members as well and also research process. The presentations that we had done every week improve our skills of presentation. We will produce this instant noodle concept and you just have to wait for it as it will fulfill all your demands in instant noodles with wonderful flavour that never been seen before.

Domain 5

This is the last domain or process before we came out with our beta concept. Domain 5 is the consumer acceptance. We had called back some of our respondents that had been participating in our consumer study before to participating in our consumer acceptance interview. This interview is different from the consumer study which had been done in group as consumer acceptance interview is done one by one. The purpose of this domain was to see the reaction and opinion from the respondents toward our 5 concepts whether they like or not and willing to purchase it. We had 5 respondents been interviewed with minimum of 30 minutes and maximum of more than 1 hour duration of interview session. The respondents was showed with our 5 concepts in details one by one individually and then been asked several questions to know their opinion and thoughts about the concepts truthfully.

Most of them find the concept showed to them was very innovative and convenient for them which is important for instant noodles product. The respond that we get from the respondents was very good with majority of them like our 5 concepts and had tough time to choose the one they liked the most as they said all of them was very good concepts. The two top concept been choose by the respondents was pour over and dry and soup. This was based on the ranking given to them.

Domain 4

Now this is the hardest domain for me so far which is domain 4 that is the feasibility study process. Feasibility study is the process in simple word to know whether the concepts that we suggested earlier can be produce or not. This domain need us to do a lot of research and study to know if the concepts that we had was able to produce in the industry and the cost with availability of the ingredients that we gonna used. Then, we have to list all the machine, ingredients, technical ingredients and packaging that can be used to manufacture our product in the industry. The result is then being categorized into number that we gonna use later to make it into percentage. We had been given a guideline and template to help us.

After enormous research and study were being done we got the results for it. From the feasibility study of all the five alpha concepts that we had, sizzling noodle, cook together and pour over had the three highest percentages of success rate among the others five alpha concepts because of the ingredients and machine or processing availability that will be used to produce this concepts

Domain 3

This is the best domain so far me because this is where our creativity explode in our mind and ready shape it out into reality. Domain 3 is the ideation process whereby we create an idea of concept for our instant noodles based on the respond given by the respondent that we get from our market and consumer study. From that we have to first create 10 concepts and then after presentation of the 10 concepts we have to come out with 5 concepts and this is how the process flow. The 10 concepts was sizzling cheese Hawaiian chicken, YM handmade noodle, YM I fu Mie, black garlic soup pan mee noodles, dry and soup chicken noodle, YM goreng sambal, YM spicy beef, YM u.s.a, crazy noodle and YM mee goreng salted egg. Each of the idea was based on the feedback and analysis of market study and consumer study. After several discussion and brainstorming of idea thus this 10 idea of alpha concepts come out. Since the comments that we got after the presentation was the 10 concepts that we had was much more like a recipe name rather than concepts and based on the voted given to our 10 concepts by our other groups thus we do some improvement and modification on the concepts before short list it into 5 concepts.

Although, the 10 alpha concepts that we had have attractive flavours  but there are lack of innovation in term of packaging and noodle itself. The concepts that did not have the vote for the best five concepts were removed but some of the criteria are still being used to combine with other concepts to enhanced and improve it more. The five alpha concepts were chosen based on the vote given to the concepts and been modified to improve it. The five chosen alpha concepts that been rename was Pour Over, Sizzling, Cup noodle, Dry and Soup and Cook Together.

The reason why the five concepts were chosen was because of the vote given and discussion on the concepts. The concepts chosen have certain criteria which are have big portion of the noodles, innovation of cooking method, innovation of packaging and variety of flavours. It also the combination of the 10 alpha concepts that been compress into five alpha concepts thus remain most of the feedback and suggestion received from the consumer study.

Domain 2

I will explain about domain 2 in our final year project. In domain 2 is the consumer study which we will interview random respondents  in a group with minimum of 5 and maximum of 10 in a group per session. There are several types of question that been asked to the respondents which are symbolic study question, purchasing behaviour and eating pattern. From this types of question that been asked to them, they will discuss it among themselves whether they agreed on each other or have different opinion themselves. Our responsibility was just to guide them and help them to give their opinion. One session can last minimum of 15 minutes to 1 hour depends on the size of the group itself. The respondents that we get was very helpful and energetic as they really speak out from their mind and give us their truthful opinion.

sample of interview questions

The results was then analysed and related back to our market study as market study is only an open ended questions thus did not allowed us to get more in depth answers while by doing consumer study it help us develop the results that we get from market study to understand it more behind the reason that why they choose the answer in the market study. Overall, we are satisfied with the opinion given by the respondents and we can identified some pattern that can be related back to market study. This also was an enjoyed activity although it is our assignment as we learned to handled people and communicate with them in proper manners.  

Domain 1

Final Year Project!!!

Finally it is time for my final year project to begin during my last year degree in culinology. So the topic that been given to my batch this time is to produce an instant noodles by utilizing underutilize crop/co-product. This is quite a challenge as instant noodles is a big product available in the market with it is fans and customers. To create a product that can have the same or better than in the market with added nutrients and healthier will be a tough challenge for me and my groups member which is gilang, tracy and vai. Before produce this instant noodles there are several process or domain that need to be done in order to understands the market and demands of this instant noodles. There are 5 domain that need to be done which is market study, consumer study, ideation, feasibility study and concept acceptance. After that only we will have one final product or concept which is the beta concept that we gonna produce in semester 6.

Domain 1

Now let me explain a little bit about what we had done in the domain 1 process. In domain 1 which is the market study is to understand the market of instant noodles so we in this domain we have to prepare a questionnaire to been given to random people. Because of the safety and constraint of cost so we do it online and in Taylor's university only. We manage to get 200 respondents for our market study which is quite a lot thus help us to understand instant noodle market.

sample of our questionnaire

The answer then will be analysed and recorded based on what the respondents had answered. Based on the answer it can be conclude generally that they quite satisfied with the instant noodle in the market and that they want more flavour, healthier and bigger portion of instant noodles. The main reason that the respondents eat instant noodles is because they busy and also craving for it. We had a lot of fun doing this domain as we have to interact directly with the respondents and help them to fill in the questionnaire.