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he's spending more time offering advice 

 about product development. 



But developing new products isn't 

 as easy as it might seem. Purvis knows. 

 He has been developing two value- 

 added products — cooked, quick-frozen 

 crab clusters (halved crabs with legs 

 attached) and a variety of seafood dips. 



The clusters have just entered the 

 market, and the dips are being readied. 

 Both face an uphill battle as they 

 compete with the millions of products 

 lining grocery store aisles and bulging 

 from frozen-food cases. 



In 1994, 15,000 new products were 

 introduced in the United States, Purvis 

 says. Of those, 96 percent failed. The 

 failures were financial sinkholes for 

 giant food processors and mom-and-pop 

 companies alike. One major food 

 company lost $10 million on a 

 micro wav able soup that didn't tempt the 

 palates of American consumers. 



Purvis says his experience has 

 come from trial and error. He recently 

 shared his knowledge with other North 

 Carolina seafood processors at an 

 annual forum organized by Green. 



He offers these steps for developing 

 a value-added product. 



1. A plan. 



"You have to have a dream, a 

 vision, of where you want to go," Purvis 

 says. "You have to focus and develop an 

 idea into a concept." 



2. Research and development of the 

 product. 



"You have to consider recipe 

 formulation, packaging — what is state- 

 of-the-art? what will consumers accept? 

 — and the state and federal regulations 

 that will govern the product," he says. 



3. Marketing potential. 

 "Where's the niche that your 



product will fill?" Purvis asks. "Under- 

 stand the product's demographics. Does 

 it appeal primarily to teen-agers? Is it a 



regional product? Do consumer 

 research." 



Daniels says his experience with 

 Tyson has taught him that consumer 

 research is helpful, but not always 

 completely reliable. Market research 

 is often based on asking consumers if 

 they'll buy a product. More often than 

 not, the answer is yes. But the reality 

 is often different. 



"It's like asking me if I want to 

 lose 10 pounds," Daniels says. "I'll say 

 yes every time. But am I going to do 

 it? Probably not. 



"Sometimes it's best to look 

 around at what consumers are eating in 

 restaurants and at home. Ask yourself, 

 can I do that for them?" he says. 



Recently, Daniels says Tyson 

 developed a fish-and-chips packet that 

 included a bag of battered cod, a bag of 

 french fries, tartar sauce, vinegar malt 

 and toffee. It was designed to be sold 

 at bulk warehouse and club stores. 



"I was doubtful of this product," 

 Daniels says. "I took a bag home. My 

 wife asked me what the retail price 

 would be. I told her $7.99. 'It's a 

 winner,' she said. 'You have a com- 

 plete meal for four in one bag.' She 

 was absolutely right. Now we're doing 

 a grill kit too." 



4. Production. 



"Work out a strategy for produc- 

 ing mass quantities of your product," 

 Purvis says. "I'll guarantee you that 

 Mama's fudge at 1 pound doesn't taste 

 the same when you multiply the recipe 

 by 10. You have to tweak the recipe." 



And sometimes you have to adjust 

 the recipe to regional tastes, Daniels 

 says. 



Everyone thinks Mrs. Paul's crab 

 cakes are based on a family recipe. Not 

 so, he says. The company collected and 

 analyzed hundreds of recipes before 



Continued 



