In January, I took on the “52 New Foods Challenge” as my New Year’s Resolution, committing to introduce one new food (or one novel preparation of familiar food) to my family’s dinner repertoire each week. As the end of March approaches, I decided it would be a good time to reflect on our progress so far by preparing a quarterly report.
Performance Statements
In Q1 of 2015, the dinner menu management team, led by mom in consultation with a team of two 4-year-old advisors, selected and introduced 12 new foods/recipes to the weekly menu. New foods are heretoforth highlighted in bold. Results were as follows:
- Four new food ventures were commercially successful, as evidenced by children eating them lustily and requesting them to be served again. These included: roasted squash seeds , red lentil soup, dragonfruit and cod fish filets. Due to the large financial outlays associated with acquisition of dragonfruit, however, management has reserved the right not to include this exotic fruit in its usual menu of services. Management has, however, agreed to splurge on a few whenever she has to visit her optician in Chinatown.
- Interest was generated on an additional five new recipes, as evidenced by children taking a few bites on their own volition and not proclaiming the food to be “disgusting.” Based on this interest, these recipes will continue to be included in the repertoire with the intention that repeated exposure will yield a more clear-cut commercial success. Interest-generating recipes included: spaetzle made with chickpea flour , crisp baked tofu , spinach gnocchi, mushroom ravioli and fish tacos served with turbot.
- Long-term investments were made in three foods which did not gain any immediate traction within the intended consumer audience, specifically beet and goat cheese napoleons, roasted acorn squash and scallion pancakes. Users exposed to these foods refused to try them or declared them “disgusting.” While near-term performance was underwhelming, management does not consider these launches to be “losses.” Evidence shows that exposure to a variety of vegetables in childhood, whether or not the child eats aforementioned vegetables, yields dividends in adulthood in terms of liking these foods.
Management’s Discussion of Results of Operations
Management is pleased with the results of family mealtime this quarter. In addition to improved nutritional inputs to meal consumers, the family experienced positive externalities in terms of breaking out of a recipe rut, having fun during collaborative food preparation and identifying multiple make-ahead, meatless entrees to include in the menu rotation. The advisory team thoroughly enjoyed painting olive oil on squash arcs, using cookie cutters to fashion beet napoleons, licking the goat cheese off of the “disgusting” beets, rolling dough for gnocchi and measuring ingredients for soup.
Examining the performance data more closely, it was noted that pasta served as an effective gateway format toward inducing acceptance of new foods, specifically in interest-generating recipes such as mushroom ravioli, spinach gnocchi and chickpea spaetzle. Based on this quarter’s results, management anticipates further pasta-based experimentation, including (but not limited to): butternut squash-infused macaroni and cheese and spinach-pesto pasta.
With regard to the underperformance of scallion pancakes, management concedes that this result may be attributable to liberties she took with the recipe that resulted in a weird-looking and strange-tasting outcome. Goals for Q2 include product re-engineering and a re-launch, possibly accompanied by a yummy dipping sauce.
Disclosures About Market Risk and Future Performance
Despite the overall success of mealtimes this quarter, management acknowledges the volatile nature of 4-year-olds’ food preferences and appetites. As such, past success is not a guarantee of future performance. Nonetheless, our plans to proceed with the 52 New Foods Challenge into the second fiscal quarter are unchanged.
However, the fun and health benefits we have experienced as the result of our participation in the 52 New Foods Challenge can and should be extrapolated to all families, everywhere. With the start of Q2, management encourages all readers to consider taking on this challenge for themselves, and tweeting about their wins, fails and experiences via #52NewFoods.
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