You know your functional product has a taste challenge. The earthy notes, the bitterness, that lingering fishy aftertaste that just will not go away. You know it. But you are not quite sure where to start, or what a proper process even looks like.

In this episode, I am taking you behind the scenes of exactly what happens when a functional food or drink brand brings me their product and says, this doesn't taste great, can you help?

From the moment I open the product and taste the raw base, to the flavour workshop, to the full day of trials with my client, this is what the process actually looks like, the unglamorous, spreadsheet-heavy, nose-wrinkling reality of it.

In this episode:

• What I am actually doing when I taste a product for the first time, and why that first tasting tells me everything
• The difference between "I don't like it" and feedback that actually moves your product forward
• Why I do up to 200 trials per project, and what I am looking for in each one
• What a flavour workshop really looks like, and how it gets your whole team aligned
• The moment in every project when the energy in the room completely shifts

If you already know your product has a taste problem and you want to understand what a structured process looks like, this one is for you.

🔗 ⁠Book your Flavour MOT⁠ (25% off with code MOT26 (only few spots left!)

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I'm Manon Galizzi, a flavour expert and food scientist with 10+ years in the industry, including training at a flavour house and working with iconic brands like McVitie's, Yeo Valley, Burger King, and Jacob's.

I founded EPICSI to help UK food and drink brands nail their flavour strategy and choose the best flavour profile, especially for challenging formulations.

If your sales are declining due to taste complaints, I diagnose what's wrong and rebuild your flavour profile. If you're launching functional or plant-based products struggling with bitter, fishy, or earthy notes from marine collagen, plant proteins, or adaptogens, I help you choose flavours that actually mask or complement those notes.

I specialise in clean-label, additives-free, plant-based, and functional food product development.

Research shows flavour is the #1 driver of repeat purchase. Get it right, customers return. Get it wrong, they don't.

You had an amazing day at the market. People tried your product, they loved it, they told you it was brilliant. You drove home thinking, this is working.

But here's the thing. Most food and drink founders in that exact moment never ask the one question that could completely change the way they see that day.

In this episode, I am talking about something I see all the time with established food and drink brands, something that feels like confidence but is actually quietly killing your repeat purchases. It is called the echo chamber effect. And the scary part? You probably do not even know you are in one.

In this episode:

• Why the feedback you collect at events is almost always biased (and what you are missing without realising)
• The difference between someone buying your product once and someone becoming a loyal customer
• Why health benefits alone will never be enough to drive repeat purchase
• Two things you can do right now to get objective, honest data on what your product actually tastes like
• Why the brands that struggle most are not the ones who asked for help too early

🔗 Book your Flavour MOT (25% off with code MOT26 (only few spots left!)

If you found this episode helpful, leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on whatever platform you're listening to this podcast!

💌 ⁠⁠Subscribe to my newsletter⁠⁠ to receive every week directly in your inbox the biggest challenges in food and drink product development and how to solve them.

👋 Connect with me directly on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠ or via my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

I'm Manon Galizzi, a flavour expert and food scientist with 10+ years in the industry, including training at a flavour house and working with iconic brands like McVitie's, Yeo Valley, Burger King, and Jacob's.

I founded EPICSI to help UK food and drink brands nail their flavour strategy and choose the best flavour profile, especially for challenging formulations.

If your sales are declining due to taste complaints, I diagnose what's wrong and rebuild your flavour profile. If you're launching functional or plant-based products struggling with bitter, fishy, or earthy notes from marine collagen, plant proteins, or adaptogens, I help you choose flavours that actually mask or complement those notes.

I specialise in clean-label, additives-free, plant-based, and functional food product development.

Research shows flavour is the #1 driver of repeat purchase. Get it right, customers return. Get it wrong, they don't.