By
Outerspace Design
Blue Marlin
QDesign Enterprises
Ulysses
Sealed Air
Description
Introducing an Australian grown world first food innovation (patent pending) - Fresh Herbs, Lightly Dried. Combined with an extensive design integration program, including global consumer research, ethnography, prototyping & home usage tests (Australia, US and UK), Gourmet Garden is seeking to transform itself from simply being "herbs in a tube" to a consumer design led portfolio of "herbs, spices & seasonings that truly delight busy cooks by making thier everyday cooking easier, more joyful & inspiring". The result is not just a new product or pack design, but instead, a consumer lead holistic herb "system" designed specifically for busy cooks.
Key Features
and/or Benefits
After 5 years of research & development, Gourmet Garden has created a world first in herb & spice innovation, a potentially game changing technology.......New Lightly Dried Herbs & Spices. Australian organically grown fresh herbs, washed, chopped & lightly dried (just enough) to last 4 weeks in the fridge once opened. That's 4 times longer than fresh herbs! In cooking, they completely refresh delivering fresh flavors, colors and aromas. They are the closest thing to chopped fresh herbs in look, taste & aroma. Yet unlike fresh herbs, they last, a culinary innovation for busy cooks which will transform their everyday cooking.
Following participation in the Ulysses Design Integration Program, countless pack & storage concepts were developed, prototyped & tested with consumers. The key consumer led design initiative included establishing a color coded "variety tab" system (prioritised ahead of the branding) at the top of the pack, color coded by herb color to assist the busy cook identify & intuitively navigate the range in-store and more importantly, in the fridge. Other features include maximum transparency, zip lock resealability & an opening large enough to enable the hand to pinch out the herbs.
For a much loved culinary ingredient most fresh herbs end thier life crushed/squashed in the vegetable crisper. Following the ethnography sessions, the packaging design incoroporates an overwhelmingly popular fridge door storage caddy which ultimately helps deliver a true customised & portable herb & spice system for the busy cook. Home usage tests strongly validated this design with many consumers outlining "it's just like having a herb garden at your finger tips". The fridge caddy is designed to hold both the Gourmet Garden stir in pastes (tubes) & the new Lightly Dried pinch pouches.
Lightly Dried Herbs is a new category within the chilled fresh herb fixture of supermarkets. Our consumer sensory testing & home usage tests (Australia, US & UK) confirm superior performance vs traditional dried herbs (appearance, color, taste & texture). Fresh Herbs are largely a single/special occasion purchase and the new Lightly Dried Herbs will be targeting midweek/everyday cooking to drive Category growth. More than 50% of Gourmet Garden's business is export and we are currently ranged in over 20,0000 supermarkets across 15 countries. Following the Australian launch in March, we will launch US/Canada/NZ in June & others in 2015.
