Is the Food Industry Running Out of Ideas?
As a watcher of all things food and travel related, I have to ask – what is going on in R&D at these food companies?
Look, I understand that in order to “increase market share”, it is necessary to think outside of the box and come up with innovative and creative ideas, but some of these flavor combinations? I just don’t know what’s going on in these marketing meetings anymore. Here are some examples – and yes, these are all legitimate:
Lay’s Potato Chips
Caesar Salad. Hot and Sour Fish Soup. Cappuccino. Grilled Cheese and Ketchup. Blueberry. Somebody needs to be stopped in the Lay’s test kitchen. It seems like every other week these deranged flavor chemists are coming out with some new monstrosity and dousing thinly-fried potatoes with it. No wonder they are always on sale when I go to the supermarket.
Herr’s Cotton Candy Balls
This sounds like the punchline to a dirty joke – plus they are blue. Comedy gold.
Grapples
Yes, grape-flavored apples. Perhaps GMO food products HAVE gone too far. Were grapes that hard to find at the grocery store? Who was picketing the local apple-grower’s association and demanding they be heard? When I want grapes, do you know what I buy? Grapes. Same thing goes for apples. And is that a gorilla on the packaging riding a skateboard? What’s next, the lime-flavored banana? With an ostrich driving an electric scooter on the sticker? This one is a real head-scratcher.
Peanut Butter and Pickle Twinkies
Didn’t Hostess just come out of bankruptcy? This seems like a way to burn through cash flow and hit the skids again. Was anyone asking for these? Come on, Elvis died forty-two years ago, so I don’t know what customer surveys they were working from on this one. I hear these are making appearances at Wal-Marts across the country (of course they are), probably right next to the 24-count packs of Mountain Dew and the insulin pumps.
Great Value’s Unicorn Sparkle Ice Cream
Another Wal-Mart gem. Exactly what do unicorns taste like? Apparently, its exactly like cake-flavored ice cream, purple frosting, and candy confetti. No wonder they are extinct. Honestly, that’s a bit of a letdown. I expected something more mystical or mysterious. This can only mean that “Leprechan Farts” ice cream is just around the corner.
What do you think? Have food companies gone too far? Drop me a note in the comment section below!
One thought on “Is the Food Industry Running Out of Ideas?”
When I want a potato chip…that’s just what I want…greasy crunchy, salty thinly sliced piece of potato. The options now available make it so that you have to search through the bags to find what you want. I agree with you…..things have gone too far.