III. Fame and the ordinary: ‘authentic’ constructions of convenience foods

3.1 The problem of affluence

In this part explored the challenges of modern food manufacturing from the perspective of a product manager in the marketing department of a Norwegian food company. In Norway, as in most of Western Europe and North America, food is abundant, consumers affluent and few go hungry. In such a country, an increase in the overall consumption of food is difficult to achieve. Consequently, the only way for manufacturers to grow is either by conquering market share from competitors, or alternatively by constructing products that will make consumers pay more for the same amount of food; in other words, to construct new products that are value-added in ways that justify a higher price. While the first strategy is a zero-sum game, the second implies that a greater amount of money is spent on food, and represents a more promising strategy, particularly for manufacturers who already dominate the market.

The transfer of labor from the domestic to the industrial sphere represents one of the main reasons for the construction of value-added products in industrialized. societies. This explains, in part, the significant growth in the area of so-called convenience foods in most industrialized countries.

Domestic cooking methods cannot always be immediately applied to the requirements of industrial mass production. Furthermore, consumers’ willingness to spend some extra money on a ready-made alternative is contingent upon factors beyond the control of experts in product development. The efforts to construct new products through processes of value adding have carved a prominent position for marketing professionals in an area of decision-making which was previously dominated by food technicians in white laboratory coats. In order to succeed in what is perceived as an increasingly competitive food market, product development in the laboratories must be guided by cutting-edge knowledge of consumer trends.

Consequently, the marketing profession has gradually gained an upper hand in decisions that involve product development and, boundaries that were previously established between product development and marketing are now increasingly blurred. In the early 1990s, food manufacturers in Norway observed a paradox. On the one hand, research on demography, family structure and eating habits indicated a significant demand for convenience foods among Norwegian consumers. On the other hand, the actual consumption of convenience foods was very low, compared with countries in the EU and with the US. For Viking Foods, this was good news. For some time, they had searched for ways to increase the so-called ‘added value’ of their product range. Convenience foods appeared as a promising area in which they might achieve this aim.

3.2 The bon appétit project

‘Bon Appétit’ is the name of a range of frozen dinner products, launched by Viking Foods in March 1991. The product range included lasagne, tagliatelle, spaghetti bolognese, tortellini, chop suey, oriental stew and a popular Norwegian dish called ‘lapskaus.’

However, as the Bon Appétit product range was a flexible concept, with single products being added or eliminated over time, product development remained an issue that Henrik constantly had to consider. According to the Brand Strategy, the Bon Appétit product range consisted of ‘complete meals’ characterized by ‘high quality and good taste at a reasonable price’ that could ‘be heated in the package either in an oven, a microwave oven or in hot water.’

The primary target group was defined as ‘modern, busy urban people with a high income, eating conveniently during weekdays’ and ‘not particularly gourmet oriented. This group had been labeled ‘live for the present’ by consumer segmentation surveys, and was described in the Brand Strategy as being ‘engaged and active’ and ‘with an individual, unstructured meal pattern.’ The secondary target group was referred to as the gourmet segment. However, as it turned out, this target group was difficult to please. In relation to this segment, convenience food was described as having ‘a credibility problem in appearing as natural products precisely because (they are) pre-prepared at the factory.’ Thus the ability to come up with new products that were palatable and appealing to critical consumers was a key challenge.

Several problems remained with regard to material features of the products. Consequently, a continuous process of product development took place. The difficulties in product development were mostly related to specific problems regarding combinations of ingredients, flavor, or packaging that Henrik (product manager ) insisted on getting solved, and were elaborated in written messages that were sent from him to product development staff. For instance, in a letter to Arne, the head of product development, Henrik identified a number of problems. Referring to a pasta dish, he wrote that the sauce is too thick. There is too much cayenne – very strong aftertaste. Must be added more taste that is experienced immediately.

Moreover, the documents reveal that to a great degree it was Henrik who defined the further choice of direction, specifying to the product development experts what to do, and in what order of priority. These negotiations involved a level of detail, which was quite far removed from the abstract product concept defined in the Brand Strategy. Decisions about the right amounts of cheese and carrots, and the correct viscosity of a particular sauce could hardly be made by referring, for example, to the degree of modernity of the target group.

Faced with such questions, Henrik used the expertise that was most readily available: himself, his family and a few colleagues in the marketing department. In the middle of the marketing department office area, there was a tiny kitchen, which allowed for certain experiments. Sometimes the smell of hot food spread into the office area, whereupon Henrik, mostly without any advance warning, gathered whoever was present to try something out. Marketing can be described as a distinct body of knowledge located halfway between supply and demand, but also between science and practice. Henrik’s pragmatic combination of formal and informal marketing strategies illustrates this. He consulted consumer surveys and applied market research when it was available or appeared to be a practical solution. But formal market research can never provide answers to every single issue that needs to be solved on a day-to-day basis, particularly when the issues relate to product development. In February 1992, almost a year after the Bon Appétit concept was first launched, three new products were included, all varieties of common Norwegian dinner recipes: Salmon Hollandaise, and two varieties of ‘fish au gratin.

The development process had largely taken place at the product development side, and that the three new products would be included in the product range without any extra advertising effort.