As a food and beverage brand, you can never know for sure how people would react to a new flavor in your menu or product line. One time, it could be a hit (congratulations, you’ve got yourself a Pumpkin Spice Latte?). Other times, it could be a total disaster (remember New Coke?)
Of course, a brand can always use taste testing. But not every company has the time, money, or human power to physically invite people to try different flavors.
That’s where flavor testing comes in.
What is flavor testing?
Flavor testing is a market research method that helps food and beverage companies evaluate new flavor ideas before investing in full development. Instead of producing physical samples for taste tests, brands can test consumer reactions to written flavor concepts through digital surveys. Basically, respondents share their opinions based on the idea of a flavor, not the actual taste. This approach identifies which flavors will resonate with consumers, reduces risk, and ensures that only the most promising ideas move forward.
The goal of flavor testing is to identify the most appealing and marketable taste profiles for new or existing products before product development takes place.
Why should you test flavor ideas?
Flavor testing provides valuable insights that inform product development and marketing strategies. Here are some of the biggest benefits of testing flavor ideas:
1. Reduce risk
Launching a new flavor is always a gamble. A failed launch can waste millions and damage brand reputation. Flavor testing acts as a low-risk trial run. By asking consumers how they feel about a flavor idea in advance, you can know what they think about it, where your flavor needs improvement, and, finally, which flavor idea is the most likely to be successful when launched.
2. Save money
Developing and producing samples is costly. The beauty of flavor testing surveys is that they’re small in scope and affordable to conduct. By spending a little bit of money on flavor testing upfront, you can save money in the long run. This means you have more to invest in full-scale production and marketing of the most promising flavor idea.
3. Quantify consumer taste
Flavor testing transforms subjective taste into quantifiable data. You can measure consumer interest, compare flavors head-to-head, and forecast performance in-market. It also enables you to flag flavors that would merely cannibalize your own winners. Flavor testing can compare flavors head-to-head, benchmarking them against key competitors and your current strong performers, and really prove that you can account for taste.
4. Future-proof innovation
When you know which flavors resonate, you can predict long-term performance and stay ahead in competitive markets. This power is invaluable, especially when you operate in a competitive market or need to prove your flavor’s potential to stakeholders.
How to conduct flavor testing
A flavor testing survey may look differently, depending on your goals. But a rough step-by-step approach would look like this:
- Develop flavor concepts – Write clear, enticing descriptions of each flavor idea.
- Design the survey – Present consumers with a mix of options to evaluate.
- Collect feedback – Capture appeal, purchase intent, uniqueness, brand fit, flavor credibility, etc. for each idea. Then compute incremental lift vs. your current/core flavors.
- Analyze results – Identify which flavors stand out, and why.
- Forecast performance – Use predictive models to estimate market share.
- Refine and prioritize – Move only the strongest flavor ideas into development.
Case study: How Peacasa validated designs and flavors with Dig Insights
Peacasa, a fast-growing snack brand, struggled with:
- Poor shelf standout – The “golden zone” of the bag was dominated by a chip image, not purchase-driving claims.
- Low messaging clarity – Key benefits weren’t visible at a glance, and the team didn’t know which claims to prioritize.
- Limited scalability – The original design didn’t adapt well to multiple flavors or SKUs.
Peacasa needed proof that their packaging and flavor communication would drive purchase intent. So, they partnered with Dig Insights and used our innovation testing platform, Upsiide, to remove guesswork from the redesign.
They ran a two-phase flavor and pack testing study:
- Concept testing – Measured how early designs performed on clarity, appeal, and purchase intent. Explored layouts, messaging hierarchy, and consumer interpretation of elements like flavor names, imagery, and claims such as “light & crispy” or “a new kind of chip.”
- Refinement – Tested updated designs against competitive benchmarks, validating which combinations of claims and visuals would resonate.
The results were immediate and measurable:
- +42% same-store velocity in one major retailer
- +128% velocity in another retailer (with support from pricing and in-store sampling)
- Retailers who had previously passed came back to list Peacasa
- Parents reported kids asking for the “new bag,” even though the chips themselves hadn’t changed
“Upsiide let us test layout, copy, and even flavor descriptors. Things we assumed were obvious actually confused people. That’s insight you can only get by asking real shoppers.”
Aaron Johnstone, CEO & Co-Founder, Peacasa
Flavor Testing with Dig Insights
Some things just work. Like peanut butter and jelly, fries and a vanilla milkshake, or actionable insights and Dig’s innovation testing platform, Upsiide. Discover what tickles your guests’ taste buds and why with our Flavor Testing feature.
Whether you work in the quick-service restaurant or food & beverage space, with Upsiide’s Flavor Testing solutions, you can measure:
- Interest and commitment: How interested are people in your flavor idea, and are they willing to choose a different flavor over your innovation?
- Consumer sentiment: Why do respondents like your flavor, and what are your flavor’s strengths and weaknesses?
- Market volume forecasting: How much market volume and share will your flavor idea capture, and how will it play out in your existing menu or product mix?
Flavor testing FAQs
Why is flavor testing important for food and beverage brands?
It reduces risk, saves money, and helps identify flavors with the highest chance of success before development.
How do companies test new flavor ideas?
Most use digital surveys where consumers rate and compare flavor descriptions, supported by tools like Upsiide for forecasting.
Can flavor testing predict market success?
Yes — with the right methodology, flavor testing provides reliable forecasts of market volume and consumer adoption.
Flavor testing, in a nutshell
Flavor testing gives brands a data-backed way to “account for taste.” By combining consumer feedback, predictive analytics, and a structured testing process, food and beverage companies can launch flavors with confidence — and delight customers while avoiding costly failures.
Incorporating a survey platform into the flavor testing process empowers companies to make data-driven decisions, optimize product development, and deliver flavors that resonate with their target consumers. It simplifies data collection, analysis, and presentation, making it an indispensable tool for successful flavor innovation.
Curious to learn about Dig Insights’ flavor testing capabilities?
About the Author
This article was written in collaboration with Svitlana Winters. Svitlana is a Director of Insights at Dig Insights specializing in innovation testing. She works across a range of methodologies — from flavor and packaging to claims testing — helping brands translate consumer insights into confident business decisions. Svitlana is passionate about making research approachable, actionable, and impactful.