New Product Development

[Episure]

First of all I apologize for not having read any of your books. This Forum has allowed me to gain an insight into your work and I now believe it is imperative that I ask some of my friends in USA to procure and send them to me in Bombay, INDIA.

Googling for Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page turned up over 5000 results which must be great for your self esteem.

I'd like to know how do you all go about developing new products, it cant be as simple as creating a signature recipe and handing it over to the client.

Could you elaborate on this please.

Edited September 24, 2003 by Episure (log)

[Andrew&Karen]

We've been away from the computer since dawn, as we've been working on a menu development project for a corporate client that took us to the Boston area today.

When developing new products, we like to come at the "solution" from several angles: What is the current environment? What are the emerging trends? And, most importantly, who is the customer and what do they need/want in this environment -- and what are they likely to want in the future, given the trends?

Some solutions are more specific. In Andrew's catering business (Andrew Dornenburg Private Dining), he caters many at-home business and social dinners for clients that draw on his creativity. For example, he's been asked to develop a menu for a going-away dinner for a client's guest of honor who was about to leave New York City for San Francisco. The menu Andrew prepared drew on everything from oysters served with Anchor Steam beer, to the Mission District for chile-rubbed quail paired with a California Zinfandel, to a detour to Berkeley for Meyer Lemon Sorbet, to a finale in Ghirardelli Square for a chocolate souffle!

We explore the principles of culinary composition as they relate to composing dishes and composing menus in our book CULINARY ARTISTRY, which you may find of interest.

Best wishes,

Andrew & Karen