A New Approach to the Development of Food Products

Introduction. Negative trends in the service market make food companies create competitive products that meet the needs of consumers. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the need to design new formulations that meet complex requirements and use IT options. The research objective was to create a new approach to the development of products for various types of food industry enterprises. Study objects and methods. The research featured a questionnaire, in which Kemerovo citizens were asked to establish and rank a list of consumer properties for food served at cafes, restaurants, and canteens, as well as to define the ratio of prescription components of model samples and the quality indicators of model samples. The study was based on standard survey methods, sensory and microbiological evaluation, and the Delphi 7software. Results and discussion. The research revealed nomenclature of consumer properties (15 names) of public catering products, which were classified into seven groups of indicators. The following indicators received the highest score (86–100 points): sensory indicators, quality indicators, safety and freshness, appearance, and price. Caloric value proved to be of a relatively low significance (≤ 42 points). The research resulted in a methodology for designing competitive products based on consumer preferences and new application software. Conclusion. Food companies should take into account the degree of significance of particular indicators to create popular and cost-friendly dishes. This research offers a new methodology for designing competitive products based on consumer preferences and the application of the developed program. The consistency and effectiveness of the proposed approach was confirmed by testing the developed dishes at cafes and school canteens.