From “Cheese & Sweet Potato” filled with the gentle sweetness of Haenam sweet potato, to “Cheese Forest” boasting a fantastic harmony of green tea and cheese, Baskin Robbins continued its tireless success in showcasing delicious and innovative new products in the second half of this year. The birth of each wonderful new product requires the meticulous research and work of countless people. Today, we interviewed deputy manager Jun Kim from the Baskin Robbins Product Team at BR Korea, to hear about the process in which a new product is released in detail.
A Journey Towards New Flavors and Outstanding Quality
Product manager Jun Kim as a deputy manager from the Baskin Robbins Product Team at BR Korea, answering questions in the interview
Q. Tell us about your role at BR Korea.
Hi, I’m Jun Kim from the Baskin Robbins Product Team at BR Korea. I’ve been working at Baskin Robbins for 13 years since I first joined the company in July 2008. Currently, I’m the product manager for ice cream, which means that I plan and release new ice cream products and manage the annual ice cream release plan.
Q. What’s the process through which Baskin Robbins’s new ice cream products are released?
The planning for a new product literally starts from a blank slate and gradually specifies various aspects of the product. First, we conduct trend research and market research in the domestic and international food and beverages markets to design the concept and ingredient combination for the new product. When the product concept has been determined, we find the marketing point in order to effectively appeal to customers. For example, if the focus is on the main ingredients, we devise a product name that highlights the characteristics of the ingredients. If it’s a product being developed through collaboration with local farms, we might also use a focus on coexistence with local communities as a marketing point.
The process in which new ice cream products are developed at Baskin Robbins
Once the planning stage is complete, we consult the R&D Team to develop the product. Sometimes, there are ideas devised through the planning stage that are difficult to realize in practice in terms of the ingredients and processes required. These areas require a comprehensive discussion in order to find practical ways to realize the product. The R&D Team then creates a prototype, which our team members try out and seek out areas for improvement. We also think it’s very important to conduct a preference survey on ordinary consumers to reflect the tastes of the general public. There are also many areas that we need to consider, such as procuring ingredients and establishing processes, which means that the product planning and development stages generally begin eight or nine months before the launch of a new product.
Deputy manager Jun Kim, inspecting products at a Baskin Robbins store
Q. Where do you usually find conceptual ideas for new products?
First, we generally try to identify current trends in food and beverages through social media such as Instagram. We’re able to find various ideas this way, since we can see which flavors and ingredients consumers are currently interested in. We also meticulously read through global food and beverages trend reports provided by specialist research institutes. Sometimes, we use our friends and family as inspiration. When our families gather for traditional holidays or when we meet our friends, we ask them about recent trends in food and drinks. We do this so often that they’ve started to come to us to suggest their ideas. In order to verify changes in the market for ourselves, we also frequently conduct market research. The information gathered through such trend research are actively shared among our team members in order to gradually specify the product concept.
A consumer preferences survey conducted to evaluate consumer tastes across various areas
Q. Tell us how the consumer preferences survey is conducted.
Once or twice a month, we invite a consumer evaluator group of around 70 people. We conduct evaluations for up to around ten different product prototypes at once, including drinks and desserts as well as ice cream. We hold a tasting session and collect evaluation reports after providing a thorough explanation of each product concept. There are numerous criteria in the evaluation report, which collects consumers’ opinions on various areas such as satisfaction with the product concept, satisfaction with each ingredient in the product, satisfaction with the intensity of the sweetness, and the season most suited to the product. To give an example of how detailed the evaluation process is, when we’re developing a mango ice cream, we create prototypes using various types of mangos to conduct a tasting session and satisfaction survey on each prototype. This is because there are hundreds of mango cultivars across the world, each with a different flavor.
The Behind-the-Scenes Story of Developing a New Product
Deputy manager Jun Kim, explaining the concept of a new product
Q. Is there a particularly memorable product among those that you developed?
One product that sticks in my memory is “World Tour in 31 Days,” which was the Flavor of the Month in July 2014. It was the first product that we released after I became the product manager for ice cream. At the time, we also released “The World’s Best Flavors” products that represented each country with a Baskin Robbins store, in keeping with the world tour theme. I still vividly remember being so nervous that seven of our products were competing against each other throughout the month.
Q. Baskin Robbins products are known for their witty names. Do you have any fun anecdotes about the naming process?
The Korean name for “Milk & Soboro Ice Cream,” the Flavor of the Month for January of this year, was shortened in Korean to an abbreviation that sounds like “funny cow.” As the shortened name did not directly refer to the ingredients and had an unusual sound, many people found it a little strange at first. However, as the name carried a fun message out of our hope to make people smile in the new year, it was chosen as the final product name after several meetings. As for a product called “Devil’s Chocolat,”I remember we had an even split of opinions as to whether it was okay to use the word “devil.” It was eventually released under that name since we felt that “Devil`s Chocolat” was an appropriate name to express the fact that we boldly included raw cocoa in the ingredients. We then released another product named “Angel’s Millefeuille,” which was met with a highly positive response.
New products from Baskin Robbins that garnered popular interest this year
Q. Which was the most popular among the new products released this year?
Mint chocolate was all the rage in the first half of this year and the trend was further fueled by our April Flavor of the Month “Mincho Bonbon.” A product combining mint choc chip ice cream with pretzel balls, the product successfully achieved the grand slam of popular sensation, novelty and sales. The “Ice Maxim Mocha Gold” collaborative product that was newly released in August also proved to be highly popular, although it was not picked as the Flavor of the Month. Due to the fervent response, we extended its sales period by around a month and a half longer than originally planned. The said product will be re-released next year as part of our seasonal rotation. “You Are So Dalgona” was initially planned to be re-released this November, but we pulled forward the re-release date due to the popularity of the hit Netflix show “Squid Game,” which featured the Korean caramel candy Dalgona. As the product re-release coincided with the viral sensation at the time, it became another hit success.
“Cheese Forest,” Flavor of the Month for November 2021
Q. Are there any products that became much more popular than you expected at the product planning stage?
The first one that comes to mind is “Chocolate Forest,” which was launched in October 2014. It marked the first time that we created a new product based on the number-one item in a consumer idea contest. Since it was our first platform-based product release, our members were conflicted on whether it would prove to be successful. Surprisingly, it became our bestselling product for the year. Recently, we released “Cheese Forest,” which was a kind of spiritual sequel to Chocolate Forest. Cheese Forest also became highly popular, as it combined the bittersweet flavor of green tea, the gentle taste of cheese ice cream, and the signature pretzel balls of Chocolate Forest.
Becoming a Brand That Endlessly Pursues Innovation
Deputy manager Jun Kim, inspecting products
Q. Which areas do you consider to be the most important when planning a new product?
We consider two things when we plan new products. First, whether it will sell. Second, how much it would contribute to the brand. It’s actually not all that difficult to make a product that sells well, since Baskin Robbins has accumulated vast reserves of data on consumer preferences. In essence, we have a kind of formula for success. However, since the key factors that create a popular product are limited, focusing only on such factors would diminish the diversity of Baskin Robbins’s products. As such, we’re constantly contemplating whether a product impacts the brand positively. At Baskin Robbins, our goal is to instill the awareness among our customers that the brand is constantly changing and pursuing innovation. We constantly seek to identify and pioneer areas that will create new flavors in the future and present our customers with experiences of new flavors, even if they prove to be unpopular today.
Baskin Robbins strives to showcase new products beloved by the entire nation
Q. Tell us about any goals that you would like to achieve in the future.
Baskin Robbins’s perennial number-one product is “Mom Is an Alien,” which is well-known among those who aren’t familiar with the brand. My goal is to design products that can represent our brand and win the hearts of the entire nation like Mom Is an Alien, in order to contribute to our brand’s growth. At Baskin Robbins, we will work tirelessly to showcase new and innovative products and step closer to our valued customers. I hope we’ll have your continued interest in the new Baskin Robbins products to come in the future!
