Another busy week at the FIC which included three days of consumer testing and the Time to Market Event. Two of the sensory days was dedicated to salad dressing which was one of the more difficult tests to run because each consumer was testing 12 samples of salad. The hard part is that this was not a test where things could really be prepared a head of time so a lot of time was used just washing and cutting the lettuce so it was ready for testing. But also the consumers were receiving six samples individually and then six samples all together creating a lot of work for the people serving the salads as well as a lot of dishes needing to be cleaned. The third day of testing was another burger test but it was also on the same day as the Time to Market Event so while the test was routine it was a very busy day with the event happening. The Time to Market Event was an event put on for entrepreneurs who were still trying to get into stores. the event allowed them to meet with buyers as well as to advertise their product to consumers. There were some really great products at the event that I would buy once in stores. But I think that the best part was talking to the entrepreneurs and listening to the story of how the product got started as well as their vision of where they hope it will go in the future. It was also exciting to see them talking among each other about collaborations between products. While there was pouring rain during the event it was still very much a success and it was nice to see how many consumers came even with the rain.
