At research center, Heinz pours over new ideas

James E. Matthews, vice president of innovation and quality at Heinz, said the pilot plant can produce between one and 10,000 samples of a prototype product daily.

The success rate of new Heinz products — measured by whether a product meets or exceeds sales targets set before its introduction — has more than doubled, from about 40 percent to more than 85 percent since the center opened, he said.

Nancy M. Childs, a professor at the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, said Heinz's packaging, such as upside-down bottles, and consumer-friendly products such as colorful ketchup had been effective.

She said "sleepy corporate entities" like chewing gum maker The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. had "suddenly kind of woken up" and unveiled an array of new products.

Heinz says its renewed emphasis on the consumer has been a key driver of performance during the first half of the fiscal year 2008, when sales grew 11 percent and profit increased 12 percent.

"When you look at the investment required to get a new product to market and to promote that product, you have to get that success rate up," Matthews said.

Heinz carefully watches palate sophistication trends, he said. "People are looking for broader and newer tastes."

Lee Linthicum, head of packaged foods research at Euromonitor International, a market research firm in London, said an industry trend toward health and wellness had changed little in recent years, but that new types of products had emerged.

The food industry has seen a gradual shift from products with reduced ingredients — lowering their caloric or carbohydrate content, for example — to ones fortified with nutrients, he said.

Heinz recently introduced a line of its Weight Watchers Smart Ones meals with fruit. Such products succeeded because people want more nutrients from natural sources such as fruits and vegetables, without sacrificing taste, said Matthews, the Heinz vice president.

Roger A. Clemens, a spokesman for the Chicago-based Institute of Food Technologists, a nonprofit scientific group, said food companies are also establishing health and wellness centers and scientific advisory boards.

Heinz has been recognized internationally for its products, but not its research — a reputation the company apparently is trying to change, said Clemens, who worked for Nestle for 20 years.

"Heinz wants to be known as investing in the future through its quality research," he said. "They want to be innovators in food and nutrition."

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