Founder, NPD & Innovation Specialist

Following 15 years in Marks & Spencer’s food division as Food Product Selector launching many first-to-market products, Susan founded the Food Business Development Company in 1997, providing ground-breaking product innovation to the food industry and helping her clients to identify new opportunities for growth. She has a proven track record in developing commercially successful, high-quality products that deliver culinary excellence across all categories and has a comprehensive knowledge of the food industry and its challenges.

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Brands

The FBDC team has a deep understanding of the food and beverage market across Europe. We take time to understand the positioning and values of each brand we work with and have significant experience in taking established brands into totally new categories and helping brand owners target new consumers, new usage occasions and new channels with their categories.

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Small and Medium Enterprises

FBDC can support New Product Development at all stages, and will help you navigate the pitfalls of product development through to a successful launch. We have an extensive network of suppliers, manufacturers and packers and can help you find the best partners to forge new business relationships.

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Start-Ups and Entrepreneurs

FBDC understand that launching a new food business isn’t easy. We give support and advice throughout the development process and can offer flexible payment plans. Our expertise, creativity and knowledge of bringing products to market will help you overcome the many challenges faced by new food businesses.

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Retailers

We understand the importance of product innovation to maintain customer loyalty, encourage larger basket spends and attract new consumers. The FBDC team has many years experience working with major retailers and retail groups both in the UK and internationally. We can support your team in a variety of ways;

act as your outsourced development and/or part of your food technology department to deliver projects for the short term or on an on-going basis manage new product development for specific categories, or with specific manufacturers provide a comprehensive evaluation of the market: your competitors, consumers and products and provide you with a set of recommendations to ensure that your range is optimised for growth in line with commercial strategy.

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Other projects

Our team has an extensive variety of knowledge and experience covering product innovation, concept and process development, manufacturing, nutrition, microbiology and packaging. We regularly attend trade events in the UK and across Europe to keep up with the latest developments in the industry. As a business we pride ourselves on providing up-to-date and relevant insight in what is a constantly changing industry. Our network of suppliers and manufacturers can help you with cost engineering, amending products and finding new ingredients. We can be flexible to suit our clients, so whatever your challenge, contact us to find out how we can help.