Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Food Lab
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| #3: How to Get Your Vitamins and Minerals Claims Right | 01 Sep 2025 | 00:10:55 | |
You’ve developed a product. You want to say it’s a "Source of Vitamin C" or "Vitamin C contribute to the normal function of the immune system". But the legislation around nutrition and health claims is a minefield⚠️ — and messing it up can get you in serious trouble. If you're adding vitamins or minerals to your product, there's a right way to make a claim… and a wrong way that could land you with misleading labelling and compliance issues. 🧾 In this episode of The Food Lab Podcast, I walk you through: ✅ The only forms of vitamins and minerals allowed in your recipes ✅ How to calculate the right quantity of vitamin or mineral for nutrition & health claims ✅ Real-life examples ✅ The labelling requirements (yep, it’s not optional) ✅ Why shelf-life testing and overages are key to staying compliant
🔗 Useful Links: Great Britain register on the addition of vitamins and minerals Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 ANNEX XIII Reference Intakes Great Britain Nutrition and health claims (NHC) register EU Register of Health Claims EU Register of Nutrition Claims
Don’t forget to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode — and if you enjoyed this one, leave a positive review and a comment on Spotify. It really helps more food and drink founders discover the show!
🍪 Struggling with product development challenges? As a food and drink consultant with over a decade of industry experience, I help Food and Drink businesses perfect their flavour profiles, streamline product development, and unlock the path to retailer listings. 📃 Discover my Food Legislation Audit services and get in touch to discuss how we can transform your products and boost those customer reviews. 💌 Want to dive deeper? 📬 Get practical tips in your inbox! 👋 Let’s stay connected! | |||
| #2: Mastering Nutrition & Health Claims: What Can You Really Claim? | 04 Aug 2025 | 00:28:30 | |
Thinking of adding lion's mane, ashwagandha, turmeric or ginseng to your product? ✨ Great! But what can you actually say about their benefits on your label without breaking food law? 📜⚖️
In this episode of the Food Lab Podcast, I kick off a new series all about nutrition & health claims. From "high in protein" to the grey zone of "on hold" claims 🕵️♀️, I unpack what's allowed, where to find the right information, and how to avoid misleading your customers. 💡 Perfect for food & drink brands looking to stand out—ethically and legally. 💬 🔍 Learn the rules 📈 Avoid costly mistakes 🌱 Build trust with your customers 🔊 Mentioned in this episode: Great Britain Nutrition and health claims (NHC) register Great Britain ‘On hold’ health claims EU Register of Nutrition Claims Don’t forget to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode — and if you enjoyed this one, leave a positive review and a comment on Spotify. It really helps more food and drink founders discover the show!
🍪 Struggling with product development challenges? As a food and drink consultant with over a decade of industry experience, I help Food and Drink businesses perfect their flavour profiles, streamline product development, and unlock the path to retailer listings. 📃 Discover my Food Legislation Audit services and get in touch to discuss how we can transform your products and boost those customer reviews. 💌 Want to dive deeper?
| |||
| #1: The Most Common Flavour Mistakes When Developing a F&D Product | 07 Jul 2025 | 00:14:57 | |
🎙️In this first episode of The Food Lab, I dive into one of the most common — and costly — mistakes food and drink brands make: choosing the wrong flavours. From misunderstood “safe bets” like vanilla and strawberry to the importance of working with your product base rather than against it, this episode is packed with practical insights 🔎 to help you:
Don’t forget to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode — and if you enjoyed this one, leave a positive review and a comment on Spotify. It really helps more food and drink founders discover the show!
🍪 Struggling with product development challenges? As a food and drink consultant with over a decade of industry experience, I help Food and Drink businesses perfect their flavour profiles, streamline product development, and unlock the path to retailer listings. 📃 Discover my Food & Drink Product Development services and get in touch to discuss how we can transform your products and boost those customer reviews. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📬 Get practical tips in your inbox! 👋 Let’s stay connected! | |||
| Introducing The Food Lab: Helping You Build Better Food & Drink Products | 30 Jun 2025 | 00:12:30 | |
🎙️ In this intro episode of The Food Lab, I share my story, what inspired me to launch EPICSI, and what you can expect from this podcast series. From working in a flavour house 🍓 to supporting product development at major UK brands 🍪, I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the bland. I'm here to help food and drink founders create products that truly taste good, do good, and connect with their audience 💡🌍. 👉 Tune in to hear how I got into food science, what drives me, and how this podcast can help you perfect your products. 💌 Want to dive deeper? 📬 Get practical tips in your inbox! 👋 Let’s stay connected! | |||
| #4: Why Your Food or Drink Product Isn't Selling – It’s Not Just the Flavouring | 06 Oct 2025 | 00:19:29 | |
Ever wondered why your launches show up on the shelf... but sales don’t follow? Negative reviews piling up? It might not be the flavouring that’s wrong — it’s the product base. In this episode of The Food Lab Podcast, I’m diving into why your product might taste “not quite right” — and how fat, sweetness, saltiness & acidity shape flavour perception. 🎙️ What’s covered in this episode:
💡 Taste Insight: More flavour ≠ better flavour Too much fat, sweetness, saltiness or acidity can delay flavour release and overpower flavour characteristics. It’s seems counterintuitive — but true: Flavours only shine when the base is locked in first.
If this hit home, don’t forget to follow the podcast, leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review, and share it with a fellow foodpreneur. It helps other food/drink founders discover the show! 🙏
🍪 Struggling with product development challenges? As a food and drink consultant with over a decade of industry experience, I help Food and Drink businesses perfect their flavour profiles, streamline product development, and unlock the path to retailer listings.
💌 Want to dive deeper? 📬 Get practical tips in your inbox! 👋 Let’s stay connected! | |||
| 24 November - Why Your Product Tastes Different After Scale-Up | 24 Nov 2025 | 00:08:11 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. You've spent weeks perfecting your lab sample. The flavour profile is spot-on, the balance is beautiful, everyone loves it. Then you get the scaled-up version from your co-manufacturer and... it's completely different. Too sweet. Flavours have disappeared. The whole thing feels off. Sound familiar? I've been there more times than I can count, and honestly, it's one of the most frustrating parts of food product development. If you're a food and drink brand working with a contract manufacturer or doing the production in-house, this episode will save you time, money, and a lot of stress. Understanding why scaling up changes everything and how to plan for it is crucial for any FMCG. Your lab sample isn't just a recipe you can copy-paste at scale. It's a delicate equilibrium. And when you disrupt that balance through different equipment, processes, and ingredient interactions, your flavour profile changes too. In this episode, we'll cover:
Don't panic, plan ahead instead. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If you enjoy this podcast, leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, it really help developing the podcast, and share with a fellow food or drink founder that will benefit from it! 🙏 | |||
| 23 November - How Ingredients Change Your Flavour Profile | 23 Nov 2025 | 00:09:36 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. Ever wondered why your flavouring tastes completely different in one recipe versus another? You're using the same amount, the same brand but somehow it just doesn't work the same way. If you're a food and drink brand developing products and struggling to get your flavour profile right, this episode will be a game-changer. If you are doing product development in-house, understanding how your ingredients affect flavouring is absolutely essential. Your recipe isn't just a list of ingredients. It's an equilibrium. And tiny changes in moisture, fat, sweetness, or saltiness completely transform how your flavours come through and how your consumers experience them. In this episode, we'll cover:
Stop guessing. Start understanding your product from the inside out. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If you enjoy this podcast, leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, it really help developing the podcast, and share with a fellow food or drink founder that will benefit from it! 🙏 | |||
| 14 November - Why Natural Extracts & Essences Can Taste Fake (Stop Wasting Money!) | Flavouring Myths | 14 Nov 2025 | 00:08:36 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products.
Think using a lemon extract or cucumber essence will make your product taste natural? You couldn't be more wrong. This is one of the biggest mistakes I see food and drink brands make - they assume extracts and essences are the holy grail of flavourings because they're "natural." But here's the truth: even the most natural flavourings can taste fake, artificial, cardboardy, or chemical in your product. In this episode, I'm bursting a massive myth about extracts and essences. For instance, a lemon extract will never taste like actual lemon juice or lemon zest. And once you add it to your product? There's no guarantee it'll taste anything like the real fruit after all the ingredient interactions, processing, and shelf life. Plus, there's zero scientific evidence that non-natural flavourings damage your health, but extracts and essences? They absolutely damage the planet. If you're choosing extracts just for marketing reasons to look "natural" on pack, but your product tastes rubbish - it's time to rethink your strategy. Focus on making your product taste great first. Because repeat purchases come through taste and flavours, not through what looks good on your packaging. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here.
📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 13 November - How to Choose a Co-Manufacturer: 6 Questions Every Food Brand Must Ask Before Signing | 13 Nov 2025 | 00:05:52 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products.
Choosing a co-manufacturer for your food or drink product? Wait before you sign anything, you need to ask these questions or you'll regret it later. I've seen too many food and drink brands make expensive mistakes because they didn't know what to ask upfront. In this episode, I'm sharing the six critical things you need to know before selecting a contract manufacturer. First up: who actually owns the intellectual property of your recipe? I had a client who realized way too late that their recipe didn't belong to them anymore, sounds completely bonkers, right? But it happens more than you think. I'll also walk you through the other essential questions: Can you use your own suppliers, or are you locked into theirs? What are the MOQs and do you have to pay upfront? How long are the lead times when they're busy with other clients? Can they stock your product in-house, or will you end up with pallets in your garage like one of my customers did? And finally, do they handle distribution to retailers, or is that on you too? If you're a food or drink brand looking to scale up and work with a co-manufacturer, these questions will save you from nasty surprises and costly mistakes down the line. Don't jump into manufacturing just because you want to get into retail, think it through first. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here.
📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 12 November - 6 Rules to Stop Rubbish Tastings & Create Better Food Products | Tasting Best Practices | 12 Nov 2025 | 00:11:54 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products.
Are your product tastings a complete waste of time? If your team's drinking coffee right before, not cleansing palates between samples, or saying ""I like it"" instead of actually describing what they're tasting - you're doing it wrong. In this episode, I'm sharing six rules that will transform your tastings from useless guessing games into proper product development tools. You'll learn why you should never hold tastings after lunch, how your personal sensitivity to liquorice or bitterness is messing with your feedback, and why cream crackers are your best friend. I'll also share the story of a client who doesn't even like the product we developed together - but their consumers? They're giving it 4.9 out of 5 stars and the sales are through the roof! Because here's the truth: the product isn't designed for you, it's designed for your target consumers. Whether you're a food or drink brand doing internal tastings or working with a product development team, these six rules will help you stay objective, understand your palate, and build descriptions gradually so you actually get useful insights instead of just opinions. Stop wasting time and batches and start doing tastings properly. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here.
📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 11 November - What Does a Food Scientist Actually Do? Inside Product Development & Flavour Science | 11 Nov 2025 | 00:10:35 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. Ever wondered what a food scientist does all day? In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on my work as a food scientist and flavour expert. I share what goes into creating products from scratch (hello, 182 trials on one plant-based barista milk!), choosing the perfect flavour profiles, and fixing products that aren't selling. You'll discover why product development is 90% failure and 10% success, how I worked with actual baristas to test foam stability, and why rebranding isn't the answer when your product isn't performing, it's usually the flavour. If you're a food or drink brand owner curious about the science behind product development, or you're struggling with a product that's not quite hitting the mark, this episode will give you a behind-the-scenes look at how flavour strategy and food science work together to create products people love and buy again and again. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster. If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn. If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 10 November - Why Your Product Tastes Different After Scaling Up (and How to Fix It) | 10 Nov 2025 | 00:06:21 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. When your food or drink product moves from kitchen sample to full production, it’s normal for the flavour, texture, or mouthfeel to change. In this episode of The Food Lab Podcast, I explain why scaling up impacts taste, and how to plan structured tasting sessions with your co-manufacturer to fix issues before launch. 👩🔬 Perfect for founders and food entrepreneurs scaling their first product and wanting to keep consistency from kitchen to shelf. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster. If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn. If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 09 November - Your Favourite Flavour Might Not Be Your Consumer’s: How to Adapt Without Losing Authenticity | 09 Nov 2025 | 00:08:55 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. In this episode of The Food Lab Podcast, I talk about one of the biggest challenges in product development: creating flavours that consumers actually connect with. You’ll learn how to adapt flavour profiles to your audience’s palate without losing authenticity, how to balance brand identity with market expectations, and why understanding your target consumer is key to building products that last. 👩🔬 Perfect for founders and food entrepreneurs who want to grow their brand without compromising their flavour story. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster. If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn. If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 08 November - How to Run Tastings That Actually Help Your Product? | 08 Nov 2025 | 00:10:58 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. Most founders think they’re running tasting sessions, but they’re actually running opinion polls. In this episode of The Food Lab Podcast, I explain how to structure proper flavour testing and sensory evaluation sessions that give you objective data, not personal preferences. You’ll learn how to taste side by side, describe flavours accurately, and collect insights that help you improve your product faster. 👩🔬 Perfect for food and drink founders who want to run better tastings and make smarter, data-driven product decisions. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster. If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn. If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 07 November - Why Naming Your Flavour Too Soon Destroys Consumer Trust | 07 Nov 2025 | 00:08:05 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. In this episode, I break down one of the most common flavour strategy mistakes: naming your product before finalising how it actually tastes. You’ll learn why naming too soon breaks consumer trust, how to align your flavour direction with your brand story. 👩🔬 Perfect for founders and product developers who want to master flavour direction, naming, and sensory storytelling. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster. If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn. If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 06 November - 5 Flavour Mistakes That Stop Your Product from Selling | 06 Nov 2025 | 00:10:39 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. If your product isn’t selling like it used to, it’s probably not your packaging or your price, it’s your flavour. In this episode, I reveal the five biggest flavour mistakes that stop food and drink products from performing in retail, from weak or flat flavour profiles to mismatched brand identity. Learn how to fix flavour issues, increase repeat purchase, and turn taste into your most powerful sales tool. 👩🔬 Ideal for founders and product developers who want to master flavour development and stand out in a crowded market. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster. If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn. If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 05 November - Why I Left the Corporate Food Industry to Create EPICSI | 05 Nov 2025 | 00:11:15 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. In this episode, I share the story behind leaving corporate R&D to start EPICSI, and why I wanted to bring creativity and purpose back into food product development. You’ll hear what made me lose faith in the system, how the industry shifted from flavour to finance, and what inspired me to help founders create clean-label, flavour-first products that truly make a difference. 👩🔬 A reflective story about rediscovering purpose, creativity, and the reason we all fell in love with food in the first place. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster. If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn. If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 22 November - Why Your Food & Drink Tastings Aren't Working? | 22 Nov 2025 | 00:07:06 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. Ever sat in a food or drink product tasting where no one says a word? Or worse, one loud voice drowns everyone else out and suddenly you're second-guessing everything? I've been there and honestly, it's one of the most frustrating parts of food product development. If you're a food and drink brand struggling to make confident decisions during tastings, this episode is for you. Whether you're fixing a failing product, choosing the right flavour profile for a new launch, or just trying to get constructive feedback you need a tasting culture that actually works. As an F&B development consultant, I've seen how bad tastings lead to delayed launches, wasted batches, and products that miss the mark. But it doesn't have to be this way. In this episode, we'll cover:
Let's fix your tastings so you can move faster and launch with confidence. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If you enjoy this podcast, leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, it really help developing the podcast, and share with a fellow food or drink founder that will benefit from it! 🙏 | |||
| 04 November - How to Brief a Flavour House (Without the Endless Back-and-Forth) | 04 Nov 2025 | 00:13:10 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. If your flavour brief sounds like “Can you send a few strawberry flavours?”, this episode will change how you work with flavour houses. I share practical tips to help you write a clear, detailed flavour brief, define your flavour direction, and choose the right benchmarks so your supplier can deliver samples that actually fit your product. You’ll save weeks of back-and-forth and get results that align with your brand and consumer expectations. 👩🔬 Ideal for founders and food product developers who want to lead their flavour development strategy and collaborate effectively with flavour houses. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster. If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn. If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 03 November - Why Your Tasting Sessions Don’t Work | 03 Nov 2025 | 00:08:33 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. Most tasting sessions collect opinions, not data — and that’s why they don’t help your product improve. In this episode, I explain how to run proper flavour testing sessions that give you clear, objective insights you can actually use. You’ll learn how to describe flavours accurately, record sensory data, and turn feedback into a flavour blueprint you can reuse across reformulations and scale-ups. 👩🔬 Perfect for food or drink founders and product developers who want to taste like experts. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster. If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn. If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 02 November - Can You Create Clean-Label Food Without Additives? Here’s the Truth | 02 Nov 2025 | 00:09:28 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. In this episode, I share a true story that still shocks me. When I left the corporate world to help smaller food and drink brands create cleaner, more natural products, other food scientists told me I was crazy — that it was “impossible to work without additives.” They were wrong. If you’re a food or drink founder trying to make your product taste amazing without all the unnecessary additives, this episode is for you. I explain why the industry mindset needs to change, how you can balance clean-label ambitions with functionality, and what it really takes to find the right partners who believe in your vision. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster. If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn. If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 01 November - What to Expect From the 30-Day Podcast Challenge | 01 Nov 2025 | 00:04:33 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. Welcome to my 30-Day Podcast Challenge — a short, daily series for food and drink founders who want to create better-tasting, cleaner, and more successful products. Over the next 30 days, I’ll share quick, easy-to-digest episodes on flavour development, product formulation and taste optimisation. You’ll hear real stories from my journey — from working at a flavour house and with brands like McVitie’s to becoming a flavour consultant helping food and drink businesses solve taste challenges and scale products that consumers love. If you’re ready to build flavour-led products that stand out on shelf, hit Follow and join me on this 30-day challenge. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster. If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy. 👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy. 👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn. If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 21 November - My Functional Food Product Isn't Selling - What Should I Do? | Fix Your Product | 21 Nov 2025 | 00:11:10 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. Got this question on Instagram: "My functional food product isn't selling. What should I do?" Here's the truth: if people bought your product once or twice and then stopped buying, the number one reason is ALWAYS taste and flavour. Nothing else. Not your branding, not your packaging, focus on the taste of your product. People want healthier and more functional products with tons of health benefits, but if your product doesn't taste good, they won't buy it again. Remember: you're not selling medicine. You can't get away with bad taste. You're selling a food or drink product, and people buy them for enjoyment, to fulfil an emotion, as a pick-me-up, or to give as gifts (Christmas is coming soon!). In this episode, you'll discover: 🌟 The real reason functional products fail: one of my clients sold plant-based, clean label sports nutrition for 10+ years with great sales, until the market got saturated and health benefits alone weren't enough anymore 🌟 Why having health benefits at the centre of your messaging is not enough for repeat purchases 🌟 The three most common flavour problems killing functional products 🌟 My process for fixing your product If you're a functional food or drink brand struggling with sales and repeat purchases, this episode will show you exactly how to fix your product and why flavour can never be secondary to health benefits. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here.
📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If you enjoy this podcast, leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, it really help developing the podcast, and share with a fellow food or drink founder that will benefit from it! 🙏 | |||
| 20 November - How to Adapt Your Product to the UK Market (Family Recipe or Foreign Trend) | 20 Nov 2025 | 00:05:13 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. "Just take the emotion out of your product", I know, easier said than done, right? This is your baby. Maybe it's your grandma's recipe, a family heirloom passed down through generations, or you've spotted a massive gap in the UK market with a trend from another country. There's always going to be emotional attachment, and that's completely normal. But here's the reality: if you want to succeed in the UK, you may have to adapt to the British palate, and that means compromise. I've spoken with SO many food and drink founders who brought their culture into the products they wanted to sell in the UK: Sri Lankan, Jamaican, North African, and more. They all started with family recipes, and they all told me the same thing: they realised very quickly they needed to adapt to reach a wider audience. In this episode, you'll discover: 🌟 Why you can't completely remove emotion (and the frustration that comes with product development), but you MUST stay objective 🌟 The brilliant strategy one Jamaican drink business owner used to target both audiences 🌟 How to be crystal clear on who your target consumers are (not your family, not your friends, not yourself) 🌟 Why you need to ask your target consumers directly for their opinion, and here's the hard part, actually LISTEN to their feedback 🌟 The compromises you might have to make on flavours that are very familiar to you (but unfamiliar to your UK consumers) If you're bringing a family recipe or a trend from another country to the UK market, this episode will show you how to keep your target consumers front and centre and adapt your product so thousands of loyal customers keep buying it again and again. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here.
📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If you enjoy this podcast, leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, it really help developing the podcast, and share with a fellow food or drink founder that will benefit from it! 🙏 | |||
| 19 November - Why Non-HFSS & Meat/Dairy Vegan Products Fail? | 19 Nov 2025 | 00:09:14 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. I still remember that massive tasting at the flavour house when vegan became popular, sweet and savoury products everywhere. And at the end? We all had the same conversation: every single product was trying to copy something that already existed. Vegan steak, vegan ham, vegan chicken, vegan pudding - all trying to replicate the exact same taste and texture. And guess what? They all failed. The texture was wrong, the flavours were wrong, it was just very unpleasant. And it's EXACTLY the same problem with non-HFSS products. And here's the kicker: these are treat products! They're pick-me-ups, they fulfil an emotional and mental need. But these reformulated versions just leave you with an unsatisfying taste compared to the original. In this episode, you'll discover: 🌟Why trying to replicate existing products with vegan or non-HFSS versions is scientifically impossible 🌟 The shocking truth about some plant-based products that everyone thought were "healthy", were full of additives, fat, and sugar just to make them palatable 🌟 Why big food brands lost MILLIONS on non-HFSS products 🌟 The real reason consumers are going back to eating meat after giving up on plant-based substitutes 🌟 What you should be doing instead: creating something NEW, nutritious, and interesting rather than a disappointing copy If you're a food and drink business struggling with non-HFSS or if you're a plant-based brand trying to mimic meat or dairy, this episode will show you why that strategy is setting you up to fail, and what to do instead to actually succeed. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here.
📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If you enjoy this podcast, leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, it really help developing the podcast, and share with a fellow food or drink founder that will benefit from it! 🙏 | |||
| 18 November - How to Work with a Flavour House? | 18 Nov 2025 | 00:09:04 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. "Can you send me a few vanilla flavours?" If this is how you're briefing your flavour house, you're doing it wrong, and I'm telling you from experience because I've worked on both sides of this mess.
Food and drink businesses ask for generic flavours with some iterations, but there's NO indication of flavour profile. They let all the responsibility fall on the flavour house to decide which flavour profile is best for their product. And guess what? It doesn't work. It creates hundreds of back and forth emails until you either give up, pick a flavour just because you have to, or completely cancel the product because you can't get the flavour right. In this episode, you'll discover: 🌟 Why letting the flavour house decide your flavour profile is setting your product up to fail 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here.
📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If you enjoy this podcast, leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, it really help developing the podcast, and share with a fellow food or drink founder that will benefit from it! 🙏 | |||
| 17 November - Best Flavours for Pea & Rice Protein Products | Vegan Product Development Tips | 17 Nov 2025 | 00:06:36 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products. Got an Instagram question: "I'm creating a vegan product using rice protein and pea protein, which flavour do you think will work best?" Perfect! Because this is exactly what I help my clients with in my CHOOSE package, and I'm sharing the process with you today.
So if you just throw in trendy flavours without understanding your product base first, you're going to end up with something that tastes like play doh. Yep, I said it. In this episode, you'll discover: 🌟 The specific flavours that work brilliantly with plant-based proteins (and the ones you should avoid at any cost - berries and vanilla, I'm looking at you) 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If you enjoy this podcast, leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, it really help developing the podcast, and share with a fellow food or drink founder that will benefit from it! 🙏 | |||
| 16 November - How to Validate Your Food Product Before Launch (One Person Should NEVER Decide) | 16 Nov 2025 | 00:10:04 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products.
Should your CEO or founder have the final say on your food or drink product? Absolutely not. I've seen projects in big corporate food companies where a dozen multi-skilled people work for a year, do expensive consumer testing that gets approved, the product is ready to launch - and then the CEO tries it, doesn't like it, and boom - straight into the bin. Back to square one. In this episode, I'm sharing why one person should never approve your final product, no matter their title. You have to focus on objectives, not personal preferences. I know it's difficult when it's your baby, maybe it's a family recipe from your grandma - but you have to remove the emotional attachment and be analytical. I'll walk you through how to actually validate your product before launch by relying on data and facts: Is the taste balanced and rounded? Does the flavour profile suit your product base (not just what's trendy)? Does it fit your target consumers' preferences? You need to understand everything about them - what they eat, what social media they use, where they travel in London, what their breakfast looks like. Because if you're not listening to your team and your consumers, your product and potentially your business are going to fail. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here. 📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||
| 15 November - Why Your Brain Can't Describe Flavours (And How to Train It) | Food Tasting Skills | 15 Nov 2025 | 00:09:17 | |
Click here to download The Flavour Blueprint, a free guide based on the process I use with my clients to fix underperforming food and drink products.
Why is it so hard to describe what you're tasting? When you try a product, your brain instantly jumps to "I like it" or "I don't like it" instead of actually describing what you taste - and that's completely normal. Your brain is focused on survival only: is it safe to eat? None of us are equipped to describe flavours precisely without training. In this episode, I'm sharing why training your brain to taste properly is crucial for your food and drink business, and how to actually do it. I'll explain how I use bespoke flavour lexicons with my clients (whether we're creating products from scratch, choosing flavours, or fixing underperforming products) so we all speak the same neutral language and remove personal bias. I'll also share practical tips for training your brain: being more mindful when you eat and drink, and even how to practice with your kids so they can appreciate flavours from an early age. Because here's the truth: if you don't train your brain, your tastings will stay stuck at "I like it" or "I don't like it" - and that's useless for product development. 💌 Want to dive deeper? Read the full transcript of this episode here.
📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry. In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing. Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
👋 Connect with me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏 | |||