Food Product & Process Development: Vegan Nugget Product Manual Report

This report presents a comprehensive product manual for the development of vegan nuggets, addressing the rising trend of veganism and the growing market for plant-based foods. It begins with an introduction highlighting the increasing popularity of vegan products in the UK and globally, supported by market research data and statistics. The report includes a detailed market analysis, identifying market gaps and opportunities, and a competitive analysis of existing vegan nugget products. It also discusses the product's ingredients, process, and cost analysis. The development section outlines ingredient experiments, feedback, and improvements, including cost price calculations for raw materials. The report also covers the product's specifications, including ingredients, allergens, storage conditions, and cooking instructions. The report concludes with reflections on the learning experiences and improvements to the product.

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Food product & process development
Product Manual

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New Product Development: Vegan Nugget
Introduction
The trend of vegan foods has garnered huge support off late with UK as the world’s first
country to have a maximum growth in plant-based food consumer, so much so that 1/3rd of
the Britons have stopped eating red meat or animal meat (Jones 2018). It’s not only UK but
US, Australia and other European countries are reflecting a drop in the consumption of non-
vegetarian food taking account of the recent trends.
The following facts and figures imply the growth of veganism:
 In US the plant-based food sales grew by 801% in the year 2017.
 At the same time the plant based dairy alternatives grew by 40% in the year 2017 in
the form of barley, hemp, pea, flax, quinoa, and oats.
 Similar trends are foreseeable in the growth of vegan cheese with growth projected at
the rate of 7.6%.
 Plant-based milk has registered growth at a rate of 3% in terms of sales whereas diary
milk declined by 5% with regard to sales.
 It was the egg alternative product that resulted in the loss of 10% for the first time in
the last 10 years to US based Jackson based company (Chiorando 2018).
Market research
Trends of Vegan products in UK
 In 2018, UK launched more vegan products than any other countries.
 The non-vegan spent 645pounds more than the vegan consumer.
 92% of the plant-based meals eaten by the non-vegans.
 Number of vegan consumers quadrupled during the period of 2014-2018.

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Market gaps & opportunities
It is said that figure never lies; perhaps it is not manipulated or misleading. The above figure
and the competitive analysis led the NPD team to the assumption that there is lots of scope in
the vegan market which is growing and throws an opportunity for the product that is different
from the existing player.
Competitors and analysis
The vegetarian butcher (No chicken Nuggets) and Ocado (Chicken style Nuggets) are
existing competitors of vegan nuggets. All have certain strength in one aspect and
weaknesses on the other. Vegan chicken style nugget contains gluten in their ingredient and
many people are allergic to gluten content, Vegan nugget has an advantage of serving gluten
free content.
Both Vegetarian butcher and Ocado have high percentage of fat and many of us tries to avoid
the high content of fat in our food product. Vegan nuggets have comparatively lower level of
fact which would put this product in an advantageous position. Taking account of the pricing
factor of both Vegetarian butcher and Vegan nuggets they are almost similarly priced but
Vegan chicken nuggets is in an advantageous position in terms of pricing.
The strengths of Vegetarian butcher include low fat and high protein whereas its weaknesses
include high price in comparison to Ocado Chicken style Nuggets. The Vegan nuggets would
be sold at a reasonably low price making it affordable for a major chunk of the population in
terms of the target market. Additionally, the strengths of Ocado Chicken style Nuggets would
involve low price along with tasty ingredients however the weaknesses include, low fiber and
high fat (Linzey and Linzey, 2018). In this regard, the vegan nuggets would contain huge
amount of protein and fiber along with the low amount of fat. As a result, it is imperative that
Ocado Chicken style Nuggets is no different from chicken nuggets and they simply serve as a
substitute for chicken nuggets for vegetarians. Quorn vegan nuggets contain huge amount of

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protein which would be its major strength. However, it also contains gluten along with low
fiber which is its weaknesses. As a result, vegan nuggets would not only be rich in protein
and fiber but would also be gluten free thereby implying low amount of fat. Furthermore,
vegan nuggets of Mc Donaldshave also been launched recently in the United Kingdom
recently. It is estimated that the vegan nuggets of Mc Donalds contain high amount of
protein and fiber and less amount of fat thereby attracting vegetarians into Mc Donalds to a
huge level. As a result, it is imperative that vegan nuggets would be driving the factor for Mc
Donalds in the United Kingdom.
The closest competitor for the vegan nuggets would be The Vegetarian Butcher in terms of
ingredients as far as low fat is cornered. As a result, the pricing of the vegan nuggets is to be
done in such manner so as to ensure that it has more purchasers in the target market in
comparison to The Vegetarian Butcher. It would help in the generation of huge amount of
revenues and profits as a result of the sales of the vegan nuggets. It is imperative that the
vegan nuggets are to be locally manufactured and not imported to the United Kingdom form
other countries. As a result, the point of difference observed for the vegan nuggets form its
competitor is the factor related to the price (Thun, 2019). The RRP targeted for the chicken
nuggets would be 3.99 pounds and its weight would be 400 grams. Its size would be larger
than the average size of vegan nuggets available in the market. In this regard, the customer’s
would get their money’s worth in a proper and appropriate manner in comparison to the
related products in the market other products in the market. As a result, the aspect of market
research and analysis with regard to the marketing of vegan nuggets would help in the
economic growth as a whole to a huge level thereby catering the vegans in the existing
market in a comprehensive manner (Garodia, Naidu and Nallanchakravarthula, 2017). It is
imperative from the aforesaid products in the form that the main ingredients of the vegan
nuggets would be fiber and protein. Such products are generally described as food items

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which are good for human health thereby implying that the consumption of vegan nuggets
would not result in the health issues of a person. The storage of the vegan nuggets must be in
freezers as far as the maintenance of their quality is concerned with reference to the estimated
shelf life of eighteen months accordingly. As a result, the quality of the shelf life of the
products would be maintained accordingly thereby resulting in the attraction of a huge
number of consumers.

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Development diaries
Figure 1: 1st experiment:
(Source: Author’s creation)

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Figure 2: Product Ingredients and Process
(Source: Author’s creation)
The INGREDIENTS to make the product are 100g whole meal wheat flour, 100g
unsweetened soya, 25g chickpea flour, 1g rosemary, 1g salt and 0.5g cumin, 2g mustard
powder. The above experiments are done by using above ingredients in a crumb coating. All
together 150 people were called to taste the sample those included food scientist, food expert
and people from the food industry to get their feedback.
Feedback: mustard flavor too strong after food making process and lacks the required
aroma.
As a result, it is imperative that mustard is not to be added in the preparation of the vegan
nugget since the required taste of vegan nugget gets eliminated as a result of mustard thereby
driving existing away consumers to a certain level. Additionally, the taste ranges of mustard
may be from too sweet to spicy thereby implying that all kinds of consumers would not be
catered in an incredible manner as far as customer satisfaction is concerned. Therefore,
mustard must not be extensively used or be completely removed in terms of preparation of
vegan nuggets. The addition of mustard led to the errors in the experiment thereby the
observation being made that mustard leads to the degradation of the quality of vegan nuggets
to a certain extent. However, the best ingredient in such experiment is that the addition of

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soya which does not contain any sugar content thereby implying the fat free aspect of the
vegan nuggets accordingly. The onions and bell paper would imply the huge amount of
fibrous and protein content in the vegan nuggets thereby implying a healthy diet as a result of
consumption of the product. In order to increase the content of protein and fiber, it is
suggested that 3 grams of broccoli is to be added as far as the improvement of the production
of vegan nuggets is concerned. It would help in the attraction of more and more consumers
in the market to purchase the products and avail the related services. It is also imperative that
the flavor of vegan nuggets would not be up to the required standards if 2 grams of mustard is
added. Mustard may also eventfully render vegan nuggets tasteless thereby being unfit to be
consumed by humans. As a result, the main areas of improvement would include the non-
inclusion of mustard and the inclusion of more products which are rich in protein and fiber as
far as the aspect of health and safety are concerned with regard to the production of vegan
nuggets (Gruen and Jones, 2015). It would help in the increase in the quality of vegan
nuggets.
Figure 3: Cost price of raw material

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(Source: Author’s creation)
Cost per KG=EP Cost/Total KG
Ingredi
ent
Quan
tity
Uni
t
cost
in
GB/
kg
Cost of
product/
100 g
U
ni
t
reci
pe
wt.
g/it
em
%
reci
pe
AP
wei
ght
in
kg
Tri
m
wei
ght
in
gra
m
EP
wei
ght
in
gra
m
Yie
ld
%
factor=100/
yield%
EP
Co
st
Wheat
flour 100g 6.15 0.006
K
G
100
g 40 1 100 900 90 1.11
6.8
2
Soya 100g 8 0.008
K
G
100
g 40 1 50 950 95 1.05 8.4
Chickp
ea flour 25g 6.15 0.006
K
G 25g 10 1 100 900 90 1.11
6.8
2
Cornfla
kes 15g 3.75 0.003
K
G 15g 6 1 50 950 95 1.05
3.9
3
Rosema
ry 1g 77.5 0.007
K
G 1g 0.5 1 20 980 98 1.02
79.
05
Mustar
d
Powder 2g 7.27 0.007
K
G 2g 0.8 1 50 950 95 1.05
7.6
3
salt 1g 0.46 0.004
K
G 1g 0.5 1 50 950 95 1.05
0.4
8
cumin 3g 6 0.006
K
G 3g 1.2 1 50 950 95 1.05 6.3
247g 100
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Cost per KG=119/8=14.87 GBP
Cost per recipe per gram=0.12
Cost of 247g=247x0.12=29.64
2nd experiment

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Figure 4: Cost price of raw material
Quantity
Unit
cost in
GB/kg
Cost of
product/100 g Unit
recipe
wt.
g/item
%
recipe
AP
weight
in kg
Trim
weight
in gram
EP
weight
in gram
Yield
% factor=100/yield%
100g 6.15 0.006 KG 100g 40.81 1 100 900 90 1.11
100g 8 0.008 KG 100g 40.81 1 50 950 95 1.05
25g 6.15 0.006 KG 25g 10.20 1 100 900 90 1.11
15g 3.75 0.003 KG 15g 6.12 1 50 950 95 1.05
1g 77.5 0.007 KG 1g 0.4 1 20 980 98 1.02
1g 0.46 0.004 KG 1g 0.4 1 50 950 95 1.05
3g 6 0.006 KG 3g 1.26 1 50 950 95 1.05
245g 100
(Source: Author’s creation)
Cost per KG=EP Cost/Total KG
Cost per KG=112/7=16 GBP
Cost per recipe per gram=0.11
Cost of 247g=245x0.11=26.95 GBP

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The Ingredients to make the product are 100g whole meal wheat flour, 100g unsweetened
soya, 25g chickpea flour, 1g rosemary, 1g salt and 0.5g cumin. By mixing and shaping all
the ingredients given above the nuggets will be coated and baked. The mixture temperature
will not more than150 degree Celsius and mustard will not be taken for the second
experiment.
Feedback: Cumin flavor too strong after food making process and lacks the required aroma.
In order to address the feedback, cumin is to be taken off in terms of the production of vegan
nuggets as it would lead to the degradation of the taste of the nuggets to a large extent. It is
also strong as far as flavor is concerned. As a result, it is suggested in terms of the experiment
that cumin is to be completely eliminated as an ingredient and alternatives are to be looked
for in order to ensure that improvements are made with regard to the preparation of vegan
nuggets in an incredible manner. For example, cardamom which contains eleven grams of
protein may be included as an ingredient instead of cumin (Knight and de Boo, 2018). It
would imply the increase in healthy ingredients for the preparation of the vegan nuggets to a
considerable level thereby leading to the attraction of consumers in the market who are
enthusiastic about vegetarian food items. As a result, profits would be made at massive
levels by the virtue of the sales of the vegan nuggets if the recommended areas of
improvement are capitulated upon and implemented with regard to the experiments to be
made in the future accordingly. It is also observed form the experiment that in the absence of
mustard, cumin has a strong taste and also the required level of smell is missing as a result of