Technical requirements of a convenience food to meet the demands of a customer segment

Abstract

Meeting customer needs is a step towards achieving the success of a product or service. As dynamic lifestyles have been taking place in society, the demands regarding food have changed, and the easiness of preparation and healthiness have become demanded by a segment of customers. Convenience foods are examples to fulfill these changes and stand out for their practicality, but with reservations about healthiness. Considering these new demands and the importance of incorporating customer needs into the product, this study aimed at defining the technical characteristics of an instant noodles that meets consumer demands in terms of practicality and healthiness using the quality function deployment method. A questionnaire was developed and applied to a group of target customers with higher acceptability and receptivity to this type of product. This group was chosen through factorial and cluster analysis. The technical requirement that most impacted customer needs was the amount of protein (mushroom), which met the health requirement, but had a strong influence on the final price of the product.