Our story | The FIS Group history from 1980s heritage to today

ABOUT FIS GROUP | OUR STORY

FIS Group is the unification of three specialist heritage firms with deep roots in food and drink: Cambridge Market Research (founded in the 1980s), Good Sense Research (also 1980s), and FIS (founded in 2010 to drive innovation specifically within food and beverage). Each brought decades of category specialism into what is now a single integrated group. Here is the story of how that came together.

The story is the credibility

Most consultancy “about” stories skip over the heritage and jump to a current capability slide.

We take the opposite view. Four decades of specialist food and drink experience is not background detail. It is the reason the work lands differently when you commission a project from us rather than from a generalist firm that runs the same playbook for every sector.

The story below covers nine milestones from the 1980s to today, plus a short note on where the group is now. Read to understand why the FIS Group is the specialist it is. Read it to know the history behind how we have integrated insight and innovation together and continue are mission to do so. Or just read it to know who you could be working with.

The roots: Cambridge Market Research and Good Sense Research founded

Two specialist research firms launch in the 1980s with food and drink as the focus from day one. Cambridge Market Research and Good Sense Research build their reputations over the following decades as the specialist UK consumer research operations that retailers and manufacturers trust for category and shopper work. Both firms operate independently for the first twenty-plus years of their lives, accumulating the kind of deep sector experience that is impossible to manufacture quickly.

FOODFAX and the early benchmarking work

Cambridge Market Research creates FOODFAX, a database of category norms that becomes a foundational reference for food and drink benchmarking across the UK industry. Four retailer-bespoke benchmarking programmes are established, deepening relationships with the UK’s major grocery retailers. This early benchmarking infrastructure is the foundation of the continuous benchmarking and tracking work running through FIS Group today. For years the firms behind FIS Group were rivals, competing for the same projects in the same market. That rivalry is now behind them, and the expertise that was once split across competitors works as one team.

Good Sense Research Product Testing and Distribution Hub

Good Sense Research acquires a dedicated product testing and distribution hub, extending its category specialism into proper product-level work. The acquisition establishes the firm’s product testing capability at substantial scale, with kitchen, recruit and viewing infrastructure that allows full sensory and product validation work to run end-to-end.

FIS founded, London Innovation Creative Kitchen opens

Food Innovation Solutions (FIS) is founded to drive innovation specifically within the food and beverage sector. Built from day one around senior food and drink specialists, working on category and brand innovation briefs that demanded deep sector knowledge rather than generic strategic frameworks. The London Innovation Creative Kitchen opens at the same time, establishing the firm’s dedicated innovation infrastructure in the heart of the UK food and drink commercial landscape.

Good Sense Research joins, Fieldwork Division created

Food Innovation Solutions (FIS) acquires Good Sense Research, bringing decades of consumer research depth into the group. The deal also establishes the Fieldwork Division, a dedicated recruit, viewing and group infrastructure operating across the UK to deliver consumer fieldwork at scale for FIS projects and direct fieldwork clients. The combination creates one of the deepest specialist consumer research operations in UK food and drink.

Future Food trend tracking study, consumer panel reaches 25,000

The Future Food unique trend tracking study is created, establishing the firm’s structured trend foresight capability across UK food and drink. The Good Sense Research consumer panel reaches 25,000 people, creating one of the deepest specialist consumer infrastructures in UK food and drink research. The combination of trend foresight and consumer behaviour becomes a foundational asset for the firm’s strategic insight and continuous tracking work.

FIS Group formally established

FIS Group is formally established as the unified parent brand, with a clear remit to deliver insight-led innovation across the food and drink commercial cycle. Strategic insight, innovation and product work begin running as an integrated model under one senior team. The architectural shift is the foundation of how FIS Group operates today.

Cambridge Market Research joins FIS Group

Cambridge Market Research formally becomes part of FIS Group, completing the integration of three specialist heritage firms (FIS, Good Sense Research, Cambridge Market Research) under one unified brand. The group expansion includes five million pounds in growth investment, bringing the total team to 40 specialist members within the FIS Group structure. The expansion brings additional capability hubs into the group, alongside the existing London and Cambridge operations.

PIE launched

Product Insight Excellence (PIE) is launched, formalising the firm’s product-specific specialist capability as a distinct strand of the integrated insight and innovation model. PIE consolidates the product testing, validation, sensory, claims and benchmarking work into a coherent capability area, ensuring that product-specific projects benefit from dedicated specialist methodology.

Where the story leads

FIS Group today operates as the unified specialist food and drink consultancy, with our innovation team at Mission Kitchen in London and our head office in Cambridge. Strategic insight, innovation and product consultancy run as an integrated model under one senior team, with the cumulative experience of four decades of specialist food and drink work behind every project.

Dedicated fieldwork operations run under our NOTED Fieldwork sub-brand, with purpose-built facilities at Bury St Edmunds (East of England) and Birmingham (Midlands). NOTED Fieldwork delivers the recruit, viewing, kitchen and group infrastructure that supports both FIS Group projects and direct fieldwork clients. The Fieldwork Division established in 2012 evolved into the dedicated NOTED Fieldwork brand operating today.

Together, FIS Group and NOTED Fieldwork form the operational structure that delivers the work today. The strategic and innovation engagement runs from London. The fieldwork at scale runs from Bury St Edmunds and Birmingham. Everything connects under one integrated model, with senior food and drink specialists running every project from brief to readout.

Meet the Team today