The challenge
Vinegar is one of the oldest ingredients in the kitchen, and that is exactly the problem Mizkan wanted to solve.
The category is well established but skews older, and growth depends on winning consumers who do not yet see vinegar as part of their repertoire.
Mizkan set out to create a growth strategy that attracts younger consumers to the category and expands usage. That meant uncovering unmet needs, identifying the barriers keeping younger consumers out, and finding credible ways to inspire new occasions and behaviours rather than simply fighting for share of the old ones.
What we did
Trend mapping, data mining, qualitative and quantitative testing, growth platform development, workshop facilitation, proposition development and roadmap building.
How we did it
A challenge like this cannot be answered by trend work or consumer research alone, so we built a hybrid process that brought both together with a third ingredient that often gets forgotten: what can actually be made.
We blended trend analysis and data mining with Mizkan’s manufacturing capabilities, then layered in deep consumer insight gathered through both qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative work got under the skin of how younger consumers cook, shop and think about flavour, and where vinegar does or does not fit. The quantitative work put numbers behind it, separating genuine opportunity from interesting anecdote. Together, this gave us a comprehensive picture of where the vinegar category could be optimised and where new usage could realistically be built.
With the groundwork done, we facilitated an ideation and innovation workshop with the Mizkan team, turning insight into ideas. From this we uncovered a set of high-potential proposition territories, each one grounded in consumer insight and aligned to a real growth opportunity within the category. No territory made the list on novelty alone; each had to connect a consumer need to a commercial prize.
Then we made the territories actionable. Alongside the propositions, we defined the key activation enablers that would bring them to life: product format, flavour innovation, packaging cues and communication angles. These give Mizkan practical levers to pull as concepts move through prioritisation, validation and development.
What it delivered
A set of high-potential proposition territories with a clear consumer and commercial rationale behind each one, plus the activation toolkit to develop them into winning concepts. Mizkan now has a focused route to bringing younger consumers into the category and inspiring new occasions, built on evidence about what these consumers actually want rather than what the category has always assumed.
This is the kind of brief we relish: a much-loved staple, a category that deserves a bigger role in more kitchens, and a business willing to look properly at how the next generation cooks. Vinegar has been quietly doing brilliant things in food for centuries. The opportunity was never the product; it was helping more consumers discover what it can do.
View more case studies
-
Burger King
Burger King needed in-depth consumer testing of two new burger builds across multiple variants before launch. FIS Group delivered a real-store central location test with penalty analysis and innovation expert input, providing precise optimisation insight and benchmarks to inform future menu development.
-
Mizkan
Mizkan needed a growth strategy to attract younger consumers to the vinegar category and expand usage occasions. FIS Group delivered a hybrid process combining trend mapping, consumer research and innovation workshop facilitation, producing high-potential proposition territories with a full activation toolkit for development.
-
Superkeen
Superkeen needed rapid development of allergen-free products to support their expansion beyond cereals. FIS Group delivered a fast-paced sprint across two categories – nut butter concepts and tigernut cereal bars – producing signed-off gate zero samples meeting strict AIP requirements, ready for manufacturing briefs.
Got a brief? Let’s talk.
Tell us what you are working on. We will tell you straight whether we can help, what the right approach looks like, and how quickly we can move. No long discovery dance, no qualifying call before the qualifying call.