The Sensory Evaluation Program also has partnered with other universities across the country to get the right representation. However, she says if you want to get a West Coast reaction, you don’t have to run a test in California. You can run it in Columbus with transplants and get nearly the same results.
“Whatever you grow up with, it’s still embedded in you,” Leidheiser says.
When it comes to food testing, the basics haven’t changed. Does it look good? Does it smell good? Do I like it when I taste it?
Leidheiser says those three things are always the precursor for the information you can get on your product.
“Lots of people think that because there’s more information, that it should be better information. Not necessarily. It’s how you gather it,” she says. “Truthfully, it’s all about the recruit and the person you bring in that’s actually evaluating it, and then structuring the ballot to represent the information.”
Evaluating data
If you’re going to test a product, you need a whole picture outlook as well as an actionable item to test for, Leidheiser says.
If the sauce cannot be changed, there’s no point testing for that. If you want to change suppliers to cut costs, that’s something that can be specifically examined.
Ohio State wants to structure the test to be meaningful and completely unbiased.
“Everything that comes out of here is exactly the way we see it,” she says. “What happens after that, we don’t know.
“That’s why it’s great working here and not working for a company,” Leidheiser says. “There’s nothing worse than going into a meeting knowing you have bad news and everybody in the room is higher up than you.”
OSU’s testing program also is less expensive than outside marketing firms. She says the testers are paid less — and seem to expect this because it’s a university — and overhead is low.
Other advantages with Ohio State’s program are space for long-term customers to store cooking equipment, being exposed to the most updated techniques for asking questions and the ability to do a completely unbranded test.
“I used to work at Wendy’s and do their consumer tests at their corporate headquarters,” Leidheiser says. “You know when you’re coming in there, who it’s for, obviously, and you have an opinion about that.”
How to reach: The Ohio State University Sensory Evaluation Center, (614) 688-4793; Fisher College of Business
