How the Callebaut Taste Wheel guides New Product Development (NPD) and portfolio strategies
How the Callebaut Taste Wheel guides New Product Development (NPD) and portfolio strategies
Why taste needs a sensory language?
While taste is the #1 purchase driver, it’s often inconsistently defined across departments.
The Callebaut Taste Wheel™ creates a standardized framework across three scientifically grounded dimensions: Primary Taste, Mouthfeel and Flavor. Within the flavor dimensions, we have identified five core taste profiles: Silky, Velvet, Zestina, Rustic, and Botanical.
This common language enables cross-functional teams to align and drive faster decisions and stronger product-market fit.
Innovation teams report misalignment between R&D and marketing when (taste) lacks a shared framework.
Paul Lechevalier, VP Global R&D, Barry Callebaut
The Five Core Taste Profiles
Within the Callebaut Taste Wheel, we’ve identified five core taste profiles under the flavor dimension:
- Silky: Creamy, milk chocolates with subtle sweet flavours.
- Velvet: Sweet chocolates with buttery, nutty or caramel notes.
- Zestina: Chocolates with a pronounced fruity flavour, often sweet and sour with notes of tropical fruits.
- Rustic: Chocolates with strong, often bitter notes and hints of dried fruit and rum.
- Botanical: Chocolates with a strong bitter flavour and complex floral or spicy notes.
From Taste Understanding to Strategic Action
Built on 7000+ sensory tests, the Callebaut Taste Wheel turns perception into strategy.
It helps teams identify gaps in the needs exploration phase in taste, flavour and mouthfeel. Whether launching new products or reformulating classics, our new Callebaut Taste Wheel™ helps map out future opportunities and align chocolate innovation where it matters most: consumer preferences.
74% of consumers want to try new and exciting chocolate taste experiences.
Barry Callebaut Global Consumer Study, 2023
A proven tool for NPD
More than 4400 proprietary recipes have been created using our unique sensory framework. It’s a proven tool for identifying whitespace, reformulating classics, and accelerating product development.
Whether you’re launching a new line, our new Callebaut Taste Wheel™ enables you to turn taste into a competitive advantage and drive chocolate innovation to win on shelf and in cart.
Many of our customers say that working with our Taste Wheel™ speeds up time-to-market to improve performance of their product launches.
Alexandra Lavinia-Reznek, Director Customer Experience & Co-Creation, Barry Callebaut
The power of partnership
Taste drives consumer choice and growth. Our Callebaut Taste Wheel™ translates it into a strategic advantage.
Let’s explore how it can guide your next innovation sprint or chocolate portfolio planning process.
