Testimonials

“Just when we thought there couldn’t possibly be any more unmet needs in beverage consumption, MFI was commissioned by Twinings to research and quantify an opportunity for launch globally. The challenge to define the product and packaging execution for a new habit creation. MFI investigated and unlocked this opportunity using ​a consumer led approach that added​ significant value​ for the development phase and launch ​plan for 2018​.”

Jenny Gater
Consumer Insights Manager, Twinings & Co

“MFI have been critical enablers of our custom packaging solution that will be use domestically & internationally from early 2017 – without them, our path to first customer would have been much more challenging. They are nimble, smart and easy to work with an amazing resource we will certainly be shouting about moving forward.”

Laura Faulconer
Head of Operations, The Generator Monash

"In 2017, Monash Food Innovation was chosen by SunRice to take our entire marketing, sales and technical team through some learning tools for innovation that would empower our people to push good ideas forward at a time when the NPD pantry was quite sparse! Following that well received Intrapreneurship training we returned to MFI this March with a brief to help us ideate around some business critical areas and to choose the best ideas for potential commercial launch in the future. The outputs were everything we had hoped for and there is a belief and an energy around bringing them to shelves soon. The expertise of the facilitators really inspired us.

Peta Thomas - New Product Development
Specialist Brand Manager SunRice Australia

“MFI enabled Sparkplug to investigate the nutritional properties of the Pure Gold Pineapples. The challenge was to uncover the definitive concentrations of an array of nutrients within the fruit, to ensure that Pure Gold Pineapple could market the fruit based on science. This information as well as compiling appropriate research on the benefits of the nutrients within Pure Gold Pineapple is important scientific information on how these pineapples can aid human health and wellbeing. This provided Pure Gold Pineapple with important science-based nutrition information to back the marketing program in educating consumers about the wonderful nutrients Pure Gold Pineapple contains and the added benefits supporting consumption all year round.”

Joanna Shinewell
Nutrition Director

“The MFI team rose to the challenge and really put in over and above to bring to life an eye catching design that was transposed to marketing mock-up’s that were printed and assembled for the impending domestic review and retail trade shows both nationally and internationally. Without the dedication and expertise of MFI, we would never have been able to achieve our ambitions.”

Erica Hughes
Director, D’Lite Foods

Christine McKenna - Executive Assistant

"Thanks for a great ‘Innovation In Action and Immersion’ day. We’ve heard nothing but positive reviews of the day from everyone who attended in our Department. We are looking to stay true to our newly assigned Intrapreneur behaviours and all learned a lot from the key note presentations. Everything from the venue, amazing food, content, technology, pace, speakers, you name it, it was all good. Everyone came away very enthusiastic and ready to share with the rest of our business. The MFI facilitation was spot on and the day flowed beautifully. Thank you once again for guiding us through and building the agenda and leading in the execution of a really worthwhile offsite day for our team."

“MFI was commissioned by Perfection Fresh to explore new innovation opportunities for launch in Australia and China in order to diversify their current portfolio. The challenge was to understand the appeal and usage for new ranges and formats. Using a consumer led approach, MFI helped gain a greater insight into the local and Chinese consumer and their expectations for new products in these categories which was critical to support an internal business case and future innovation pipeline.”

Lee Carnemolla
Group Marketing Manager, Perfection Fresh

"MFI helped to bring to life validated product concepts utilising the Monash kitchen to create a range of new products to rapidly test amongst target consumers in Consumer Product Labs. MFI's Industrial Design team developed the accompanying structural pack designs to understand appeal, usability and shelf stand out.The Product Labs explored the concept, product sensory elements and packaging.The rapid fire methodology of "create, design and test" approach allowed us modify, refine and re-test stimulus with consumers over a quick 4 weeks to ensure we had the best solution to present as our final product/pack portfolio to the retailer.Working with MFI, allowed us to rapidly validate the right offer and helped to accelerate our launch for chilled meals."

Mr. Anand Surujpal
General Manager Marketing & Innovation

"MFI won the pitch to host and facilitate the inaugural ‘Orora Innovation for the future Ideation workshop’ spanning 2 days. Our vision is to be the industry-leading packaging company and in order to stay ahead of the competition and partner our customers, investment in ideation forums is paramount. We have committed to an aggressive future growth strategy, with a key pillar being NPD. It is imperative that the ‘innovation pantry’ be stocked with a bank of new concepts to fill the future pipeline. The team at Monash Food Innovation certainly delivered above and beyond on our brief. I want to personally thank you all for all the effort, energy, passion and the momentum in preparing and running the first Orora beverage ideation forum. From the content to executing the workshops, the sense of humour and the team energy is far more than we ever asked for. The feedback from the team has been very complimentary and the outputs will be placed straight into our strategic planning framework. A massive thank you to all."

Roya Khalil
Innovation and Marketing Manager, ORORA

"New Zealand Trade Enterprises recently assembled a cohort of NZ Businesses at Monash Food Innovation at Monash University to devise strategies that will help navigate a smoother pathway into Australia for peer NZ businesses looking to enter, as well as taking businesses already established to the next level. The goal was to seek ‘transformational growth’ into the future by being immersed in the world class facilities at MFI and to hear best practice key note presentations, pre commissioned customer surveys and learn some of the tools that can lead to bettering the odds of launching products successfully. Preparing to be ‘retail ready’ for business in Australia had every participant better prepared for a brighter future in Australian retail. Finally, the outputs by placing attendees in collaborative circles to collate a checklist for success and interact and learn from each other was masterfully devised and moderated by the MFI team. All in all, the day was a complete success and we are looking to make this an annual event so that we stay abreast of all of the latest thinking."

Matthew Topp
Commercial Business Advisor, NZTE

“MFI has greatly assisted in producing new concepts and prototypes for the Philadelphia brand. With tight deadlines, we were able to easily collaborate with the designers at MFI to accurately CAD model the new concepts from previously sketched concepts and prototype the designs to ensure fast decision making with our internal stakeholders. Their nimble and receptiveness to feedback really allowed for timely and effective results that we were extremely pleased with.”

Vivian Ly
Brand Manager Philadelphia, Mondelez International

“The environment for this course at Monash Clayton was inspiring. We used many of the University’s facilities and spaces to keep the team energized and combined with well thought out and insightful course content. Intrapreneur Best Practice delivered tangible, future innovation methodologies that will undoubtedly benefit both for our people and our brands”

Stuart Quigley
MLA Young Food Innovators Course Director

"Lyndoch Living approached MFI when we required a redesign of the prepared meals we provide to elders in their homes. The brief was to create a new sleeve format appropriate for elderly consumers that accurately reflected the brand and identity of our organisation. Throughout the project MFI provided detailed concepts and concept mock-ups so that we could test usability, legibility and other critical aspects.This service allowed us to rapidly make internal decisions on our packaging direction whilst maintaining focus on customer relations. MFI helped transform our product from a basic level service to a service that provides quality, reliable products for our customers.

Julie Baillie
Director of Nursing, Lyndoch Living

"Just want to thank you again as I have progressed so far from when we initially spoke but most of my connections have been through Monash Food Innovation as a starting point. Through those I have met others etc and wanted to just mention that I don’t think I would of got to this point so quickly and efficiently without MFI. So thank you!!"

Lori Phillips

“Lion engaged MFI on a concept that aimed to transform our secondary packaging. We approached MFI because they could provide an end-to-end service for design and prototyping to bring our concept to life. The brief was to evolve the existing structural packs to accommodate a host of new design features that would eliminate several issues that arise from existing packaging. Throughout the process we collaborated openly with the design team at MFI to create a bespoke outcome that captured the original project vision. MFI translated the concepts into highly accurate prototypes which were accompanied by presentation visualisations to helped explain the concept to internal Lion audiences. The prototypes and visuals generated lots of discussions and encouraged other at Lion to share design ideas and improvements to enhance the concept further. I would recommend MFI as they delivered a customer focused designs solution and supporting materials to bring to life our concept and show the business opportunities that can follow.”

Greg Holden
Science & Technology Manager, Lion Dairy and Drinks

"The design team at MFI have supported us with several seasonal projects throughout the year. Providing us with a fast efficient service, converting our designs into mock-ups to evaluate internally before committing to launch.Their service has allowed us to quickly generate and test new packaging designs and fast track them to market.We were very satisfied by the service and speed at which MFI undertook our project and would gladly recommend their services."

Daryl Thompson
Head of Design and Packaging, Koko Black

“MFI’s consultants were professional and knowledgeable while providing us with an energetic and engaged bespoke service. We were able to immediately apply the insights developed to our future planning as the flexible, modular nature of MFI’s program allows the choice of full end-to-end product development or the ability to receive the knowledge outputs and continue product development in-house. We happily recommend MFI’s services for anyone looking to gain tailored insight into product development and consumer expectations in any category.”

Luke Warn
Consumer & Market Insights Manager, Houston’s Farm

“We commissioned Monash Food Innovation to explore a previously unsolvable ‘cold case’ in the dairy portfolio. The most robust concepts were refined into 3 winning ideas that progressed to 3D printed prototyping, consumer validation, costing scrutinisation and production sampling. The tools and expertise Monash Food Innovation applied are without peer. We now have a product to launch and we are sure it will be a winner.”

Richard Matera,
General Manager Product Innovation, Fonterra Australia

"Edlyn Foods commissioned Monash Food Innovation to test a new packaging prototype amongst key Edlyn business customers. The challenge was to identify current usage behavior and the reaction to the prototype as well as advantages and disadvantages compared with current products. Using a consumer led approach, the MFI helped Edlyn Foods gain a greater insight into the potential opportunities for the prototype, in addition to step-by-step design led guidelines that will need to be implemented to improve the prototype."

Aida Golneshin
Business Innovation Manager

Tim Stanford - Marketing Director

“MFI’s Design team developed a new product mould concept. The main outcome was a design that could be produced in our company facilities representing our core brand identity whilst enabling a new look range for our company. They provided stimulating and pertinent designs, which were distilled down into a single concept that encapsulates the brand identity whilst capturing desired form direction. Their team provided an integral service to our business as it allowed us to quickly test internally the prospect of new designs and gain useful insight into new product developments. They were professional in handling scope changes whilst the project was active.”

Mark Field - Head of Coles Brand

"MFI was recently engaged to energize a strategically significant project hat had stalled and required new validation and inputs to lift the Organization's belief in the potential for growth from this initiative in the future. The innovation tools the MFIC took us through were practical, inclusive and engaging and the commercial outcomes immediately applicable. The team at Monash Food Innovation certainly put us back on track and added a suite of future innovation possibilities as well. I’d like to personally endorse all of the effort, energy, insight and outcomes on this project and all personally believe that it all bodes well for the future. The feedback from the Coles team that attended the sessions has also been very complimentary and the outputs will be placed straight into development. The team will also be able to use these tools to come up with, and sense check any ideas they have from now on. A huge thanks to everyone involved. I feel like this project is back on track!"

“There’s never been a better time to be a food entrepreneur – in Australia or around the world. Natural food start-ups with the right mindset can change categories, challenge the big guys and make a big difference in their communities. I love what’s happening with food start-ups here in Australia and want to share we’ve learned when it comes to scaling and fighting convention, like we’ve done with our other incubator programs. This is a no-strings-attached, grant-based program to support entrepreneurs so we can further fuel the food revolution.”

Hamdi Ulukaya
Chobani Founder and CEO

“Burra Foods with the support of the Victorian Government Voucher program for Asian Gateway approached Monash Food Innovation to understand the perception of the Chinese consumer on a new innovation opportunity. The team at Monash and their partner COFCO NHRI provided timely and very professional service from brief to research outcomes. Burra Foods is currently working through the next steps from this project.”

Yuko Granger
Marketing & Communication Lead

"Monash Food Innovation was commissioned by Boundary Bend Wellness to test potential new concept ideas to take to market. The project was undertaken to understand the appeal and acceptability of the concept. The project helped validate the concepts, identify positioning benefits that most appeal and assisted us in defining the most suitable target audience for each concept."

Tim Smith
Executive Director

"We engaged the design team at MFI for front end design development of new structural packaging concept. The concept was created by MFI designers and consumer tested to lead the future iterations based on real consumer feedback. The main outcome was a design that could be taken by a supplier and manufactured. They provided a vast array of stimulating and thought provoking designs, which were distilled down into a single concept that encapsulates the brand identity whilst capturing desired form direction. Their team provided an integral service to our business as it allowed us to quickly test internally the prospect of new designs and gain useful insight into consumer thought surrounding the design. We were very satisfied by the conduct and speed at which MFI undertook our project and would gladly recommend their services for front-end design development."

Beverly Reeves
Senior Brand Manager

“MFI Design team helped develop and prototype our product to present to retailers. The main outcome was mock-ups that illustrate the full offer and how a stocked item will be displayed on shelf in a retail environment. Their team provided an integral service to our business as it allowed us to quickly test the prospect of being in a retail environment. They were professional in handling any changes that were necessary and we would happily use them again.”

Nick Sheridan
Owner

“MFI used best practice innovation methodologies to enable a fast-paced, highly immersive and collaborative day where we generated over 100 new product ideas to solve a big business opportunity, five of which went immediately into in-store testing through a trial acceleration initiative.”

Stephen Eyears
Head of Innovation, 7-Eleven Stores

“We used the Cave visualisation facility at Monash Food Innovation for a category strategy immersion with one of our key customers. Location, technical expertise and the ability to create a bespoke virtual store were the critical factors in selecting the Monash facility ahead of others. Furthermore, the 320 degree surround screens were ideal to bring multi-media content to life and enhanced the whole engagement experience for our audience. I’d highly recommend this facility and we look forward to partnering with Monash Food Innovation again in the near future.”

Hamish Campbell
Head of Category Development, Kimberly-Clark Australia