Ferocious Innovation

New unknowns emerge each day, and we’ve had to reimagine the lifeblood of our business: our relationships and the impactful, one-of-a-kind collaborations that result. That’s why we’ve developed a proprietary process that stokes creativity, teamwork and invention to help you safely and effectively share the best solutions—right now and in the future. 


Ferocious Innovation™ is a process that reinvents storytelling within food and beverage development. This highly collaborative method combines strategic thinking and insights with robust culinary expertise, all presented in a cutting-edge virtual platform. It’s bold. It’s effective. It’s a way to keep innovating when you need to most.


Through three focused engagements, we’ll pinpoint your needs, ideate collaboratively and deliver turnkey solutions. Here’s how it works.

BRIEFING

Help us understand your focused short- and long-term priorities. Tell us about your consumer and the key insights around your operation so we can supply you with turnkey solutions.

What to Expect
A 30-minute call with CSSI to align on your needs and objectives, identify key insights (a pantry list, menu focus and consumer profile) and set expectations for collaboration logistics (key participants, technology requirements and access to ingredients).

Outcome
The CSSI team will conduct in-depth research—including an operations review, competitive assessments and trend analysis— and build out the collaboration model we’ll use going forward. Considering consumer demand, menu gaps and product/ packaging solutions, we’ll uncover opportunity spaces and begin initial concepting.
COLLABORATING

It’s time to share our findings and lead you through an intensive collaboration session. With the support of leading foodservice manufacturers, we’ll brainstorm concepts and menu applications as a group.

What to Expect
An Innovation Think Tank session, led by CSSI and featuring partnering brands. We will: 
  • Review focused manufacturer capabilities 
  • Present initial menu concepts and/or platforms with supporting inspiration, including trend data and a mood board 
  • Encourage robust discussion with tools such as an interactive brainstorm board with real-time concept voting and/or a Virtual Trend Tour that allows you to explore 7+ markets across the country to ground innovation and thought leadership
Outcome
The CSSI chefs will develop gold-standard recipes based on the top menu concepts and platforms as discussed in the session. We will remotely develop the recipes and send you a comprehensive Innovation Kit that includes ingredients, full recipes and detailed build sheets so you can recreate the concepts and taste the partnering manufacturer’s products.
CREATING

At this point, you’ve had the chance to create and taste the concepts yourself with your Innovation Kit. Now, the CSSI team will guide you through a full concept presentation and turnkey solutions.

What to Expect
A Concept Showcase, led by CSSI and featuring partnering brands. We’ll host a collaborative review of the developed menu concepts, highlighting featured manufacturer ingredients, and you’ll have the opportunity to provide feedback on all content and products. This presentation may leverage tools and tactics such as concept slides with supporting data and trend insights, stunning 360º photography and/or Datassential Food Studio scoring.

Outcome
You’ll receive finalized menu concepts with supporting recipes, imagery and insights, session inputs from all Ferocious Innovation™ engagements, a comprehensive list of the featured manufacturer’s capabilities and select samples.

The proof is in the pudding.

“The experience was extremely positive. I was impressed that CSSI was able to quickly adapt to the remote environment. I gained confidence that we did not need to slow down our outreach with operators just because we were remote with our stay at home orders.”
Britte Bennet 
Director Strategic Customer Development, Torani
"What could’ve been a very clunky, awkward and difficult ideation became one of our most successful. The CSSI team was able to virtually bring us around the country with the use of imagery and videos effectively. The experience was amazing—they were able to bring so many chef partners that otherwise wouldn’t have made it based on travel."
Alex Hyppolite
Sr. Brand Manager, Checker’s and Rally’s Restaurants
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