How many times have you bought a sauce or condiment because of the packaging or sale price only to discover it’s not to your taste? It’s happened to me more times than I care to count. It’s such a disappointment when you don’t like it, and then it takes up precious real estate in your fridge until you finally throw it away. Especially so if it was a local brand that you were trying to support. That is not to say the food product is of a low quality, it just may not be your taste profile (how spicy is "spicy", anyway?!).
You are not alone though. Most people want to try new flavors, but if you’re like me, you tend to hesitate to do so after so many failed attempts. Even a sale price may no longer sway me to take a chance. I want to know more, and often will stand in an aisle and google the brand and check online reviews to help guide me.
Before the pandemic, I loved those free food sampling days at the supermarket (and at Costco!). I’d roam around, sometimes on my own, sometimes with the kids, and get the chance to try new products. For the ones I liked, I’d happily put them in my cart. There was no risk since I knew what I was buying.
But now that the pandemic has ruined free samples for us all, some companies have taken to sending a whole bottle of free samples for you to try. It seems too good to be true, because it is. Even though you’re not buying that sample, it’s still wasteful, and expensive for the manufacturer.
On top of that, some go a step further and send you other things you didn’t even ask for. So instead of getting free food sampling of stuff you actually want to try, you may get an array of products you don’t want or need. More wasted food (and shipping)!
One of my pain points is spending my hard-earned money to bring home a new sauce or condiment to go with a meal, and no one in my home likes it. So some manufacturers use coupons to reduce your upfront cost. But, although coupons reduce my cost, it still leaves me with a bottle of mystery sauce, that I may or may not like! If I could try a new brand first with non-wasteful free food sampling, I’d be more likely to buy it when I saw it at the store.
Take something as simple yet so complex as barbecue sauce. We all have our preferences, and surely it will take a lot to convince you to try something different than the brand you’ve been slathering on your BBQ for years. I prefer something sweet and tangy while but you might like it spicy. We’re so comfortable with our flavors that it’s hard to get out of that comfort zone.
We are not alone either. According to surveys we've conducted, 96% of people like to try new flavors, but not being able to taste sauces prevented 71% of the respondents from trying new brands.
The majority of respondents (85%!) said they’ve bought sauce they wound up not liking, with 84% of them leaving it in the fridge for a while, before finally throwing it away. That not only creates food waste, but in the time it remains in the fridge, it takes up space and consumes energy! And like me, 89% of the respondents said that ingredients in the sauce were one of the most important factors in the decision of buying a new sauce.
So, what’s a better way to get free food sampling without food waste? NakiNoku means "taste and see", and that is exactly what we offer! Sign up to taste different flavors that arrive in small flexible packaging so there’s enough to try and taste before buying a whole bottle. You a free box of samples of the specific food product you are interested in, to taste and since you only get a small sample, there’s minimal waste.
By going the more sustainable way to tasting different flavors, we hope it will help you branch out and be more adventurous with food, while minimizing risk and food waste. And ultimately, support our local business rather than the big players. Want to try it too? Sign up to our list and we will alert you when we launch our first sample box, a better sampling experience without the waste!
As we say : Sampling, Simplified!