Growth doesn’t always come from new ideas.
Often they come from rethinking old ones. Categories like jello, pudding, or instant oatmeal didn’t fail because people stopped liking them. They failed because brands stopped evolving. We cover how to spot a forgotten category and rebuild them for today’s standards.
For founders who are:
Testing if their product solves a real problem
Balancing consumer pull with buyer foresight
Figuring out when to bring in advisors and experts
1. Simplicity as strategy
In a market full of over-engineered products, simplicity cuts through the noise. The easier your product is to understand, the easier it is to buy.
Audit your ingredient list: can it be explained in one line?
Remove “functional” gimmicks that confuse more than they convert.
Ask if your product is simple enough to be trusted and remembered.
2. Let external validation push you forward
Ideas get stuck in kitchens. Outside opportunities (like pitch competitions, retail pilots, or industry events) force you to ship and test in the wild. You’ll learn more in one real-world test than months of tinkering.
Use deadlines and activations as launchpads, not finish lines.
Look for repeat behavior, not just polite feedback.
Budget time and cash for scrappy “pressure tests” before scaling.
What to do: Don’t wait for polish. Take any opportunity to test your product in front of strangers and see whether your idea holds up.
3. Fix what’s broken, not what’s beloved
Consumers rarely abandon a format because they don’t like it. They abandon them when the product stops meeting their standards: outdated ingredients, cheap quality, or negative perception. The best products keep what’s familiar without removing what people loved.
Why did people stop buying in this category?
What’s the single barrier (health, cost, convenience) keeping them away?
Can you remove that barrier while keeping the joy intact?
What to do: Walk through the aisles and look for products that look outdated or left behind. Identify the factors that drove people away, and come up with the best solution to remove/replace it without stripping away nostalgia or fun.
4. Balance consumer pull with buyer foresight
Consumers tell you what they want now. Buyers predict what they’ll want next. he best products live in that gap: aspirational enough to excite, familiar enough to move units.
Collect two streams of data: consumer (demos, surveys, repeat sales) and buyer (retail feedback, category trends).
Balance aspirational positioning with familiar use cases.
Stress-test positioning: is it exciting enough to stand out and familiar enough to sell?
5. Surround yourself with smarter people
Food isn’t complicated, it’s complex. Margins are too thin to learn everything the hard way. The cheapest path is borrowing knowledge from people who’ve already solved your problem. Here are some places to start:
Advisors: Founders one or two stages ahead (formal or informal).
Category experts: R&D chefs, brokers, ops managers who know your aisle’s economics.
Networks: Startup CPG, Naturally Network, industry fellowships that open doors.
Manufacturing partners: Co-mans and suppliers who want to grow with you, not just bill you.
What to do: Build an advisory board with founders one or two stages ahead. They’re close enough to remember the details, and far enough ahead to know what’s coming next.
Checklist: Turning old categories into new growth
Identify “forgotten” products people still enjoy, but no longer trust (e.g. jello, pudding, boxed mac)
Pinpoint the single reason people stopped buying (ingredients, perception, price, packaging)
Replace the old barrier with today’s values: cleaner labels, better sourcing, modern branding
Keep enough of the original format to feel familiar, but ditch what made it outdated
Pressure-test in the wild, through tastings, markets, or small launches
Bring in advisors, R&D, and co-mans who’ve solved this kind of reinvention before
Bottom line: Breakout brands don’t come from chasing shiny ideas. They come from testing in the real world, fixing what drove people away, and balancing consumer pull with buyer foresight.
Know someone trying to get their food brand off the ground? Do them (and us!) a favor and pass along this playbook.
