Fancy Food Show: Market Research Snippet

Here are a few highlights from my primary market research work at the Fancy Food show:

Arette Foods sells organic tea seed oil, cold pressed from the seeds of a cousin to the tea plant. I tried several of the flavors, and they were good. I found myself drawn to the booth because they had signs saying tea oil, and I think we've all been fairly well conditioned to think of tea as healthy for us.

Although Arette is only a year old, I was told that China has been using this oil "for thousands of years." It could be interesting to watch Arette, as it tries to introduce a new healthy (think olive) oil to the American consumer. The person in the booth I spoke with said it had been a challenge so far. Lurking in the background for a few minutes, I watched and listened as two buyers came to the booth and dipped a piece of bread into the sample. They both thought it was good, but didn't request any literature. How many times have you tasted something good but not thought to integrate into your cooking or grocery shopping? I wonder what sort of market research Arette did before launching their line?