Consider the following case:

BOWFLEX NUTRITION SYSTEM

Nautilis, Inc. is a pure fitness company that provides tools and education necessary to help people achieve a fit and healthy lifestyle. These products are marketed through direct, commercial, retail, specialty and international channels. The BOWFLEX line offers some of their most popular products and this line is chiefly marketed through direct sales channels.

The proposal is to extend the notion of a fitness-enhancing system to include the important component of diet and nutrition. The BOWFLEX group wants to offer a complete nutrition system that includes the specification of a diet and the meals that will promote the building of muscle tone and weight reduction (for beginners) and weight maintenance (for continuing users). The company does not have a food product development group but does have direct fitness product marketing experience.

Describe the process and sequence of activities necessary for this firm to successfully introduce this product to the public. A narrative discussion is expected but you are free to develop a diagram describing the process as you currently understand it.

While some general notions and characteristics of the food product development process are welcomed, be sure to discuss the process in the context of this case. Make sure to identify the important activities and the facts and information you need to acquire before making final decisions. This should lead to the generation of some hypotheses to test or evaluate. State your hypotheses. How do you plan to test these hypotheses?