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Food technology and innovation have had a large impact on British food retailing affecting suppliers, retailers and their markets. Technology has invaded many areas of the British food industry providing efficient technical knowledge and new products. Innovative retailers have anticipated the food market metamorphosis and have repositioned their retail activities to take advantage of the changing market environment. The central objective of this study was to assess retailers′ technical innovations in food manufacturing, and to achieve this a research technique was adopted and conducted with leading UK food retailers. The results suggested that food retailers′ technological capabilityi affects the method of own‐label procurement and choice of suppliers. Those retailers who were able to influence food innovation all have large food technology departments, employing food technologists to meet consumer food requirements and legal obligations, and who collaborate with their suppliers to develop new products. Concludes that innovation is vital to the future of both food manufacturers and retailers, and novel and significantly different new products and/or services will ensure success either way.

The concept of positional innovation – as one of the four innovation types of the Francis and Bessant’s “4P’s” model – is an effective product innovation strategy for producers of mature and credence goods as food products are. Despite the acknowledgement as one of the major industries worldwide, positional innovations about the food products are underexplored in the managerial literature. To fill this gap, this paper first develops a theoretical analysis of the concepts. Then, by adopting a case-study research methodology, it discloses the way a bakery small enterprise manages positional innovation. Theoretical and practical implications are finally introduced and discussed.

After a literature review about the role and the characteristics of the positional innovation, the paper presents a case study of definition and implementation of managerial actions and initiatives driven by positional innovation. The aim is not to report on an inductive study, but to use this example as a picture to clarify theory and show how the various conceptual issues may be operatively applied and provide more contextual insights.

It emerges how a small food enterprise manages positional innovation to survive and compete in the national and international markets; the positional innovation sources are tapped into culture, social responsibility, tradition and other territorial assets of tangible and intangible nature, effectively combined to innovate the product perception and/or the utility in a use context.

“Non-technological”, simple products, like food, are underexplored and rarely seen as relevant context to investigate along the strategic and innovation management literature. Nonetheless, positional innovation is a perspective that values and credits the innovation efforts of small food products, revealing interesting managerial concepts and inspiring entrepreneurs and managers for activating and sustaining new strategies of innovation for their businesses.

The main objective of this paper is to analyse the relationship between innovation and traditional concepts to explain the phenomenon of traditional food with innovation from a market and consumer behaviour perspective in the Mexican context.

The research is carried out in two phases: (1) analysis of the offer in distribution and (2) consumer research. First, a mixed observation technique in the offer of traditional foods with innovation was carried out. The data were recollected from 24 companies' websites and was complemented with information from main distribution chains of the city of Hermosillo (Mexico). Second, a survey was carried out with 310 Mexican consumers. The data obtained were analysed using bi-variable and multivariable techniques.

The findings from the websites showed that there are 19 traditional products with innovation that are marketed through this medium, while 39 traditional products with innovation are offered in distribution chains. Of all foods, 61% showed innovations in ingredients and materials. Also, the consumer evaluations identified three segments: the consumers orientated towards innovations, convenience and health (42.2%), those orientated towards sensory innovations (39%), and those more inclined towards innovations in marketing and availability (18.7%).

The research considers a partial perspective of the agri-food chain and not an integral vision, it is limited to a specific area and to certain traditional foods.

The symbiosis between innovation and tradition is identified from the perspective of supply and demand. The trend that exists in the market regarding the types of innovations and the gaps that exist regarding environmental elements are recognized.

The data obtained in the research generate information for business decision-making and entrepreneurship; in addition indicates new dietary and consumption patterns. It also provides knowledge about innovation and tradition, and highlights the relevance of traditional food.

This study tries to fill a gap in the literature by focusing on the market and consumer behaviour perspective for traditional food with innovation.

This paper aims to outline the innovation process activities described by quick‐service restaurant (QSR) managers and to compare it with an earlier QSR process model and with those used in other food service settings.

Six semi‐structured interviews with QSR chain executives in the USA were conducted to better understand the underlying factors and dimensions that describe successful innovation process practices.

For new QSR menu innovations, the development teams follow a structured approach to reduce the likelihood of failure due to issues such as poor consumer demand or implementation. QSR screen new food innovations approximately five times during the development process. Furthermore, today's QSR innovation process integrates more sophisticated market research technology and a post‐audit is carried out after the new food concept has been launched. In comparison with studies of Michelin‐starred chefs QSR development teams use an approach that is much more explicitly structured as a whole due to the larger scale roll‐out as well as greater cross‐functional and regional differences to consider in the QSR setting.

The study was conducted in only one country and on a small sample. Based on an analysis of the findings, the innovation development process of QSR can be broken down into 13 main steps. Compared with earlier hospitality innovation studies, the process in this setting includes multiple screenings for high‐risk innovations, and greater emphasis on operational and training issues.

The study expands the scope of hospitality innovation research and the findings have important implications not only for QSR settings but also for other restaurant segments, and for other hospitality service endeavours.

In innovation networks, SMEs' capability to innovate is both enhanced and restricted by more powerful or better positioned partners. The purpose of this article is to ask how managers of processing SME suppliers in Italian and Swiss food innovation networks experience their relationships with innovation network partners and how they configure modes of interaction with them.

A series of problem centered interviews with managers of six Swiss and five Italian food sector SMEs was conducted.

Findings describe how SME managers in the two regions perceive the nature of interaction as well as benefits and disadvantages resulting from asymmetric relationships within networked innovation process. Differences in the perception frame and their impact on behavior in innovation networks are analyzed.

The data are only valid for the food sector in the two regional markets. Furthermore, this paper only displays the perspective of managers of first and second processing food SME suppliers. Additional data should be gathered on the perspective of other network partners as well as on real‐time communication between them.

The findings suggest that active cooperation with especially customers in innovation networks supports innovation opportunities of processing food SME suppliers.

Scholars so far have comprehensively deduced potential advantages and problems resulting from asymmetries in power and positioning of partners for knowledge sharing in innovation networks but have not yet investigated its specifics. Particularly, empirical work on the perspective of managers from processing SME suppliers on innovation related cooperation with their partners in the value chain on networked innovation is yet almost scant.

This paper reviews the literature, foundational works and current trends related to the adoption of open innovation (OI) practices in the food industry, with a particular focus on the food value chain, using a bibliometric and content analysis approach.

This study is based on 84 published documents in the field of food OI obtained using the Scopus database. First, a bibliometric analysis was conducted using a bibliographic coupling and co-citation analysis approach to understand the common themes and key clusters of food OI research. It further highlighted authors, countries, journals, years of publication and subject areas to comprehend the scope of the established literature. Second, a content analysis was undertaken to examine the titles and abstracts of the documents to explore the intersection of OI and the food value chain.

This study provides an integrated framework of the intersection of OI and the food value chain, including information about under-researched and emerging areas in the field of food innovation. It also highlights the critical challenges associated with OI food research and practices.

Practitioners can use the findings to uncover areas with limited open innovation adoption in the food value chain. They can identify extended research areas to explore the food value chain using an open innovation perspective, in different contexts within the food and beverage (F&B) industry. The framework can also be used for conducting comparative studies of current food innovation trends across different contexts within the F&B industry.

By adopting a multi-step approach involving a computer-assisted bibliometric examination complemented by a manual review undertaken through the lens of the food value chain, this literature review provides fresh and unique insights into past and present research on OI in the food industry and paves the way for future studies by laying out specific research avenues.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer’s acceptance toward product innovation in the agri-food sector, uncovering consumers’ characteristics able to encourage food innovation acceptance.

The analysis was carried out by administering a web-based structured questionnaire to a convenient sample of 443 Italian consumers. The study relies on consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) to assess consumers’ acceptance toward the innovative product, while the Food-Related Lifestyle scale was applied to perform a cluster analysis aiming at detecting the attitude of consumers toward innovations in a traditional food.

The study findings showed a clear openness of consumers toward product innovation. Indeed, consumers’ WTP for the innovative product was far higher than the traditional one. Further, two out of three consumers’ groups detected (i.e. pro-innovation and rational adopters) exhibit a broad correlation between the innovative product attributes and consumers’ psychographics characteristics, revealing the existence of a large number of potential consumers.

The contribution of the paper to the current literature is twofold. First, it focused on an emerging topic for the agri-food sector (i.e. product innovation) whereby research works are still scarce. Second, product innovation was addressed toward a traditional food that is mostly reluctant to innovation due to consumers’ resistance and skepticism.

The purpose of this paper was to study the novel food (NF) industry in Europe and how regulations have affected companies' collaboration and openness towards other actors during new product development. The research question, therefore, was “How do the European NF regulations affect radical innovation in the food industry?”.

A multiphase mixed-methods design was used to combine three sets of data as follows: the NF applications and copies of these from 1997 to 2018; the applications in the first 18 months of the revised NF regulation period after 2018 and interviews with six NF applicant companies and seven experts on NF.

Interactions with research and development (R&D) suppliers appear to be common during development of NF products for companies of all sizes. Ownership of knowledge and a conscious intellectual property rights strategy are important for companies' openness during radical innovation and collaboration. The decentralised NF regulations from 1997 to 2017, with reduced possibilities for data protection, prevented innovation. However, both old and new NF regulations facilitate easy routes for second-to-market approach. Companies of all sizes apply for NF-approved products under the new NF regulations, which ensure data protection.

Future NF pioneers, food R&D suppliers and food-industry policymakers will benefit from open innovation and NF insights by gaining an understanding of NF regulations and insight into how a policy with open governance affects collaboration and co-creation.

The NF regulations and their effect on radical food innovation have not previously been studied according to innovation management theory. Understanding various forms of selective partnership and collaboration among actors in the food industry is valuable for future growth.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how food manufacturers in Sweden define and view innovations, how they view their role and those of other actors and the interaction/collaboration regarding innovations in the food supply/value chain.

After an exploratory pre‐study with 12 participants, a full study of Swedish manufacturers comprised of representatives from 12 food companies was initiated. In total, 21 interviews were carried out. The majority of the respondents had food industry experience. They initially answered structured questions and thereafter open‐ended ones.

Few, if any, innovations in the Swedish food sector are considered radical. Many are “invisible” to meet demands for lower cost, shorter orders and sustainability. The food manufacturers seem to develop products in house for consumers and not by working with them or others inside or outside the supply chain; they do not adopt an “open” innovation mindset. There is lack of trust in the chain and limited exchange of information. Some manufacturers pursue horizontal collaboration with other manufacturers abroad.

Innovations and strategies are a competitive edge for a company, so the respondents may not have been completely open.

Manufacturers and the whole supply chain would benefit from an “open innovation” mindset to organise and work differently and build trust.

There is no other published study on innovations and food manufacturers in Sweden. The food sector should embark on collaboration and coopetion and initiate discussions on what can be done to become more innovative.

Circular economy advocates innovations that upcycle wastes in the food supply chain to generate high added-value materials. These innovations are not only disruptive and green but also they are often initiated by startups, leading to the emergence of novel open-loop supply chains connecting actors in food and non-food sectors. While earlier research has highlighted the need to seek legitimacy for disruptive innovations to survive and grow, little is known about how these innovations occur and evolve across sectors. This paper aims to elaborate on this mechanism by exploring the function of the circular economy as a boundary object to facilitate legitimacy-seeking strategies.

An exploratory multiple-case research design is adopted and features food waste innovation projects with multi-tier supply chains consisting of a food producer, a startup and a buying firm. The study is investigated from the legitimacy and boundary object lenses.

The findings proposed a framework for the role of a boundary object in enabling legitimacy-seeking strategies for novel food waste innovations. First, the interpretative flexibility of the circular economy affords actors symbolic resources to conduct manipulation strategy to achieve cognitive legitimacy. Second, small-scale work arrangements enable creation strategy for the new supply chain to harness moral legitimacy. Finally, pragmatic legitimacy is granted via diffusion strategy enabled by scalable work arrangements.

This paper provides novel insights into the emergence of food waste innovation from a multi-tier supply chain perspective. It also highlights the key role of the boundary object in the legitimacy-seeking process.