"Customers taste it before it goes on sale"—Lotte Mart launches 'Pilot Kitchen' to test new products

[Financial News] Lotte Mart has introduced 'Pilot Kitchen,' a testing space where actual customers can taste and provide feedback on new deli products before their official release.
According to industry sources on the 27th, Lotte Mart has been operating a Pilot Kitchen since the 17th in the deli section of Lotte Mart ZetaFlex Jamsil Branch in Songpa District, Seoul. The space allows customers to taste products and provide feedback before their release.
Traditionally, large supermarkets developed and launched new deli products after conducting blind tests with internal employees or separately recruited evaluation panels. However, evaluations based on a limited number of participants could not fully reflect the diverse preferences of actual customers.
Lotte Mart has therefore introduced a process through Pilot Kitchen in which customers directly taste and evaluate products from the development stage. The initiative is intended to reduce quality risks after an official launch by gathering feedback from a large number of customers before release. After tasting a product, customers can freely comment on its flavor, composition, and price. Their feedback will be actively reflected in the development of future products.
The first test product selected for Pilot Kitchen was Boiling Seafood, which has recently attracted attention in the food-service industry and on social media. Boiling Seafood is a dish made by cooking seafood, sausages, and potatoes with a special sauce.
Park Yeon-jun, an official with the Lotte Mart and Super Food Innovation Team, said, "Pilot Kitchen is a space created to reflect the vivid voices of actual customers from the development stage, moving away from the previous approach of launching a product first and then monitoring the response." Park added, "We will actively incorporate feedback left by customers after they taste the products and introduce offerings that maximize customer satisfaction."
[email protected] Park Kyung-ho Reporter