New HCD Unit Targets Chain and Fast Food Restaurants

US firm HCD Research has formed a new market research practice dedicated to chain and fast food restaurants, employing a mix of traditional and applied neuroscience methods.

The practice, to be led by HCD's Scientific Director Dr. Michelle Niedziela (pictured), will research areas including product development, menu optimization, service and ambience evaluations, and advertising and communications strategy. Niedziela began her career in the flavor & fragrance field as a post-doctoral fellow at Monell Chemical Senses Center working on industry sponsored research of functional foods.

The company, founded in 1993, has been building biometrics and neuroscience techniques into its studies for the past six years, and in January 2014 opened a Flavor and Fragrance MR division, also integrating these with traditional metrhods.

HCD says one of its goals with the new division is to ensure clients' advertising and communication is consistent with the customer experience. Company President Glenn Kessler comments: 'Expectations and experience are often perceived non consciously and are therefore difficult for customers to articulate. It is those perceptions as well as the feelings which consumers express in surveys and interviews that will be integrated and interpreted'.

Web site: www.hcdi.net .