Food and Beverage Specialist FIS Buys Cambridge MR

UK-based food and beverage insights specialist FIS Group has announced the acquisition of Cambridge Market Research, including its Foodfax grocery product assessment database.

The Group already includes 3 food and beverage (F&B) research businesses, Food Innovation Solutions, Good Sense Research and KICR Innovation. Foodfax, which can be used to benchmark new products against category norms, is continuously updated with consumer reviews of emerging products, and in more than 30 years of independent sourcing and reviewing has compiled over 30,000 assessments covering 450+ food and drink categories.

Founded in 1980, Cambridge MR is a full-service agency offering quant, qual and sensory research for food, drink, FMCG and retail markets. Director Steve Lawrence and Insight & Development Director Alison Eddershaw are among the key staff joining FIS with the deal.

Kelly Dowson (pictured), Group Managing Director of FIS, says the buy significantly strengthens the firm's position as 'the UK's leading F&B innovation and insight agency'. She adds: 'We now offer comprehensive support from blue-sky innovation to product development, consumer research and launch, now all underpinned with our exclusive market intelligence database Foodfax. The acquisition also strengthens our fieldwork scope, panel capacity, capabilities and geographic reach'.

Founder and Group CEO Mike Faers comments: 'We aim to leverage the strengths of our four businesses to deliver groundbreaking innovation and insights by aligning our teams to deliver complex cross-functional projects. By introducing new technologies, we have increased our offer with innovative, rapid and cost-effective solutions'.

Web sites: www.cambridgemr.com and www.fis-group.co.uk , www.foodinnovationsolutions.com and www.goodsense-research.com .