Curion Expands to Southern US with PVR Acquisition

In the US, consumer insight and product testing company Curion has acquired Georgia-based quant and qual focus room facility PVR Research, for an undisclosed sum.

PVR's Johns Creek and Chamblee sites offer focus group and central location testing rooms (CLT), with uses including ideation sessions; dial tests; qual/quant research; consumer goods, product, and concept tests; and taste tests/sensory testing. Two CLT rooms with capacity for 40 respondents per session, and a larger room with seating for up to 75 respondents are also available, and both facilities have commercial foodservice kitchens. In addition, the company offers onsite recruiting and access to a consumer and executive database of more than 100,000 individuals, including consumer, B2B, Hispanic and medical respondents.

Curion has bases in San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas and New York, and was formed in 2017 through the merger of consumer product testing agency Q Research Solutions (QRS) and sensory methodology developer Tragon Corporation. The firm says the acquisition will help it expand its presence into the South, and increase its consumer insights capabilities beyond sensory science to include a commercial kitchen customized for QSR (quick service restaurant) clients; as well as bringing it a number of established processes and an enhanced client list.

PVR President Val Cansler says her company's specialization in QSR will bring new opportunities to Curion, whose CEO Sean Bisceglia adds: 'PVR Research is the perfect fit culturally, and geographically. With Curion's long history of expertise in the food and beverage category, expansion into QSR is a natural next step. We are looking forward to the doors that this will open as we continue our strategic growth'.

Web sites: www.curioninsights.com and www.pvr-research.com .