Product design for a functional non-alcoholic drink

Product design is the procedure by which customer needs are translated into commercial products. The non-alcoholic drink sector has seen a tremendous growth of new products in recent times. Many of the new innovations include light versions of juices with lower calorie and carbohydrate content and an increase in the variety of juices that are used. In recent trends, consumers seek beverages or drinks that help improve on their health status due to the increasing rate of diseases and sicknesses hence most non-alcoholic drinks on the market have an additional value of health benefits. The aim of this work was to design a non-alcoholic drink product with functional properties to satisfy customer needs, ensuring that all safety, environmental and industrial regulations were taken into consideration. Customer needs in relation to functional fruit drink was identified through survey. These needs were translated into product specifications and various product concepts generated and the best selected using a selection matrix. From assessing the needs of customers and with the help of the selection matrix, prekese functional non-alcoholic drink was chosen as a better functional fruit drink relative to most drinks on the market. The prekese functional non-alcoholic drink had an antioxidant capacity of 24–28 μmol Fe2+/L which is greater than that of the benchmark and most drinks on the local market. Keywords: Product specifications, Tetrapleura tetraptera fruit, Antioxidant activity, Customer needs, Benchmar