Zpirit Line Extension

Zpirit Foods Inc. (Zpirit) is a Toronto-based start-up company that has developed a line of healthy flavoured beverages called FruitWater. The FruitWater beverages are developed using a mix of whole fruits, water, and spices designed to appeal to the emergent demographic of young, urban and ultimately health-conscious consumers between 23-30 years of age. George Brown College’s Food Innovation and Research Studio (FIRSt) is collaborating with Zpirit on a new product line extension. Zpirit requires assistance from FIRSt to develop new formulations of their FruitWater beverage, which will be part of a line extension with the introduction of three (3) new flavours. Principal Investigator Robert McCurdy, M.Sc., Research Food Scientist, FIRSt, will use his extensive industry experience to complete this project, while working with a student from George Brown College’s Culinary Arts program. Work plan: Conduct a literature review; brainstorm 5 recipe concepts; prototype 3 formulations; finalize 3 gold standard formulations to deliver a quantitative sensory evaluation; convert the recipes into benchtop formulations; conduct preliminary shelf-life testing on all beverages. Upon completion of the project, Zpirit will have 3 finalized beverages that can be sold as retail products following production in a co-manufacturing facility.