The challenge facing food and beverage manufacturers is changing. While consumer expectations, retailer demands and shorter trend cycles continue to accelerate product development, many businesses are finding that their greatest competitive constraint lies within their own operations.

New findings released by TraceGains, based on executive roundtable discussions held during Food Matters Live 2026, paint a picture of an industry where the complexity of bringing products from concept to shelf is outpacing the systems and processes designed to support it.

Rather than highlighting a shortage of innovation, the discussions suggest manufacturers are struggling with fragmented information, cross-functional bottlenecks and compliance demands that continue to grow in both scope and complexity.

The sessions, conducted under Chatham House Rules and facilitated by Amy Wilkinson, founder of Fearless Foodies, brought together senior leaders from new product development (NPD), technical, packaging and operations teams across Europe.

“Innovation itself is not the problem,” Wilkinson explained. “The greatest obstacles arise between teams, systems and processes as products move from concept through sourcing, development, compliance and launch.”

Complexity becomes the new competitive challenge

The findings reinforce a trend increasingly visible across the food manufacturing sector: innovation is becoming less about generating ideas and more about managing increasingly sophisticated workflows.

As manufacturers balance sustainability targets, evolving regulations, ingredient sourcing pressures and retailer expectations, product development has become an exercise in coordinating multiple specialist functions simultaneously.

According to Wilkinson, participants across different businesses identified remarkably similar challenges.

“Across every session, participants demonstrated a remarkable level of clarity about the challenges they face. These are experienced professionals who know exactly where friction exists and what better looks like.

“The opportunity now is to create the alignment, visibility and ways of working that allow teams to move faster without increasing risk.”

For manufacturers, this represents a significant operational challenge. Delays are increasingly occurring not because of technical formulation issues, but because information fails to move efficiently between procurement, technical, packaging, regulatory and commercial teams.

Six themes defining development

TraceGains identified six recurring themes emerging from the discussions, each pointing towards the growing operational complexity manufacturers now face.

1. Cross-functional collaboration remains a bottleneck

Participants consistently identified project handovers as the point where product development begins to slow.

Different departments often work from separate datasets or document versions, leading to duplicated effort, repeated approvals and costly late-stage changes. Packaging artwork and label development were highlighted as particular pressure points.

2. More data does not necessarily mean better decisions

Manufacturers have access to more supplier, specification and compliance information than ever before.

The challenge, however, is that this information often exists across multiple disconnected systems.

According to Bal Chand, commercial GTM & marketing leader at TraceGains, fragmented supplier and ingredient data continues to undermine confidence in decision-making.

“When information is fragmented across systems and functions, organisations spend valuable time validating data rather than acting on it,” he noted.

The consequence is slower approvals, duplicated administration and reduced visibility across projects.

3. Speed-to-market expectations continue to rise

Retailers are demanding faster responses to emerging consumer trends, while product lifecycles continue to shorten.

Roundtable participants reported increasing pressure to complete projects in weeks rather than months.

This is placing greater importance on validating supplier availability, regulatory compliance and commercial feasibility much earlier in the development cycle.

When these issues emerge late, projects become significantly more expensive to deliver.

AI can only be as good as its data

Artificial intelligence featured prominently throughout the discussions, reflecting the growing interest in AI-enabled product development and compliance management.

However, participants delivered a clear message: AI is only valuable when built on accurate, connected and trusted data.

Without reliable data foundations, manufacturers risk automating inefficient processes rather than improving them.

The findings echo a wider trend emerging across food manufacturing, where investment is increasingly shifting from standalone AI tools towards integrated digital platforms capable of connecting supplier information, formulation data, specifications and regulatory requirements into a single workflow.

Digital investment still faces internal barriers

Despite recognising the need for digital transformation, many organisations continue to struggle to secure investment.

Participants suggested senior leadership often underestimates the operational complexity of modern product development, making it difficult to justify technology investment.

One attendee with experience outside the food sector observed that food and beverage manufacturing remains decades behind other industries in digital adoption.

For manufacturers, the implication is becoming increasingly clear: competitive advantage may depend less on individual technologies and more on creating connected digital ecosystems that reduce manual administration and improve decision-making.

Leaner teams, greater responsibility

Alongside technology challenges, manufacturers are asking increasingly lean teams to manage expanding responsibilities.

New legislation, sustainability reporting, packaging regulations and supply chain disruption have significantly broadened the remit of technical and NPD professionals.

Yet many organisations continue to rely on manual coordination and institutional knowledge to keep projects moving.

This creates both operational risk and scalability challenges as businesses seek to increase innovation output without increasing headcount.

Supplier data moves centre stage

One of the strongest messages emerging from the discussions concerned supplier connectivity.

Participants repeatedly highlighted supplier onboarding, ingredient specifications and visibility into sourcing constraints as critical factors influencing successful product launches.

Commercial viability, ingredient availability and regulatory issues frequently emerge late in development because supplier information is not sufficiently integrated into decision-making.

Wilkinson believes businesses that successfully connect supplier, formulation and compliance data will gain a significant competitive advantage.

“Organisations able to connect supplier, formulation, specification and compliance workflows are increasingly positioned to make faster, more informed decisions while reducing operational risk.”

Connected workflows

The TraceGains findings reinforce a broader shift taking place across food manufacturing.

As regulatory requirements grow and product development cycles continue to compress, manufacturers are increasingly recognising that operational efficiency depends on information flowing seamlessly between people, systems and suppliers.

Rather than treating digital transformation as a technology project, many organisations are beginning to view connected data as a strategic asset capable of accelerating innovation while reducing compliance risk.

As Bal Chand concluded: “Innovation teams aren’t struggling because they lack ideas or expertise. They are navigating unprecedented complexity across sourcing, compliance, packaging and product development.

“By creating a connected foundation for supplier and product data, organisations can reduce friction, improve visibility and empower teams to innovate at the speed the market now demands.”

For food manufacturers seeking to shorten development cycles without compromising quality or compliance, the future of innovation will be determined as much by connected processes and trusted data as by the products themselves.