Virtual desserts could soon become the real deal

Got an idea for a new food product, but want to give it a test drive before you spend any money on it?

According to Charles Banks, director of The Food People consultancy, one of the latest trends is to take your product to a parallel universe. It might sound bizarre, but web-based virtual reality game Second Life offers manufacturers the chance to do just that. "Take Will Goldfarb, a chef running a dessert bar in New York," says Banks. "He has taken the concept and recreated it in Second Life. People go into his virtual bar and pay for dessert experiences, giving him the chance to try out new products."

The likes of Apple and Nike have already set up their own Second Life stores and Banks is convinced that it's only a matter of time before food firms join in. "Obviously, it is low cost because you can test an idea without physically making it. And of course, it raises awareness of the brand," he says. Although people obviously aren't tasting the desserts, they are paying for them because there is a form of currency in the game, which has real monetary value (albeit just a few pence), so you still have to motivate consumers to fork out, he explains.

And it's not just Second Life that Goldfarb has the right idea about. Banks reckons desserts are set to make it big in 2008. "You only have to look at brands like Gü and Serious to see that people are buying into desserts, and mini portions in particular." In the past, he notes that desserts have been given second priority to the main course, but he believes that their prominence is increasing thanks to celebrity chefs like Nigella Lawson.

Lighter, non-pastry desserts are set to take centre stage and there will be a blurring between sweet and savoury, he claims. "If you look at what Heston Blumenthal is doing with eggs and bacon ice-cream, then you can see that the influence of savoury is coming through in desserts and in the US I've seen a coconut mousse with cucumber and coriander."