One model, three capabilities, every project
FIS Group operates as one specialist team running three capability areas as a single integrated model. Strategic insight, innovation consultancy and product consultancy flow together as one operational framework rather than as three separate departments. Briefs do not get handed between teams. The senior team scoping a project on the first call is the same senior team running the work, presenting the readout and following up after the output has gone round the business.
What connects every project is the specialism in food and drink. It is the golden thread that runs through every brief, every workshop, every readout, every recommendation. The team writing the discussion guide for a foodservice consumer immersion has the same food and drink specialism as the team running the QSR menu test next door, and the team developing the retailer pitch deck after that. Same senior team, same category knowledge, same commercial commitment to recommendations you can act on. The specialism is what makes the integrated model integrated.
The integrated model is commercially valuable for one specific reason: food and drink commercial decisions almost never fit cleanly into a single capability box. A category exploration that surfaces a strong consumer opportunity wants to flow into concept development. Concept development that produces an investable proposition wants to flow into product testing and validation. Product validation that gets the product right wants to flow into launch and scale work. The integrated model means each handover is internal rather than between firms, which preserves the strategic intent, the consumer evidence and the senior judgement across the commercial cycle.
Specialism across every channel that matters
Food and drink is not one commercial context. A grocery FMCG brand operates under different commercial pressures from a QSR operator. A foodservice manufacturer faces different category dynamics from a premium hospitality brand. A challenger brand scaling into national distribution has different commercial questions from an established brand defending shelf space. The specialism in food and drink only earns its weight when it extends across the commercial contexts where food and drink decisions are made.
FIS Group works across seven channel areas, with senior team experience in each. The team knows the buyer dynamics, the retail environment, the foodservice operations, the QSR commercial calendar, the hospitality landscape and the challenger brand commercial pressures from inside each context. Briefs land with people who understand the channel on the first read rather than people learning the channel on the job.
FMCG and branded manufacturers
Branded food and drink manufacturers operating in grocery, with the commercial pressures of category leadership, range architecture, premiumisation, HFSS regulation and the retail buyer relationship. The mainstream commercial environment for most large food and drink brands.
Grocery, retail and own label
Grocery retailers and own label operations, with the commercial dynamics of category management, range review, supplier relationships, retailer media and the own label development cycle. The channel where food and drink commercial decisions are made at scale.
Food service
Food service operators, contract caterers, workplace dining and institutional food service. The channel where menu development, operational practicality and consumer experience meet, with commercial pressures very different from grocery retail.
QSR and high street
Quick service restaurants, casual dining chains and high street food and drink operators. The channel with the fastest commercial calendar in food and drink, where menu innovation, product testing and launch infrastructure run at substantial pace.
Hospitality
Premium hospitality, restaurant groups, pubs and bars, and the wider hospitality commercial landscape. The channel where premium consumer experience, occasion-led purchasing and the commercial economics of operations meet.
Out-of-home and on-the-go
Convenience, travel retail, vending, food-to-go formats and the broader out-of-home consumer occasions. The channel that has reshaped fastest in the post-pandemic commercial environment, with consumer behaviour shifts that affect both food and drink innovation and operational decisions.
Challenger brands and scale-ups
Premium food and drink challenger brands, scale-up operations and the brands carving out category positions against established competition. The channel where commercial commitments are weighed against runway, and the right insight at the right moment unlocks the next stage of growth.
Specialism you can only get from working in the industry
The integrated insight and innovation model works because the senior team running it has the industry experience to make the model substantive rather than structural. Most of our senior team have worked client-side in food and drink. Brand director, NPD director, category lead, foodservice operations manager, retail buyer, supply chain lead. They have run the briefs, made the trade-off calls, sat in the boardroom defending the commercial decisions and shipped the product onto the shelf. They know what it feels like to sit on the other side of the table because they have been on the other side of the table.
That client-side experience is what allows briefs to land with people who already know the category, the buyers, the retailers, the foodservice operators and the commercial pressures. You do not pay for the senior team to learn your category on the job. You do not have to translate your commercial reality into a research methodology that does not understand it. Briefs reach people who have lived the commercial reality and can speak the language of the business from the first call.
That experience also produces the senior judgement that the integrated model depends on. The judgement to know when research will not solve the question on the table. The judgement to push back on a brief that is asking for the wrong thing. The judgement to recommend a smaller version of the project that will get the buyer ninety percent of the value at sixty percent of the cost. That kind of judgement comes from operating experience, not from analytical training. It is the structural reason the senior team stays involved from brief to readout, because the senior judgement is the value the firm delivers.
Four steps, no theatre
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We listen properly
Every project starts with a scoping call. Twenty minutes on a video call, sometimes longer if the brief is complex. We listen to the decision you are trying to make, the timeline you are working to, and the shape of the internal conversation that is going to land on the output. We do not launch into methodology-speak. We ask what the answer needs to unlock, and we ask who needs to believe it.<br /> If research is not the right answer, we say so. If a smaller version of the project would get you ninety percent of the value for sixty percent of the cost, we say that too. The first call is free, properly consultative and genuinely useful whether or not it turns into a project.
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We scope around the question
Once we understand the question, we build a proposal that is shaped specifically around it. The integrated model means we can apply strategic insight, innovation and product work in whatever combination the brief needs. Some briefs use one capability area. Some blend two. Some need all three running in parallel. Either way, the project shape is built around the decision you need to make.<br /> The proposal always names the senior people on the project by name. You see exactly who will be running the work before you sign anything.
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We run the work with senior people
The senior person who pitches is the senior person who runs the work. Every session is led by someone with deep food and drink experience and client-side time on their CV. Our own facilities are used where it matters: Mission Kitchen in London for the strategic and innovation work, NOTED Fieldwork facilities at Bury St Edmunds and Birmingham for the consumer fieldwork at scale. Our own recruit standards apply throughout.<br /> You get regular check-ins at the pace that suits you, live viewing of qualitative sessions if you want it, and a direct line to the senior lead whenever you need one.
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We hand you something usable
Every project ends with a working readout session and a clean, shareable deck. The readout is built around the decision you were trying to make at the start, not a transcript dump of what we heard along the way. We tell you what we found, what we think it means, and what we recommend you do next. Then we stay available for the questions that come up once the output has gone round the business.<br /> If there is a second phase (consumer validation after expert testing, a quant wave after qual, an in-market follow-up after launch) we will flag it at the readout and help you plan it. If the project is genuinely complete, we will say that too.
Senior from day one
The single biggest frustration buyers tell us about working with research agencies is the gap between the senior person who pitches and the team that turns up to run the project. The senior lead at scoping. The junior team at delivery. The senior lead reappearing only for the final readout.
We do not run that model. The senior lead who shows up on your first scoping call is the senior lead who runs the project. They are named on the proposal, they are in the room for kickoff, they moderate the qualitative work, they analyse the output, and they lead the readout. The team that pitches is the team that delivers.
This is not a nice-to-have. It is the structural commitment that makes the integrated model work. The same senior judgement that scopes the brief is the senior judgement that runs the workshop, interprets the consumer evidence, builds the recommendations and presents the readout. Without that continuity, the integrated model would just be three capabilities sold from one price list rather than one operational team applied to one commercial decision
A typical project, from your side of the table
Week 0: Scoping call
A twenty-minute video call. You explain the brief. We ask the questions that shape the scope. You walk away with a clear sense of whether we are the right fit and what a proposal would look like.
Week 1: Proposal and sign-off
A proposal that names the senior team, sets the timeline, defines the deliverables and quotes a single all-in fee. You sign off. We start.
Weeks 2 to 3: Design and kickoff
We build the discussion guide or stimulus, design the recruit or sample, and run a kickoff session with your team to pressure-test everything before fieldwork. You sign off the materials before anything goes live.
Weeks 3 to 5: Fieldwork
The work happens. Qualitative sessions at our facilities or in context. Quantitative fieldwork in the field. Product testing in the kitchen. You can attend live, view remotely, or watch recordings back. Regular check-ins throughout.
Weeks 5 to 6: Analysis
Senior researchers analyse the output, pull out the patterns, and build a recommendation set framed around your original decision. We check the direction with you before the final readout, so there are no surprises.
Week 6 or 7: Readout and beyond
A working readout session with your team. We walk you through what we found, what we recommend and what to do next. You get a clean shareable deck afterwards, and we stay available for the questions that come up once the output has gone round the business.
The model in commercial action
Six commercial challenges across the food and drink commercial cycle. The integrated insight and innovation model applies to each one.
How the model works on a real project
Some projects that shows the integrated model in commercial action.
More of the About section
More ways into FIS Group, depending on what you want to know next.
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Meet the Team
The senior people who lead the FIS Group end of each partnership. Kelly Dowson leads the TFP partnership; Danny Butt leads the G Force partnership. Real backgrounds, direct contact for each.
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Our Partnerships
The strategic partnerships that extend the FIS Group capability, including G Force and The Food People. The partnership model that complements the integrated model where specialist expertise sits outside the core team.
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Our Story
Four decades of food and drink specialism, plus the strategic partnership relationships that have developed alongside the firm's growth.
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Locations
FIS Group headquarters at Mission Kitchen, London, plus dedicated NOTED Fieldwork facilities at Bury St Edmunds and Birmingham. The operational footprint behind the partnerships.
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Careers
Open roles, what it is like to work at FIS Group, and what we look for in the people we bring in.
FAQ
What is the integrated insight and innovation model?
The integrated insight and innovation model is the operational framework that runs every FIS Group project. Strategic insight, innovation consultancy and product consultancy work as one operational team rather than as three separate departments. Briefs do not get handed between teams. The senior team scoping the project on the first call is the same senior team running the work, presenting the readout and following up after. The model is integrated because the specialism in food and drink runs through every capability area as a single golden thread.
What channels do you work across?
We work across seven food and drink channel areas: FMCG and branded manufacturers; grocery, retail and own label; food service; QSR and high street; hospitality; out-of-home and on-the-go; and challenger brands and scale-ups. The senior team has client-side experience in each channel, so briefs land with people who know the channel commercial reality on the first read.
How long does a typical project take?
Anything from two weeks for a focused product test or vox pop project through to twelve weeks or more for a full multi-market strategic insight programme. Most projects land in the four to eight week range. We give you a realistic timeline at proposal stage and stick to it.
Who will I actually be working with?
The senior person who shows up on your first scoping call is the senior person who runs the project, from brief to readout. They are named on the proposal. There is no junior handover and no anonymous delivery team. The integrated model depends on this continuity, because the same senior judgement that scopes the brief is the same senior judgement that interprets the consumer evidence and builds the recommendations.
What does cross-pollination across channels actually mean?
When a brief lands with the team, we draw on adjacent category and channel work to bring perspective the internal client team cannot have because they sit inside one business. A grocery FMCG brief benefits from QSR menu innovation thinking. A foodservice brief benefits from retailer category management principles. A challenger brand brief benefits from established brand defensive playbook thinking. The breadth produces the perspective; the perspective produces recommendations that internal teams would not have reached on their own.
How do you scope a project?
We start with a twenty-minute call to understand the decision you are trying to make. Then we build a proposal shaped around that specific question, with named senior staff, a clear timeline, defined deliverables and a single all-in fee. The integrated model means we can apply strategic insight, innovation and product work in whatever combination the brief needs.
Can I attend the sessions or see the work as it happens?
Yes. You can attend qualitative sessions in person at our facilities (Mission Kitchen in London for strategic and innovation work, or NOTED Fieldwork facilities at Bury St Edmunds and Birmingham for consumer fieldwork at scale), view remotely, or watch recordings back. We encourage live viewing whenever the timeline allows, because the work always lands better when the people making the decisions have seen the consumer in front of them.
Will you tell me if research is not the right answer?
Yes. If the question on the table would be better answered another way, or if a smaller version of the project would get you most of the value, we will say so on the first call. The senior judgement that comes from client-side experience is the value the firm delivers, and that includes the judgement to recommend against unnecessary research when the situation warrants it.
Do you do international projects?
Yes. We run projects across Europe, the US and the UAE, with the same senior team, the same integrated model and the same approach. Local recruit, local moderation where the language needs it, and senior FIS Group oversight throughout.
Got a brief the integrated model would suit?
Tell us what you are trying to learn. We will tell you straight whether we are the right fit, what the project should look like and how quickly we can move. Twenty minutes on a call with the senior team, no qualifying call before the qualifying call.