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Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

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Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#151
post #138

We did the same thing at reddit when we upgraded the search system. First we put a little survey on every search result that said "Are you satisfied with these results? yes/no". After we collected enough data, we changed the entire search backend out, but told no one. After a few months of collecting data showing the satisfaction go from ~70% to ~90%, we made a blog post explaining what we did. Here's the real kicker…

Make no mistake about it, this is clearly a marketing ploy by Kraft's ad agency. They are battling the minds of consumers who are (as of recent) continually seeing companies change ingredients and then be marketed to because it's "preservatives are bad...now with less preservatives!", with an undesirable side effect of "hmmm, but it tastes different". Coke Zero is a great example of this effect. I'm not so sure Reddi…

Try dumping a can of tuna into your Kraft™ Mac & Cheese. Delicious.

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#152
post #138

We did the same thing at reddit when we upgraded the search system. First we put a little survey on every search result that said "Are you satisfied with these results? yes/no". After we collected enough data, we changed the entire search backend out, but told no one. After a few months of collecting data showing the satisfaction go from ~70% to ~90%, we made a blog post explaining what we did. Here's the real kicker…

Make no mistake about it, this is clearly a marketing ploy by Kraft's ad agency. They are battling the minds of consumers who are (as of recent) continually seeing companies change ingredients and then be marketed to because it's "preservatives are bad...now with less preservatives!", with an undesirable side effect of "hmmm, but it tastes different". Coke Zero is a great example of this effect. I'm not so sure Reddi…

Try dumping a can of tuna into your Kraft™ Mac & Cheese. Delicious.

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#153
This might (or might not) work for Kraft, but let me tell a cautionary tale. Those that hang on my every word have read me mention that I train dogs at the local animal shelter. Some dogs need to be taught how to be civilized members of society before adoption, so that's what my wife and I help with. Food is a great motivator, and we used to use these logs of dog food (Natural Balance, for those that care). Chop 'em up into tiny little cubes, makes a great and inexpensive training treat. Dogs love them.

Well, dogs used to love them. You see, Natural Balance changed their formula without telling anyone. I'm going to guess that the most common use for Natural Balance dog food is to make treats, not a meal for dogs. The new formula crumbles when you try to cut it, and here's the important part: dogs won't eat it. So Natural Balance dog food is no longer fit for the most common purpose I see in personal observation. No trainer, pro or amateur, that I know of uses it anymore. The hoity-toity major pet food chain in Seattle no longer carries it.

No worries, Red Barn makes a tasty equivalent, so we use that now. But here's the kicker: even if Natural Balance pulled a Coca-Cola and put the old formula back, they've still lost us for an indefinite period (if not permanently). Why? Because we'd never know. We found an adequate substitute, Natural Balance is no longer on our radar, and it's not like The Dog Food Blog is in my RSS so I'd know when NB came to their senses.

One might get away with this with people food, as kids are more likely to bug Daddy with "but I want Kraft!" than a dog is to bug their handler with "What's this Red Barn crap? I want Natural Balance!" But if kids won't eat it, as implied by other comments, then Dad might try another brand, the kids love it even more than Kraft, and Kraft just falls off a family's radar. Because it seems to me that Kraft, as with Coke before them, assumes a brand loyalty that might or might not exist.

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#154
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can buy an emulsifier and add that directly (sodium citrate). Sodium citrate mac cheese is enough to Google for.

Looks interesting, but way, way too fussy. I really don't understand why people make macaroni and cheese recipes so complicated, with the cream sauces and baking it and all that. It's incredibly easy and delicious if you just boil the pasta, strain it, throw it back in the pot, then chuck in butter, a little bit of milk, and cheese, and simmer until the cheese melts. Literally the Kraft dinner directions, just with r…

http://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/silky-smooth-macaroni-an...

This is supremely unfussy. Best part is the cheese sauce reheats perfectly. The final result is creamy and can be made with any cheese on hand to taste. (Smoked Gouda is astoundingly good)

Your instructions above is my "bachelor version", but grating some cheese into water with sodium citrate while the pasta water is coming to a boil is ridiculously easy and will produce an actual sauce, unlike the melted globs of cheese produced in the bachelor version.

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#155
post #151
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make no mistake about it, this is clearly a marketing ploy by Kraft's ad agency. They are battling the minds of consumers who are (as of recent) continually seeing companies change ingredients and then be marketed to because it's "preservatives are bad...now with less preservatives!", with an undesirable side effect of "hmmm, but it tastes different". Coke Zero is a great example of this effect. I'm not so sure Reddi…

Try dumping a can of tuna into your Kraft™ Mac & Cheese. Delicious.

That's almost what I do when camping, but it's Annie's Organic Mac 'n Cheese and a foil pack of salmon. Tasty.

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#156
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither parent nor grandparent references UPC. Grandparent references the list of ingredients.

Sorry about that! I didn't assume someone would suggest having a mobile device OCR an ingredients label, versus looking up a UPC code tied to an ingredients list and groking for your allergies. One is easy, the other is hard.

OCR isn't that hard, just expensive. You do a first pass with an algorithm, and then use Mechanical Turk to correct for errors.

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In reddit's case it was about completing a task and reaching a goal ("I now can search for something and it works"), for Kraft this is about perception and desire ("This tastes good!"). That's a fair assessment in regards to the search example, but the move to EC2 example is completely analogous. If we had announced the change when it happened people would have said it was bad right away, but by announcing it after…

If the change was actually good, why would people claim it was bad? >If we had announced the change when it happened people would have said it was bad right away,

Because some people love to be contrarian/complain. Some people love being armchair experts on things.

It's the same thing every time some major website redesigns some feature - lots of consternation about how the new thing is so much worse and how this will spell the end of the website as we know it. Petitions to revert the change will be made, chain emails will be sent, the whole works.

And then a week later nobody remembers this even happened, and the website's numbers stay exactly where they are/go up.

Canonical example of this in my mind is Facebook. More recently when Twitter made "faves" into "hearts" - many a thinkpiece was written on Medium about this.

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#158
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never been all that impressed by Annies (weirdly enough, I remember this being a view bordering on heresy when I was in college...), it struck me as being too expensive and too fussy to make. Adult-Kraft dinner is too easy to make - substitute real macaroni, and cheddar instead of the florescent orange cheese dust, same milk and butter. I mix in some American slices or Velveeta-esque process cheese, since I thin…

>too fussy to make 1. boil water 2 stir in pasta, cook 8-10 minutes 3 strain pasta 4 add 3 Tbsp of milk 5 sprinkle cheese powder 6 add pasta and combine [1] And from kraft its: 1 boil water, stir in pasta, cook 8-10 minutes 2 drain, return to pan 3 add milk, butter, cheese powder and combine [2] Its the exact same process either way. Are you saying you buy kraft dinner boxes and then use only the macaroni noodles (ma…

Maybe the parent post had tried making a rice noodle version? Rice noodles[1] can be a bit more finicky than wheat noodles in my experience[2].

[1] The "Italian pasta made with rice" versions. I'm not talking about Asian rice noodles.

[2] The rice noodles tend to give off more starch into the water and you need more water to make them. If you don't have enough water, then it gets super starchy in the pot and easily boils over (and can -- seemingly -- take longer to cook, the starchier the water is).

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the change was actually good, why would people claim it was bad? >If we had announced the change when it happened people would have said it was bad right away,

Because some people love to be contrarian/complain. Some people love being armchair experts on things. It's the same thing every time some major website redesigns some feature - lots of consternation about how the new thing is so much worse and how this will spell the end of the website as we know it. Petitions to revert the change will be made, chain emails will be sent, the whole works. And then a week later nobody…

Yes, but by this logic, people will complain when you finally tell them, too.

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#160
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never been all that impressed by Annies (weirdly enough, I remember this being a view bordering on heresy when I was in college...), it struck me as being too expensive and too fussy to make. Adult-Kraft dinner is too easy to make - substitute real macaroni, and cheddar instead of the florescent orange cheese dust, same milk and butter. I mix in some American slices or Velveeta-esque process cheese, since I thin…

>too fussy to make 1. boil water 2 stir in pasta, cook 8-10 minutes 3 strain pasta 4 add 3 Tbsp of milk 5 sprinkle cheese powder 6 add pasta and combine [1] And from kraft its: 1 boil water, stir in pasta, cook 8-10 minutes 2 drain, return to pan 3 add milk, butter, cheese powder and combine [2] Its the exact same process either way. Are you saying you buy kraft dinner boxes and then use only the macaroni noodles (ma…

I don't think that' what he was saying at all. He said he does use real noodles, and was just calling his homemade version "Adult-Kraft".
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