Heatables

Research & Analysis

User Research

Target Demographic: Adults in the workforce — men and women, ages 26–60

Research Approach
A mixed-methods research strategy was employed to ground the design brief in real consumer behaviour and market context.

A. Market Visits

Retail audits across six Auckland stores assessed the existing lunchbox landscape, price positioning, and competitive shelf presence for the adult segment:

• Woolworths
• Farmers
• Pak'nSave
• Two Dollar Store
• Typo
• Briscoes

Competitive Landscape
Primary competition in ANZ: Decor. Sistema's existing range had been widely copied by private label brands — eroding shelf differentiation and shifting the brief from incremental improvement to IP-protected innovation.

B. Workplace Site Visits

• 3–5 workplaces observed over one week
• 12 lunchboxes documented in active use
• Real-world usage, storage behaviour, and product performance in context

C. Consumer Questionnaire

• n=63 respondents
• Surfaced feature priorities, functional needs, and unmet gaps
• Directly informed the design brief

Questionnaire Findings

How adults actually lunch

Beyond ranking features, the questionnaire surfaced four behavioural patterns that directly shaped the design brief — what people eat, how much they pack, whether they reheat, and how they store their food at work.

Key Hypothesis
Supported by the Insights team and validated through primary research, the brief hypothesis centred on designing a lunchbox range optimised for two primary use occasions: microwave reheating and on-the-go portability — both critical to the daily routines of working adults.

Research to Design Brief

From takeaways to brief

Insight & Ideation

From insight to concept

Research findings directly informed the concept direction — an adult-first lunchbox range engineered around portion control, leakproof performance, and modular flexibility for the modern workday.

User research and secondary analysis of existing leakproof bento products revealed a critical friction point: while the wiper seal delivered strong leakproof performance, it significantly compromised the opening experience — making the lunchbox unnecessarily difficult to use day-to-day.

The design challenge became clear: solve for usability without sacrificing performance.

Concept Exploration

Ideation

Three concept directions were developed as low-fidelity CAD models to communicate the initial idea: a 2-shot injection moulding process with a live hinge in polypropylene. The three directions — Bold, Bolder, and Boldest — explored progressive levels of form confidence, from a minimal enclosed profile to a more expressive, divided container architecture.

Following technical review with Engineering teams — and drawing on experience from previous live hinge products in the range — it was determined that a PP live hinge carries a high fail rate under repetitive microwave heat cycling. The project direction then pivoted to a separate-part lid and base, opening the path to a 3-shot tooling solution and the clip mechanism that became the defining innovation of the range.

Mechanism Design

The lever clip — Core Product Detail

The integrated lever is moulded directly into the clip body — eliminating any separate component while reducing the opening force required.

Left: Clip detail in PP with rib extension that engages with the lid part to push it upwards as it opens. Right: Lid detail showing the part that engages with the lid lever rib to push open the lid.

Multiple ideation rounds explored ways to reduce the effort required to open the seal. The winning solution was an integrated lever feature on the lift mechanism — a simple, intuitive addition that makes the lunchbox effortless to open while fully maintaining its leakproof integrity and passing all required performance testing qualifications.

Range Design

Design intentions across the range

Each product in the range was designed around a specific use occasion — the clip mechanism for everyday leakproof carry, round formats for portion-controlled nesting and compact storage, and the steamer insert for hot meal preparation at the desk.

Product Design

Features engineered around the brief

Every feature traces back to a research finding — from the wiper seal's leakproof performance to the microwave-safe base, the integrated handle, and the clip mechanism that resolves the usability-performance tension.

Prototyping

SLA prototypes — validating form and fit

High-fidelity SLA prototypes were produced to validate final form language, clip ergonomics, and stacking configuration ahead of tooling sign-off. Prototypes were reviewed with R&D, CMF, and Manufacturing teams as part of the stage-gate process.

Two design changes surfaced through SLA review and tooling evaluation:

• PP rib added to clip interior — ensures TPE overmould fills cleanly and consistently during the 3-shot process
• Wall added to external clip face — conceals hinge detail, improves tooling quality, and created a dedicated logo zone for planogram presence when the product faces sideways in pack

CMF

Colour, material & finish

The three colourways — teal, navy, and purple — sit within the broader colour categories standard to Sistema and the food storage category, selected specifically for their appeal to the adult demographic.

A key CMF insight shaped the colour application strategy: microwave use with food items such as tomato-based sauces causes discolouration on internal PP surfaces. While harmless, this staining renders the container visually unpleasant well before the end of its functional lifespan. To mitigate this, the PP substrate was specified in a darker tint to absorb staining without showing it, while the TPE overmould was applied in the lighter tint — preserving the fresh, two-tone aesthetic that defines the range. This decision was made in collaboration with the CMF team; the discolouration insight was a direct contribution from Shruti as design lead.

Range Architecture

Full SKU range

The final range comprises 8 SKUs — 4 rectangular and 4 round formats — plus 2 pack configurations, all sharing common tooling architecture to manage manufacturing cost while delivering breadth at retail.

Design for Manufacturing

Technical Specifications

Market Validation

Customer feedback

Programme Management

How I led this

This was an 18-month end-to-end NPD programme spanning front-end innovation through to tooling sign-off — coordinated across five functions: R&D, IP & Legal, CMF, Marketing, and Manufacturing. As the programme lead, I owned the brief definition, research strategy, concept selection, and design delivery, while managing alignment across teams without direct line authority over any of them.

Outcomes & Impact

What this delivered

* $40M USD is a 3-year revenue projection across ANZ, NA and EMEA markets.

Reflections

What I'd do differently

If running this programme again, I would bring Manufacturing into the ideation phase earlier — the 3-shot tooling decision was made mid-development and, while it proved to be the right call, earlier manufacturing input would have reduced iteration cycles on the clip geometry. I would also expand the primary research sample and geographic spread beyond Auckland; the 63-person questionnaire was directionally strong but a broader, multi-market dataset would have given the brief greater rigour at senior stakeholder review.

The pivot from aesthetic differentiation to IP-protected design was the most consequential decision on this project — and it came from directly using the existing product, observing its shortcomings first-hand, and recognising that the real gap was in the product experience, not just aesthetic. That's a lesson I carry forward: the most important strategic insights often surface through hands-on experience in the field, not in the boardroom.