One industry only, since 2000
Sensory Value measures how food and beverage products are perceived, and what makes some better liked than others. It is the only thing we measure, and that focus is a decision rather than an accident.
Every project is designed for its own category and market, and the product is described attribute by attribute: that is what a sensory profile is.
What changes when you always measure the same thing
The team comes from inside the industry: people who held senior positions in marketing and R&D at food companies before moving to this side of the table. That origin explains the rest: we measure what we know, and nothing else.
And what gets measured stays. Every study leaves a profile and a consumer response in the same language of attributes, so a new project hardly ever starts from scratch. Data and AI shows what that history holds.
The instrument belongs to one industry too: the panel is selected, trained and calibrated for this one and for no other. SensoExpert Lab →
And we work by the rules of the profession: we are members of AEDEMO and ESOMAR.
A consultancy is easier to understand watching it work than reading what it says about itself.
Joan Abante, chief executive and co-founder, does the talking, and in between you see the work as it is: a panel tasting session, samples prepared in the booth, the data being analysed and the result presented to the client.
1 min 21 s
Who signs the recommendation
A result passes through three disciplines before it leaves the building, and none of the three can stand in for the other two.
The last step is not taken by a model: it is taken by the person who presents the result and answers for it in front of your committee.
The panel measures
A trained panel describes the product attribute by attribute, on the same scale in every session. How that panel is selected and calibrated has its own page.
SensoExpert Lab →Analytics models it
Working from the category history, it estimates which attribute moves preference, by how much, and what would happen if the formula changed.
Predictive models →Statistics checks it
Experimental design, sample size and significance: which differences are real and which are just noise. A significant difference still has to be one people notice.
Sensory benchmarking →
The people you will work with
This is not an org chart. These are the 8 people you meet on a project: management, the sales network by market, statistics, and artificial-intelligence consultancy.
Behind every figure there is someone who has spent years in your category, and it is that person who signs the recommendation once the model has had its say.
PhD in Biochemistry from the Universitat de Barcelona. Joined an American food multinational in 1986 and, after three years in the United States, was appointed director of the Centre of Excellence for Europe, Africa and the Middle East for new product launches. Founded Sensory Value in 2000 and has led it ever since. Knows the industry from the inside, and weighs the technical and the commercial side at once.
Engineering degree from the Universitat de Barcelona. Headed an R&D department from 1994 to 1999 and in 2000 co-founded Sensory Value with Joan Abante, sharing its leadership ever since. An expert in sensory science, with a working knowledge of international markets and product strategy.
MBA from the Universitat Ramon Llull and Executive MBA from Esade. Joined Sensory Value in 2013 to lead client acquisition and service, and has run finance and HR since 2020. Long experience in marketing services, accounting and team management.
Degree in Business Administration with a marketing specialisation and later in Market Research and Techniques, both from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, plus a Sales Management programme at Esade. More than twenty years in account management, the last ten as Sales Director for Spain, running global accounts and with experience in more than fifteen countries.
Law degree and an MBA from IESE Business School. More than twenty years in marketing and business development, and since 2014 in charge of France and the rest of Europe. Deep knowledge of the European market, and works in several languages.
Graduate of Luiss Guido Carli University, with advanced training in trade marketing and CRM. Twenty years of experience in market research and client management, with international experience in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, and a strong track record working with major B2B clients and large multinational companies. Part of the Sensory Value team since 2009, responsible for Italy and Portugal since 2015.
Diploma in Statistics from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a degree in Statistical Sciences and Techniques from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Statistician and data analyst at Sensory Value since 2006. Commands the techniques that underpin sensory science and market research, and reads every figure in the context of its project.
Industrial engineering degree from the UPC, an MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Texas A&M, an MSc in Applied Mathematics and Statistics and a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University, and a postdoc at Stanford. A Ramón y Cajal research fellow at the Universitat de Barcelona, collaborating with Sensory Value on statistical methods, machine learning and language models applied to sensory measurement.
And behind them there are a good many more: the trained panel, the key account team, fieldwork, statistics, advanced analytics, project management and administration. They are the team that carries every project, so that it comes out to the highest standard and by the most efficient route, with the business decision always in front, and they are the ones who deal with whatever comes up along the way.
Questions about the company?
Write to the corporate inbox and we answer it ourselves. If what you have in front of you is a project, the contact form captures more of what we need to know: category, decision and timing.