Consumer concepts in new product development of local foods: Traditional versus novel honeys

•Traditional and novel local honeys were separated by different concepts.•The concepts captured more information than simple product liking.•Familiarity was positively conceptualised with respect to the local honeys.•Novel local honeys could be too novel for the consumers.•Appropriateness measure is important to indicate potential barriers for purpose.

To understand consumer perception of local foods and guide product development for small scale producers, the present study focuses on consumer concepts and appropriateness for use of traditional versus novel local honeys. Traditional and novel local honeys were distinguished by the different concepts, and these concepts captured additional product information other than purely how much one 'liked' the product. The traditional local honeys were predominantly liked and understood from a conceptual perspective as familiar, typical Danish (related to national identity) and balanced, leading to emotional responses of joy and excited. All the novel local honeys were associated with unique. However, the results for the novel local honeys displayed mixed conceptual associations and elicited surprised and some negative expressions of emotions. Thus, familiarity appeared to be positively considered with respect to the local honeys whilst novel honeys could be 'too' novel for the consumers resulting in negative emotional responses. The appropriateness measurements were very important to indicate potential barriers for purpose of use. This study provided consumer concepts linked to traditional and novel products which may be useful in positioning and communication about local foods in the marketplace.