Living Labs pilot 2026  

During our recent partner event in December 2025, we brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including supermarkets, producers, and experts, to address one central question: where can we make the greatest impact on creating a healthier food offering right now?

Together, we identified three product categories with strong potential for meaningful impact: sweet bread spreads, condiments, and ready-to-(h)eat meals, which formed the basis for our 2026 Living Labs pilot.

This selection was based on insights from previous pilots, sales data, and practical experience. By sharpening our focus, we can move into 2026 with a more targeted approach to testing, learning, and scaling.

We see clear opportunities at the point of sale to further develop assortments and presentation in ways that support healthier behaviour. Not by limiting choice, but by making the healthier option the obvious, easy, and commercially viable default on the shelves. During the pilot, we will deepen this trajectory through consumer research in collaboration with Bamboo Brands. We aim to gain a deeper understanding of:

• What motivates consumers at the point of sale
• Which barriers they experience when choosing healthier options
• How healthier alternatives can be positioned more effectively

These insights will help us design interventions that support healthier purchasing decisions without compromising commercial performance.

Objective of the 2026 Living Labs pilot

The core objective of the 2026 Living Labs pilot is to determine whether targeted shelf interventions contribute to a demonstrable shift towards healthier purchasing choices by consumers and sustainable commercial performance for retailers and suppliers.

The living lab approach explicitly takes into account differences between product categories, consumer habits, purchasing frequency, and margin structures.

The pilot combines:

• Scientific insights into consumer behaviour
• Practical retail expertise and knowledge (pricing, shelf layout, visibility, rotation, and margins)
• Contextual factors that influence purchasing decisions across different store environments

By bringing these elements together, we aim to generate evidence-based insights that are both practically applicable and scalable.

The Living Lab pilot was conducted in ten Dutch supermarkets in 2026. The next step is to explore whether similar interventions can help accelerate the uptake of healthier products in other categories.

First results: making the healthier choice easier

The first Living Lab of 2026 has delivered promising results. Together with Koninklijke Remia and Bamboo Brands, we tested whether changing shelf position and visibility could help a healthier alternative gain traction in a real retail environment.

Across ten supermarkets, sales rotation of Remia Friteslijn increased by 20.8%, while rotation of full fat mayonnaise products declined. At the same time, the total Remia portfolio grew by 14.1% indicating that healthier choices and commercial growth can go hand in hand. The strongest results were seen in stores where Friteslijn received greater shelf visibility.

For Foodvalley, this experiment demonstrates the value of testing what works in everyday commercial reality. Through Living Labs, we build practical evidence that can help healthier solutions move towards everyday practice.

Read the full insights article to discover the results and what they could mean for other product categories.

Interested in learning more about the Living Labs?

We invite you to explore our initiative page to discover why we believe in piloting change at the point of sale and how this approach contributes to making healthier products the default choice.

If you would like to discuss potential collaboration or explore what participation could mean for your organisation, please feel free to contact us via info@foodvalley.nl. We look forward to connecting with you.