“Foodsigns builds on culinary applied work under Kookinspiratie,
since 2007.”
since 2007.”
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From Kitchen Insights to Market Impact
Exploring business opportunities • Providing strategic advice • Conducting user research • Conceptualizing products & experiences • Driving culinary innovation
Discover a design-driven, user-centered approach to innovation in food, cooking, and hospitality. I explore trends, uncover new business opportunities, translate insights into action, and bring ideas to life through recipes, prototyping, and hands-on user testing. From culinary expertise to strategic thinking, I help brands create tastier, smarter, and more engaging food experiences—together.
Area of expertise:
Food & Kitchen Appliance Innovation
Food & Kitchen Appliance Innovation
- Kitchen & Cooking Appliances✅ Evaluation of kitchen appliance concepts before market launch
✅ Real-world cooking validation & usability testing
✅ Competitive benchmarking of cooking appliances - Consumer Cooking Behavior & Adoption✅ “How consumers actually cook vs. what brands expect”
✅ “Why features are not used”
✅ “Learning curves & friction points”
✅ Finding new use cases - Culinary Content as a Product Feature✅ Built NutriU content systems
✅ Managed recipe pipelines
✅ Built communities
Portfolio
Culinary Consultant | Content Strategist | Product & Community Expert
Culinary Consultant | Content Strategist | Product & Community Expert
Bridging food expertise, user insight and digital products
Appliance Testing | Validating Business case
Exploring use case for Pacojet
Matching the device with a real context, place, test, validate and create recipes.
Trend Research
Exploring trend direction at Food fair
Scouting and gathering insights on the latest trends in gastronomy. Connecting the current developments with a specific trend direction for the client.
Provide overview of the big trends that drive innovation in the Out of Home category.
Point out consumer needs and clear examples in the market.
Provide overview of the big trends that drive innovation in the Out of Home category.
Point out consumer needs and clear examples in the market.
Recipe development | Content development
Targeted recipe creation for connected cooking platforms
Development of branded recipe content for a global cooking appliance ecosystem, aligned with brand guidelines, user needs, and product strategy.
Worked cross-functionally with marketing, product, and UX teams to refine content strategy, optimize workflows, and improve performance tracking.
Strong focus on user insights, scalable content formats, and data-informed iteration.
Worked cross-functionally with marketing, product, and UX teams to refine content strategy, optimize workflows, and improve performance tracking.
Strong focus on user insights, scalable content formats, and data-informed iteration.
Creative | Culinary Expertise for Brand Innovation
Ideation, workshops & concept development
Active contributor in ideation workshops for international food, beverage, and appliance brands.
Providing culinary expertise, creative input, and user-centered perspectives to support innovation, concept development, and product storytelling.
Providing culinary expertise, creative input, and user-centered perspectives to support innovation, concept development, and product storytelling.
Cooking Technology Consulting
User-focused culinary input for product development
User-focused culinary input for product development
Consulting on the development of cooking technologies for home appliances, with a strong focus on translating professional cooking methods into meaningful home-use features.
Deep dives into techniques such as steaming, superheated steam, and sous-vide to support R&D teams with practical, user-relevant cooking knowledge.
Expert testing of competitive products to benchmark results and identify opportunities.
Consulting on the development of cooking technologies for home appliances, with a strong focus on translating professional cooking methods into meaningful home-use features.
Deep dives into techniques such as steaming, superheated steam, and sous-vide to support R&D teams with practical, user-relevant cooking knowledge.
Expert testing of competitive products to benchmark results and identify opportunities.
Hospitality Consulting | Knowledge Transfer
Webinars, moderation & content-driven education
Conceptualized, organized, and moderated educational webinars for restaurant owners, based on real operational needs.
Worked closely with sales, marketing, and product teams to align topics with business goals and content strategy.
High audience engagement through discussion-based formats and practical relevance.
Worked closely with sales, marketing, and product teams to align topics with business goals and content strategy.
High audience engagement through discussion-based formats and practical relevance.
Culinary consulting | Hospitality consulting | Food photography
Targetted menu development and curating restaurants for a lunch delivery Food Startup.
Supported a food delivery startup during its early phase by developing a structured, scalable menu concept aligned with key dietary needs.
Curated and guided restaurant partners in recipe adaptation, quality standards, and operational requirements.
Created a practical food photography playbook to ensure consistent visual communication across partners.
Curated and guided restaurant partners in recipe adaptation, quality standards, and operational requirements.
Created a practical food photography playbook to ensure consistent visual communication across partners.
Recipe development | Food photography
Recipe Development for Consumer Appliances
Development of recipe collections and culinary concepts for a wide range of consumer kitchen appliances; Airfryer, Soupmaker, Kitchen Machine, Meal makers, Blenders e.g.
Projects typically include more than recipe creation: menu logic, localization, usage scenarios, and adaptation to technical specifications and target markets.
Projects typically include more than recipe creation: menu logic, localization, usage scenarios, and adaptation to technical specifications and target markets.
Content strategy | Product ownership
Hospitality knowledge platforms & community-driven content
Owned the concept, strategy, and rollout of a hospitality knowledge platform supporting restaurant owners with practical, digital-first guidance.
Built the content operation from the ground up, including editorial direction, expert contributors, copywriting, and technical backend coordination.
Advised and implemented community-building features to foster engagement across multiple markets and languages.
Built the content operation from the ground up, including editorial direction, expert contributors, copywriting, and technical backend coordination.
Advised and implemented community-building features to foster engagement across multiple markets and languages.
Marketing consulting | Market research
User and market exploration for food brands entering new markets
Conducted a focused user and market exploration to support a food brand entering the German market.
Analyzed sales channels, evaluated market-entry opportunities, and advised on suitable user research methods.
Reviewed and adapted brand communication strategy to better align with local expectations and cultural context.
Analyzed sales channels, evaluated market-entry opportunities, and advised on suitable user research methods.
Reviewed and adapted brand communication strategy to better align with local expectations and cultural context.
Innovation support | Product testing
User-centered evaluation of new cooking devices
Tested and evaluated a new consumer cooking device to support both marketing and R&D decision-making.
Assessed cooking results, usability, and relevance of cooking strategies from a target-user perspective.
Provided structured feedback on interface logic, menu settings, and real-life use cases.
Assessed cooking results, usability, and relevance of cooking strategies from a target-user perspective.
Provided structured feedback on interface logic, menu settings, and real-life use cases.
Culinary Innovation | Taste Exploration
Translating trends and insights into tangible flavour concepts
Led in-depth taste explorations for established food brands, translating consumer insights and flavour trends into concrete culinary concepts.
Developed tasting samples and structured flavour narratives, presented in curated tasting sessions for internal stakeholders.
Developed tasting samples and structured flavour narratives, presented in curated tasting sessions for internal stakeholders.
Flavour Concept Development
Structured flavour systems for product launches
Developed a structured set of flavour combinations ranging from mainstream to more adventurous profiles.
Defined clear logic behind ingredient pairings and progression, supporting product differentiation and market launch.
Defined clear logic behind ingredient pairings and progression, supporting product differentiation and market launch.
Community Building | Moderation
Engagement strategies for digital recipe platforms
Designed and executed community engagement activities to increase participation and loyalty within a digital cooking platform.
Organized offline and online events, moderated user discussions, handled complex cooking-related questions, and ensured content quality standards.
Organized offline and online events, moderated user discussions, handled complex cooking-related questions, and ensured content quality standards.
User research | Community Concepting
Understanding restaurant ecosystems & peer interaction
Conducted qualitative user research to understand the daily realities, pain points, and interaction patterns of restaurant owners.
Translated insights into concepts for a digital community tailored to hospitality professionals.
Translated insights into concepts for a digital community tailored to hospitality professionals.
Culinary Research | Localization
Global recipe exploration for product and marketing strategy
Explored local eating habits and cooking cultures across international markets to inform product development and communication strategies.
Identified opportunities for localized recipe concepts, usage scenarios, and culturally relevant messaging.
Identified opportunities for localized recipe concepts, usage scenarios, and culturally relevant messaging.
Food design at the Architecture Biennale in Venice - United Nations & Dutch Design Fonds
About Wouter
I’m an industrial designer and licensed chef who has always lived at the intersection of cooking and product creation. While studying Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft, I worked in professional kitchens and earned my culinary degree—an experience that taught me as much about people as it did about food.
Since then, my work has taken me into homes and kitchens around the world. I’ve seen how real people cook, the tools they rely on, and the challenges they face every day. These insights shaped my approach to designing better food experiences—whether through recipe development, food concepts, appliance innovation, or meal-box strategy.
I’m trained to connect creativity with practicality: moving between marketing, R&D, and innovation teams, zooming out to see the bigger picture, and zooming in to prototype and test with users.
Today, I collaborate as an external expert with companies in the food, cooking, and consumer-product space—helping them turn culinary insight into meaningful, user-centered products and services.
If you’re building the future of cooking, I’d love to be part of it.
Since then, my work has taken me into homes and kitchens around the world. I’ve seen how real people cook, the tools they rely on, and the challenges they face every day. These insights shaped my approach to designing better food experiences—whether through recipe development, food concepts, appliance innovation, or meal-box strategy.
I’m trained to connect creativity with practicality: moving between marketing, R&D, and innovation teams, zooming out to see the bigger picture, and zooming in to prototype and test with users.
Today, I collaborate as an external expert with companies in the food, cooking, and consumer-product space—helping them turn culinary insight into meaningful, user-centered products and services.
If you’re building the future of cooking, I’d love to be part of it.
Lunch menu inspired on Theater happenings,
for Theaters Tilburg
for Theaters Tilburg
Recommendations
* Below recommendations are shortened for the purpose of this website. More and longer versions can be viewed on the LinkedIn page of Wouter veldman
- Thijs HoogenboomGlobal brand manager at Versuni (Philips)Wouter has been of tremendous value in our efforts to create engaging (and delicious) content. Wouter translates well sought out consumer insights into culinary content. Great communicator and problem solver, I highly recommend Wouter
- Annemarie WijffelsBrand manager Old AmsterdamWouter has taken up various flavor explorations for Old Amsterdam. His search for the right combinations is a true adventure, concretizing flavor ideas by mixing and matching on a small scale. Perfect for getting teammates excited about an introduction. I highly recommend Wouter for taste exploration sessions.
- Bara StewardMarketing at Morphy RichardsWouter supported the development and launch of a brand new and highly innovative Morphy Richards cooking appliance. When the prototype was ready, we involved Wouter as soon as possible and as such he was the first user of the product. His input was critical for the success of the product. Wouter is very professional and a true cooking enthusiast who comes to work with a smile on his face.
Feel free to contact me
Founder & Cooking Innovation Specialist
