The obvious story is: they made a better mac & cheese.
I think the more interesting story is that they discovered the category had been defined too narrowly.
Mac & cheese was largely framed around kids.
But there was another demand sitting outside that definition: adults who still wanted the comfort and indulgence of mac & cheese but wanted it to fit who they were now.
Goodles didn’t just create a better product for an existing category demand.
They brought a previously under-recognized demand into the category. This is why I believe we need to think differently about “demand spaces.”
Demand doesn’t always start with a category.
It can form around a need, an identity, an occasion, a tension or a cultural shift and only later become expressed through a category.
The strategic question therefore isn’t always:
“How do we get more people to buy the category?”
Sometimes it is: What demand already exists that the category hasn’t captured yet?
That is where some of the most interesting growth opportunities are hiding.
Categories describe markets. Demand creates them.