About Us
Who We Are
Smart Kitchen Insights Group is a full-service virtual test kitchen dedicated to helping food and appliance companies understand real home cooking behavior and create products that truly work in the kitchen. Our work is grounded in insights from leading consumer and food experts, giving brands the clarity and direction needed to innovate with confidence.
The group is led by Jane Freiman, a seasoned consumer advocate with more than 30 years of test-kitchen experience and a deep passion for cooking and overall kitchen experience. By combining a love of cooking with a keen understanding of real-world cooking behaviors, Jane develops insight-driven strategies that help brands grow, connect with home cooks, and stay ahead of emerging trends.
Turn to a Consumer Behavior & Cooking Expert
Smart Kitchen Insights Group helps you get closer to your target consumer, develop foolproof recipes for home cooks, and create first-time-use experiences that ensure successful product adoption. Jane’s leadership and expertise make her a trusted partner for brands seeking to elevate their product performance and consumer engagement.
Her Mission
Jane is dedicated to elevating the home cook’s experience, guided by her core belief:
“It starts with the home cook and ends with the food.”
Her Experiences
Jane has a deep understanding of cooking behaviors and consumer needs across global markets. She has collaborated with teams in Mexico, Belgium, Australia, and Canada to share best practices in recipe development and kitchen innovation.
She also led the Campbell’s Consumer Test Kitchen during her 27-year tenure at The Campbell’s Company, shaping industry standards for recipe reliability, product usage, and consumer engagement.
Her Work at The Campbell’s Company
Consumer Test Kitchen
During her 27 years at The Campbell’s Company, Jane led the Consumer Test Kitchen and provided essential consumer cooking insights and trend intelligence to the broader organization. She ensured that real home-kitchen behaviors and the consumer mindset remained central to the company’s recipe and product development process.
Jane established best practices for recipe development, created the company’s recipe quality seal, and championed a “Consumer First” approach that helped drive business success across The Campbell’s Company’s portfolio of brands.
Kitchen of the Future
While at The Campbell’s Company, Jane launched a cross-functional, enterprise-wide Kitchen of the Future initiative to stay ahead of emerging kitchen and cooking technologies. The team explored how meal planning, shopping, and preparation experiences would evolve over the next 15+ years.
They researched and identified appliance manufacturers, kitchen startups, and online food communities to build partnerships that enhanced testing and innovation opportunities. Jane also led the evaluation of new smart, connected kitchen tools, and provided strategic feedback to startups developing next-generation cooking technologies.
Articles and Media
- Tastecooking.com– Featured article highlighting Jane’s expertise in home cooking behavior and recipe development.
- Insatiable Appetite Podcast, The Hartman Group - Not All Recipes Are Created Equal: An Interview with Test Kitchen Expert Jane Freiman
- International Home & Housewares Show-Interview on preparing for the future of cooking and kitchen innovation.
- The Recipe for Kitchen Tech Starts & Ends with the Consumer in Mind- Thought leadership on designing technology around real cooking behaviors.
- How a Successful User Experience Can Turn Your Product into an Integral Kitchen Tool- Insights on creating products that earn a permanent place in the home kitchen.